TEA FOR SIX AND WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA

Well, a few more days have passed and more adventures. Strange times! This is an extraordinary country. Every day holds new challenges, excitements, discoveries, insights.

Yesterday I set off on a two-day trip to Munnar, a city in the mountains on the border of Tamil Nadu famous for its tea plantations. Well, you know what I am going to say: it was stunning.

We were picked up at 6.30am for a fuor hour journey accross Kerala. The scenery was, as is usual now, just wonderful and the chance to see more of this state (Kerala means 'Land of Coconuts', BTW) was invaluable. Its like a world apart from Karnataka. Its developed, prosperous, well-organised and, most importantly, the people are HAPPY. It lacks any pretention though and feels, as I said before, like a Mediterranean country - Italy, Greece or Turkey. The houses look sturdy and well-built and modern as well as comfy. Life must be good in Kerala.

We arrived at the old plantation house at about 10.30/11. It was a beautiful little blue cottage overlooking a deep valley. The view was breathtaking, the landscape lush and green, the atmosphere tranquil but joyous and the air so pure it might a wonderful break from the cough-inducing air of the cities (more on this cough later). I was billetted in a tree house on my own overlooking the valley. It was lovely. We all felt a huge AHHHHH of relief. I could well imagine British colonials loving living here - beautiful scenery, calm, fresh fruit, lots of money and plenty of cheap labour. I thought of Paul Scott's STAYING ON about Brits who decided to stay in post-independence India. It must have been very easy to fall in love with this place and never want to leave. Who would want to?

I have said 'We'. I was with a disparate group of other travellers: two Taiwanese and one Chinese student who had been doing Aid Work in Bangalore (with the strangely un-Chinese names Ben, Heather and Tiffany)and an elderly Muslim couple, the Vawdas, who had lived in the UK since the sixties. We got on wonderfully and by the end of the 24hour stay for some reason we all felt we had got to know each other really well.

Heather and Tiffany were both studying Business in Beijing and Taiwan respectively. Ben was a vet, the Vawdas were retired and were spending their time travelling the world. Both were utterly charming, Mr Vawda in particular was a real delight to know. Both had been on the Hajj, the Pilgrimage to Mecca which makes up one of the Five Pillars of Islam and told fascinating stories about what Saudi Arabia was like and what the experience of standing before the Kaaba was. I had happened upon a programme on my Hotel TV which showed footage of Pilgrims praying in the Kaaba and was astounded by the powerful mystical atmosphere there - the sheer scale, the perfection of the architecture, the silence mixed with the sound of the Koran recited over the PA, the people perambulating the Cube. Whatever one's problems with Islam (and I have a few, as I have with most religions), what was going on here seemed like nothing else, so I was keen to ask them about it. They talked eloquently about the awe the place inspired but also the regimented nature of Saudi restrictions on Pilgrims. The conversation, which was over dinner, moved onto religion in general, racism, the world's conflicts. Mr Vawda spoke movingly and with real sensitivity about the problems within Islam, how the best way was probably to come at it from the outside and really investigate it and how although he felt strongly about the value of Islam, it was in a mess at the moment and needed putting right. THey also spoke about what it was like coming to England in the 60s and seeing the change in attitudes since then. They were wonderful people and put the lie to You Know Who's assertion that most religious people think like Gerry Fallwell, Osama Bin Laden or the Ayatollah Khomenei.

The Chinese and Taiwanese students were every bit as charming and fascinating. We spoke a lot about their countries and ours, different cultures (one made the comment 'If you view the world as cultures, its rich and wonderful. If you view it as politics, its full of strife and violence' which struck me as rather brilliantly put). There was the occasional bout of tension between the Chinese student and one of the Taiwanese but otherwise they were all lovely. We all six of us went elephant-riding, motorboating and drove through the breathtaking tea-fields. I had never seen a tea-field, and the landscape was like a kind of alien one. Workers worked in the rows picking leaves. One of the Taiwanese students went to take a picture of one and I thought 'Uh oh! She won't like being taken a picture of!' but was astonished when the tea-picker looked up, adjusted her hat, smoothed back her hair (spruced herself up, basically) and struck a few suitabe tea-picking poses. These are the Keralans all over. Warm and friendly, with a great sense of humour and seemingly happy. When I remember the suffering I saw on the faces of the equivalent in Karnataka I couldn't help noticing the difference.

We sat on the roof of the plantation and watched the light fade and then had the meal that involved all the high-powered discussion. Again, it seemed to prove what I said earlier that people who come to India from outside tend to be interesting people. They are interested in cultures, ideas, landscapes. Everyone I have met here has come to enlarge the mind.

A strange feature of Kerala I have seen so far is its predominantly Christian character. I have seen a few Mosques (including a pink one which surprised even Mr Vawda) and two or three Hindu Temples but endless churches, some Syriac, some Protestant, some Catholic and all, as they become more recent, heavily influenced by the Hindu style of architecture. It feels like the Indians do Christianity in a much more positive way than us.

At one point I stepped into a Syrian Church having never seen one. A priest appeared with an interesting beard. I expected some mystical statement or benediction and instead got what you get whenever you meet anyone new here "What country are you from, sir?". Collecting countries, its called, as I think I said. When you think about it its rather wonderful and very friendly. You are interesting, they want to know you, know who you are, what your country is like. Its very welcoming. I don't know where else I have encountered it.

The cough came in this morning. I have been coughing since I came from India, largely thanks to the pollution but at the school because of the dust on the hill. This morning I woke up feeling like death. At breakfast the others all asked if I was ok (they were wonderfully supportive) and suggested I forgo the trip to the Tea Factory (wahay!) and rest. I did and went through another 'death and rebirth' experience. I felt much better when I got up. But I know I have to be careful, learn to pace myself. I still have a long time to go out here and I need to take time out and keep my health intact. So rest tonight and then hopefully a week of lounging by the pool and sea in Varkala as of tomorrow.

I will really miss Heather, Tiffany, Ben and the Vawdas. They made the trip very special. Wonderful people - intelligent, cultured, fun. I hope they read this and feel my blessings! An old friend of mine once spoke about the experience of going on a pilgrimage, how it involved travel on one's own but how one also fell in with other pilgrims, journeyed with them, travelled a little way together, learnt much and then parted into solitary travel again. Now I know what he means. This has already been a special time with every day providing interesting new encounters and fascinating people.

It is exhausting though, and I have to take it easy and look after my health. I can't wait for that beach...

One other side-product of this trip: I am reading fiction again. For the last two years I have only been reading history, Mysticism, philosophy, Science and fell out of the habit of reading novels. Here, that has changed and I have read two wonderful books - Murakami's NORWEGIAN WOOD, which I loved and R K Narayan's WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA which I finished today while I was resting. I don't know if you know Narayan, but he is one of India's greatest post-Independence writers. I've read a lot of his but this is the best. It deals with a young Indian in Tamil Nadu who becomes involved with Gandhi during the struggle for Independence because he wants to marry one of his entourage. He ends up becoming a disciple, then an activist and then a prisoner of the British during WW2. I won't tell you what happens, whether he gets the girl, but it is a beautiful book - funny, eccentric, charming, moving, deeply serious and epic. I can heartily recommend it!

And on that note - I am going to my room to rest! Wish me better!