Thursday, December 21

We had breakfast on the balcony, looking at the rubbish bags drifting past as the breeze blows them around the lake. Udaya said yesterday that he would tell Anib, so we wait to see if they will disappear one morning.

Last night Irma phoned Udaya and asked him if he could get us a car for today. At midday Madu turned up in his white a/c car. He proved very funny, very knowledgeable and a very good driver indeed.

On the way into the centre of Trivandrum we come to a stop at a junction where two policewomen appear to have a very spasmodic interest in directing the traffic. I take several photographs of the vehicles negotiating their way past each other.

We will go to the Modern Book Centre where I will find a series of books called 50 Philosophy Classics and 50 Other-Kinds-Of Classics, all written by Tom Butler-Bowdon, who surely must have read a lot. I will buy the philosophy and psychology volumes.

Naa will buy a History of Archie anthology, with 75 stories from 75 years, and a novel.

We will then go to the main branch of Fabindia where Irma will find herself sorely disappointed. They have repackaged and renamed the cosmetics and the teas, and the range seems to have decreased in size and increased in price. They also appear to have less choice than the branch in Kovalam that we visited yesterday.

We will go to Big Bazaar and spend a couple of happy hours stocking up on foods and fresh vegetables.

Irma will make pasta in the evening using ingredients we bought in the afternoon. It will taste delicious. We will sit eating while watching a team of geckos clear the ceilings and walls of mosquitoes.

We will all declare ouselves tired and go to bed before 22:00.