Saturday, December 26

 

 

We woke up early and were just about to have breakfast when Molly and her son arrived to do the weekly cleaning. We carried on and they carried on, both parties engaged in what Culture Smart India, a guidebook that I have been reading, calls the Indian habit of “looking without seeing”.

At 12:30 Ani arrived with his rickshaw and we drove to Hawah beach. We walked along and now we have ducked down a small alley, turned right into an even smaller alley, gone to the end and turned left, and arrived at Kovalam Surf Club shop. We chat for some time and buy a couple of shirts, and then we retrace our steps to the beach and walk along to Leo. Naa has a massage with Biju and I have one with Anu, so off we go.

Afterwards we will walk along to see Uday working in his shop, which he shares with a couple of other tailors. We will chat with him for some time before ordering some bags as gifts.

We will spend the rest of the afternoon walking up and down the beach looking for the restaurant where the tandoori chef from Leo now works. We won’t find it, but the heat will be intense and we will feel dehydrated so we will stop at Leo for some water and a glass of beer before phoning Ani to fetch us.

We will be so ennervated from the heat that we will all go to bed before 21:00.