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Nuwara Eliya where the temperature had dropped to a chilly 16 degrees. It was fascinating to visit a tea factory and watch all the processes involved in plucking, drying and packaging the tea leaves. The picking is done by hand by women who work long hours. I tried plucking for half an hour – it was not easy to have a strap around my head to which was attached a basket. Then there was the difficulty of aiming my pickings at the basket without dropping them… I don’t think I plucked enough leaves to make just one cup for me! Drinking a cup of tea will have a deeper significance in future. All too soon the holiday was at an end, but it had been a time full of wonderful experiences and memories. March 8th <strong>2016</strong> Kerala is a state on the south western coast of India. It is noted for its palm-lined beaches, almost 600 kilometres of coastline and an extensive network of inland canals. Travelling through the countryside in a minibus, we passed what looked like an open shack with a rusty corrugated iron roof. Our driver, Selwyn, asked if we would like to stop and take a look. As I peered out of the window, I could see four women moving back and forth inside the shack. Yes, we agreed, we would like to go and see what the women were doing. We, four retired teachers in our sixties, made our way across the road towards the shack. The women beckoned us in. There were smiles 18
exchanged between us all. Down one side of the shack was a huge pile of discarded coconut shells. At the side of that was a pile of what I recognised to be the fibre from inside the shells. Suddenly the penny dropped; the women were gathering up the fibre into a make-do pouch around their waists, then twisting and spinning the fibre to make the strands which would be joined together to make rope or mats. Not a word was spoken between the eight of us since we did not speak or even understand each other’s language. The women demonstrated what they were doing. The coir fibre felt rough in my hands as I touched it, let alone spend many hours a day pulling and twisting it. My facial expression must have said it all. One of the women made bracelets for us. Suddenly I felt an overwhelming feeling of humility; I, who by accident of place of birth, live such a privileged life, was given this wonderful gift. The women did not ask us for money but we all wanted to repay their act of kindness. Between us we only had about £6 which we gave them. “For you,” we said. You would have thought that we had handed them a thousand pounds! And with that, we boarded the minibus and continued our journey. Later that evening I discovered that it had been International Women’s Day – very appropriate for our visit, I thought. My coir bracelet remains my most precious souvenir and the memory of meeting those hardworking ladies was certainly a highlight of my trip to Kerala. Averill Lovatt 19
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