THE BARBER OF MIAMI

 I had just arrived in Miami after a long trip from Cochin in Kerala India via Singapore and the long non stop flight from Singapore to New York and then on to Miami. My brother Youssef suggested that I get a hair cut and he called his favourite barber, Zaid, from Lebanon who has been cutting hair in Miami for decades. 

He was able to get me a slot and I gladly went , driven there by Youssef who was looking forward to a trim as well.

Zaid is very adamant in his opinions and he does not hide them. He looked mellow perhaps the month of fasting has done him some good, but has not taken his slicing edge. After a colada from the nearby Chilean resto, we traded barbs, as is our custom when we meet .

What are palestinians but a bunch of railway workers from the desert who came to build Hijaz railway and decided to stay, I chided him to which his reply was, Quran says that there would be no more Israel after the year 2023.. we accept each others assessment of historical realities 

It was a pleasant experience with this competent barber of Miami. 

THE TRANQUILITY OF FORT COCHI . DAY 3 AT TOWER HOUSE HOTEL ...

 It was the day of excellence during the heavy rain on the part of the dentist who drove through the sheets of rain to attend to my teeth.

Tonight would be the last of the observations of the historic event in the lives of the Jewish people, Pesach or the Passover. I will be at the Tower House Historical Hotel.

After such a wonderful, buoyant evening with my good friend Rockey, I slept soundly . So soundly that the manager called to ask at 10 30 am whether I would be coming down for breakfast!

I quickly dressed and presented myself to the empty dining room.

The manager, Mr Ranjit with whom I had discussed the delicious dinner at Appachi resto in Pondicherry had specially prepared a Mint Chutney from the scratch and it tasted delicious. My brother Eliyahu and I are partial to Idlys and once I leave these shore I have no chance until I return to taste these delicacies. Idlys are unknown to the Bangladeshi chef who manage "Indian" restaurants in Miami.

The day was languorous and the sky threatening a downpour. Walking along an empty Princess street, normally where you could find throngs of tourists, i made a mental note of the various closures, some of them permanent and some of them hurting, remembering the multiple pleasures they had given in the past 

 Deeply hurting was the closure of Idiom bookstore where my friend Elizabeth used to work and I used to visit the bookstore each and every single day, to peruse and surprise myself with some new book, buying them to give away as presents in Siem Reap or Mexico City.

Gone are also the more aggressive Kashmiri merchants trying to force upon the unsuspecting tourists good imported from elsewhere. I am told that it is a situation common in all parts of India where there are tourists.

My friends living here always wonder, why is India which is the most diverse country on earth, with a variation in culture unseen anywhere else in the world, receive less tourists than Thailand or Malaysia , whose population is a fraction of India and the land mass less varied and smaller?

My own assessment is this. India is not an easy country to travel to and while there to explore easily. It is a young people's country. The travel infrastructure and the roads are not comparable to say, Malaysia. While food quality is excellent in India and omnipresent, it is not easily accessible for the tourist as they are in Thailand and Malaysia. India has the advantage of a large chunk of the population speaking English. 

For the European tourist who has a limited amount of time, the value for money is less in India than in other South East Asian countries. India does attract the adventurous young and the sophisticated older crowd.

The bureaucracy of the Indian system is legendary. When I began travelling to India on a regular basis, I was told that i have to wait 5 days to get a visa! Lately e-visas and visa on arrivals are being introduced which would make travel into India easier. 

The empty streets of Fort Cochin wont be empty for too long. I am sure that when I return (within 100 days) it would be buzzing with activity once again, with more European languages heard in the streets.

There are two small general stores in the Princess street and I was amazed how welcome I felt as the attendants had not changed and they recognize my face and offered a hospitable welcome. Incense, sandalwood soap, cremes, hair oil , of ayurvedic extraction , these are the gifts i take to my friends in the west. 

I felt so content sitting in the Vasco da Gama square.

Life with all its difficulties, challenges and conflicts, seemed approachable and solvable and to be dealt with certain dignity.

YOUR ROOM IS UPGRADED SIR, SAID THE KIND MANAGER OF TOWER HOUSE HOTEL IN FORT COCHIN IN KERALA INDIA

 Mr Ranjit the manager of the centuries old heritage hotel in the heart of Fort Cochin, TOWER HOUSE HOTEL, informed me that my room had been upgraded. I had no complaints about the other room except that it was large for a single person!!

Why doesnt any of my friends pack their bags and join me there the next time ? I promise to be a good guide to Fort Cochin.

The Old room..

