December 10th – 12th
After three weeks of eating the subtle combinations of South Indian spices seven of us travelled over the western Ghats to Tamil Nadu stopping en route for another early morning safari and for a short excursion to a spice plantation. it was not always easy to photograph the spices but here are a few shots.
Within the spice plantations are areas where coffee is also harvested – here a cluster of green beans.
We had become aware that Indians are thoroughly educated to understand the medicinal uses of spices and plants and although western medicines are available the first recourse is to the plants which grow around them and have been used for generations to promote good health.
Early the next morning we were once again roused to enthusiasm before dawn for another safari – this time many of the photos taken by delightful boys on the boat which took us on Lake Periyer, dammed by the British in the 19thC
In Tamil Nadu I was excited to return to the Joe Homan Charity I first visited nearly two years ago and these are the lunch baskets of the primary aged children at the English medium school.
The children have brilliant smiles and in spite of the bewilderment they must feel to be educated in a foreign language they were keen to demonstrate their prowess in songs, poems, and nursery rhymes.I was able to meet Arockia who is sponsored by the congregation at Assisi and then return for a reunion with Mahalakshmi who in 2013 inspired me with her empathy and comprehension. She had arranged for her mother to come to meet me and with tender tearfulness we hugged – strangely connected in spite of all our differences.
The girls of the Inner Wheel Girls Town where Mahalakshmi lives in term time welcomed us and danced for us – it was hard to leave.
Another Indian journey is over and the little I have written does not fairly share the many reflections on the journey. I end by sharing a poem – enjoy your journeys.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way.
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad, and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home…
When you travel
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing….
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground,
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
John O’Donohue