Sunday 17 Jan

Alexis is gone by 4 am. We've said our goodbyes the previous night. He was my first colleague here in the volunteers' house. He made an excellent impression and was a very positive and kind influence on everyone. His absence is tangible.

I head off to Mass at St Anne's and meet up with the sisters afterwards for coffee. Sr. Mercy is actually very poorly and only comes down near the end of my visit. She has a streaming head cold and is feeling wretched. In spite of the positive meeting yesterday, the sheer burden of the whole unsavoury situation at Cheru Resmi is taking its toll. In many ways, I am not at all surprised. I give her a hug and slope off promptly as I have a 10.30 Ayurvedic session.

The team are waiting for me, smiling and encouraging. Rajani (L) is the senior therapist and Ambika is a close runner up. Priya is the short stop in many ways, she does a lot of the skivvy work like heating up the oils and keeping the materials at the ready. Sheela (R) is the pharmacist. They all have a LOT more English than I at first realised and are now happy to use it and learn more new words. They teach me some Malayalam as well. We become good friends.

I will try not to overdo the descriptions of the treatments, but for the sake of curiosity, I will cover them one by one over the next few postings. If you are not keen on this, please feel free to skip.

NASYAM is the first, it involves a short massage of oils into the neck, shoulders, upper chest and face, followed by "sudation" which is the repeated fanning of a cloth dipped in boiling water over the massaged area to make it sweat. Next step is to dribble 5-10 drops of medicated oil in to each nostril with patient inhaling deeply and therapist rubbing the sinuses. Then comes the rather unseemly but very necessary "evacuation" of the post-nasal discharge. This can be extremely productive and after 15 minutes activity leaves the nasal passages admirably clear. Under the circumstances, I find it rather comforting to hear other people snorting and spitting in other parts of the clinic and it takes my mind off the rather anti-social nature of the therapy.

As a general observation, a lot of spitting goes on in public in Kerala and nobody takes any notice. I can't help but think of China and Hong Kong and all the anti-spitting signs we used to see in the 80s when I lived there. Spitting is pretty much a thing of the past in HK now and China was making strides that way. India shows no sign of eradicating the practice.

I am home by 2.30 and today I do take a rest. I have a small visitor, Gaius, whose Dad is the Pentecostal pastor who ministers to a small community in Babu's house. Gaius is 4 and a real urchin, he pops into my room (when it's unlocked) to read my books and fiddle with my things - he loves the wind up torch and the magnifying glass. He and his little brother don't seem to have any toys and so I try to make some fun stuff available for them when I am around.

Plan was to go on a drive this afternoon but this is put on hold, as we are waiting to meet Cara's parents. Yes! We have just discovered to our amazement that Cara's Mum and Dad have accompanied her to Trivandrum. Cara met up with Babu at the airport on her own and didn't mention anything till today. Her M & D are popping around shortly to meet us and check out the accommodation. They arrive at about 4 and we chat about a whole variety of topics. Basically Cara's Mum was concerned about the set up here and her Dad was quite interested in exploring the business scene in Kerala. They have found my blog and are interested to meet me (I am duly flattered). I think Babu and I do a pretty good job of reassuring them and they soon make their way back to their hotel.

Just as the sun is going down we set off to drive to Lake Vellanballi, a local beauty spot. It's too late to get many interesting pictures but the sight of large fruit bats over the open water is worth it.

I must say, I do get a bit frustrated with the unstructured approach to time here in Kerala. We miss good opportunities waiting around for other people whose last minute needs come to usurp any other careful planning. Babu is responsible for a lot of the slippage and I keep reminding him that in pleasing one or two people he is displeasing others including himself. It is always about priorities!