22/4/2022 Earth's Birthday and I am told that India plants proportionately more trees on this day. The management sent this plant celebrating the earth dsy and I donated it to the dentist

The new room and the ante room.. reeking of period atmosphere. This is a very quiet area of the hotel.

I am already planning to come back at the end of August. Does anyone want to join me ?

AWAY FROM PRESSURES OF LIVING IN THE USA .. DAY 2 OF A VISIT TO COCHIN

 This visit to Cochin is turning out to be beyond expectations.

Mr Ranjit and Mr Vertivar, both from Pondicherry, the administrative team at TOWER HOUSE hotel in the heart of Fort Cochin, has been more than gracious in their hospitality.

Mr Ranjit is a good conversationalist and being open minded adds to tha charm of the conversation. The interior decoration is congruous with the age of this Heritage Hotel, the building dating back to the 17th century.

These Hebrew Inscriptions caught my eye. The large size indicated they must be from a TORAH. on the right hand side there are stitching to indicate that indeed it might have been from a scroll. My brother in Haifa helped me, saying it is the story of Noah and the Ark. 

This was the representation on the wall of all major religions. .. here in Cochin.. Hindu Christian and Muslim and until recently a very small jewish community which had been here for centuries.

Mr Ranjit and Mr. Verti are good examples of the best of Indian hospitality industry, and this hotel is a well hidden gem in the heart of Fort Cochin.

Uber is now easier to find in Cochin than before, and also I have noticed that telecommunications have also improved. A short ride across the backwaters to the commercial town of Ernakulum to the offices of my dentist friend Dr Seby. Everything is courteous and professional. 

In Cochin, the professional tries to fit into the schedule of the patient and not the other way around like in the western countries. In Miami, people and their  religious affiliations are at the leisure of the "believer", here the pious are at the disposal of the wishes of their Spiritual Master. A nice observation. 

He assessed the covid state of my dental anatomy unattended for two years. He drove me to a fashionable coffee shop where we spent more than one hour chatting with another common friend of ours. It is so good to be with these people, who are not represented in their behaviour by their professions but they are successful which has not inversely affected their human behaviour. I am glad to be their friend and enjoy meeting them. 

I took Uber back to Fort Cochin, giving me a little time to talk to the Hotel Manager who seem very knowledgeable about the history of his people and his part of the country. I reminisced pleasantly of the time I had gone to Pondicherry, enjoyed staying at the French Quarter and a nice meal at Appachi Chettinad Resto! 

In a wonderful BBC series with Michael Wood on India, so crammed with information, it was mentioned that the original DNA of the first movement out of Africa to this geographical entity was found near Madurai, the place where from the manager hails. His proto dravidian with a hint of Australasian features bear witness to this. 

There was a plant in my room in a bag with a local motif to remind us that today is the Earth Day. a nice little touch.

Mr RM and I go back many years when I accidentally met him at his business in front of the Synagogue in Mattancherry. We have kept in touch all through these years and once I even came when he had a fall and fracture. With each visit our friendship strengthens , sharing good food also is conducive to this.

He had chosen the Yacht Club in Ernakulum as the site of our encounter tonight which turned out to be more than excellent. He had picked me up at my hotel at the appointed hour and we talked non stop for hours to come: aided and abetted by a drinkable sauvignon blanc from Hills of Maharashtra and typical tasty food of the club kitchen.

We dropped by his house to say hello to his wife and his family. What a lucky man, who lives with his wife in this large house but as he said it is necessary that his two sons and one daughter, married and with children, drop in daily to see their parents and during the weekend all of them have descended and decided to stay!

I told him that from a western standpoint, he is a very lucky man whose children come to see him and his wife on a daily basis. His wife, a very pious woman, once taught me about Prophet Job after a visit to their home soon after my visit to the tomb of Prophet Job in the hills over looking Salalah in Oman. (I did say the Kaddish at his tomb)

I couldn't even fathom how joyous i had been feeling. Relationships with meaning triumphs everything and it allows you to cleanse your own mind of the pollutions of living in psychologically conflicted societies such as Miami. 

I am grateful that such a happiness comes my way from my dear friends in Cochin Kerala where I am now. I made mental plans to visit other cities which afford me such pleasure, Havana in a very intense fashion, Siem Reap and Kuala Lumpur in mellower forms. I am looking forward to humanitarian medical help associated visits to the Amazonian town of Leticia as well as the border town of Lau Cai on the Vietnam-China border.

Thank you my dear friends, I am glad you are in my life. To those who came in for short periods and left, I am sad at your departure, whether Iran or Brasil, but grateful for the fragrances you left in my life.

