By the time everyone returns from the trek it is 3.30, and Amit and I are worried. We are thinking about the one-and-a-half hour journey in the Mazda, the two-hour journey back to Palghat and the four-hour journey to Cochin. By our calculations, that makes it at least eleven before we reach our hotel. If all goes well. All goes well until we reach Palghat. We find cab too expensive and are resigned to travelling by public bus, so we find ourselves at the Palghat bus stand awaiting a bus to Cochin. Enquiries reveal that there is a 7.15 bus, so we quickly get some dosas and biscuits, our first meal since sandwiches at eight that morning. A bus comes, a few more quick enquiries indicate that it will take us to Cochin so there's Amit struggling to be one of the first aboard, while yelling at me to emulate others and quickly haul our lightest bag in at the window, as a primitive method of reservations. This I do, after some initial hesitation, which is nevertheless not enough to lose us the seat. After this I even manage to shoo away some optimist aboard the bus who tries to grab the seat. Once Amit is safely ensconced, I board. Now all is settled, so I glance at the board of the bus and find that its destination is not Cochin after all. Amit too has discovered this from other passengers. We are assured however that it will stop at Trichur (aka Trissur), whence we will get a bus to Cochin far more easily than awaiting one here. We decide to go with it.

Following another cruel two-hour journey with Amit's knees sticking into the aisle and his back crushing me into the window, we dock at Trichur bus stand. Our friends, guides and mentors have disappeared in the haze along the way. Enquiries reveal that buses to Cochin are frequent but we are both exhausted by being on the go for over 24 hours now. The dosas and biscuits have long since run out and we are both hungry, but catching the bus takes priority over filling our stomachs. Amit checks the buses, while I stand guard over the luggage. People talk to us, telling us that Trichur is much more crowded than usual due to some public service commission exams. Nobody tells us that a bus to Cochin will be labeled Ernakulam. We wait. We wait some more. We wait till I can barely keep my eyes open and will do anything for any kind of transport to Cochin. The drive will take at least another hour-and-a-half before we can lay our heads down on hotel pillows. We are both hungry. Amit buys a bottle of water, but it does little to satisfy hunger or drive away tiredness. Finally we give in, throw economy to the winds and hire a cab. By now we are both worried about security - it is late at night, we have a lot of cash, and we are on the highway at the mercy of the driver and his companion. We struggle to keep awake, frequently dropping off for a few seconds before awaking with a start. I mutter something in my sleep. We go over a huge bump and both wake up. It is 12.45 when we reach Cochin. Safe. But the hotel has no bookings in our names. Amit is furious with the travel agent. I am just happy they have rooms available, and too tired to care. Food and bed are our priorities. But the coffee shop closes at 12 midnight, and no, they cannot fix us sandwiches, or fetch us something from outside. We haven't eaten anything all day, Amit says dramatically, as though he would drop dead of starvation there and then. The counter staff are unmoved. So is the bell boy, when we try to cajole him into getting us something. Amit is ready to trudge out to nearby shops and look for anything remotely edible, but I am too dog tired, so we give up the idea and collapse into bed starved. Which doesn't prevent us from sleeping.