On Wednesday it was time for us to reluctantly leave our hotel in Trivandrum and head to Pune. But first, a couple of comments before we move on…..
One of the things that we have noticed in the hotel is that the Indian guests carry a LOT of large suitcases. It got us to wondering about the sheer volume of the clothes that they wear. I can imagine that the Sari’s and other items take up a lot of space!!
We have had a wonderful driver while we have been here this week. He was always on time, or a few minutes early, and he has done his best to make things easier for us. There is one thing that we have laughed about with him, and Michael sent me a text on the first day to make this point….”He’s a honker”!!! I had pretty much figured that out since he had honked 3 times while getting out of the parking circle as Michael was leaving. Of course, one person commented that “some people will honk at potholes”!!!
Also, I was reading a story in the India Times about an elderly couple, aged 50 and 52!! That was a bit shocking as we realized that, according to this standard, we had vaulted over old and straight into “damn-near dead”!!!
Finally, our sweet room maid, named Sreeja, continued to entertain us with folded towel masterpieces like this Elephant…..
….and these sweet kissing swans…..
I caught her in the room with one of her creations and she shyly posed with her art…..
I sent this photo to the hotel office and told them that she had taken good care of us. She came to the room the next morning and thanked me profusely saying that the photo was now on the employee bulletin board!!!
Our last morning brought yet another wedding to the complex and this one was a blow-out!!! It was set up outside with this being the main tent….
….complete with air conditioners at each corner!!
The mat (made of flowers) was beautiful……
….and the white and purple tables were strewn around the tent…..
The music started about 10:00am and, when I left at 3:00, they were dancing drinking and having a wonderful time!!!
This morning I also headed down to the beach to view the fishing nets again. It was a bit different this time because the tide was in and there was absolutely no room for them to work on the beach so they simply pulled the cord over the walkway and continued pulling on the other side…..
There were a few extra working spots with this set up, including a set of men who were charged with keeping the rope from rubbing along the rocks…..
There was also another man in the ocean who held onto the rope (between waves) and wound the floats and sinkers around the rope so that they didn’t get stuck on the rocks either.
At some point, these men moved over the walkway and down on the beach to be closer to the other side of the net….. 
The last guy here is the one tasked with rolling the ropes but every so often he had to anchor the pulling. Here, all of the men are being pulled by the waves going out and trying to take the nets with it.
And then it happened!!! I first noticed a lot of yelling and that the men were no longer tugging on the ropes…..
Yes, the net had broken and was being washed down the beach. Lots of men ran after it…..
….but it was gone. I had wondered exactly who was in charge of the process and soon found out that it was the man in white…..he yelled instructions for several minutes after the break.
It was sad to see all of the net pullers standing around, forlornly contemplating the loss of the catch!!!
We left the hotel about 3:00 and flew to Pune (via Bangalore), thus completing the 11th and 12th of our 19 flights. We were met by a driver and taken to the Guest House at the IISER campus.
Tomorrow is a new day in a new city!!!