Since Paul and Mary are fairly seasoned third world travelers, I didn't pull any punches on getting them acclimated to India post-haste. For their first day, and while we were waiting for Mom and Dad to arrive from San Fancisco, Devindar took them into Old Delhi, to see Lal Quila and the Jama Masjid. He also innovated on my program a bit and took them to see Akshardham, a Hindu temple in North Delhi that even I haven't made my way to yet. Paul and Mary arrived back at the guest house tuckered out, but already madly in love with India - just the way we wanted it.
That night, I did another 1am airport run with Devindar and picked up Mom and Dad from the airport. After a few hours of sleep, I sent them back out on the town with Devindar, this time to see Humayun's Tomb and Qutub Minar, and to make a run to Aggarwal Lassiwalla - yum! For dinner that night, most of my team met us for dinner at Pind Balluchi and we introduced the 'Rents to punjabi cuisine. It was so much fun to have my two worlds converge a bit. I've some to love all of the personalities on my team; they are unfailingly supportive, generous and interested in you as a person. Mom, Dad, Paul and Mary fit right in and had a blast.
On Saturday morning, we rallied fairly early to head for Cochin, Kerala. Despite the best of intentions, our flight was delayed (of course) and we arrived in Fort Cochin pretty late in the day, with not much time to sightsee. While I think we short-changed it a bit, I still feel as though we got a taste of Fort Cochin and Keralan culture. We attended a kathakali dance performance and had a lovely dinner in Fort Cochin, before heading home to put the jet-lagged crew to bed.
Sunday saw the dawn of a lovely day - bright and sunny. We drove out to Kumarakom to meet our houseboat and were on board by midday. It was fun to finally meet Kence, from EcoTours Kerala - he's quite the character and many Googlers have had their negotiating adventures with him. But, the man runs a good houseboat. The crew took great care of us and made amazing meals throughout our overnight cruise.
I think a cruise through the backwaters is a cure for all ills. There is nothing to do but lean back and watch the water lilies and rice paddies flow by. Life around you all seems idyllic, though I'm sure it's not completely so. I found myself thinking how great it would be to buy a bungalow by the canal and forget about the outside world for a while - a la Gaugin in the South Pacific. A girl can dream, right?
Paul and Mary were in their element and loving every minute. I think Dad too, was pretty swept away by the place. We listened to good music, ate the wonderful food and generally let the world go by. Mom, unfortunately, was nursing Delhi belly in silence, so it took me a while to get her properly medicated and cheerful. But, a boat cruise was probably about the best place we could have been, with nothing to do but relax and hang out.
We returned to Fort Cochin midday on Monday, had a nice lunch and headed out on a flight to Aurangabad and the next leg of our trip - the caves at Ellora and Ajanta.
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