THE MAN IN SEAT 1K QATAR AIRWAYS FLIGHT FROM DOHA TO THE USA

 I always look forward to my Qatar Airways QR flights. Today's aircraft was a 787-900. I had a wonderful day at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. At the appointed hour an Uber driver arrived, like many he was from Addis Ababa and was eager to talk about the political confusion reigning in his country currently.

 Nice to see the familiar Hamad International Airport as we approached it. At the First stop someone takes your luggage and soon you are at a seperate check in where there are no lines because there are so many agents checking passengers in.

 The flight to the USA left from gate E1, a little further away and there is always extra security. But I wanted to go to Al Mourjan and say hello to some of my friends there, I was not disappointed, as I ran into my friend Aksam from Sri Lanka and managed to chat a little and have a hot cup of coffee.

 As expected the security was tight, computers had to be taken out and parceled and sealed tight, and randomly selected travellers were further scrutinized. I chatted with the security agent from Uganda, it seems most people who are in security in Doha whether in the hotel or at the airport seems to be from Uganda. Bangladeshis monopolize the toilet and cleaning. Indians, Sri Lankans, Nepalis and Filipinos all outnumber the native Qataris.

 A very sweet agent at check in by the name of Jasmin changed my assigned seat to 1K, my favourite seat, very private and all to myself. 

 My side of the cabin was serviced by a Romanian and a Kenyan, and i had a chance to speak to both of them. This job suits me perfectly said the Kenyan and I love it. She had travelled to various ports of call of Qatar Airways. I have travelled with QR to : Casablanca, Marrakech, Doha, Colombo, Cochin, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, New York, Boston, Miami, Houston but they fly to 150 different destination so any Flight attendant with QR would have visited more places than I would ever manage to visit. I also noticed that some of the South Asians working for QR will go on short breaks to various spots around the Middle East and Central Asia where QR flies. My friend from Al Mourjan lounge recently spent a couple of days in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Kenyan Flight attendant said, she spent a few days in Zanzibar. Qatar is being good to thousands of people like my friends in Doha.

 The flight time, I noticed was one hour shorter than the usual and I saw from the flight route that they were taking a more southerly route. I was hoping they would fly over Iran, instead flew over the Persian Gulf, and then on to Iraq and Turkey before entering Bulgaria, Czech republic, crossing into England and Ireland and then the open Atlantic Ocean.

 The service onboard QR is one of the best in the world. You can eat what you want when you want and unlike other airlines they dont just shut themselves down after serving the meal. The galley is always open and I have seen meals being served 30 minutes before arrival.
There was an Indian plate among the offerings, Aloo Paneer tikki with jeera potato, Green pea Uppma, makhani sauce and sambar. It was delicious and many hours later I requested another serving of it.

 I normally do not eat desserts but always make an exception at QR flights.
Dacquoise biscuit with chocolate panache 

 Since the Indian entree was delicious, I requested another Indian sounding dish, without knowing what it might be, and it lacked the same quality as the Uppma,
Hariyali paneer with spiced beans and potatoes.

I had two flutes of Lanson 1760 champagne and also had a chance to taste Leyda single vineyard Garuma 2016 from Chile, a sauvignon blanc, which tasted much less sweeter than the favourite Kim Crawford and others from the Marlborough valley.
Leone D'Almenrita, Terre Siciliane 2016 from Palermo, Italy.
I did not prefer either of them. Scientific studies have shown that once the palate gets used to sugary taste, it begins to dominate and will not accept easily the other varieties of taste

 Crossing over to the North American coast, one could snow covering the entire northern part of Canada and patches of it below the frontier.

Soon the 13 hour 5 minute flight came to an end. The service was superb, I enjoyed talking to the Kenyan and the Romanian and the Cabin Chief who was a pleasant man from Romania.
I always look forward to my QR flights and I have never ever been disappointed. This flight also lived up to my expectation and as I went through the Immigration and Customs I knew I would be flying QR once again within four weeks, for yet another long journey to Asia.
I am hoping "my seat" 1 K would be allotted to me!

