The sweetness of Southern India circuit (Day 1 afternoon and evening) - Kochi (The airport and the Abad Atrium hotel) - The 11th of February 2015

We reached Kochi by early afternoon after having had to stop over at Mumbai international airport and go through quite a few complicated procedures (such as getting through the customs with our collected luggage which had been previously tagged to the final destination and on a bus to the domestic flights terminal). The group members  (nine in total, as apparently someone had given up at the last moment) were to soon meet the guide, Sagar and the bus driver Kadir.


The old  1936 British Residency of the Kingdom of Kochi turned into the Kochi domestic flight airport located at Nedumbassery, about 30 kilometres Northeast of Kochi had a rather interesting colonial-like structure and I couldn't help photographing it as we were waiting for the bagagges to be meticulously arranged at the back of the small bus we would be travelling on.

The Abad Atrium Hotel we would be spending our first night at was about forty kilometres away and as we drove in its direction I saw the first Chinese fishing nets spread across the river - the well known fishing nets most touristic brochures seemed to talk about.

Upon reaching the hotel we were welcome with a jasmine and red rose flower necklace and a cold drink. A very delicious traditional Kerala cuisine dinner was the culmination of the long "ordeal" we had to go through since having left Paris. We were all exhausted and more so those who hadn't been able to relax on the rather long flight to Mumbai (I being among them).

 

 

 

 

 

On my way to Southern India via Paris - The 9th and 10th of February 2015

I left Lisbon on my way to Southern India via Paris, where I was supposed to meet the group I would be travelling with on the 10th. Because I had bought my ticket to Paris well in advance, still unaware of the time of the outgoing flight to Kochi (via Mumbai) I ended up spending a rather desired evening at CDG Comfort Hotel. I had unfortunately caught a cold two days before and didn't seem to get rid of a strong cough. Despite not having any fever I was nevertheless feeling feverish.

 

 

 

 

 

I met Annick (once her husband Claude had a course in the morning through to the early afternoon) at Chatelêt-les-Halles  FNAC by mid morning. We had befriended one another a year earlier during a circuit through Armenia and have developed that friendship since then. Annick and I wandered around the area for a while but because it was freezing cold we ended up getting "refuge" in a rather cosy restaurant around the corner from the Forum, where we had a very delicious menu meal Annick kindly invited me for.

 

 

 

 

 

I had to be back at Roissy airport by four, so as to collect the luggage I had left at the "Baggages du monde" and meet the representative of the agency I had booked the circuit with, so we would soon part vowing to meet again some time. I feel we'll be friends for ever and might eventually try to do some circuit together again in the future. I must confess I was impressed and particularly proud to see her wearing (for the second time) a piece of handicraft I had sent her over Christmas, which because of being made of onion peeling (traditionally hand-made in the Azores) is very fragile.

 

 (Photos kindly sent to me over the New Year by Annick and Claude where Annick can be seen wearing the same piece of handicraft).

 

 

 

 

I soon realised there would be eight people travelling with me and though I managed to identify a couple whose baggages were tagged with " Capitales Tours" it wouldn't be later that we would be able to further identify the other members of the group (to be precise upon our arrival at Kochi airport, the final destination before the official beginning of the circuit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Elly, a film by Asghar Farhadi

 

I bought this 2009 Iranian produced film (with English subtitles) recently, based on the fact that Asghar Farhadi's previous film Separation had been one I fell for.

 

 

Having received several awards and  been nominated several times, this powerfully acted psychological and to a certain extent disturbing drama centered on questions related to what is morally right or wrong and on how one's perception might shift as the story unfolds bringing to the surface secrets and lies and exposing the fragility of group relationship's boundaries, has touched me to the point of having wished it was in English so I could show it and have it discussed in the oral English language development  classes.

"Gripping as sheer storytelling, the plot smoothly raises some unusual moral questions. It touches on masculine honours, on the way a thoughtless laugh can wound someone's feelings (...)".

