Sunday, February 24, 2019
Bombay-Cochin
Admission in God’s Own Country, Kerala, for South and Central Asia Fulbright Conference
Namaste from Cochin!
I loved everything about today. I was returning to Kerala after about 10 years and as it was at Cochin that I had made my base the last time, it would be fun to return there.
I awoke at 5.00 am in my little studio in Bandra, Bombay, and began blogging as usual. I kept it short and quick as I had to a lot to do before leaving for the airport at 10.45am for my flight to Kerala. However, having met my friend Sue yesterday, I thought it was high time I tried to reach out to my friend Delilah again (she is in Toronto) and I ended up having almost an hour-long chat with her—during which time she told me all about the treatment of the edema (swelling) that had developed in her ankles after her long and very difficult stint with breast cancer and chemo. The tips she gave me for Russel’s home treatment of the swelling will be invaluable and as soon as I get back from Kerala, I shall try the message techniques and the water therapy that she told me about. I should try to encourage the fluid build-up from the lymph glands to go back into them and be absorbed by the body. Basically, the swelling is the result of lack of movement for so long and, therefore, walking about, just any moving around in general, will be of great help, she said. However, she also said that one had to be patient as it will take 2-3 months to go down. I decided that I would tell Dad all about my conversation with her.
After blogging, I organized some breakfast for myself (muesli and coffee) and did all the last-minute packing I needed to do. Angry with myself (looking back), that I forgot to include the little bottles of gin that I wanted to carry to make cocktails in my room at the hotel—they charge an arm and a leg for them in any five-star hotel in India.
Then I stripped the bedsheet off my bed and the draining pad I use on my kitchen counter and went off to Dad’s to leave them for his Man Friday Rohit to launder (or maybe Satyavati will do it as she will be around for the next few days before she too leaves). I visited with Dad and Russel for about half an hour and conveyed everything that Delilah had told me. We will wait until I return to Bombay to bring the physiotherapist Valerian back and will request him to go easy on the difficultly level of the exercises as Russel is in a different category of patient from the one she is probably accustomed to treating. Meanwhile, Russel’s elbow pain has subsided considerably and he is able to walk around the house with his walker again.
After I left Dad’s, I went home again and cleaned my little studio to make sure it would be clean and tidy when I returned from my travels. I then jumped into the shower to get ready for my departure. By 11.00 am, I walked down, found a rickshaw and told the man to drive me back to my home so that I could pick up my case. With that and my backpack on my back, I was off. I was at the Santa Cruz airport at 11.20 am with plenty of time to get checked in (the line at the Indigo counter was long and winding but moved quite fast) and give them my bag. Then I made my way to the gate where I sat reading as I had downloaded books, magazines and The Times of London on to my IPad (so I have a lot of reading material for the trip). I have begun reading Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman and I am really getting into the novel which is a mystery thriller set in London and, I think, Bora Bora. I have finished almost 100 pages so far and find it very well crafted.
Flight to Kerala: Fabulous Views over Bombay
I have to tell you that as departures from a city go, this was probably one of the best I have ever had! It is next to impossible to get clear pictures of the island of Bombay during takeoffs or landings because it I usually so smoggy (thanks to what people call the pollution) but today, I hit the jackpot. It was gorgeously clear and I am now kicking myself that I focused so much on trying to get pictures, both with my camera and my iPhone, all of which were coming out of focus because, for some reason, my cameras refused to focus—and so I got really lousy pix. I wish I had simply feasted my eyes on our progress down the southern spine of this glorious island as I could have at least preserved those memories.
Anyway, that said, I saw the Bandra SeaLink clearly from above, the Skyscrapers of Worli and its sea face and then I saw the beautiful bay that gave the city its name (Bom Bahia—beautiful bay in Portuguese). There was the short curve of Chowpatty and the lovely beach at Governor’s Point where the Raj Bhavan (home of the Governor of Maharashtra and once home to my lawyer friend Michelle, now in London) could be seen. I also saw the Wankhede Stadium where all the major cricket matches are held today, Cuffe Parade and its skyscrapers and then the southern most point of the Island, Nariman Point and the NCPA. I was just bursting with excitement—almost as much excitement as I have when I am flying over London and spot the landmarks there. This was every bit more exciting because my vantage point, as the aircraft skimmed the coastline, was better than actually flying right over the city. Here, I had perspective—I could see the skeleton of the island to my left outside the window and marvel as how beautiful it looks from that height. I mean take away the slums, the garbage, the lack of civic sense and Bombay is such a beautiful city. My love affair with it is renewed when I see it from these rare perspectives. How lucky I was!
