On top of the world in Munnar

Our taxi driver Das has  been trying to persuade us to go up to Munnar for 10 years! 

Four years ago when he was driving us back to the airport he was telling us about all the off the beaten track places  he would take us next time we were back! 

I told him I was afraid of mountain roads and he promised he would drive really slowly! So this time how could I refuse! 

He picked us up at 7.30 from Thomas’s tea stall and set off through the morning traffic across Ernakulam. A couple of hours later we stopped for an Indian breakfast but Charlie was banging on about wanting toast and jam! He said he hadn’t had it since he was a kid!

After another couple of hours thorough lush landscapes and rubber plantations we stopped at a tribal Hindu village. As Das has been taking visitors there for years we were allowed to visit. About 60 families live there, completely separate from the outside world.

Next was a visit to a Spice garden. Interesting to see all the different plants…I never realised cardamom was a shrub, and that pepper grew on a vine! 

The guide kept asking if we had different ailments and tried to sell Charlie organic viagra and herbal weight loss capsules for me! 

Needless to say there was an exit through the medicine  shop but we resisted the temptation! 

Slowly the road began to climb, bend after bend …I had no idea we were going so high…then suddenly there were tea plantations stretching as far as the eye could see! The hedgerows were full of wild pink and yellow lantana…so pretty.

Then Das pointed right up a hillside almost touching the sky and said that’s our hotel! 

The room is amazing with a triple size bed, soft furry blankets and a balcony with the most incredible view! 

We chilled out for a bit at then set out to explore the village, walking up the hill even further to a pink bus which served half as a cafe and half as a public loo! 

We watched the sun disappear into the mist while Tibetan prayer flags fluttered in the breeze.

Up at 6.30am the next morning and up the hill again past the Pink Cafe ( bus!) 

We clambered over a wire fence to start walking through the tea gardens …at every turn there was a spectacular view especially with the sun glinting on the tops of the tea trees. 

Later we headed off to visit a charity place where they make paper.  The differently abled people were making brown bags for Starbucks. It seemed a bit like exploitation to me  but Das seemed to think they were reasonably well paid, and they were happy to have work. Then the textile print and dyeing place…a deaf and dumb guy block printing with batik wax...it was fascinating to watch the repeated pattern emerge.

Next we went to the tea museum where, after a film, our guide showed us all the processes and explained how white tea is made with first leaf, green tea second two and then English breakfast with the next few down the branch.   

All the workers and tea pickers are from Tamil Nadu and for lunch Das took us for a delicious Tamil thali in a cafe in Munnar town itself and then a whirled wind tour round the vegetable market! 

We walked up to the Pink Cafe to watch the sunset, and ended up staying there for our tea! What else could it be but momos! 

Vypin island

 We had always intended to come back to the top end of Vypin…and this time Charlie has brought his fishing rod specifically for our visit! This time we chose Blue Birds homestay with a room perched right up in the trees! Every device is operated by Alexa and we’ve got disco lights beside our bed! 

The homestay is run by Wilson who also runs the little local shop downstairs. This man never stops smiling…not much English but so keen to sell us what we wanted…Google translate in Malayalam came to the rescue! 

As we were exploring down the little lanes a scooter stopped and there  was Shabdi…our homestay host from four years ago! Such a warm welcome, and she invited Charlie to go fishing in the lake from her garden. 

She is now catering for Russians who come on an Ayurvedic retreat with yoga.

Next day Charlie was off to Ambadi villas first thing and I walked right up to the tip of the island for a swim. Shaiby had mixed up some special bait for him and he caught three cat fish…but I didn’t really fancy them for tea! 

I would come back to this blissful hide away again…a narrow strip,of land with the ocean on one side and backwaters on the other. They are building a new bridge…it will not stay like this for much longer…

New Year in Goa

Set off to Goa on the overnight train, slightly less daunting than the first time four years ago as we kind of knew what to expect! 

Savia and Anoop welcomed us at the station and whisked us off for an Indian breakfast. Vada and chutney, Charlie’s favourite!

We spent a relaxing week in their 200 year old quinta, a different Indian breakfast every morning and every evening walks down on the beach at sunset.

