You Only Die Once (each lifetime)

In the distance lay thousands of hectares of rice patties, and Radha and I are watching an older woman paddling a wooden canoe filled with bags of what appears to be rice.

that's a lot of basmati

It’s Sunday afternoon, and we just finished a delicious meal of bitter gourds, green beans with onions and coconut, short grain rice, achar (pickles), and vegetables cooked in yogurt, coconut and turmeric. Everything has coconut in it, and even the papadams were fried in coconut oil.

can you smell the coconut?

We're on an overnight rice boat trip traveling the backwaters of Kerala, and our crew consists of the captain, his first mate (though I don't know if that applies on such a small boat), and our cook. The river is full of travelers, riding every imaginable floatable device, and along the banks there are people bathing, children playing, old men fishing, and women washing cloths. Even now I can hear the slapping of saris and dhotis against the rocks. Oh, the Kingfishers (beautiful birds with long beaks) are perched on the coconut trees serenading us.

Gary and Radha's home for the night

We arrived in Kerala after a two-hour plane ride from Mumbai two days ago. The lush vegetation here goes on forever, and banana plants and coconut palms are everywhere. The people have different physical features than those in northern India, and their language reminds us of the Tamil that Swami Satchidananda used to speak to his South Indian guests when they visited us in Montreal.

The rice boat is wooden and spacious, including two bedrooms, two full baths, and a dining area with sliding glass doors that lead to the living room, which is nicely furnished with a bamboo couch and two comfortable chairs.

the living room on the boat

As the crew anchored for the evening we watched the birds fishing for dinner, the bats taking care of the insect population, and a large orange sun setting over the water in front of us.

the sunset in Kerala

We were thankful for the day and sipped our milky-tea, enjoying a small bowl of vermicelli rice noodles saturated in sugar and spices for desert.

As darkness came, the ceiling fan was no longer sufficient to keep the bugs away, so we headed for our bedroom and the safety provided by its mosquito netting. Sitting up in our bed, we looked out at the sprinkling of lights from across the water and debriefed the events of the day, starting with the treacherous trip along the roads of Kerala.

Our driver Prasunaut had masterfully steered the car through an endless stream of challenging traffic situations, and since I was sitting in the passenger seat, the trip gave me ample opportunity to think about reincarnation. Three-wheelers, cars, dogs, trucks, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, scooters, bullock carts, cows, and motorcycles carrying entire families – anything with four wheels (or four legs) passed by us during the trip from Kovolum to Appelee.

in front of the Dad driving the car is their four year old son- 4 on a motorcycle!

Near misses were the order of the day, and at one point a large bus, pulled into our lane so it could pass a Tata truck, and yes it was heading directly at us!

trucks on the crowded Indian roads

Prasunaut managed to swerve to the side of the road at the last second, managing to keep two wheels on the road, I turned to Radha in the back seat syaing, “Nothing to worry about hon, you only die once.”