Touchdown in Kerala:
I ate a Chicken Tikka Sandwich for lunch with water (as I had a corporate meal included in my ticket). The sandwich was very good indeed. I did a lot of reading on my flight—I was really getting into my novel. And before I knew it, we were descending as as we lost height, I could see the greenness of the land and knew why Kerala is called God’s Own Country. There were miles of banana groves and coconut plantations and tons of fields as we flew around a river that runs through the whole verdant landscape—so beautiful! Our touchdown occurred a bit later and once we claimed our baggage, there was a Fulbright representative waiting for me to tick our names off a list and lead us to a van that took us to our hotel, an hour away. We passed by loads of churches of different denominations, each one in a very different architectural style, and wonderful flyovers. I also saw a metro system—it is amazing that so many more minor cities than Bombay have excellent underground systems-which makes me wonder why they were sleeping in Bombay for all these decades.
Checking Into Le Meridian:
The Le Meriden Hotel is gorgeous—a five-star hotel if ever I saw one. The lobby is huge and most impressive but I had little time to notice anything as I checked in, got my room keys and the Welcome Kit that Ryan of the Fulbright admin staff handed over to each of us with our name tags. The bag is particularly nice-it is made of sturdy Indian cotton and is reversible (maroon on one side, navy blue on the other). It is one of those unisex crossover bags that would fit everything in, if you were traveling.
Ten minutes later, I was entering my room and enjoying the view of the pool outside my window and of the same river I had seen from the sky. It flows right by the hotel which has extensive property and is really amazing. My room is more like a suite with a lovely sitting area and a grand bathroom. I am only very disappointed with the TV as the cable folks are apparently on strike and there is no CNN or BBC here (I am wondering how I will get any information about the Oscars which are later tonight—that would be tomorrow for me).
I had about a couple of hours to relax in my room so I continued reading my novel and watching Animal Planet and then taking my 20 minute power nap. It was at 7.00 pm that I made my way down to the room assigned for our dinner.
First Informal Fulbright Dinner in Le Meridien Hotel:
We had a lovely time at dinner as I reconnected with a few of the Fulbright friends I have made already in Bombay and met new ones. Fulbright Fellows and scholars like myself have arrived from all over South and Central Asia (as far away as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, etc) to participate in this conference which will begin tomorrow. I surveyed the offerings and was amazed at how huge just the salad counter was. There was also soup (I had wonderful Sweet Corn Chicken Soup) and the main station (where the star, in my opinion, was the creamy Mutton Curry with Keralite spices and coconut milk)—and there was another station where I found grilled fish, freshly prepared baturas for chana batura and amazing little dosas with Keralite vegetable stew in coconut milk that was terrific. I took a few of the above-mentioned things: just a small bite of each as I really did not want to stuff myself. Desert was marvelous crepe brûlée (which actually had a brilliant sugar crust) and a bowl of chocolate ice-cream which was surprisingly good. I enjoyed chatting with Ryan and with Jed and Kelly, a couple that are based in Varanasi and had fascinating stories to tell about the cheeky behavior of the people there, and with a couple from Khazakstan—Sara and Yasha—who told us about their lives there. I am really looking forward to getting to know a lot of new folks at this conference. I also met Huma Ghosh, with whom I had hung out in Goa last month.
At about 9.00 pm, I returned to my room after walking around the hotel and finding the boat pier that would take the graduate Fulbright students to the other wing of Le Meriden hotel which is across the river. Come to think of it, it was probably at that branch of the hotel that I had stayed, the last time I was in Cochin, as this part (where the senior Fellows are staying) is not familiar to me at all.
I did some more reading and tweeted and texted a bit before I called it a night and switched off my light, giving thanks for these incredible travel opportunities I have been given through this terrific Fulbright program.
Until tomorrow...
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