ATM-hunting
During the night a UK friend sent a text message that implied something horrible had happened in Mumbai. In the morning I asked to watch english-language TV and learnt about the latest Mumbai bombings. (I say 'the latest' because 9 years after a previous similar outrage the suspects are still on trial!)
I hoped that Mumbai's rail authorities were a bit more efficient - these suburban trains are used by millions each day. Mumbai's roads appeared to not be capable of carrying the traffic that existed when the rail system was intact
I needed to extract some money from an ATM. The nearest ATM that would accept mastercard and maestro cards was at Kattappana. Ajeesh had some business there too so we drove there. This was the beginning of another Bruce-farce.
- The drive to Kattappana almost empties the car's tank. We have to buy a litre of petrol on the way to be sure we'll get to Kattappana. This reduces our total liquid assets to around Rs70 which is not enough to buy sufficient petrol to return to Nedumkandam.
- I find that the State Bank of India ATM is out of order. Meanwhile Ajeesh is at his meetings and isn't answering his phone. The SBI staff tell me that the ATM will be out of order for several days and that the nearest SBI ATM is in Kumily, 30 km south of Kattappana.
- Despite being fairly sure that the other ATMs (Union bank and Federal bank*) in Kattappana don't accept mastercard or maestro, I trudge off to try them. I confirm they are useless to me and trudge back to the cybercafé's building to meet Ajeesh. On the way I buy a parapuwada, leaving myself with Rs14.
*The do take Visa cards. Boo hiss!
- Eventually Ajeesh returns to meet me at the cybercafé. He gives me Rs10 so I can check my email.
- We get a hurried lunch (chai and two more wada each) at a café in the cybercafé's building and try to work out what to do. Without obtaining more rupees, we're stuck in Kattappana. I decide to cash one of my few remaining traveller's cheques. (I'd been hoping to keep these because ATMs may well be rare in Sumatra and entry officials like proof that visitors have funds.) I need to obtain more rupees than I have in TCs so I still need to visit an ATM.
- I go back to the SBI and am told that this branch can't cash TCs. The manager suggests I go to Muthoot Finance who will cash TCs and will give me a better rate than SBI can. Nice!
- Muthoot Finance is in the cybercafé's building, so back I go. The manager there is a very jolly chap and is keen to give me all sorts of information about the area. He gives me his card and says that I should show it to the management when I check in at the Cardomom County hotel: this will get me a good discount on the £80 per night cost.The SBI folk were right about the rate - I get maybe RS1 per £ more than I was expecting.
- Finally, with some real rupees in my hand, we can return to the nearby petrol station and buy enough to drive to Kumily and then back to Nedumkandam. The drive is along NH17 but this part hasn't been resurfaced in ages and has more potholes than a teenager has acne. I fear for the car's suspension and Ajeesh tells me that we'll return by a different route.
- At Kumily, I get the cash I need. We then drive around Kumily: because Ajeesh is organising a programme that involves the Deputy Director of Periyar Tiger Reserve (just outside Kumily) and he happens to be in Kumily, there's a slim chance they can have a face-to-face meeting. However, because it's after 6pm, we can't find her at her office and there's no answer when we go to her house, this falls through.
- To return to Nedumkandam but avoid the horrible roads, Ajeesh decides to drive from Kumily into Tamil Nadu, head east as far as Cumbum and then go north again and get back into Kerala at the same latitude as Nedumkandam. We stop outside Cumbum so I can photograph some statues I'd seen when I came here earlier. I'm told by an old lady I meet there that they were erected by her son to gather donations for a local Ashram. She anoints my forehead with white powder and prays for me.
- In Cumbum, we park at a real car-park (ticket, guards, the works!) and eat iddly sambar at a reasonable-looking vegetarian restaurant. We then drive back towards Nedumkandam. Ajeesh points out that the mountain roads in Tamil Nadu, even those that aren't State or National highways, are much better than those in Kerala. Tamil Nadu mountain roads have edge-markers and intact road surfaces while Keralan roads are usually terrible.* Ajeesh believes that this is all thanks to the recently deposed Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa. He also says that Jayalalithaa's rural loans policies are responsible for large agricultural improvements in Tamil Nadu: 15 years ago it grew nothing but rice and peanuts. Now it has coconuts and bananas which it used to import from Kerala, as well as grapes and other new crops. Kerala now has to import crops in which it was self-sufficient 15 years ago. I point out that a lot of Kerala, including his home, is fairly marginal land, while the population density is higher than most other states so that the state's per capita income tax is relatively reduced and has more marginal people to support. Also, I've read that Jayalalithaa is very corrupt and has tried to inculcate a cult of personality worse than Enver Hoxa's! Ajeesh says that Tamil Nadu police ask for Rs5 bribes while Keralan police want bribes of scotch whisky. I have no answer to this.
*The NH-17 runs almost due south from Munnar, via Nedumkandam, to Kumily. It's been resurfaced since I've been in Nedumkandam from Munnar to just south of Nedumkandam. I wish the plans included kerbstones: without them, I fear that the edges will erode and potholes will form far sooner than would otherwise occur. National Highways are planned by central government but constructed and maintained (supposedly) by state governments.
- There are many checkpoints on the border - we pass through at least three, each supposedly checking for different things and in reality not even lowering their barriers. Just inside Kerala, we pick up a minister who is returning to Nedumkanadam. He passes forward a bag of fried and salted chickpeas - yum.
- Back at the house, I eat while Ajeesh disappears. (He told me later that he'd been at Santosh's house.) I try to stay awake so that the others aren't woken when he returns and needs to be let in but fail and am soon in the land of nod.