I have been travelling to India on a regular (often annual) basis ever since my first visit there in 1983. It was there I met Jolly, my wife. Besides visiting old friends and engaging in various activities, there was the added incentive to visit our extended family and wide circle of friends. We even had a family home built in God’s own country (Kerala) (near Trivandrum city) where we usually stayed. At best, and given we are often on the road when visiting, our maximum stay was three weeks in any one year.

Early in 2023, my wife had a bright idea to spend three months based entirely at our family home. While for me, as a retiree, taking that time out was not a problem, it meant my beloved having to take a sabbatical from her job as a nurse at our local hospital. So come the end of November we began our 91-day overseas adventure. I say 91 as it was the title of the daily diary I kept (which at least now serves as a reference to what I did and who I saw each day). It was a day over 90, which had travel insurance implications, which was significant as I had a number of health issues that upped the premium. In the end we did all what we needed to do and began our latest passage to India, staying in our Indian home.  

I won’t bore readers with details of what went on during our stay but rather give highlights on a visit that I can sum up in two words – “delightfully boring”. My days as a back packer gallivanting around India are long gone and except for regular visits to attend the Ponnarakonam Brethren Assembly, which my late father-in-law helped to plant, I remained in the house, spending a lot of time reading and meditating on the house balcony (or occasionally roof, both overlooking a pleasant semi-rural setting) or writing my book (which I will get to) from the computer we had set up in our room.

My lack of travel was not through lack of desire but rather lack of mobility, but I couldn’t complain as I was well looked after and able to pursue interests without the distractions that would be the case back in the UK. My wife was in her element being able to spend quality time with her large family and wide circle of friends and neighbours. And so was I. Not only was I able to write a large chunk of my book but I could catch up with many friends who came to visit our home from all over Kerala. I learned much, like how things were for people generally and Christians specifically and we could share.

But all good things came to an end and, while the return journey was relatively smooth, it was when we had some of our biggest adventures, like negotiating excess baggage costs and connecting flights from a disabled perspective. We arrived home safely at the end of February well satisfied following our 91 days away, feeling we had done a good thing. The biggest sadness was that two of our three much-loved cats had died whilst we were away. Another sadness was attending the funerals of three friends who had died in the first two weeks after returning: Ron Wright (covered in another blog), Frank Gulley the retired inspirational, community minded, headmaster of our local primary school, who I played chess with, and Doris Behari, a kindly neighbour I have known over a number of decades. Perhaps the biggest change was having enjoyed temperatures in the low 30’s for the duration of our time in India, it was not that much above zero for the next few weeks back in the UK.

After a couple of days recuperating, Jolly was back in the thick of things with her job and my focus was on finishing my book, both of us readujusting to life in Blighty. Today, after adding more stuff and going through several iterations of proof reading, I sent off the final draft of the manuscript to the chap who will get it ready to be printed for people to buy online. I call it my “last hurrah” writing project sensing my days around on planet earth, or at least up for such a major undertaking, are limited. It was my opportunity to get into print multitudinous things on my mind on subjects that I reckon are pretty important and often not covered elsewhere. I hope that those who read what I have written will find helpful.

So what next? I continue to watch on the wall assorted craziness going on in the world but, after leaving for India up to now, have resisted the temptation of blogging about what I see and suggesting how we might best respond to what is going on, albeit recognising the wisdom of there being a time to blog and a time not to do so. That may well change but I am conscious more than ever that my priority needs to be on being a good person and trying to make a difference in the small things of life, mindful there all sorts of things I could be doing but prioritising what I ought to be doing.