 

" A mystery thriller of sorts that epitomizes the Sir Walter quote - Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

 

 

"A bitter ending is better than an endless bitterness"... 










 

The theory of everything ...

What an inspiring film !... and what an outstanding performance, especially on the part of the actor who played Stephen Hawking's role, Eddie Redmayne.

"Redmayne towers: this is an astonishing genuinely visceral performance which bears comparison with Daniel Day-Lewis in My left foot", (one of my ever favourite films).

Based on Travelling to infinity: my life with Stephen written by the well known physicist's first wife Jane The theory of everything is not only a biographical film that takes us back into his astrophysics student times through to his first worldwide recognition but also a defiance against all odds in which love has played a major role.

Despite some less appraising critics it is not surprising it has received  several awards and nominations since its release in late 2014 though.

 

 

 I don't think anyone who watched it as Mia and I did yesterday walked out as indifferently as when we walked into that cinema room ...

 

 

 

 

 

" A stirring and bittersweet love story."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The latest book I've read ...

I have just finished reading a rather unique collection of over forty love letters from  a  wide variety of contemporary writers and although I wasn't touched by them all (which was largely expected taking into account the different writing styles) I must confess that I enjoyed it and must give credit to some of the critics, whose opinions led me to buying it. 

I hadn't given it  a thought that the object of one's demonstrative written love could actually go so further beyond what I had imagined as such, but in reading some of the demonstrations of love I realised that virtually anything can be the object of our most inner feelings and that by exteriorising those one may just give them their due justice.

 

Some of the letters were particularly poignant and had me put the book down and rethink some of my personal perspectives on some of the focused issues, whilst some were utterly "unexpected" and had me laughing. 

"A wonderfully varied exercise in creativity ... largely playful and ridiculously enjoyable. A true pleasure." - Guardian

 

 

 

They have brought wit and passion together wit their totally original collection to unleash the romantic in all of us ... May the stars shine on them for resurrecting this delicious, dying custom." - Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joyful moments ...

I hadn't yet looked at the very few photographs I had taken over Christmas and the New Year, once there was an impending medical result we were waiting for then that somehow set the tone during those festivities, whether we wanted to or not, but as I was looking through those yesterday realised that despite the circumstances there were some joyful moments both at my mother's and Carina's.

 

Cats in both households seem to be the ones who apparently didn't "care"...

 

 

On Forbidden lessons in a Kabul guesthouse by Suraya Sadeed

As a young adolescent and particularly when I was living in a boarding school of nuns I studied at we were often handed books on Missions in Africa and other war-torn countries and whenever I read those and what some of the women and men who were on those missions had to go through to either bring comfort or whichever was necessary I used to feel tremendously inspired by what they were doing but also encouraged to do something similar one day and devote my life to others in an unconditional way.

 

 

 

I ended up doing or attempting to do none of that until my eldest daughter unexpectedely passed way and I felt an undescribable urge to overcome a certain inner emptiness (how can something void be so painful) her untimely death brought about ... and I am in no way saying I was not happy with what I still had - all of those around me. The more I read about people who make a difference in people's lives the more I realise that there are quite a few, whose "spiritual journeys" are tied to loss and the need to get through what can be described as painful mourning processes and overcome those in a positive way - as if losing can be transformed into giving ...

 

 

 

"I needed to go to a land of pain and learn how people survived their losses - and by doing so I might learn how to deal with my own trauma dna mend my own hurt" - is what the author of this incredible book said to herself following the loss of her loving husband and upon having embarked on a risky journey to her homeland, Afghanistan, where she ended up making a huge difference in people's lives, especially ones of young adolescent women.

 

 

 

I can't help feeling now that I have finished reading the book that despite the fact that project I have launched in Cape Verde is not comparable to the one Suraya Sadeed is committed to in her homeland, and even if the conditions are totally different there are common aspects, particularly the one which has to do with them both having been launched following loss,  the loss of a beloved one.




"Sadeed's story is gripping and deeply inspirational. The book is a testament to the power of determination, advocating battling extremism with education and investing in human resources as opposed to military actions."