A bulletin from my mate with the pet elephant!
Hi,
Well today I've been to the Leela Hotel, it's the only real 5* hotel around and on Sundays it lets the plebs in, if you buy Sunday Brunch. Well I do because it's the only place in Kerala that has 3 kinds of lettuce, actually it's the only place in Kerala that has any lettuce. If you order a Green Salad here you get Carrot, Cucumber and Tomatoes, you will notice, (if you're sharp) that there is nothing green in any of that. (My Mother would be so surprised, and so pleased, lettuce, green.) You also get use of their pool, which is the best around, so I use it every Sunday.
So today I'm in the bar, (by accident you understand), and this bloke starts talking to me about the cricket, which is on the TV. Well as you probably know my knowledge of cricket is 'limited' to say the least, however, having spent far too much time in India of late, I do know India is the best. And so I can handle this conversation, because he is clearly a foreigner. (foreigner: ie: someone who knows less about cricket than you do. The Tebbit definition.) It turns out that his name is Sach(a) (Russian) and lives or has lived in Chicago for 20 years. He thinks Chicago is the best city in the world. We talk about cities, we are both city people. New York, London, Paris, Rome, we get on. Then I lose it, Moscow, Beirut, Islamabad, I'm out of my depth. We talk world politics. corruption, east / west, the fall of the Berlin wall, we discuss the present situation in the middle east, the fanatical future for the world, he is not without opinions. he shows me his passport, (Russian I think) 6 years old and stuffed with visas and entry/exit permits. I ask him what he does for a living, (I've all ready heard about his trips to Siberia and beyond).
'Arms'. That's it. So, suddenly it's not about cricket, it's another area that I know very little about. Our conversation about world politics suddenly comes into focus. Who the fuck am I talking to, I'm talking to Goldfinger! ( Actually he's better looking than that, but he probably would be, wouldn't he?) Maybe he's not 'Goldfinger" but one of those around the table, (one of which suddenly gets tipped back from their seats into a pit of Vipers). Any way, this is some heavy dude.
Then the conversation changes, (well it would wouldn't it). He knows I know Kerala, and he wants to know is there a night life here, where he can have 'good, clean, adult fun around here, he describes "Heaven" the Moscow nightclub which we all know from those films, it sounds great, but not available here. Sadly I disillusion him. Kovalam closes at 11pm.
We stare deep into each others eyes, I know that if the chair doesn't tip me back into a pit of vipers I'm OK, he knows that as long as l don't reach for my Walther PPK, he is safe. We smile, a sardonic smile and part.
Another Sunday at the Leela another day in Kovalam.
Love you all,
Tony XXXXXX