Neyyattinkari , Thiruvananthapuram & Kovalam Beach, Kerala - 13th Jan 2011

It was truly like a royal welcome. A cavalcade of technical supporters met us as just as we crossed the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border and escorted us with a speaker system and announced us through the city as we followed. People on the streets actually stopped and stared as we passed through the streets. It created some intrigue in everyone we passed and it was like they were trying to take it in before we went out of sight. It kind of felt like we were celebrities. Just a little bit.

Here, it felt like Joice had come into her own. We stopped in the market place and used the speaker system to address the people there. It was the most random thing, but the force and drive in Joice's voice really shone through. People stopped to listen and you could see the rapt attention they were paying. Rather awesome..

Our first program was at St. Thereses School in Neyyattinkari. Solomon got the crowd revved up and Ravi put on his “ole le” routine for everyone (For those who don’t know, Ravi’s “ole le” routine is an action song which he performs and everyone copies. It’s a real crowd entertainer and gets them to lose their inhibitions a little bit.) Rakesh spoke to the young students about our message of peace & harmony and the Millennium Development Goals and about the UN and about the environment and about climate change and about their state AND about women empowerment AND about how it is so cool that they have a great girl to boy ratio than other states AND  about how it is important to use the opportunities they have to make a difference AND  about why it’s so important. And all within 15 minutes. Also, I never noticed, he rocks back and forth on his feet when he gives speeches. But somehow that made what he was saying a little more interesting..

Some student of this school also put up a few dance pieces. One was a very beautifully depicted dance on the environment and how people aren’t preserving it and what the consequences of those actions are. There were no words, but the message came out so clear, it just really hit you. And especially the expressions. They did all the talking.

There was another dance, more on the traditional side, by some other students here. Honestly, if have never seen that kind of coordination, presence of timing, energy, expression and pure passion in people so young who have performed. They were even better than most professional groups we’ve seen. Their dance must have been somewhere between 10-15 minutes, but their energy never dropped even once, despite being such a vigorous dance. I truly salute them for their art and dedication to it.

Just managed to capture the end bit.

In the evening we visited Kovalam beach. I don’t know about other people, but something happens to me when I’m around an ocean or a sea.. You just stop thinking.. And just live.. In that moment and everything is just beautiful in the waves and the breeze and salt air and the light spray that flies in your face and mists your spectacles.. And being caught by surprise when you’re expecting a calf high wave and the tide comes and hits you on the waist.. And spending time with your team and people you love... That experience can be put down in so many words, but it’s true experience is unexplainable.

On the way home (or wherever we were staying) Rakesh and Joice got into a heated discussion about dowry. It was so entertaining! It seemed like Joice was agreeable to giving her husband’s family something in gold or whatever. And Rakesh was saying “Arre no! You should not give! If you give one time, then they get used to it and will keep asking. Even after marriage. And they have no value for anything also. So you should not give.”

Joice – “But I will give 1 gold coin..”

Rakesh – “NO! Dont give! He will not love you! And he will keep expecting from you all the time.  In fact he should be giving you everything. If he loves you, he will not take from you, he will give.”

Joice – “Acha! You gave anything?”

Rakesh – “I gave! I gave lots of things..  What all we give no.. Gold, saris.. All that..

Joice: (Small face) Ummmm...

Exhausted, but happy, we all crash at the end of the day. The next day wont be the same. And we’re looking forward to that.