THE PASHMINA SELLER OF DOHA : THE STORY OF THE SILK SCARF STOLEN IN BOGOTA

I am sitting watching Doha fading slowly into the desert night, covered in a mist which could be only the nostalgia for the day it is leaving behind.
I am in an extraordinarily good mood which had been constantly present since December 2017. 
It is the tenderness of those who love you with passion and innocence and your ability to understand it and enjoy it, makes the heart fertile for such a Joy.
there are so many people responsible for it, but certain people prepare your tender heart
Brussels/Brittany; Hefei, China; Moa, Cuba; Nazaret, Las Amazonas are in my heart at the moment.

I wanted to replace the silk scarf that was relieved of my possession at the International Airport in Bogota, Colombia.
In his book NUDGE, the Nobel laureate in Economics 2017, Richard Thaler talks about Post-completion error . "The idea is that when you have finished your main task, you tend to forget things relating to previous steps"
This is exactly what happened to my scarf in Bogota Airport.
I was eager to get to the Amazonia, and wanted to get through the security quickly. I took my jacket, my backpack and put it through and the agent said, your scarf please.. so when i got on the other side, my backpack and jacket were ready and I picked them up and went on my way.
Just a few minutes later I felt the absence of my scarf, and this being Bogota, I had no hopes of recovering it, but I did go back but they said, they did not have it.
Why would the agent in Bogota airport want to give back the silk scarf made in India,  Kashmir the affable Indian said who sold it to me in Doha. 
Here I am back in Doha, feeling exuberant,  decided to pay a visit to Rafic the scarf seller from Hyderabad, India who said his boss was from Kashmir and that the scarves were knitted by artisans in Kashmir. How is your family sir, he asked me as I walked into the store. He remembered what I had bought the last time and found something similar and offered me a 25% discount. The way I was feeling, I would have gladly paid the price he originally asked for. 

with my new scarf in Doha, Qatar.
When you your body and mind feel elated, everything becomes more and more beautiful, perhaps that is the way it is, and that we reduce them to ordinariness in our hurry and lack of attention.
I had a chance to talk to the manager of the Executive Lounge at the hotel. It was such a pleasure to talk to her, to listen to her story and her enthusiasm and aspirations, I wish her well.
I truly felt good talking to her.

What a nice relaxing time in Doha, Qatar after beautiful days in Quiberon, Bretagne; Haifa, Israel and Cochin, Kerala.

I am ready for my 15 hour flight to the USA tomorrow morning.

THE BEAUTIFULLY RESTORED KADAVUMBAGAM THE RIVESIDE SYNAGOGUE OF THE MALABARI COCHIN JEWS

 SITUATED IN MARKET STREET AND JEW STREET IN ERNAKULAM, COCHIN

THE CUISINE OF MALABARI COCHIN JEWS

The Jewish Community of Cochin, India is dead and has been dying for many years. As it usually happens, nostalgia begins to creep in and recreation efforts are undertaken. There is actually only one person in Cochin Ernakulam who can present you an authentic Malabari Cochin Cuisine which she learned from her mother in law. 
I was more than pleased when I was invited to partake in a dinner with some distinguished guests, a typical Malabari Cochin Jewish cuisine. 

L'Haim To Life .. with an Israeli wine no less in the home of the Last Jew of Cochin
I told him jokingly that if he decides to migrate to Israel, I would like to apply for that position..

A SPECIAL SHABBAT IN COCHIN ERNAKULAM

It was no coincidence that I received an invitation to attend a lecture at the Kadavumbagam Synagogue of Cochin that belongs to the Malabari Jews of Cochin.

 The synagogue breathes new life all due to the efforts of one man whom I refer to as the Last Jew of Cochin.

it was attended by a large crowd of Indians who were curious about Jews and had many questions. There was a smattering of Jews in the audience, all of whom came to say Hello to me: a british jew whose grandfather was born in Rangoon with her husband visiting Cochin; another London based Jew, a young man who told me of Jews of Pondicherry, a noble looking man of noble descent interested in the history of the region; a man who used to direct the Indian Museum of Calcutta, the chief sub editor of a weekly magazine.
When others left, we said Shabbat prayers welcoming Shabbat before going to a jewish home for a jewish cochin food feast!

