So I finally left Palolem.
To be honest I was ready to leave after three weeks. I loved my yoga teacher there though she was great and I was really starting to get the hang of it so I thought I would stay with her a bit longer. I was sad on my last day, saying goodbye to all the friends I had made but I knew it was time. I was ready for the next chapter in 'My Story of India'.
I went for dinner with Dinesh and his wife Poojah the night before I left. They are both so lovely and have been very good to me. Dinesh bless him called me today to make sure I'm ok and settled in in my new place in Agonda.
We had a lovely meal we went for an Italian. Dinesh said he is fed up to his back teeth of curry because he eats it three times a day, every day of the year ha ha funny.
The restaurant is really beautiful and very Italian, lovely little tables with checked table cloths and old ladies walking around in aprons covered in flour waving their arms around. The owner is a very handsome Italian man very tall and broad. I was enjoying the view and reminiscing about my holiday to Italy a few years ago when 2 dogs came galloping into the restaurant and started fighting right next to us.
I tell you what I am half tempted to go into Chaudi and buy an AK47 because I am so fed up of the bloody dogs. Then another dog that was sat under one of the tables decided to get involved and I couldn't hear a word that Dinesh was saying over the racket. There was saliva and flees flying every where it was canine carnage in there.
Then once the owner had wrestled them out of the restaurant screaming and swearing at them in his best Italian, (I was thinking do you kiss your mother with that mouth) a cow walks in LOL, I couldn't believe it. there I was with a mouth full of mozzarella turn around because I can hear some daft bell ringing and there is a huge black cow with huge black eyes staring right at me.
I mean can you imagine enjoying your dinner in TGI' Fridays and a cow walks in past the useless pratt at the door in his red and white striped top and black knee supports and waddles up to your table with a piece of grass hanging out its trap!!
I just laughed and laughed and couldn't stop. The owner was stroking her and cuddling her and I just thought once again that in my next life I am coming back as a cow, but a cow in India of course not in the west because I would end up in between two pieces of bread in the west without a moments hesitation.
On Saturday Dinesh picked me up from Parvati and drove me to Agonda, he was an hour late and I have began to realise that Indian is on the same kind of time as Jamaica, very chilled very relaxed and always late.
I'm not bothered though I can be were ever at what ever so no problem. It is nice when you finally slow down and start to relax into the local pace of life and now i don't know what day it is or what time it is because I never look at my watch apart from first thing in the morning so I don't miss my yoga class.
Dinesh organised my accommodation for me in Agonda. The owner of Bio Veda is a friend of his so I got a good deal. I have a lovely bungalow by the beach, bigger and brighter than my one in Palolem and its cheaper. Also Bio Veda is an Ayurvedic treatment centre so I planned to book my self some treatments and find another yoga teacher.
Once I had un packed all my stuff I took a stroll through the village. My first stop was Reshma's the chai shop i found the 1st time I visited Agonda. The lovely lady Esperita came running out when she saw me and walked me in chattering away about the cake she had made because I said I was coming on Saturday. I really love that little cafe. I don't know what it is, it is just a tiny little place with 3 tables and a tiny kitchen curtained off but it has so much feeling in there I just feel like I have been there before, it is just so homely and rustic and welcoming.
There is a little alter on the wall with a crucifix and candles that are burning all day and night. The tables are small with pretty tablecloths and tiny china cups and saucers.To be honest it reminds me of all the little cafes I loved in Greece. I spent years in Greece and I love the Greek people especially the older generation. It is lovely when you head up to the mountains and go into these old tavernas and they are little run down places but the food is amazing and Ya Ya (grandmother) is out in the kitchen cooking the food she has cooked there forever, well Reshma's has that feel about it.
Espaerita starts her day every morning with 6.30am mass in the village church and every evening when I go for my dinner Her and her husband Fernandez are praying under the alter. I love that about India I love the way the people love God. I think England has lost that over the years. So many of the people I know, grew up with and have worked with have no faith at all. They don't believe in God or Karma or Jesus or Buddha anything. It seems so strange to me and I cant imagine how lonely that must feel but I have always had my faith so I cant imagine my life without God.
For the last few days I have been there for breakfast lunch and dinner. For breakfast I have oatmeal which is 25 rupees which is about 35p. I have been having prunes in my oatmeal which is delicious but (and I'm sure you really want to know this) I am having the prunes because i am bloody constipated. I must be the only person ever to come to India and suffer with constipation. Where is this Delhi Belly I had been warned about, I was told I would be on the squat loo all day and would be as thin as a stick in a week. Well I am obviously not getting enough bacteria inside me because i have not had one minute of sickness of any sort and I am definitively not as thin as a stick!!!
