Ah well, where to start? Firstly, very glad McTag has seen and experienced good times, and of course all the more appreciated after the long hot train ride... heaven and hell in one day, remember?
The good ship M. V. Minicoy left at 12.30 eventually, instead of 10.30. I chatted to the captain on the breezy bridge and all was fine. I ate lunch, a spicy mix of veg on rice. a couple of hours passed and then it started to roll, and after half an hour I lost the lunch into the depths of the Arabian Sea. I discovered my seasick pills were 2 yrs out of date but took them nonetheless. They knocked me out, on and off, and in between, I and (to be fair) 70% of other passengers, made terrible noises into plastic bags. We were all in an over-air-conditioned chair cabin, and the men on either side of me alternately slept and chundered. Starting at 2 pm, this lasted through 2 showings of the loudest movie I've heard - in Malayalam of course - and by 3 a m I was sufficiently empty and stiff and cold to venture out onto the deck. I sat on one of the only 2 benches, not wide enough for sleeping on, and dozed upright on and off until dawn. Stars were spectacular, a new moon - and a great dawn with some clouds to add texture.
The captain laughed at my plight and said why hadn't I requested medicine, so I said that in the room called `Women's Hospital' there was a nonEnglish speaking man wearing a stethoscope who heard my pleas, said nothing and disappeared. Anyway, the swell had subsided a bit, and we finally reached Kadmath at 10 30... where I was met my a delegation of 3 men from the Government-owned tourist centre, and where I was to be the only occupant. They had a fussy little bus that was one of about 5 vehicles on the 10 km long island, and drove at breakneck speed through low-growing palm trees on a treacherously narrow track. Government things in India are all heavily labelled, and usually made of concrete; beauty isn't a consideration. This place was no exception. But the concrete cottage had a fan as well as the unnecessary aircon, and was 10 yards from the beach....
The assistant general manager came to meet me, and said: 'I am the Assistant General Manager. My name is Assistant General Manager.' He had an appropriately labelled office too. There was a cafeteria, a gymnasium full of chairs, and other well-labelled places with an air of some neglect.
Because of being the only person, and female to boot, I was designated a couple of minders, one of whom took me snorkeling and later to the 'city' (village of 6000) which was just concrete huts and some traditional palm dwellings set amongst the trees. The snorkelling was superb, huge numbers of incredibly coloured fish, white sand, the lot.
All the islanders are Muslim - like the Maldives which are just south, part of the same chain really. Hence the Hajj.
Next day was blissful and much of the same, with the addition of a glass-bottomed boat. I also met the two divemasters running LacaDive, a private enterprise, but decided not to get all dressed up for underwater adventures when I could see so well from the surface. My PADI training was 10 years ago and I feel out of practice. One diver was from UP, a northern and landlocked province, and the other a TIBETAN, who had amazingly spent 6 years in Whitstable.... a town in Kent. They were both there because of their commitment to the ecology and love of the unspoilt peace and quiet, and they were lovely guys. They showed me a film, Troubled Waters, about the damage suffered by the Lakshadweep islands because of the 1998 El Niño event - most of the coral died because the water heated up by 3-5 degrees. We swapped books, too, I had been reading 'Ordianry Heroes' by Scott Turow, harrowing account of soldiers in 1944 France - which put my seasickness in perspective but wasn't a barrel of laughs. In exchange I got The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, a lovely book.
Reluctantly I boarded the return ship, fortified by more uptodate medication and a small breakfast, at 8 am on 5th (Monday I think), and reached Calicut at 10 30 the following morning.
A pause to draw breath, I think.....!