The bottle of Hermon Red wine from Galilee was never more appropriate. Thanks to my younger brother Shimon in Haifa.

It was a very happy day for me:

began with a meeting with my good friend R at his Antique Store in Fort Cochin, then driving with him to listen to E, then praying at the Cochin Ernakulam Synagogue at Market Street, repairing to a Cochin Jewish meal with wine from the Galilee..

At the dinner, I met some very lovely people, educated, erudite and well travelled..

Cochin has been a treasury of interesting people for me, like the poet would say: an unending bakery to feed and nurture my intellectual curiosity about this quaint little town by the sea

which Zheng He visited four times in his voyages around the world in the 15th Century..

I will be back..

CUBA IS NEVER FAR AWAY IN COCHIN

When I tell people in this town that I live in Havana, Cuba, a smile of recognition cover their faces. Che Castro Cuba are in the mind sets of most people here in Cochin. Kerala was the first and possibly the only place in the world where Communism arrived Democratically and was again and again elected and defeated and back in power again: all through popular vote.
I was walking towards the synagogue in Cochin Ernakulam, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a large painting of Fidel and Che.. 

GRACIAS MIS AMIGOS QUERIDOS DE COCHIN

WONDERFUL RELAXING DAY IN FORT COCHIN

There must be something in the air in Cochin for me, like I experienced in Suva, Fiji; Malacca, Malaysia, Zanzibar..but with more substance because Keralites especially the Syrian Christians I have befriended are intelligent, worldly and extremely hospitable. The other nationalities that live in Cochin, in the last count there were 32, are very friendly too but our paths do not cross.
I had come to Cochin to relax. My friend Francis accommodated me into a nice room in his boutique hotel. 
Near the hotel is a lovely Fusion restaurant called Farmer's Cafe where I had eaten before and was impressed with the philosophy of their management under Mr Farooq. I had recommended a Cuban Film Festival to run on the premises during the Biennale 2018, it would be good.

 The star attraction dish is Vegetable Thali presented extremely well and such that one does not overeat. I complimented it with a freshly squeezed Papaya Juice.

 On the way out I could greet the workers busily preparing for the evening session, and the amount and variety of vegetables were impressive.

I received a message from the manager of my favourite hotel in Fort Cochin, Bristow Lighthouse Bungalow, inviting me for coffee. It is just a short walk and truly impressed with the organization and model of the manager who used to work in the Andaman Islands before. 
We sat and chat for about an hour or more and I made reservations for my next visit. I told him that on my next visit, I plan not to leave the premises but read and write and catch up with the hectic travel year i have had since August of last year.

It also gave me an opportunity to greet the workers at the hotel and the restaurant. They exude the same type of warmth of the Kerala workers that I meet at Al Mourjan Lounge or at the hotels in Doha, Qatar.
I had been sleeping well and late as I had no agenda and I was amazed how quickly the sunset approached and of course that is something one must not miss in Fort Cochin.
The night falls suddenly and the streets have ghost like feelings. For Cochin is not a town of nightly exuberance, as the sun goes down the vendors and the shopkeepers close their doors and the local population disappears, leaving stray cats and foreigners looking for water and a morsel of food!

I walked around like a ghost for a while, the memory of the good food at Lunch was alone enough to ward off hunger, munched on some peanuts and once retired to the air conditioned room to read and write and search and learn.

Each time I pass by this first ever European church built in India (there had been christians in Kerala since 52 AD, more than 1400 years before the Europeans came with their missionaries) I think of my sister who is a devout Catholic and offer a prayer for her. I remember once meeting with a baby faced Minister of this church to discuss offering a Mass for my sisters miraculous recovery from Cancer(s).

 Burgher Street, no not a homage to the American Fat Monger but a street of prominent Merchants during the Dutch period, most of the buildings were constructed very late Portuguese era or early Dutch era. early 17th Century.

 Walking like a ghost of myself along the seashore with distant lights of another civilization, to be reminded by a poster of times from oblivion of Bob Marley, the prophet of Jamaica.

It was a lovely day for me in Fort Cochin. I travelled a long way to India but I confine myself to a square kilometre of Fort Cochin.. that is my India