Monsoon... and wedding

I'm so glad to have seen Monsoon rain, although this is the tail end of it. I can't imagine what the summer onslaught is like. It started with a few drops, then, a couple of hours later when it was nearly dark, thunder rumbles. An hour after that, and the rain was falling so fast and loud that the little patch of gravel outside my bamboo hut was about four inches deep in water, my flip flops floating, and advancing on my step.. The power had cut, of course - the sky was turning bright blue with lightening every few seconds. I saw a flashlight across the little garden, and suddenly someone appeared out of the pitch black, sheltering, unnecessarily as it was soaked, under a towel. And moments later, I had sprinted across to join him, Rex, and his best friend Vinod, who were drinking rum and coke.

Imagine what you expect a Hindu wedding to be. And then scrap any of those preconceptions and picture instead a concrete cinema with semi open sides, red plastic seats, 30 degree heat at least and about 500 people crammed in. People were turned round in their seats, talking and laughing - and the groom and bride were at the front apparently being shunted around by busy bodies having their photograph taken. Then my friend, one of the rum and cokers, whose mate was getting married, turned to me and said, 'now we eat'.

With no sense of ceremony, the couple - he, 34, she 22 (they were introduced and engaged on the same day a few months ago) were married. And then it was off to a giant agricultural barn next door, at least 40 degrees inside, laid out with long tressle tables to eat the most fabulous Thali food off a giant banana leaf, with our hands. Sweat was running in twin rivers down my front and back. This was a traditional, simple village wedding.

The only problem with being taller than 90 per cent of a 500-strong crowd, and of course, the only Westerner, is that I got more attention than the bride....

My Indian friend has inadvertently turned into a travel companion. We are the same age, and he lives up the coast in Allepey, where tourists gather to invade the Keralan backwaters. His older and younger brothers are both married with children, but he is determinedly single and anti-religious. I think he might like me.... So Allepey is where we are heading on the train tonight.