The last post

   There I sat at the table , the only woman among eight men. We had also invited brothers Anmod and Stayn. Often, when the Fathers go somewhere, the brothers stay on campus to continue their work. But since they had been looking after us so well, we felt they really should be there, too. Only Father Shine Pauly was not there; he had gone on a pilgrimage with his family, in Tamil Nadu. The food was delicious, and those who wanted, drank wine or a beer. The brothers did not drink alcohol, preferring juice. For some reason, they didn't order it until I beckoned a waiter and asked them what they wanted.
   We also received a parting gift from the Fathers, and Father Thoppil said again that he had really enjoyed having us there. That the evening meal had often been very pleasant and we had many good conversations. After dinner, when everyone had had their fill, the Fathers took the bill and paid it. It was not quite as we had had in mind, yet it did not surprise us. We decided not to say anything about it. Geo drove us back to campus, and we crawled into bed tired.
   The following day, we packed the last things. A teacher who has her own sewing workshop -in addition to her job at St. Albert's- came to bring my ready-to-wear saree. Now I can easily put it on myself, should I want to. The pleats are already pre-folded and sewn. All I have to do is wrap the saree and tie it. Perfect! We gave a parting gift (Delft blue tea towels and a fridge magnet with tulips and a windmill) to the ladies in the kitchen, who have been providing us with food all this time. The gatekeeper was given a keychain with tiny wooden shoes. We went for a final falooda, and then we had to wait for the taxi driver to arrive.

The return journey

   Just before two-thirty, Geo knocked on our door. The taxi had arrived. The suitcases were put in the car. The ladies from the kitchen appeared, who also came to say their farewells. Although we did not understand each other at all, they were always very nice and helpful to us. We got a handshake from all of them, and the ‘boss’ of the kitchen gave me a hearty hug and a kiss on my cheek. It was joked that she wanted to come along, then she could continue cooking for us. We got in the car, and drove towards the exit. At the gate, the also very kind sweeping ladies stood to wave us off. They had even brought the cat, Julie, with them. They know I adore the little creature, and had even bought special cat food for her. Julie was lifted up and held by the car window so I could give her one last pet. Then we drove out of the gates.

   The 25 kilometres to the airport turned out to be an hour-and-a-half journey. The city was crowded. For the last time, we saw all those familiar buildings passing by. It all felt so like home. The city, the metro, even the traffic. We could still remember how impressive our first ride through the city had been, when, tired from the flight, we had been picked up by Father Shaiju. We passed St George's Syro-Malabar Church, with its golden dome and the huge building of LuLu Mall. We followed the metro to its terminus, naming all the stations where we  had got off to explore. This is where we had eaten those delicious burgers. And there was the spice shop. And that beautiful big church we had driven past several times. Gosh, the water in the river had already dropped quite a bit, as the flooded temple is now dry.
   Kochi's (new) airport is actually a very nice complex. The buildings are inspired by the typical architectural style of Kerala. White buildings with red tiled roofs on different levels. It is surrounded by fields of solar panels, which provide electricity to the airport.

   We drove past the airport's solar panels, until we could came to the terminal. When dropping off the bags, Simon's suitcase turned out to be two kilos too heavy. So on the spot we repacked some more. And then we had to wait for the first flight. We knew we would only have a two-hour transfer time at Delhi, which is really very short. But the plane also left a bit later than planned. That did make the transfer at Delhi a bit stressful. Especially as we had to remove all the electronics from our bags there for the second time we had to go through the checkpoint. But obviously we made it.

   In Delhi, we noticed that the make up of the crowd had changed. It was clearly a bit more international. In Munich, at the last changeover, hardly any Indians could be seen anymore. There were a lot of Dutch people, though. The clothing style had changed from colourful to mainly white and grey. Food and drink prices were considerably higher. An on top of that, it started to rain when the plane was getting ready for take off. We had eaten well on the two previous flights; this time we were given only a bottle of water. Our plane landed at Schiphol Airport on the scheduled time. There we were met by Lara (with her 5 months pregnant belly) and Marc.
  Just like when they drove us to the airport on our way to India, we had to play Tetris with the suitcases for a while. Marc remembered how we got everything into the car on the way there.  The drive home took an hour and a half. We sat on the back seat, with a big suitcase between us. We had ample time to catch up with our company. In Deventer, Kyra and Hessel were both at home. As I walked up the stairs, Belle (my dog) was waiting at the top. When I didn't climb the stairs fast enough, she started the descent to be reunited faster. We were home again.