Lamu

I rallied north from Mombasa almost to the border with Somalia. At the end of the bus ride, I sailed by dhow on the final leg around the bend to Lamu Island. It seemed as if I had left an Indian island with no cars (Rameswaram) and arrived at another trafficless destination where mules were the only form of transport.

Leaving India

Ship off the Kenyan coast

Photo courtesy: Andrew Thomas — Wikimedia Commons

Three times I’ve left India, (oops, now it’s four, since writing this post) and two of those times were by sea. Firstly, I chugged across the Palk Straight from Rameswaram to Mannar Island, Lanka.

The second sea exit was

Bangalore and Mysore, a muted memory

Bangalore High Court — Photo courtesy: Sniperz11 — Wikimedia Commons

I like the sound of these names. But I remember little about these South Indian cities I visited. Perhaps it was the pace of my third visit to India.

Thank you India

Indian train toilet — Photo courtesy: Loganathan R. — Wikimedia Commons

I spied a photograph on line of a father holding his son as he sat on the window ledge of a train. His pants hung around one shin, the bottom half of his body naked, as he peed down the side of the train.

Mumbai – a different world from the south

Photo courtesy: Aam422 — Wikimedia Commons

I headed north with an empty feeling at leaving the Tamil family whom I will be forever grateful.

Ever had an oil bath?

Gingerly oil

I grew up where summers were sticky and the thirty degree heat didn’t subside even by midnight. If I turned on a tap for a glass of water, the liquid was lukewarm. Arriving in sweltering Rameswarm, you’d assume a seasoned tropical dweller like me didn’t feel the heat, but that wasn’t the case.

My first sight of Buddha earlobes in South India

Photo courtesy: InSapphoWeTrust — Wikimedia Commons

When you’ve never seen a sight in your life before, it’s hard not to stare. That’s what a lot of people did to me when I first arrived in South India so well, it was okay for me to ogle too when I spotted the first woman I’d ever seen with Buddha earlobes.

South Indian masala dosa

I’ve tried making masala dosa but they always turned out the soggiest, floppiest hunk of cooked rice flour you’d ever manage to drop straight into the bin. So naturally, I’m on the look out for a good South Indian restaurant

The magic of South Indian rasam

Photo courtesy: Rameshng — Wikimedia Commons

Whenever I felt “something” coming on, that tummy rumble or slight fever, I nipped into a Rameswaram restaurant and ordered a stainless steel cup of resam.

Rameswaram Sadhus

Photo courtesy: Claude Renault — Wikimedia Commons

Rameswaram offered sadus a livelihood, not that their needs were great.