If you can’t stand the heat, head up to the tea plantations

A friend who’s traveled around this region thoroughly recommended the tea plantation town of Munnar. I threw caution to the wind, and unraveled some carefully planned travel bookings and swapped some city days for heading up to this hill station.  From all corners of India, the British cultivated beautiful tea plantations and destinations for those who want to escape the steamy heat of the plains.  The 6 hour bus trip up here was incredible, slowly climbing the Western Ghats and taking hair pin bends with great precision. And a good test of vertigo as we climbed higher and higher! 

Bless me

This is normally uttered in response to a sneeze, but not on this trip.  I hired an auto driver to take me around the surrounding villages of Madurai before I heading into the incredible Meenakshi temple in the evening.  After walking past a tiny temple I was ushered into what was my first Sri Baba temple. A large family were celebrating the dad’s birthday and I’m really not quite sure how this happened but I was suddenly festooned with a huge garland and a temple hat. Then I’m blessed and asked to bless the whole family separately with a metal stick. So I proceed to knight all of them and then packed off with the temple offerings of a packet of biscuits (which will come in handy on my long trip tomorrow) and a laminated Sri Baba money note saying as a follower I’ll get prosperity and wealth!    Very peculiar, so I left and popped the hat in my bag, the garland at the front of the auto and waved as I drove past very bemused....

I’m a government ticket inspector

In all my years of travelling in India I’ve never got off a bus to be met by government ticket inspectors. The problem is the bus ticket is so teeny weeny I’ve no idea where it is and what’s not helping is both the ticket inspector and the bus ticket guy are just chanting “ticket”, whilst a large group of auto drivers have gathered round to watch. Despite the threat of a 500 rupee fine I can’t locate my tiny ticket, but manage to tut enough to get the fine reduced to 100 rupees... what a warm welcome to Madurai!

No meat, no booze, no plate, no cutlery

Coming to India is my detox, it feels easy to give up on what I’m used to indulging. So firstly no meat .... Hindus are strict vegetarians, and most times there’s not a meat or non-veg option. Plus the food is so delicious who needs meat? Then there’s the booze. Shocking as it may seem, I’ve really cut down, so a month without booze will be good, and it’s often more difficult to find, as most of the population, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, are totally tea total. 

Then no plate, this doesn’t happen all the time, but great when your food is served on a banana leaf. Here in the south it happens more, and I tend to eat at more local restaurants. Hence no cutlery ... it’s a challenge to only eat with your right hand, but it makes you savour your food more.  Can’t lie, I’m relieved when I’m given a spoon! 

Bonjour Madam

The French left Pondicherry in 1954, but there are still many left over quirks. Some police wear red pill  box helmets with pride, along with their long riffles. The old crumbing French quarter is dotted with coffee stalls, and you can head to French bakeries to get exquisite pastries. It’s like a little colonial oasis, just as when you arrive in Laos, and are greeted with the opportunity to eat tasty baguettes and drink great coffee, offering a momentary respite from rice and chai. The old French buildings here are often mustard and white coloured and beautiful bougainvillea add a sweet scent and vivid colour. There’s arty cafes for the tourists and a mixture of churches, mosques and Hindu temples, along with the diminishing sea front, as the beach is receding and blocked with large concrete blocks, to slam the sea back out again. 

You’ll most likely to be greeted in French, as I reply with a very rusty “bonjour”. And I’m off in search of a great masala dosa! 

Are you going to India to find yourself?

There’s something about travelling in India that makes people think you’re either running away from something or going to discover yourself (as I was joking asked after a work meeting recently). I honesty think that I’ve done the most discovery about me over my last three years settling in Cornwall.  There has been both challenge and really changing times, more than choosing where I’ll have a thali in the evening! And I don’t think London Sarah would recognise Cornwall Sarah, enjoying sea swimming, walking coastal paths and making the most of what’s on my door step. That’s change! 

Here in India you are challenged daily on a different level, frustration when things so slightly wrong, or you’re bogged down with beurocracy.  I was absolutely unable to book another train to replace the one I had booked on and was unable to take due to my flight change.  On Saturday every train was full with a wait list - that was frustrating. There’s 1.2 billion people here and so it’s never really quiet, so I took the bus.