Paulo Coelho's 'The Pilgrimage' is the writer's account of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. St.James' Cathedral is a famous attraction that brings in scores of pilgrims to this place. The trek to Santiago is renown and arduous and requires a lot of personal determination to undertake the journey. St.James is also the patron saint of Spain. In the ancient times all pilgrims going to the holy land (Jerusalem) from Rome would visit Santiago on their way.
Catholics in India have their own St.James in St.Thomas who came to India in the first century via the spice route and got off in Cranganore which is modern day Kodungallor near Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. During those times the caravan route from the west coast to the east between Kerala and Tamilnadu was through Malayatoor. It is in Malayatoor that St.Thomas fled to the top of the hill to pray and meditate. Malayatoor is a small hamlet of farmers. This is situated in Ernakulam District about 14 kms from Kalady, which was the birthplace of Adi Shankara. St.Thomas died a martyr's death in Madras and was interred in the site of the Santhome Cathedral before being exhumed and taken back to Rome.
The river Periyar flows in all it's glory through the sleepy town of Malayatoor, this separates the town from the elephant reserve Kodanad. After the onset of the monsoon the river periyar in spate is a sight to behold. The places where one would normally be able to get down for a bath or swim would become very dangerous with strong currents and flash floods. Situated on the banks of this river is the Church of St.Thomas, believed to have been built centuries ago. The hill that St.Thomas prayed on is today an international shrine and the end of the Lenten season plays host to lakhs of pilgrims visiting the shrine re-enacting Christ's last moments on Earth by reciting the stations of the cross.
I've been a visitor to Malayatoor for 6 yrs now, my first trip to Malayatoor was in 2004. This year it was just Kan (Renald George) & Bob (Antony Renald) for company, Josh couldn't make it due to professional commitments. For us it was a repeat of the trip we made in 2004, it was just the three of us then and it was the first time Kan & Bob visited Malayatoor. This year we reached the foothills at 10PM. It took us over an hour to get to the top. After getting down we spent some time in the Periyar and headed to Ernakulam hoping to get home by 2 AM so as to get some food to eat and sleep.
A quick moment in St.George's Church, Edapally from where we reached Ben's house in Thripunithura. Molly Aunty's meat curry with parotta and bread brought a top class day to it's fruition. This year's trip was filled with more driving, less arguing (with Kan), more eating, more talking, more traffic and very less tension. Over to Malayatoor 2010 ......
