Coaching in Cochin

I would like to believe that I am a people person, but have been proved wrong. I am not.

This to me is news. Always felt that I was open, warm, trusting etc etc and had a genuine curiosity about people but cant then seem to explain the sense of apathy or as my ex boss put it "already always listening" that has seemed to step into me.

As we ambled down the streets of Cochin.. Mr. Original Gulf Returned Mallu friend- "MJ" humbled me by displaying a humblness that i have got accustomed to discarding. At every shop we went to, or to be more honest at the ones we lingered at, he sat and spoke to the person behind the counter.

The man behind the window selling tickets to enter the Dutch Palace, was not the man behind the window selling tickets. The conversation did not begin at

"Can I have 2 tickets please" and end at "thank u" but started by saying hi. ......a pause, a space for a conversation to start and the trascation to limp into the corner.  MJ's world is a world to immerse in, soak in the colours, enjoy the detailing in the pattern of raindrops of a speeding glass pane.

Thrill is not about speed but the intricacies observed while slowing down. While i clicked motion, movement he was riveted by rust and decay... the natural reabsorption of nature.

It was the first time that we were travelling together, and spending so much time. His pace allowed me to be still, soak in Cochin in the back lanes and not linger in the glossy touristy version that i knew till now. Lunch was savoured in a non descript Krishna Cafe, where the guests knew the exact seat that was theirs.

As we ate, we marveled at the nooks and corners that the place offered us. And his child like observation opened my gates. letting a lot of smaller moment s that would have otherwise passed me by..be caught.

to the pause. the amble
the life without a pace

thanks MJ for a day of leisure, came after a while