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Day 27 Last weekend in the Sun!

Tamara Hockey

Updated: Jan 20

2013-01-27 08.40.45

My last weekend in India – this time next week I will be safely back in rainy UK. Both dreading it and looking forward to it in equal measure – can’t wait to see the kids 🙂

After dinner last night wandered up the beach and happened upon a German couple booking a boat trip for this morning, so I invited myself along – you pay per boat (2000 rupees) so the more people aboard the less it costs. Slept terribly – partly because I knew I had to get up and partly because it’s so damn noisy. Packs of dogs barking, the driver’s of the overnight trains absolutely uninhibited in their copious and gleeful horn use, birds, locals – you name it, it was having a ball on or near my room.

1980-01-09 01.42.17

Got up as the sun was rising and went for a little stroll along the shore. At night the beach belongs to the dogs and they were running along beside me, snapping at my dress and the ends of my shawl. I however was in no mood to play after they had kept me up half the night. Nowhere was open yet for breakfast, the beachside restaurants littered with sleeping bodies – no luxury hotel rooms for the locals.

Instead I returned back to my room for some pranayama and really enjoyed the freedom in my breath after a month of good practice. The pranayama is coming easily and sweetly, enabling a finer, subtler experience. As Guruji says “the breath should be welcomed in like a revered guest” the heart has to be open.

At eight I headed off (with Lorna who had decided to join us) to the meeting point – a fine sized boat in front of the Namaste cafe. The two man crew arrived shortly after and it soon became apparent that launching the boat was going to be no simple matter. It started off with me, a couple of kids and the two crew.The rocking and pushing was coordinated by a simple, rhythmical chant. Half an hour and about ten more people later, we finally managed to haul the boat the twenty or so feet into the water.

2013-01-27 09.02.05

We sped off out to sea, past Palolem beach and over to Butterfly beach where we went ashore and had a look around. It is a small, isolated cove named for the large butterflies which were flitting around. Not quite as idyllic as no doubt it once was, due to the rubbish left behind by previous visitors.

Then we spent an hour or so cruising around hoping to spot dolphins, though by this time it was late for prime viewing. First we sighted a few glimpses of baby dolphins then some bigger. They were darker in colour than the most well known bottle nose dolphins and they seemed quite shy. By this time there were a few other boats cruising around and every time  there was a sighting all the nearby boats would hone in on that spot – we didn’t feel so happy to be part of that circus so we headed off back to Patnem for a deliciously cooling swim. 

Spent the final day making the most of being here, relaxing and enjoying the beach. Looking forward now to getting back to Pune for the last week of teaching – presumably pranayama. Flight at 13.45 tomorrow so back in time for evening class.

http://youtu.be/AXL8rXkDXYU   – A fleeting glimpse of dolphin http://youtu.be/UkOQnZcq61I   – Launching the boathttp://youtu.be/m2P-JRg18GE  – Children chanting at slum school in Pune

My room at 'Home'

<The Rooms at 'Home' Patnem Beach

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