When my friend and former colleague Seb called me a few days ago, he told me that he was planning to go to his home town in Thrissur on Friday.
I said my wife and I too were also planning to go to Kerala, in our car, but the next day. I suggested, "Why don't you come along with us?"
He said he would be glad to join us, and postponed his trip by day and came long with us yesterday.
In fact, only a few months ago, we had thought of driving to Kerala together some day. And by a pleasant coincidence it happened yesterday.
We started around 5.15 am, and we reached our destinations, Thrissur and Guruvayur, by around 5.30 pm.
Wind turbine blades
On the way, we could see many long lorries transporting wind turbine blades. It's in fact a very common sight on the way. I am told we can see several of them on highways in Karnataka as well.
Below is a video of one of those long lorries transporting a wind turbine blade.
These blades are very long. They could range anywhere from around 50 metres to 100 metres depending the type of technology used and on whether they are onshore or offshore.
Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are leading players in wind power generation.
Tamil Nadu is the second-largest wind power producer in India with an installed wind capacity of 11,739.91 MW. It was previously the leader until overtaken by Gujarat, but remains the top performer in southern India.
Karnataka emerged as the leader in wind power capacity addition in 2024-25, adding 1,331.48 MW to reach a total of 7,351 MW. This is the highest single-year growth and the State is one among the top wind energy producers in the country.