The Lord of the Cats

I'd apologise for the lack of updates, but I wouldn't mean it - we've been having the most fantastic time here. I must admit to feeling a twinge of guilt for not having written for so long - and I'm finding this post very hard to write. My creative juices are not flowing well today, sorry folks!

It's amazing how fast time has flown - we've been in Palolem for over a week and it feels as if I've been here forever. We know so many people in the area now, walking through town has become time-consuming - with regular stops every few metres to say hello or wave at someone or have a cup of chai!

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but we were supposed to fly home today. We have since extended our flight and now return home on the 18th September. Palolem has stolen our souls.

We've become really good friends with Dilip, the hotel manager, and Aggie, the owner. I've mentioned Dilip before - he's great - a local lad who started out as a barman at Cozy Nook and is now the manager. He's only a few days younger than me and most of our evenings are spent with him chatting in the restaurant, drinking rum and coke. Aggie is totally unique, he reminds Lydia and I very much of Gandhi. He is a devoted cat lover, and they follow him everywhere - they worship the ground he walks on - Lydia and I call him the Lord of the Cats.

Dilip and Aggie seem to be very taken with us, last night (after a lot of rum and coke!) I asked Dilip why everyone was so good to us here. He told us that it was because we have good hearts - that they could see that as soon as they met us. Everytime Aggie is around he invites us to eat with him - he makes the best tandoori fish and will teach us how to make it. He refuses to let us walk down the beach to stock up on supplies; phoning up the local shops to arrange deliveries of rum and coke and other assorted goodies. He has given us a 100Rs discount on our hut, and the rates won't go up for us. The generosity of the people here leaves me speechless...

We were fortunate enough to witness the Ganesh Festival this week. Ganesh is a Hindu God symbolising good fortune and prosperity. He takes the form of an elephants head with a human body and 4 arms. Dilip invited us to his house for lunch to meet his family, witness their rituals and have lunch with them. We were given flowers to wear in our hair and a red bindi on our forehead (Dilip said I looked like a proper Indian because I have dark hair!), and were invited to sit in their temple next to Ganesh to watch the vision of colour, light and music that is their festival. Afterwards we sat on the floor eating traditional Indian food from a banana leaf using our hands. Fantastic.

But the fun didn't stop there - the Ganesh Festival takes place over a number of days. The families assemble in the evening to bring their statue of Ganesh down to the beach. The ceremony is performed one more time, then the males in the family carry the statue into the sea and immerse it in the water. There must have been over 50 families present, so Lydia and I have visions of people wandering out for a paddle and being very confused by the motley crew of elephants underwater! Dilip had the honour of being the male in the family to carry Ganesh down onto the beach and into the sea. Somehow the whole thing became much more personal to us because we know Dilip...

The other night we headed out to the Sameer Restaurant (best seafood in town!) to watch the big finale. A huge float with a massive statue of Ganesh, and another car with a megaphone and a band playing crawled up the road at about 1mph. Men and women, all in multicoloured outfits, many covered in pink dye were all dancing frantically. When the music stopped, they all cried out for more until it started again. The energy that they put into it was absolutely amazing, the atmosphere was electric and just watching made you want to grin ear-to-ear.

On the beach there were people swirling flaming pois, the band was playing, people were dancing, shouting, laughing - all this punctuated by the boom of fireworks and the screaming laughter of local boys throwing firecrackers at each other. Men and women wandered around bearing silver platters of sliced apple and nadu (a coconut and honey sweet), handing them out to all and sundry.

The sun is shining and I'm going to head back to my hut to sunbathe. I'm sure there are loads of things I've forgotten to mention - but it's always best to save a few stories for when we get home!

Love to one and all, see you when we get home.

Caroline xx