01/04/2018 Seventh Day
Visit to the Padmanabhapuram Palace in Padmanabhapuram, Kalkulam taluk of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. Quite a long and bumpy road to the Palace. I thought I might be prone to motion sickness, but fortunately I did not fall victim. Luckily the driver did not use his brakes often in a stop-and-go manner, otherwise the travel would not have resulted well for me. I was quite impressed with how closely the driver can drive to other vehicles and how passing other vehicles was somewhat orderly and cordial among the drivers on the road.
My initial thoughts on the Palace complex conjured up connotations with other tropical places like Malaysia where wooden structures stood among tall coconut trees. But when I looked into the architecture of the buildings more closely, it was clear that the buildings are Keralan. Visiting the Palace by walking around barefooted was a first for me. The differences between the sand, pavement, and air under the sun as compared to the flooring and temperature inside the Palace was extremely diametric. Experiencing the climate-controlling effects of traditional Keralan architecture first-hand after learning about them in theory has converted me into a firm advocate for the promotion of traditional Keralan architecture for sutstainable development.