For lunch I usually have masala chai which is tea with cinnamon and clove and nutmeg and milk and sugar which I can not believe I like but I do and one of Esperita's home made veg patti's. For dinner i have vegetarian Thali's. Thalis is amazing I love it. Thalis is served on a metal tray, 6 small metal bowls are on the tray and are filled with 6 different vegetarian Indian specialties. Usually there is dahl and a veg curry, salad and okra in spicey gravy and today there were white beans and cauliflower in turmeric and chilli and also you get a heap of rice on the tray and a poppadom and all that is 60rupees, 83p cheap as chips!!!!
I love the food and while I'm eating they both sit there watching me smiling asking me if I'm ok and if I need more, they are so so nice I know I will be with them everyday
I asked them if they knew what time mass was at the church in the village and they said 9am Sunday morning, also they told me that 35 children from the village were doing their Holy communion and they invited me along and because a member of their family was one of the children doing their communion they were having a party at their family home so they very kindly invited me to that too.
I was nervous about going along and i thought to my self i would have usually knocked back a couple of gins before doing something like that but I have decided I want to stay sober for my six months in India, I want to enjoy every second and to be present in every moment and to remember every detail. So along I went to the church sober as a judge.
It was a wonderful service even though I didn't have a clue what was being said I could feel the love in the atmosphere between the people. The proud parents watching their children take such an important step in their spiritual life and the Love they all shared for God.
I cried when I saw all of the children, the girls in their pretty white dresses and veils and the boys with their shiny shoes and smart trousers. Each child spoke some words of devotion I expect on the microphone in front of a packed church and I felt so happy watching them.
After the service we all made our way out of the church. Each family went back to their homes for their own family prayers and celebrations. I was the only westerner at the home of Fernandez and Esperita. Everybody stared at me but there was kindness in their eyes and smiles.
Esperita read scriptures from the Bible and then the Bible was passed around to various people in the family and then finally to the young girl that was taking her Communion. I was so impressed with how she read, she must have only have been 10yrs old, but she spoke well, strong and looked around in the eyes of her audience as she spoke. Then songs were sang and not knowing the words I just rocked back and forth in time with everyone else and I knew how honoured I was to be here in a home sharing this wonderful celebration.
We ate lots of lovely food and cake and laughed and joked and a few ladies spoke English and slowly they would make there way over to me and make conversation. I didn't take any photographs it didn't feel right to just pull the camera out and start sticking it in peoples faces.
Now I'm not saying I wish I had left Palolem sooner but I do wish I had more time here In Agonda. I love the Church and the village and most of all the closeness between the local people. Agonda is a special place and I hope some day I will come back.
To be honest I was ready to leave after three weeks. I loved my yoga teacher there though she was great and I was really starting to get the hang of it so I thought I would stay with her a bit longer. I was sad on my last day, saying goodbye to all the friends I had made but I knew it was time. I was ready for the next chapter in 'My Story of India'.
I went for dinner with Dinesh and his wife Poojah the night before I left. They are both so lovely and have been very good to me. Dinesh bless him called me today to make sure I'm ok and settled in in my new place in Agonda.
We had a lovely meal we went for an Italian. Dinesh said he is fed up to his back teeth of curry because he eats it three times a day, every day of the year ha ha funny.
The restaurant is really beautiful and very Italian, lovely little tables with checked table cloths and old ladies walking around in aprons covered in flour waving their arms around. The owner is a very handsome Italian man very tall and broad. I was enjoying the view and reminiscing about my holiday to Italy a few years ago when 2 dogs came galloping into the restaurant and started fighting right next to us.
I tell you what I am half tempted to go into Chaudi and buy an AK47 because I am so fed up of the bloody dogs. Then another dog that was sat under one of the tables decided to get involved and I couldn't hear a word that Dinesh was saying over the racket. There was saliva and flees flying every where it was canine carnage in there.
Then once the owner had wrestled them out of the restaurant screaming and swearing at them in his best Italian, (I was thinking do you kiss your mother with that mouth) a cow walks in LOL, I couldn't believe it. there I was with a mouth full of mozzarella turn around because I can hear some daft bell ringing and there is a huge black cow with huge black eyes staring right at me.
I mean can you imagine enjoying your dinner in TGI' Fridays and a cow walks in past the useless pratt at the door in his red and white striped top and black knee supports and waddles up to your table with a piece of grass hanging out its trap!!
I just laughed and laughed and couldn't stop. The owner was stroking her and cuddling her and I just thought once again that in my next life I am coming back as a cow, but a cow in India of course not in the west because I would end up in between two pieces of bread in the west without a moments hesitation.
On Saturday Dinesh picked me up from Parvati and drove me to Agonda, he was an hour late and I have began to realise that Indian is on the same kind of time as Jamaica, very chilled very relaxed and always late.
I'm not bothered though I can be were ever at what ever so no problem. It is nice when you finally slow down and start to relax into the local pace of life and now i don't know what day it is or what time it is because I never look at my watch apart from first thing in the morning so I don't miss my yoga class.
