James the Saip

The journey continues South to the tip of India, Kerala. Anyone who has had the prvilege of serving time on an Indian train will understand that the 26 hour journey direct from Goa was testing. With only 4hours to go and with the end in sight I was about to slap a neighbouring Indian, intent of converting me to Christianity. It was none of this nice tea and biscuit Christians you get in Bristo Square on a Sat night, I was explicitly told that I would burn in hell for eternity...after having survived the journey in 3rd class hell didn't seem all that bad.

Needless to say I was glad to arrive into Kollam; essentially the remains of one of the oldest port cities on the Arabian Sea, spices have been traded here for 2 millenia, but little of historical value now remains. I stay just outside the city on Ashtamudi lake, fed by waterways linking backwater villages 50 miles up and down the coast. It is some view to wake up to every morning, and just so I can fulfill every cliche possible, yes I do have fresh coconut for breakfast.

Home

So the MA (Hons) is finally paying off, as I have bagged myself a job in the real world. I run Ashtamudi Villas, a small collection of villas overlooking the lake, extremely comfortable by some of India's notorious tourist standards. And I pretty much have the run of the place to myself...assisted by my trusty Indian sidekick Sachu, who is force feeding me Malayalam - the local Keralan - dialect and has demanded that I attain fluency by the time I leave in six weeks.

Sachu - My partner in crime

Work isn't necessarily work in any real sense of the word, I seem to haved fill a pretty versatile role in the last 10 days including photographer, graphic designer and marketing strategist. I insist I have no experience in any of this, but as I am quickly learning...in India you merely need to talk the talk! So whilst I have various things on the go, I am generally left to my own devices for much of the day, such is the pace of life here. It is somewhat paradoxical as whilst most of India at first glance seems completely chaotic without any sense of order, underneath this maniac appearance is a calm approach to life with little sense of urgency; I was physically forced to take a siesta on my first day...no one has needed to remind me since!

I have in turn become a 'saip' which in Malayalam means white man, it's not uncomming to hear children screaming saip at me from across the road or people excalim 'saip' when I walk into a local dhaba. I have been assured that it's all friendly, but either way I'm stuck with it

Kollam is a great start to it all...there are further plans in the pipeline already which will be revealed in due course. In the meantime, all the best to everybody back home.