Tropical paradise...or not?

6 November 2015

This evening after our first Indian train journey we arrived to what is meant to be our home for the next five months; a beautiful house right on the shore of, in fact 20 meters from, the Arabian sea right in the middle of a coconut grove – a tropical paradise.

In order to reach the house we literally had to leg the last leg of our journey from the village road. The car was parked somewhere, just off the road and we walked on a narrow path through tall grass in between coconut trees. All of this, in the dark, following our local host leading the way with a torch from his mobile, showing the way. So, yes, in sum, the guest house is slightly remote, yet very idyllically located overlooking the sea. Idyllic, that seemed, until we entered the house, only to be welcomed by a waft of stale, musty smell of a post-monsoon house humidity air. OK, a bit of a shock, but we have known before coming here that the house needed some TLC, in fact that is actually why we are here. To give a hand to the owner who lives in England and help the local guys bring this B&B to European/international standards.

All is not that bad: the hall looks beautiful, with sofas covered by throws and cushions depicting other Indian motifs with jolly elephants; one of my favourite animals. From the hall I enter what is meant to be the office, however it looks like it was last used just before the British left India before independence and then left in a rush, taking only whatever they could carry on their backs. Old musty pillows on the floor, desk overflowing with papers, and many tidbits left there just in passing by. From there I enter the lovely big kitchen, which looks like it could do with a bit of dusting and sorting out, but I am not demoralised yet. I am determined to stay positive. I see that there is a nice red American style fridge where I hope to place the basic shopping we've done on the way from the train station.

Oh my God !

“what is this?” I wonder loudly in my head.

I open the fridge and seeing the black mould marks inside I exclaimed: ''This is disgusting!'' looking at the local guy – the host – who is supposed to be the person looking after the house and the cook when guests are around. I am already imagining the food poisoning and every illness under the sun looming over us. I cannot even imagine when was the last time that this fridge was cleaned. Alarmed by my face and clear disgust on it, our host quickly picks up the first cloth that he can find and starts cleaning the fridge. I am not going to comment on the cleanliness of that cloth!

That done, I am left alone I the kitchen to sort out the shopping, when suddenly I see a mouse running from the sink to the cooker. I shout for the host and go to find him on the terrace: ''Hey, there is a mouse in the kitchen” say I, in a slightly panicky voice, to which he replies in his broken English, smiling while tilting his head from left to right in the way most Indians do: ''little mouse?''

By this time it is slowly starting to dawn on me that our tropical paradise may turn out to be a tropical nightmare... I am thinking this just as the whole house suddenly descends into darkness – power cut – not a long one, but the first one and, I am to learn, one of many that are part of daily life here in this part of tropical India. My new temporary home is for sure tropical but I am starting to question whether it is a real paradise...

Gordana Stankoviċ is a qualified counsellor and life coach. Her counselling and coaching approach is an integration of humanistic counselling, otherwise known as person-centred counselling, and the model of Nonviolent Communication, a process developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, which offers practical and powerful skills for compassionate giving, receiving and helping, to create deep, meaningful connections and relationships, and transforming conflicts into peaceful dialogue.

Gordana velues peace, the authenticity of every human being, relationships based on trust, acceptance and genuine contribution to each other's lives. 

http://www.livingpeacefully.eu