As the song goes

a manha sera outro dia 

Tomorrow is another day

A LOVELY HOMECOMING TO FORT COCHIN. 2 YEARS 3 MONTHS AND 16 DAYS OF ABSENCE DURING THE PANDEMIC

 COCHIN, especially Fort Cochin has always had a special place in my heart. In the Pre-pandemic days of yore, you would find me often, enjoying the breeze from the Arabian sea sipping a drinkable "Indian" wine at the Bristow Bungalow.

All that changed on January 4, 2020 when it was announced of a world wide pandemic which overtook every one's imagination and occupied all scientific and economic minds for the next two years to coe.

I thought of Cochin

I thought of Masala Dosai, a thin crispy pancake , much reminiscent of a Crepe Breton in Brittany France. During the days to come, becoming a COVID 19 refugee in Miami, separated from many of the good things in life I had become grown accustomed to: Champagne on boarding a Qatar Airways flight, Airline lounges staffed by people who had become your friends and Hotels and Managers such as Mr R of Bristow.

I was in Madrid, enjoying one of those unexpected pleasures in life. Two flights of about 5 hours each, with a stopover at the nice new Alfursan Lounge at Abdul Aziz International  Airport I found myself facing a ageing immigration official interviewing the only foreigner on this second flight. He was polite and did not have any inquisitive enquiries and stamps my passport and let me go.

The carousel was rotating with the largest number of cardboard boxes most of them plastic wrapped that I have ever seen. I fondly thought of myself at a similar carousel in Havana when instead of these returnees on vacation from Saudi Arabian workspaces would have been replaced by gaudily dressed, heavily chained (not at the wrist but their gold chains) Cubans of Miami bringing the oft needed supplies in large bags wrapped in blue.

Cochin is in the State of Kerala, and the ruling party is the Communist Party, duly elected and re elected. You can see why I am treated well when they know that I represent the Island most of see through their ideological idealistic eyes. Made a mental note to get in touch with the new ambassador from Cuba to India in New Delhi to inform him of my terrain here in this part of Kerala.

My blue suitcase put in a belated appearance and within a minute I was outside the customs area , nary of scrutinizing official eyes.

I had received a text message from Mr R to say that the driver would be waiting for me outside the exit and imagine my surprise when I saw Mr R himself waiting for me. The airport is more than one hour through rough traffic for this manager of a business hotel in town, but over the years we had built a friendship and shared a few drinks and meals.

I may be Homeless but I do have good friends whose presence are petite intoxicants in this exuberant life.

We had lots to catch up. family dramas and deaths to be accepted. He said: This covid isolation has made every one much closer to their families.

as we approached the bridge built over a century ago by Mr Bristow over the backwaters, Mr R mentioned the magic word: Masala Dosai, the last taste was in this very same geographical terrain , two years and three months and sixteen days ago.

In the early days of my visits to Cochin, I used to visit Krishna Cafe for Masala Dosai and had not been there in ages so imagine my happiness when the car pulled in front of the very same establishment

I recognized the face of the owner seated behind his table in the usual position of a tax collector, taking money from waiters who bring him the bills. A garlanded figure of some God sent blessings in all directions.

It was good to be back in Cochin.

Mr R had organized a heritage property right in the hub of Fort Cochin with its Vasca da gama square, chinese fishing nets and St Francis church.

The manager of the property, Mr Ranjit received us warmly and I was shown to my room.

I knew I will enjoy my stay in Cochin.

Thought of all friends including my brother Eliyahu and visitors from Takaoka and Tehran who have shared this magic with me.

It is nice to come home to Fort Cochin..

UNEXPECTED PLEASURES OF A LATE EVENING IN MADRID.. FAR FAR AWAY FROM BARACOA

 In the early part of the years 2000s, I visited and stayed in the beautiful village of Baracoa in Cuba .. so much so that i was never away more than about a few days, when I went to the USA to work with the Native Indians. It was an epoca de oro, golden age for my stay in Cuba. 

I had an open house and daily I had many many visitors. Friendships could be cultivated with octogenarians as well people on the other end of the life spectrum. 

During the early part of the evening, children would drop by my house for a few minutes, listen to some music or watch a video or two (those were not that common in Cuba as they are now) and I would give them some soft drinks and biscuits as a snack.

I particularly remembered a quartet of girls, they were always together and now and then they would drop by and I might go to their houses also as I was by then friends with their parents.

I Q was one of those girls. Even though my last visit to Baracoa was quite a while ago, I had managed to keep in touch with a few people (out of the hundreds I knew) and I knew that IQ had gone off to Madrid, where some of her family lived. Over the course of the last two years, we exchanged some messages and made vague promises to meet, knowing that it was not going to be easy.

