Our time in Varkala was rapidly coming
to an end.
Ippy's new bag was now finished and the
pile on the bed was growing each day as Ippy found just 'one more
thing' to pop into it!!
Shanti had settled well into her new
restaurant life and was even entering her teenage phase of going back
down stairs for a few hours to patrol the grounds and party once we
had all gone to bed!
Ippy still wanted to return to Cherai
Beach before we left India for good and as Dalia was due to leave
Varkala on the 18th to go to Kochi, it was decided the
three of us would travel together.
Dalia researched train times and
for once Ippy was happy to leave the arrangements to someone else!
We had recently been joined at the
Jairam by a wonderful Italian couple who were doing amazing things
with the plants and grounds.
Chill out areas had been created,
bottles had been painted and displayed and Ippy had made one final
large mobile that was eventually hung outside the Art Studio
With the last of the orange and lime
skins threaded together Ippy now had time to spare, so she decided
what the place now needed was a few games for people to enjoy.
We looked at the pile of bottle tops
that had collected on the balcony, Ippy had experimented with them
for mobiles.
As we turned them over in our hands Ippy realised they
would make good markers but if we were going to make them into
Checker and backgammon game markers, a lot more would be needed.
Instantly our daily walks took on a new
dimension as discarded bottles were picked up to have their tops
removed before being placed in plies beneath the trees.
Blue and
green seemed to be the dominant colours and soon we had quite a good
collection but we still needed an strong opposing colour.
As we sat on the balcony one afternoon,
sorting the tops and designing the layout of the games onto some
board offcuts we had found, Ippy heard some commotion downstairs.
Looking over the edge of the balcony she spotted the family who
called around to collect the plastic from the rubbish tip behind the
resort next door.
In their search someone had found a
plastic wind mill and given it to the young boy in their company.
His delight was immense and shrieks of
laughter could be heard as he raced back and forth making the tiny
blades move in the breeze.
Suddenly there was a cry of pain as his
older brother, deep in the rubbish pile, stood on something!
His
mother lifted him out and searched his foot for signs of injury
before returning to the tip to collect the rest of the plastic.
Ippy and I watched as people in
expensive cars pulled up and walked past.
Same people, same country,
yet their lives couldn't be more different.
When the family eventually left with
their bags full of crushed plastic bottles, Ippy had an idea.
The bottles of water at the Black Beach Resort had white tops!
We could become tip raiders
instead of skip raiders and get all the markers we needed right on
our doorstep!
As the boys emptied the bins that night
Ippy could barely keep herself from racing down to search.
I however,
remembering all the other things, both living and inanimate that
could be found in the rubbish pile at night, recommended a daylight
search and luckily Ippy decided that a glass of Brandy was probably a
better option for the evenings activities!
Our walk the next day was a short one.
Over the wall into the rubbish pile and back again with a bag of
white bottle tops ready for washing!
By mid day the games were complete and
ready for the Jairam chill out area!
The rules to Back gammon and Checkers
were explained to Kim and a few of the local boys but within an hour
they were in use, mainly by ourselves.
It had been nearly 3 weeks since Peter
had left and Ippy was desperate for a game of Backgammon.
Laura and then Andy gave her a
challenge and by late evening the games had become a fixture at the
Jairam.
With only a few days to go before we
left, Ippy and I went to spend a day with Baloo in the shop.
Ippy had
already polished the jewellery in the shop and now wanted to polish
all the stone work but Baloo had said she needed to understand the
stone better first and the only way to understand the stone was to
make something with it!
When we arrived Baloo had a small
rectangle of dark soap stone ready for us and asked Ippy to design
something.
Ippy looked blank for a moment and then glanced down at
the tattoo on her foot. A Manta ray! Simple but meaningful!!
She quickly sketched the shape onto the
stone and passed it to Baloo for inspection.
Bit by bit Baloo
explained the techniques used to make the basic shape handing the
piece of stone back to Ippy each time so she could do the actual
work.
After the basic shape was achieved the
shaping of the body and wings began.
For three hours I watched as
Ippy stroked the stone with the various files and rasps until she was
covered in a fine layer of dust and her fingers had begun to cramp.
There was still a lot of work to be done so we promised to return the
next day to finish it.
It took a further two hours of shaping
and then polishing before Ippy's Mantra ray was finished and to say
she had a better understanding of the stone by then is an
understatement.
Unfortunately we were leaving the next day so Baloo's
statues never did get the polish Ippy had threatened them with!
As we gathered that evening for our
final meal at the Jairam we were amazed to realise how many good
friends we had made during our three week stay there.
Even without
Nanda and Emma, Ramesh and Baloo, we ended up with 11 of us for our
final meal!!
Kim helped us choose a selection of
vegetarian dishes, recommending various rices and breads to
compliment the meal.
We ordered freshly squeezed juices,
mint teas, jasmine teas, lassies and more before piling the fabulous
array of food onto our plates and eating our way into oblivion!
With so many dishes even a small amount
of each filled a plate!
We ate with fingers, we ate with forks
until we cleared the table then we simply split the vastly reduced
(by Kim) bill between us.
Even Shanti got a new friend as a small
nervous and hungry black puppy of approximately the same age came
searching for food.
Once their initial differences had been
sorted by Ippy, the two young dogs began to play and then raced around
the grounds as the rest of us got up to dance!
Nicole and Andy performed the most
amazing Tango before, with musical accompaniment by Andy, they
attempted to teach the basic steps to the rest of us.
Together as a group and then in pairs
we slowly copied the steps until with much laughter, some serious
concentration and a lot of corrections, we each managed a basic dance
while being expertly guided by either Andy or Nicole.
It was an amazing last night in Varkala
and we were truly saddened to go to bed that evening.
Addresses had
been swapped, e-mails exchanged and promises of a reunion made.
As we climbed the steps Shanti's new
friend climbed up too and crept silently into her bed.
It seemed we weren't the only ones not
ready to call it a night.
