Kerala, India

Simultaneously exotic and chaotic, a melange of tropical beauty and dusty developments. Yet this state,Kerala, is one of the richest, ‘God’s own country’ the road signs regularly proclaim. Something here reaches out and inescapably takes a hold on my heart squeezing it and gently reminding me to drink in and savour every sparkling moment not that I need much reminding. Freedom is the thread that paradoxically binds everything together—religions, states, and races. So many cultures with a common language; a noun intensified English—‘Hotel you here tomorrow meet’. How strange to hear what I had believed to be my own language spoken so quickly and emphatically as to struggle to understand it as much as any that had never been my mother tongue.

I was misled before I worked here—warned to expect formality, tradition, and discipline in the teachings. Told to prepare structures and slides to ensure the success of any of my courses. My courses is a misnomer as my experience has been that they very quickly become our courses—they belong to the delegates and us (my husband and myself). Everyone takes responsibility to keep everyone else on track and they do so with such humour and fun. Days burst with laughter and light. Curiosity and questioning flow throughout the group. I feel very blessed to be invited to work here. And here this time is the outskirts of Cochin where we are flanked by the serene tropical backwaters and the endless beach bordering the Arabian Sea’. Crows patrol the resort but blue and sea eagles soar above their wary eyes. What we might only see as house plants in the UK line the paths at our venue looking out across the crowded coconut palms to the brilliant ocean beyond as simultaneously we build learnings and friendships. God’s own Country, his permanent address.

There is an unprecedented passion for learning that will surely carry India to the centre of the economic and political world. Service does not have to be taught here it is inbuilt. My companions on this training have the selflessness to open themselves to new ways of thinking and to play with them till they have found a fit. This is a place of much love, a spiritual home. We have a lot to learn here.