One of the highlights recently was a short trip to Kerala with Mum and Dad. We felt that two weeks in the sprawling, polluted city would be too much for them so in the second week we flew right to the other end of India to Cochin on the tropical southern tip. We hired a house boat and one day sailed out into the backwaters- miles upon miles of meandering rivers, lined with palm trees and paddy fields. We lay on chairs on the sheltered deck and watched the world drift by. Lining the river bank were small huts with women and children washing pots and pans in the river water or beating sheets on the banks. Every so often small fishing boats passed us by with freshwater prawns, crabs, lobster and other varieties of fish. Out in the paddy fields we could see women sporting large hats, bending over, transplanting the rice – such hard, back breaking work! Lunch was served us on huge banana leaves – a sumptuous selection of Kerelan vegetable dishes and freshly caught fish! The spices were very subtle with fresh coconut and pineapple as well as pepper and chillies.
As I lay on the deck I felt every part of me relaxing and unwinding. It made me realise that life in the city is very demanding. Just being among so many people, always on the move, always congested can make your whole body tense up and just coming to a slower pace of life was sooo refreshing!
The benefits of Kerala were soon deleted by our third trip to see the Taj Mahal since December, this time taking Mum and Dad!! We think that the UP government should give Tim and I jobs as tourist guides as we've been there so many times!!! The Taj still never fails to stun us with its white marble glinting in the sun but the journey to Agra takes about 5 hours one way and the traffic is so crazy you always end up feeling totally exhausted! My parents couldn't believe the traffic jams with vehicles (i.e./ cars, taxis, buses, bullock carts , camels, bicycles, hand carts, rickshaws, meandering cows, in fact, you name it!!!!!) trying to cross in every possible direction all at once!!!
The weather is beginning to heat up now with the thermostat rising every day towards the mid 30's. It is still at the stage of being pleasant especially first thing in the morning. I love waking early just as it’s getting light. It's the only time you feel a sort of peace and calm settle over everything. The air is warm but fresh and the birds start chirruping in the trees outside my window. This morning a pair of chipmunks were chattering away to each other very loudly!!!Gradually you can hear the sounds of the street cleaners sweeping outside and the men cleaning the layers of dust off the cars. Occasionally you hear the chatting of groups of maids in their local Bengali, Rajasthani and Punjabi dialects, as they enter the sector to disperse to the various homes to clean.
March here is like May in the UK with everything blooming. There is a profusion of flowers in the parks and on balconies – petunias, dahlias, roses, bourgenvilia, poppies, snap dragons and many other species that I'm not familiar with! Also the scent of jasmine fills the air especially early in the morning and in the evenings as I walk in the sector. I wish Delhi could stay just like this but I know that in a months’ time everything will start to shrivel and become parched and the parks will turn to dust baths!
