This Magical Journey surpassed all of
my expectations. Why? Why was it different to what I had imagined? I
had known it would be a mix of new sounds, smells, wonderful writing
pieces for me to listen to. But Magical Journeys India 2014 was much,
much more.
It sparkled from the offset, fuelled by
the adrenalin of a bunch of writers’ anticipation of fun, laughter
and exploration. It was an adventure of the mind and soul and words
flew through the Indian air with abandon forming themselves into wild
and wonderful stories. We drank of the experience of places and
people we were encountering. The stories fell from us effortlessly.
Our words jumbled themselves into unique pieces of art, guided by our
wonderful teacher Claire. Claire, whose own writing, support and
encouragement spurred us on to explore and discover our own
individual writing depths. Each writing session had a different
dynamic and it was the precursor and springboard to further fun and
exploration in our leisure times.
We embraced the Indian culture,
discovered the joys of interacting with the locals and made new
friends and shopped, and shopped again, buying everything Indian from
spices to voluminous colourful trousers. We bought saris for the
local tailor to make into own fashions, we bought singing bowls with
which to meditate back home, we bought Indian snacks to tingle the
mouths of our families (aptly called Masala Munchies). We swam in the
Arabian Sea, frolicking in the warm waves that carried us shrieking
onto the white sand. We spent a day travelling sedately on a punted
houseboat through the Kerala backwaters, a series of meandering
channels linking islands and lakes and ate curry off banana leaves in
a jungle clearing. Our transportation on all our days was via tuk
tuks – the bouncy crazy motorised rickshaws driven by our new
friends Hami and Jami who looked after these crazy laughing English
women as their own, and then invited us to share refreshments with
their own families in their homes. Our restaurant meals exploded
with taste and spices and nowhere else in the world could you choose
every starter off the menu plus a range of main courses all for a
couple of Pounds. We won’t dwell on the fish bone that became stuck
in my throat as Jami saved the day by telling me the trick of biting
a huge lump of banana and swallowing it whole. Quite a feat but it
worked and less embarrassing than being thumped in public over a
chair with the Heimlich manoeuvre!
But where did we lay our happy heads as
night fell? Claire had found us a haven of peace and tranquillity in
the middle of the cacophony of noise that is Kochin Town. The Secret
Garden was a piece of paradise and the wonderful staff that brought
us never ending cups of ginger tea, freshly squeezed fruit juices and
home baked tasty breakfasts became an extension of our group of
friends.
Was this an adventure holiday, a
shopping holiday or a writing holiday? It was all of that and much,
much more. It bonded an eclectic group of 7 women into a magical mix
of words, warmth, adventure and constant bellows of laughter.
Claire Steele is the magical catalyst.
When is the next one please?
The copyright of this post belongs to Flo Kingfisher
No comments:
Post a Comment