Coming to the land of ice and snow...

Limca: 'Contains no fruit'

Out of twelve trips to India I have cut four short; one by four days because my husband and I were exhausted and sick, and the train journey to Varanasi and back seemed soooo long, another because the UK Foreign Office warned me to leave immediately, another because after a few months I felt it was time to stop being a lazy bum and go home and get a job, and now this time. (Out of those twelve trips two were extended, so it works both ways.)

But one thing always happens once that decision is made; apart from feeling anxious to just get on that plane and plug into light entertainment, I always start enjoying India more. Today, after picking up my ticket Dominic, his friend Claude and I headed off to see Hyderabad's stone Buddha. Standing at over 17.5 metres it is one of Asia's (possibly the world's?) largest monoliths, set on a small island in the middle of Tank Bund. Since first attempts to erect it resulted in it keeling over and killing a few people in the process, it has been considered unlucky. I did hear a few years ago that nobody would inaugurate it (bless it) because of this, but today noticed that HH the Dalai Lama did the job two years ago.

I wanted to see it again because it is only when one gets close that it is possible to see its beauty. From the road it looks like nothing much at all, so first sight is very deceptive.



Dominic had said that last time he went with a relative to the Buddha they paid a higher price for a boat that had 'some dirty women dancing to some music'. This, he said, was a disgrace and a complete waste of money. Naturally, I thought that it sounded like completely classy entertainment and wanted the dirty women boat. But that one, unfortunately only sails around the Buddha island and doesn't stop; whereas for Rs45 each we could have ten whole minutes on the island.


To get to the boats one has to go through Lumbini Park, a nicely-kept piece of greenery which involves a Rs5 ticket and a security check. Always worth mentioning, there is also a very clean public toilet block where a guard in uniform blew his whistle at us and waved his hand irritably to shepherd us in. At first with all that fuss I wasn't sure if the loos were out of bounds or not and so hesitated, which meant that I got whistled at even more. Good job I was near to the ladies' by then because I had to laugh...


After the Buddha we headed back via a couple of chores Dominic had for his niece's up-and-coming wedding (the cake tastes very nice!). And as I sat drinking ice-cold, allegedly-carcinogenic Limca in a rickshaw, I wondered if I was doing the right thing by leaving. I have stayed in India many times when it has not been considered safe to do so, but everyone has to trust their gut instinct and I do feel that it is time to go home. There will be more Limca another time, if I want it. If all goes well, I will be in Londinium this Sunday, courtesy of British Airways.