I was in Madrid a couple of nights ago. I was so happy when IQ suggested that she would meet me, along with another friend from Baracoa at the square in front of SOL, metro station. I was overjoyed and spent time waiting at the square observing the characters who inhabit that space. No one takes pictures or even looks at buildings and architectural treasures but they are all busy taking selfies .. Africans with distinctive shrill voices along with some maghrebian immigrants were selling something or other to the tourists and I did not find out, but I guessed it might be a Flamenco show or something of that nature.

Two girls emerged from the Metro and frankly there was no way I would have recognized them. 

I was reminded of a second world war era song : Thank Heavens for Little Girls..

We had a wonderful time chatting, catch up on their personal growth, the other young lady was a doctor with International experience in Venezuela.

It was way past midnight when we finished a trago.. a drink.. at a touristy restaurant where an energetic middle aged argentine plied us with stories while we were concentrating on our conversations. A drunk Japanese man approached wanting to talk but due to the lack of a common language he backed away like a cat being chased away. 

Such was the special night in Madrid with friends from Baracoa.

OH! SAUDIA. YOU HAVE A LONG WAYS TO GO BEFORE BECOMING A FIRST CLASS AIRLINE.. I MISS QATAR AIRWAYS

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE FLYING SAUDIA: I AM GLAD HE ALI AKBAR IS RUNNING Qatar Airways WITH HIS ASIAN CREW

I have been partial to flying Qatar Airways ever since that first flight in 2014, when I flew from Houston to Doha to Jakarta. The exceptionally high standard that I encountered in that flight has remained constant over the years. During the covid years I was not able to fly QR Qatar Airways and now with looking World Cup, it would be a while before I can enjoy that seat 1 K and the expected good service.

I thought I would experiment with a new airline from the region. Etihad not impressed me. A lot of talk about Saudia and the relaxation of rules of entering the Kingdom, that tempted me to book a seat from Europe to Cochin in India.

I looked forward to this adventure, and it turned out to be an adventure in the bad sense of the word.

The initial indication that this would turn out to be just ordinary was when I couldn’t log on to their web site as they required me to have a code on my phone, which they never sent after repeated requests, thus unable to check in. Uneasily I stood in line at the check in of Saudia at Madrid Terminal 1. The haughty Spaniard barked instructions at me, don’t these people know that some of us travellers are more experienced than them? I was given the seat 1 A but from then on it was delay after delay and waiting and chaos of the pilgrims at the boarding gate.

We were supposed to leave at 16 55 and the plane arrived late, and we were not able to take off until after 1850, nearly a two-hour delay. I had a connecting flight at Jeddah, and I was apprehensive after having witnessed staff efficiency. I knew what Qatar would have done, already someone might be waiting for me at the gate, and quickly usher me to the gate for my next flight, but that is QR and not SV (code for Saudia).

When I fly on certain spurious routes, can’t fail to see  fellow passengers and of course, Saudia is the airline of the holiest shrines of Islam so long dresses for men and burqas for women were overflowing at the departure area. Slickly dressed Africans with expensive suitcases reminded me of the kleptocrats of certain African states and thought of the Yahoo Boys and their spam industry. On my section of the plane, there were Saudi businessmen and a lone European with his Filipina wife (a combination now seen more often). The brightest spot on the entire flight so far was the flight attendant on my side, a French Moroccan, Ms. R. You could see the spark in her enthusiasm and attention. Most other attendants were of the American Airlines quality: there but not seen or to be pressed into service.

There was no menu, and this is a dry airline (there was no great deal about that) but Ms R was patient and I choose the Arab Mezze (delicious), a lamb dish to honour the Passover period we are going through (with couscous and quite tasty). A chocolate cake and a nicely made coffee embroidered this culinary delight. 

We were approaching the Arabian coast when I received a message to say that my flight had been postponed to the next day. I noticed that we had a full 40 minutes to go through security and to the departure gate. But the inefficiency of Saudia was highlighted here.

Unlike QR, the staff here are all Arabic speaking, possibly be even all Saudis, good luck to them.

Because the computer showed that our flight was postponed, despite having enough time to catch the flight, we were delayed while young men were arguing back and forth and calling a variety of people. In the end a kind looking young man asked us to hurry up but the security was in no generous mood, they wanted us to divest us of shoes, belts, watch and other things temporarily attached our bodies. I rushed down the stairs where a middle-aged gate manager was so rude and shouted something or other. He seemed stressed boarding a flight to Khartoum, but his anguish was in way comparable to us, as there were three other passengers going to the same destination.

