Reaching Attapadi

I had come to stay at my Uppapan (uncle)'s place in Kochi with Sumam and kids. Sumam stayed back with the kids in Kochi, while I traveled to Attapadi on a day trip. I had originally planned to go to Palakkad from Kochi on train and from there to Attapadi using help from achen there. But Sally aunty had it all planned, she spoke to achen, found out the exact time it might take to travel by car, had the driver arranged, thus all I had to do was simply turn up for the trip! Early morning, it might have been 4:00 am, when we started on our journey to Attapadi. We travelled in Saly aunty's car. Maya aunty was the other lady with us. Mr. Hillson was our driver. It was still dark when we started from Kochi.



children at Attapadi, ready for school

We traveled via the Palakkad, Manarkad, Agaly route. Mr. Hillson was a seasoned driver, and such experience was needed traveling on the winding roads that led up the hills and into Attapadi. It took us about 4 hours to reach Attapadi in what was a scenic drive. We spoke along the way about Attapadi, my trips so far, but mostly I listened to Saly aunty and Maya aunty talk about their lives and activities in the local parish in Kochi. Both these ladies were active members of their parish and it was nice to listen to the stories about their work.

We reached the Ashram at about 8:00 am or so. We were met by Father Sudhakar Paul, Paul achen there. Achen invited us for breakfast. The kids were just about to leave for school when I ran outside to get a snap of theirs.