I see red, I see red, I see red

Split Enz had a song that started "When my baby's walking down the street, I see red, I see red, I see red". This has nothing to do with girlfriends and possessive boyfriends, but over the last week or so, it's been very hard to go anyway in Kochi and surrounds without "seeing red". The reason is the CPI(M) local elections and congress being held over 9,10 and 11 November (in case you've forgotten, dear reader, the CPI(M) is the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and is the party currently in government in Kerala). As a show of "power" and as a way of encouraging new members to join and existing members to cast their votes, the streets throughout Kochi have been festooned in streamers, banners, posters (including one most incongruous one on the way out to the Lakeshore Hospital, with Gandhiji juxtaposed with Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat - making no sense at all) and red flags with the hammer and sickle. It will be interesting to hear of the upshot of all these parades and displays and what it means for the state and I will keep you apprised of those insights, dear reader.

In the meantime, as I foreshadowed at the end of my last blog, it was off to the Backwaters today for the first time, with a visit to the Lakeside resort for lunch.

First photo is the view from the Lakeside Resort lakeside restaurant, where we filled up on great seafood - I started with a prawn and avocado salad and moved to the seafood grill, with a (yeah I know, naughty boy) chocolate mousse for desert. It was washed down with a fresh lime soda (salt) rather than anything red or white (the prices were outrageous, even after the exchange was taken into account - I wouldn't pay that much for Grange!). Still the view, the food and the company were great.

Second photo shows Shibana, Subha, Roshan and Freeda as we were waiting for our "free" tea and nibbles (banana fritters) at 4.00pm. Turns out the tea and fritters were indeed "free" for the resort residents, but for 'blow-ins' like us that was extra. We enjoyed the tea, fritters and a walk around the resort to its "Infinity Pool" and watched the houseboats arrive and depart, as they brought guests from other parts of the backwaters and dutifully transported them there as well. On the way out the door and back to the real world of Kochi, we took time to sit on the swing, where Shibana, Roshan and I are pictured in the third photo. All in all a delightful break from the otherwise full on activities of building a business school literally from the ground up.

The trip back, like the trip there (in one of the several 4X4s to which we have access) was a kaleidoscope of traffic madness, punctuated by horns blaring, the constant exercise of the "might is right" principle (buses > 4X4s > cars > autos > motorbikes > bicycles > pedestrians, absolutely at the bottom of the pile) and sights such as mum, dad, child and baby on bike. We got back to our respective homes in the dark and then it was off to the Imperial for just a chilli gobi and a couple of chappathi to see off the night hunger.