The Coconut Farm

Friday 16th of December…

Today was fabulous. Thank you to all of you who wrote to tell me that my spelling is atrocious. I only spell this way so that I can provide amusement to all of you! I know I am careless, but guess what? too bad. I am easily frustrated and I really just want to get down what I can on paper (or screen) and get on with it. I was plagued by a very bad spelling gene. It seems to have hit several in my family so at least I know a few understand. If you need a good laugh I recommend you keep reading my blog.





Okay, so today we went back to the Sari shop to get one more Sari, which I couldn’t get my mind off of. I had bought two but then when I got back to the hotel to look at the pictures I decided that maybe the one that I didn’t buy was the right choice. I still haven’t decided which to wear. I have three and I can only wear two. Two of them are close in color so it seems I should wear the other which is different, but I really like the two close in color….tough choices. Anyway, it was easy this time, as I knew what I wanted. We were in and out. Mom wanted to be dropped off at the hotel where she could finally work on her pictures and blog and be alone.

After dropping Mom, Praveen took me to Sampath’s place and he and Sangeetha took us for a ride out to a village where Sampath’s family owns a coconut grove. It was so beautiful. I was reminded of one of the things I love about traveling. With all the preparations for the wedding, we have been doing little other than shopping and visiting, so it was nice to get out and see something new. I felt really bad my mom didn’t go, because I know she would have really enjoyed it. She has been such a trooper with the wedding preparations. We just have to remind ourselves how much work happened before we arrived that we had nothing to do with, which was pretty much EVERYTHING. Thank you Amma, Achen and Sandhya.

Okay, back to the village. We drove deep into a forest of coconut trees. The sun was streaming through the leaves leaving that magical, heavenly light on everything. I instantly felt at ease. When we arrived Sampath’s family was waiting with the carts and the bulls to give us a ride. Man, can those things get up and run! Sangeetha and I were in one cart and Praveen and Sampath in the other. We had a few short drag races. It was a ball. We drove through the village, it was like a parade, everyone came out to line the streets and see the foreigners. I did my duchess wave for the kids and they laughed and screamed with glee. It was really cute.




Sampath‘s family were really nice. They split open some fresh coconuts for us to drink and made us feel like royalty. It was truly a beautiful day. Okay, I am off to bed then to Delhi tomorrow.