25th February 2012

A mixture of emotions assails one at the end of anything: a kaleidoscope of visual memories and the clamour of sounds experienced, especially on a tour such as this. The sheer diversity of the sights and sounds of firstly Sri Lanka, then Tamal Nadu, which really is so different to the rest of India, especially the temples, was over powering at times. The discomforts of travel and heat make you wonder why you don't just go to Butlins ( or Centre Parc if you're posh!) instead. But you look back, and know that it was inspiring, exciting and worthwhile. However at this stage you know it's going to be over soon, and in some ways you just want to get going on the journey and get home as quickly as possible, craving familiarity. Our last evening in this luxurious 5 star hotel with the air conditioning: Egyptian cotton sheets on a sumptuously soft king size bed and the most fantastic shower we have ever used (which had a clear window that looked directly into the room, so you could lie in bed and and watch each other take a shower if that is what you wanted to do) should have been the most restful. It was for Elia, as he was further down the corridor, and for Geoff, as he'd finished off the last of the red wine and countrau before going to bed. Savi slept, as she was feeling better and not in so much pain as the medicines were beginning to work. All well for an hour, then the noise of music, laughter and drunken loud whoos, yaaar yaaar and baleeeeys started in the next room. Who begrudges people having a good time? No-one for a while, but when you're ill and have to get up at 4am to get to the airport and have a day's travel ahead of you? Tolerance plummeted to zero for Savi. Reception were helpful in sending security up: blessed peace reined for 10 minutes then it all started again. This cat and mouse game of stopping when they were asked to, then starting as soon as they'd gone went on until 3am! The Duty Manager was apologetic and reduced our bill somewhat, but the irony (being kind here) of moving us from the hotel we were booked into because they thought it would be too noisy because of a wedding there, into this one, then putting wedding guests into the room next to ours was not lost. Elia went back to Birmingham via Dubai, probably wondering what he'd let himself in for when he asked to come on this tour, and Geoff and Savi back to Navsari in the Gujarat, for another two weeks. We had over 6 hours to wait for our train connection, so for £25 we hired a car and driver for 5 hours, who took us to some of the sights. First stop was a temple, and as we alighted, we wondered if we could face yet another one. But that's the beauty of things if you take a chance you often get lucky. The Krishna Conscienceness Centre could not have been any more different than the ones in the South. A lovely, articulate old gentleman took us around a little museum of Prabha, who had been the founder of this movement. In 1972, at the age of 70 years he went to New York with very little money helped young men and women who were trying to come off drugs. Now there are over 500 centres around the world.


Juhu beach was hot, with a nice breeze, enjoyed by the locals until the evening thronging of snack holders and entertainers wait for the sun to go down and swoop to enjoy the delights.


Jamuna, who after years of putting up being beaten and robbed of her day's meagre earnings, threw her drunken husband out. People ask me why I am with this tall, debonair handsome white man, and when I tell them our story, I invariably get their stories. We are getting dab hands at navigating trains now, and the journey to Navsari passed quickly, as we plugged ourselves into dual headphones to watch "West is West " on the iPad. It is a follow on from "East is East" and we both thought, even better. We were so pleased to get to Dani's place, but as we stepped over the tile floor noticed that someone seemed to be bringing muck inside. No, the whole place was coated with a thick layer of dust! It seems to get in, however you seem to close things up. Dusters and a bucket and mop were wielded, before we fell with exhaustion into bed! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad25th February

Location:Navsari, Gujarat