The title of this article is the slogan of 'Santa Paint House' on M.G. Road, Thiruvananthapuram. It has no bearing on this article. I just had to pay tribute to a slogan like that in some way and what better than this humble offering.

T-puram is a quaint city (many shops have these delightful names and slogans), green, hilly and lazy. After the blistering Chennai heat the T-puram rains were a relief. I didn't get to see much of T-puram since I had been there to attend a wedding. The groom was Sindhi/Maharashtrian and the bride a Malayali, so it was a melting-pot-style wedding with a liberal dose of the army thrown in (the bride's father being a Brigadier). There was a lively contest between the army band playing Hindi film tunes for the baraatis and the nadaswaram-tavil gig playing Carnatic tunes at the wedding hall. It ended when the army band was asked to put a lid on it, with good intentions, as the groom simply had to enter the wedding hall in time for the muhurat.

From my experience the shop assistants in T-puram become very upset if you refuse their wares. Many a shop assistant became belligerent as I went forth on my quest to obtain the perfect traditional Keralite off-white and gold sari. One of my friends took to saying "Thundu-Mundu" every time he saw a lady wearing the traditional Kerala outfit. Another tried to master the way the Keralites pronounce "Thiruvananthapuram." I can tell you that neither helped sweeten my relationship with the shop assistants.

What else can I tell you about T-puram - the autorickshaws run on six-rupees meters, I didn't see any fast-food joints of the pizza-burger variety, chocolate milk-shakes cost only Rs. 10 and are available on the road-side, and Pretty Polly undergarments are widely advertised.