Dinesh organised my accommodation for me in Agonda. The owner of Bio Veda is a friend of his so I got a good deal. I have a lovely bungalow by the beach, bigger and brighter than my one in Palolem and its cheaper. Also Bio Veda is an Ayurvedic treatment centre so I planned to book my self some treatments and find another yoga teacher.
Once I had un packed all my stuff I took a stroll through the village. My first stop was Reshma's the chai shop i found the 1st time I visited Agonda. The lovely lady Esperita came running out when she saw me and walked me in chattering away about the cake she had made because I said I was coming on Saturday. I really love that little cafe. I don't know what it is, it is just a tiny little place with 3 tables and a tiny kitchen curtained off but it has so much feeling in there I just feel like I have been there before, it is just so homely and rustic and welcoming.
There is a little alter on the wall with a crucifix and candles that are burning all day and night. The tables are small with pretty tablecloths and tiny china cups and saucers.To be honest it reminds me of all the little cafes I loved in Greece. I spent years in Greece and I love the Greek people especially the older generation. It is lovely when you head up to the mountains and go into these old tavernas and they are little run down places but the food is amazing and Ya Ya (grandmother) is out in the kitchen cooking the food she has cooked there forever, well Reshma's has that feel about it.
Espaerita starts her day every morning with 6.30am mass in the village church and every evening when I go for my dinner Her and her husband Fernandez are praying under the alter. I love that about India I love the way the people love God. I think England has lost that over the years. So many of the people I know, grew up with and have worked with have no faith at all. They don't believe in God or Karma or Jesus or Buddha anything. It seems so strange to me and I cant imagine how lonely that must feel but I have always had my faith so I cant imagine my life without God.
For the last few days I have been there for breakfast lunch and dinner. For breakfast I have oatmeal which is 25 rupees which is about 35p. I have been having prunes in my oatmeal which is delicious but (and I'm sure you really want to know this) I am having the prunes because i am bloody constipated. I must be the only person ever to come to India and suffer with constipation. Where is this Delhi Belly I had been warned about, I was told I would be on the squat loo all day and would be as thin as a stick in a week. Well I am obviously not getting enough bacteria inside me because i have not had one minute of sickness of any sort and I am definitively not as thin as a stick!!!
For lunch I usually have masala chai which is tea with cinnamon and clove and nutmeg and milk and sugar which I can not believe I like but I do and one of Esperita's home made veg patti's. For dinner i have vegetarian Thali's. Thalis is amazing I love it. Thalis is served on a metal tray, 6 small metal bowls are on the tray and are filled with 6 different vegetarian Indian specialties. Usually there is dahl and a veg curry, salad and okra in spicey gravy and today there were white beans and cauliflower in turmeric and chilli and also you get a heap of rice on the tray and a poppadom and all that is 60rupees, 83p cheap as chips!!!!
I love the food and while I'm eating they both sit there watching me smiling asking me if I'm ok and if I need more, they are so so nice I know I will be with them everyday
I asked them if they knew what time mass was at the church in the village and they said 9am Sunday morning, also they told me that 35 children from the village were doing their Holy communion and they invited me along and because a member of their family was one of the children doing their communion they were having a party at their family home so they very kindly invited me to that too.
I was nervous about going along and i thought to my self i would have usually knocked back a couple of gins before doing something like that but I have decided I want to stay sober for my six months in India, I want to enjoy every second and to be present in every moment and to remember every detail. So along I went to the church sober as a judge.
It was a wonderful service even though I didn't have a clue what was being said I could feel the love in the atmosphere between the people. The proud parents watching their children take such an important step in their spiritual life and the Love they all shared for God.
I cried when I saw all of the children, the girls in their pretty white dresses and veils and the boys with their shiny shoes and smart trousers. Each child spoke some words of devotion I expect on the microphone in front of a packed church and I felt so happy watching them.
After the service we all made our way out of the church. Each family went back to their homes for their own family prayers and celebrations. I was the only westerner at the home of Fernandez and Esperita. Everybody stared at me but there was kindness in their eyes and smiles.
Esperita read scriptures from the Bible and then the Bible was passed around to various people in the family and then finally to the young girl that was taking her Communion. I was so impressed with how she read, she must have only have been 10yrs old, but she spoke well, strong and looked around in the eyes of her audience as she spoke. Then songs were sang and not knowing the words I just rocked back and forth in time with everyone else and I knew how honoured I was to be here in a home sharing this wonderful celebration.
We ate lots of lovely food and cake and laughed and joked and a few ladies spoke English and slowly they would make there way over to me and make conversation. I didn't take any photographs it didn't feel right to just pull the camera out and start sticking it in peoples faces.
Now I'm not saying I wish I had left Palolem sooner but I do wish I had more time here In Agonda. I love the Church and the village and most of all the closeness between the local people. Agonda is a special place and I hope some day I will come back.
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