Dear friends,
it has been a long time since my last entry and I was asking myself whether it still makes any sense to write in my travel blog, now that I´ve been back in London for over three weeks. But then I decided that it is definitely worth it, if only to explain the reason why I didn´t have any time to spare in internet cafes anymore… There are so many good stories! Hmm, where to start?
The travel gods take me to Goa
The last thing I wrote was the grand introduction to the fact that I had booked a flight to Mumbai. It all sounded very sensible in the beginning: I wanted to see a piece of the “real India” and possibly prove myself that I can deal with a city like that. But then everything turned out differently…
India being India, there were delays with my travel. Having woken up at four in the morning to make my way to the airport of Cochin, I found out that my flight was delayed by nine hours. NINE HOURS! Now that´s quite a lot of time, even for Indian standards. I decided to buy a ticket for a night train to Goa instead. In a rare moment of comlete honesty to myself, I actually figured that I didn´t want to go to a big city anyway. As selfish as it may sound, I wanted yoga, I wanted beaches and I wanted friendly people. I was also really keen to spend another day in Cochin, as it allowed me to meet Sajee and Lassi again.
The best yoga teacher in the world
Yes, Lassi is the name of a popular Indian drink – but also the name of Sajee´s dog. Oh, and Sajee is officialy the best yoga teacher in the world. I met him when I first came to Cochin to pick up my sister for our two-week dream trip around Kerala and in our very first session he made me do a headstand! Now if you know me you will be as surprised at reading this as I was when I suddenly found myself being upside down. For the two years that I have been practising yoga I constantly told myself that I was too weak, too heavy, too unbalanced or too whatever excuse came to my mind to even try a headstand. In only five minutes, Sajee proved me wrong.
Other things I liked about his yoga classes were the fact that you got food in the end, that the morning classes took place under a beautiful mango tree and that his dog Lassi always popped in the yoga studio to sniff some dedicated student´s ears. Oh, and Sajee´s English was lovely! He would always say “The crabs are coming” when I got cramps in my legs and that made me smile through the pain… It was just such a nice experience and felt like having a big family. I wanted to stay there forever.
Visiting an Indian baby
Talking about big families – I wasn´t only welcomed into the “cosmic family of yoga students” as Sajee put it, but also had a quite worldly family experience when his daughter took me to her auntie´s house to see the newborn baby. The family lived in an estate building that reminded me very much of London – apart from the fact that it was filled with lots of very sweet children who would shout “Welcome auntie!” when I arrived.
Anyway, I felt a bit weird just walking into this family´s home, unannounced and uninvited, but within seconds after our arrival I was settled on the bed, a baby in my lap, my hands full of sweets and surrounded by the whole family, who delightedly asked me a thousand questions about my life in Europe (Yes, we have been there before…) . I was so touched by the way they welcomed me into their home as if it was the most normal thing to do.
Needless to say the little boys were still waiting in the yard when we left. “Goodbye auntie!”
She´s got a ticket to ride…on the night train
The night came, however, and I had to leave for Goa. Not the worst thing to do, but I was sad to leave my “cosmic family” and was therefore set to return to Cochin after spending some days on the beach. Once again, things should turn out quite differently…
A note about Indian trains: They are not quite as scary as some people described them to me. I spent several nights on them and was never hasseled, robbed or woken up by an Indian teenager on my bed (Thank God). There is, however, one drawback – the chai wallahs! As much as I love Indian sweet chai, I was never prepared for the tea sellers to start advertising their goods at FOUR in the morning. Try sleeping when someone shouts “ChaichaichaichaichaiaiaiaiaiaiaCHAIIIII!” endlessly…
My American Friend
Needless to say I arrived in Goa quite knackered and after having found a nice little hut for the night, I made my way to the beach for some yoga. (Still, no OM-wear, I promise!) It felt good, the sun went down, the sea breeze was delightful and I started wondering what else this beach holiday might have in store for me.
I had arranged to meet a lovely British-Mexican couple I got to know at the train station for dinner on the beach. When I arrived at the restaurant they weren´t there, but I soon made friends with a nice young man at the next table. His name is John, he´s from New York and is traveling around the world for one year. What shall I say? He´s an American in India! I couldn´t leave him there on his own could I? 
Dolphins and motorcycles
It turned out that John knows how to ride a motorcycle and two days later we were off on a road trip through Goa. It was fantastic! I will never forget the feeling of speeding through rice fields and timy goan villages, with the wind playing in my hair (no helmets) and the feeling of complete freedom and happiness in my heart. I loved it.
We crossed the whole state of Goa in one day – it is not very big – and because it got late ended up spending a night in Palolem. The next day we went out on a fisherboat and saw dolphins, which made me really happy. Goa was a dream. And as much as I missed Sajee and Lassi, I did not for a moment regret that fate had taken me to that little beach.
The last days in a Hindu empire of the past
Time was running out and although I could have stayed in Goa for a loooooong time, I decided to move on. I said goodbye to the beach, the German bakeries and the yoga school on a rooftop from where you could see pigs running around in the fields…and went to Hampi, a magical place in Karnataka, Central South India.
Hampi used to be the capital of a long-gone empire and was deserted in the 17th century. That makes it a quite spooky but beautiful place full of temples and ruins in the middle of a lush valley, surrounded by wonderfully strange rock formations. It really looks like soemthing from a different world. Oh, and there are water buffalos running around everywhere. Or rather pacing leisurely, they are Indian and holy after all…
We spent a lot of time looking at old things, cycling through the fields, climbing mountains and avoiding monkeys. John also used every opportunity for a spot of Bollywood dancing to entertain the locals. I have to say, he was quite good at it. I laughed so much and will miss those days.
Saying goodbye to India
The moment came when I had to get ready to leave and it was not easy at all. First of all, I really got used to India and all the craziness in the two months of my trip and was quite sad to leave the country. Secondly, I got really ill with a fever on the night train to Chennai -on my last day! Means I spent the 16 hour journey sobbing with pain, sitting next to an old Indian lady who didn´t speak any English and patted my knee from time to time. Great.
However, I made it from the train station to the hospital (got some pills), from the hospital to my hotel bed, from the bed to the taxi to the airport and many, many hours later I arrived in Heathrow airport. What a transistion! I was set to get a taxi home to Herne Hill and ready to spend some money on it. It wasn´t prepared for a price of 75 Pounds though!!! When the guy told me this I anted to say “35, no more!” when I remembered that there ain´t no negotiating with a London black cab driver. So it was the Picadilly Line for me in the end. I have to say, it was not bad at all and when I finally arrived in my little corner of London, I went straight into the shop of the flower lady. I wanted to say hello to her dog Chelsea and buy something to cheer me up. She immediately had the right thing for me: “I know what you need darlin´ – You want some nice daffodils!” All this in thick South London accent. I loved being back…
Being all London again
How does life feel after coming back? Was India a life-changing experience for me? Is everything different now? I would say no, not everything. I still went to Kings Road and spent 100 Pound on shoes on my first weekend back – which I considered as a really good start!
Some things are a bit different though… I can now do a headstand and sit in Lotus, my hairdresser said to me “Darling, whatever you did in India, keep doing it – your hair is really strong!”, and I feel generally a bit more relaxed and balanced than I was before the trip. Now that might also be because I just had a two-month holiday… However I think that my Indian experience will continue living inside me and it will take a long time to fully understand what effect it had on me. As Paul Auster writes: Nothing that happens to us is ever lost.
With these closing words, for now, all my love,
Bianca