 

All the time we were talking about art and all our ideas, while Savia gently crocheted denim patches that her mother had embroidered years back when her boys were young. As she worked stories emerged for each patch, which will eventually form a complete quilt/installation. 

We went on trips to different galleries, Carpe Diem and to Porvorim to see the exhibition of Angelo de Fonseca’s Madonnas that Savia had curated. Her book on this previously little known Indian artist will be published soon. After this we headed into Panjim for the best fish thali ever! 

 

While the roads were chockablock with seasonal traffic we enjoyed walks around the peaceful village of Carmona…and on New Years Eve we took rugs down to the beach at Zalor and sat in the dark watching the moonlight catch the crest of the waves.

At midnight the skies erupted with fire works and the local beach shack pumped out disco music accompanied by a fire eater and later a belly dancer! An unforgettable way to celebrate the start of the new year!

Christmas in Thrissur

Angelo da Fonseca, Goan artist

Our first Christmas in India! Our second ever Christmas away from UK.

But after two years of lockdown Xmas dinners, just the two of us staring at each other over the dining room table with a take away from Saski’s … it felt right to be doing something completely different! 

The week before Fort Kochi began to sparkle! By the time we reached Thrissur the while town was twinkling. The traffic Through Thrissur was crazy…Christmas Eve rush and mad processions of Father Christmasses with drums…it could only happen in India…followed by fire crackers at midnight …it’s so wonderful how they appropriate every festival in their own inimitable way! Buon Natale in Thrissur

We are staying in Kavitha’s apartment a few k from their family house…and on Christmas morning K came with an amazing breakfast of flaked rice and onion, Rajesh and Adi arrived soon after. Always a great conversation around the table.

 For lunch we went to a local hotel for a special Christmas buffet! The   Indian version of plum pudding…or was it plum cake…the brandy sauce was the best! Everyone was dressed in red and white, including Kavitha! 

After a quick Xmas nap we set off for the beach… quite a long drive but beautiful when we got there…the sunlight was low, crossing over a little river…we went on through the palm trees to a beach with big stones. I sat on the rocks watching the sun go down with people silhouetted against the waves.

We stopped on the way back for a snack although I wasn’t hungry in the least and I had fried prawns and parotta …delicious 

Then as we headed into the centre of Thrissur, the Round * was total gridlock…but it gave us the chance to see the lights…goodness knows how Rajesh managed to manoeuvre through it all! 

To biennale …or not to B

We were up and standing first in line at the gates at 10am on 12.12.23 for the opening of the 5th Kochi-Muziris biennale. We have been to every one over the last 10 years!

Then a boy came up and said the opening was postponed until December 23…we couldn’t believe it…well actually we could…the day we are leaving for Thrissur! But we will be back!

There were so many disappointed visitors from all over the world, press from Delhi. 

The cyclone was blamed…a strike by electricians was blamed, derelict building was blamed…new management and curatorial teams were blamed but basically they were never going to have been ready by the 12th and the heirachy is flawed.

We talked to so many disillusioned and frustrated artists…who had arrived to find no materials, no technical support, and broken promises every single day and night.

Open Letter from the Artists of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022–23

The positive side of the postponement is that we have really enjoyed looking at the student biennale, and talking to the students about  their work. All the student and invitation exhibitions opened on time as they are run by professional gallery curators and owners. We have seen excellent and exciting work at every venue! 

Highlights included The Shadow Circus, a Personal Archive of Tibetan Resistance from 1957 - 1974, Tangled Heirarchy 2, William Kentridge, and the student's biennale.

Despite the temporary pavilion at Cabral yard being at least a month behind schedule we had the privilege of hearing William Kentridge recite Schwitter’s ‘ Ursonate ‘on a dilapidated stage at the Cochin Club, and two days later a South Korean percussionist, Seo Jungmin, playing on a 25 string instrument called a Gayageum, it sounded almost like a harp.

Village visits

When we first arrived in Kerala we were happy to be invited to visit Anju’s parents out in the sticks. Anju is our poet friend Wilson’s niece but she lives in Preston, near us. The same journey by rickshaw and metro, but this time to the end of the line where Joshna and her uncle and auntie came to pick us up. They live in a village tucked away near the airport. 

