Mesmerising !

Watching Kathakali (story play) performance - the native dance of Kerala - the God's own country, in India - can be an experience of a life time.

There are many tourist places in Kerala, where special shows of Kathakali are organised for people interested in art and culture of the state.

Having a leisurely holiday in Fort Kochi this December, I  also decided to experience it.

On the advice of our lovely host at the homestay, I booked the show.

While booking the tickets, my original thought was to give my friends from Europe, travelling with us, a surprise gift; and open a window for them from where they can get a glimpse of Indian culture.

However , it turned out to be a memorable experience for me as well.

The two and half hour show started with the make up art that plays a huge role in kathakali - a ballet dance form native to Kerala state.  

I always thought the Kathakali dancers wore huge colourful masks, but I was wrong. It is the intricately done make up that takes about two hours to metamorph the artistes and there are no masks.

Even the swollen jawline that gives the impression of a mask is arduously cut paper strips stuck to the jaw.

The colours used on artistes' faces are all organic derived from various stone that after rubbing on another stone produce colours such as red, yellow and black. 

Each colour has its own significance. Green denotes goodness, white simplicity, black demon, and so on.

Kathakali dance can be compared to ballet or opera in which the actors narrate a story. The training for the dance form is rigorous and goes on for at least six years before the artistes learns the art of talking without even opening their mouths.

Kathakali performer do not speak when performing but narrate the whole story through the gestures and expressions. 

The house was full and the make up was complete after about an hour. The men , yes the artistes are generally men , were ready in their new avataars. 

Then came the guru (master) who apprised us about the nuances of this age-old tradition of story telling. He familiarised the audience with the importance of eye movement in Kathakali and the gestures for different dialogues. 

One of the artistes came on the stage and demonstrated all those movements under the guidance of the guru. 

Finally , it was time for the performance. The intricate makeup and paint on their faces, huge and glittery headgears and dramatic frock style dress with tutu and layers of scarves around their neck created a enigmatic scenario on the stage.

Since the story acript had already been handed over to us, it was easy for novices like me to grasp the story.

The time flew - two and half hours were over without us realising it. We were all sitting mesmerised and in trance still trying to get the overwhelming experience seep in.

A few glimpses that I could catch are here to share the bewitching experience that I had. 

The Maharaja experience of Air India

Some people feel travelling by Indian national carrier Air India is comfortable and nationalistic. The government servants are forced to travel by Air India. They love it simply because they don't have to pay or it.

I generally travel by other low cost carriers like Indigo, Vistara or Spice Jet because I normally have to pay for my tickets, unless it is work related.

However, unfortunately I reserved Air India this time for my personal trip this time. And no guesses , I had a nightmarish time !

It started a day before my flight. I tried to check in through Air India mobile app and I was not surprised that it crashed every time I clicked  on check in, the app would crash.

After wasting more than half an hour for a job, which I am able to accomplish on Indigo app in less than a minute, I failed to check in.

Scratching my head,  I tried calling the customer  care, which I was fortunate enough to connect after an hour. I at least could get my seats blocked.

Before I could celebrate my successful mission, I received a text from Air India that my connecting flight has been rescheduled. It meant I needed to change my first flight in order to be able to catch the other one. 

Another nightmarish time started when I tried to call the customer care, again. Anyway, another flight was booked. However she said she would not be able to email me the new ticket but I can get it at the check in counter.

The customer care executive warned me to reach the airport two hour on advance because of this flight change. I, being a nervous traveller, followed her instruction. And she was right ! 

What I went through at the check in was hilarious, ridiculous or it can be termed irritating as well. 

The Air India counters were at utter chaos, and it did not surprise me. The staff was giving stickers to every passenger to stick it on their bags after writing their name, address, phone number, email id etc etc. 

People started following the instructions. They would peel the sticky paper, stick the sticker on to their bags and throw the peel anywhere on the floor. No one guided them and they kept littering the whole area. These stickers started to fall off by the time the luggage was put on the carrier. 

There was confusion at its best. 

Our turn came and the flight change was enough to baffle the young man sitting at the counter. After struggling for about 15-20 minutes, he had to call the floor manager 'Madame Anju' - a small-framed lady with a feisty temperament. 

Throwing her problem over us, she asked the young man to give us the boarding pass for just one sector and go through fresh check in for the second sector, to which we put our foot down.

The normal practice is that when one books a long flight wih a break, one gets two boarding passes and the luggage is booked to the final destination.  Air India wanted its passengers to suffer due to its competencies.

We stood for our rights and demanded two boarding passes. The struggle on their part continued. The customers behind us started feeling jittery and the manager was also called to rescue the young executive and the fiery lady.  

Eventually, we were given the two boarding passes. 

However, yet again Air India did not give me a chance to feel victorious. I got a text that my connecting flight has been rescheduled to its previous time, thus increasing my waiting time to 2 hours.  We had to get up at 5 in the morning only because of this rescheduling and now once again we were back to square one. 

So, this was the Maharaja (princely) experience for us in our very own Indian airlines Air India