Home and Dry

After all the rain and humidity I’ve had to endure in the last week, getting back into a sunny warm mainland Europe was to say the least, a tremendous relief. The sight of the station sign in a German railway station, with the magic name ‘Plzen’ clearly displayed, told me that I was going to be home in little more than 1 hour.

The trip has ended, a trip that was just a bit too demanding. Although I was feeling very well until just after leaving Kerala, the early morning arrivals and numerous sleep deprived nights had taken their toll. I realise now that getting out of a train as early as 4am is not a good way to begin a day. If I do anything like this again, the arrival time will have to be at least after 9am.

The Sun Temple, Konark, Orrisa

The 2008 monsoon had been a slow starter but when it finally arrived it was a very powerful one. In the early part of the trip I managed to avoid the floods and train delays south of Calcutta. Crossing India to Kerala from the east coast was extremely wet in places but the train arrived in Ernakulam (Cochin) on a bright rainless morning. Apart from a few heavy showers, my stay in Cochin and the days in Alleppey were dry, if not rather hot at times. On reaching Delhi, the rains caught up with me and then the sogginess set in, lasting until the final day in Shimla where everything was drowning under the weight of water falling from the skies. The final week was not at all pleasant for me.

However, the trip as a whole was a success with many high points that will leave me with some good memories. The day spent in Allahabad when I was treated to a tour of the university, the Nehru House and a drive around the countryside. Another memorable day was the tour of places in Orissa such as the Jaganath and Sun Temples, and then to the beach at Puri. My short visit to Madras took me to Fort St George where the British involvement started in India in the early 17th century. And then there was Kerala, the place that welcomes you like an old friend. For many it has all the charms of a tropical island. Even though it is part of the Sub-Continent, it is uniquely different from the rest of India. As I think I promised sometime ago, I have made a short movie about this fascinating Indian State.

So that’s it. If you have any comments to make or would like to know something please use the comments link on this page. The movie above is also on http://www.youtube.com/DelzWorld and I expect I will be adding more movies soon.