Anju’s mum Mary, Wilson’s sister greeted us with a delicious Keralan breakfast of appam and coconut stew. Joshna acted as interpreter! 

Then we went for a walk round the village, stopping at each house to meet friends and neighbours. It was hot and humid but so green and lush and so many different plants tapioca, banana plantations and pawpaw.

Lunch was mango curry, with a chutney made from little cucumbers that they grow on the roof, and Charlie has  beef and chicken.

Afterwards we sat round the table…Mary and her best friend, just us women and talked about our families, and showed photos on our phones …both Mary’s children live abroad, when I asked if she missed them, she said she was proud of what they have achieved…Joshna was translating all the time! 

Mary put a lovely sari on and came to see us off at the Metro station.

We felt so much love and warmth and it was a privilege to be able to spend time with Anju’s family. 

While we were staying with Kavitha in Thrissur we made several trips out into the countryside. The first was en route to visit the National Art Camp, when we dropped  Rajesh off at his ancestral home, where his two aunties live, one in her eighties with dementia … both such beautiful women…they have lived there all their lives, unmarried, the younger looking after the other. The younger sister cultivates a beautiful garden full of flowers.  

  

The countryside on our journey there was beautiful, lush, green, banana trees, palms, the house was down a long track that Rajesh’s father had to walk to school every day. 

Then we went down even smaller lanes to find the National Art camp…again a beautiful location…artists working outside and on the roof spaces. 

Back down more little lanes to pick Rajesh up…what we would have done without the satnav I don’t know.

At the National Art Camp we met Unni Krishna, who at 26 was the youngest artist to show in the Kochi Biennale in 2014 with his painted bricks. 

He invited us up into a hamlet in the hills north of Thrissur to his new

new studio, built on land he bought next to his father’s smallholding.

During lockdown he had painted a brick a day in his tiny bedroom … it’s an amazing visual diary of his thoughts and daily life.

Flotsam and Jetsam

After all the angst of the past few months…all the visa chaos…always wondering if we would actually make… it was exciting to arrive at Kochi airport…which was hot, humid and overcast.

Our taxi driver friend Das was there to meet us and gave us such a warm welcome! So lovely to see him and we chatted all the way to Aaron’s homestay…he knew exactly where it was!

It’s the perfect place for us. Comfy bed…a lovely roof terrace, a big kitchen and A/C! 

Down the alley way on the main road is Baby’s shop owned by our tea stall friend Thomas. The tea stall was all closed up but within a few days a friend of his was back in business, so Charlie is straight down there  every morning for his breakfast! 

Anyway Lucky Stars didn’t disappoint and we had tomato fry and aloo gobi and jeera rice and paratha all for 256 rupees

Our first impressions of Fort Kochi after four years and the pandemic was that it looked a bit scruffy round the edges, some of our favourite haunts had gone, and the reading room where Charlie did an installation during the 2019 biennale had finally fallen down! 

The following morning we caught a Rickshaw to the ferry and crossed over to Ernakulam in the mist. Another quick rickshaw ride to a nearby station and our first ride on the new Metro! It runs overhead the sprawling city and in 20 minutes we arrived at Edapally where Charlie and Kavitha were mounting their latest collaboration at Kerala museum…The title being Flotsam and Jetsam! 

We were treated to an amazing tour of figures from Kerala history…kind of son e lumiere meets Madame Tussaud’s.

It was so lovely to meet Kavitha after 4 years and also her students, who they had also invited to take part in the exhibition. For most of them it was their first ever show and we were swept into their excitement.

A long day putting the show up and one of the students tried to help me mess  about  creating reels and stories for a new Jigsaw Artists Collective Instagram site.

Back two days later for the opening…it was such a joyful afternoon…the students were so enthusiastic. Our urban sketching friend Presanth turned up on his bike, and our poet friend Kuzhur Wilson arrived with the media. Speeches were made, and songs were sung.

We arrived back over the water late and got caught in torrential rain in the alley to our homestay…I’ve never seen anything like it…we got drenched! Apparently it was the tail end of a cyclone in Tamil Nadu.