Waiting Waiting Waiting 

In the end, the obvious, the flight has departed. If not for the inefficient saudia personnel, except some with genuine desire to help but without the necessary skills, we could have easily caught the flight 

I thought now that we are doomed to stay in Jeddah for an unexpected day, we would be offered a hotel and stipend for food but that was not to be. 

If you have longer than 8 hours layover at Doha airport, you are taken to a hotel and given meal vouchers and I have enjoyed this complimentary privilege more than once 

After some more waiting, a young man appears with a boarding pass in his hand (for the flight leaving in 23 hours) and said I am welcome to stay in their new lounge. It is nice to visit a Lounge but to spend one day? I have spent a comfortable 7-hour layover at Al Mourjan at Doha where I was provided with a private bed for 6 hours and I could rest, have a shower and leave for my destination.

If I wish, I can leave the airport and go into town, a visa fee of 128 dollars would be charged and can expect no help from Saudia.

There ends part 1 of my misadventure with Saudia.

ANOTHER BRIGHTSPOT. THE NEW LOUNGE ALFURSAN IS VERY GOOD. The Filipino crew seem a little sullen. WiFi slow, where are the South Asians ?

WE DROP IN FOR DINNER AT OUR BRETON NEIGHBOURS AND WE ENJOY THEIR HOSPITALITY. QUIBERON BRITTANY FRANCE

It was our turn to drop in on the neighbours. A short ride to a nearby village of Kerniscob (village of the Bishop in Breton), it was a happy moment to see the welcoming blue of Ti Chulad, the neighbours home.

The table had been set, tulips setting the calm tone.

It had been a warm april day for this northern location but the presence of a wooden fire reminded us that we are not that far from the Wild Coast so named because of its unpredictable sea and conditions

I often tell my friends that I have become fond of this french custom of apertif, where a bottle of champagne is opened and the conversations begin.

this is the one we drank. and went down well with the hors-d'oeuvres ..

The conversation was smooth flowing and I was glad that there was no discussion on the upcoming presidential elections in France but we talked of things in general and of mutual interest, nothing controversial. a polite and animated conversation.

Quiberon is a peninsula and thus seafood is the star here, and we began with Petoncle which is a type of Clam, related to Coquille St Jacques.

L'histoire de ce mot est en réalité complexe. Jusqu'à la fin du xviii^e siècle, il a servi pour nommer une grande diversité de coquillages avant que Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck n'en fasse un genre précis (Pectunculus). Les pétoncles de Lamarck et des naturalistes du xix^e siècle ne correspondent toutefois pas du tout aux coquillages que nous connaissons aujourd'hui sous ce nom.

It was delicious.

served alongside were Langoustines.

People often mistake Langoustines for prawns or shrimps, they are closely related to lobster and often mentioned as Norwegian lobster.

By this time, the champagne had disappeared into our gullets, so a lovely fragrant Pouilly Fume was opened. I could not get over the fragrance of this wine 

The French are strongly secular. Unless someone tells you that it is Easter, there is no way of knowing it: no decorations with Easter Bunny or Easter Eggs or church bells ringing. The Jewish holiday of Passover coincides this year with Easter, so the lamb as a main course would satisfy any gustatory longings.

The green paste is home made concoction to go with the Lamb and it may have island orgins, but tasty.

the host opened a bottle of chateauneuf  du pape 2015 for those who had a red to accompany their lamb dish. I had a sip but returned to the Pouilly Fume 2020 as I liked that very much.

a fruit salad, with fruiticas like we say in Cuba. 

The Bretons are fond of their cakes and biscuits and there are always some available.

We had arrived at 7 30 pm and it was now close to 11 pm but I couldnt say NO to a good Nespresso, What else?

Just so good.

what a lovely dinner. I thanked the hosts for the work they had put into the meal but foremost was the demonstration of friendship between all those present. The four Quiberon residents had known each other from their university days in Lille decades earlier and had maintained contact through varied careers and living in other parts of France and Morocco.

Four hours after we had arrived, after a delicious dinner and smooth wonderful conversations, we said good bye to our hosts, planning once again to meet on my next visit to France or Morocco.

On the way back to the house where I was staying, the streets of this little seaside town was calm and soothing in a way, abetted by the full moon shining down upon us.

We were home in about five minutes and I had a chance to capture the full moon from my room.

This visit to France has been exceptionally good. The hospitality of the Bretons has been overwhelming, the weather has been nothing short of magnificent, with the beach full of people and an atmosphere of gaiety.. Merci Beaucoup..

I have eaten very well, drunk well, slept very well and it was a week without undue worries and thoughts, a time for the mind to relax.

and prepare for the next part of this journey.