No more vomiting, no more stomach ache and diarrhoea.
One final stroll down the lane in the early morning light, then off to Calicut after breakfast.
I sorted out the packing and I think I'll sneak in under the weight limit and I gave away some of my old clothes to the staff.
A fortnight ago I could barely stumble to the fork in the road, a couple of hundred metres down the track, but this morning I was barely thinking about walking, it was easy and relaxed as I strode along.
It was around 6.30 and people were just starting to stir. In many homes the front door was open and I could glimpse through to the television early morning show flickering on the set in the sitting room. 
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| Farmer with his milk |
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| Milk collection point |
The clerk at the dairy depot was waiting for the early-rising farmers to bring in the yield from their treasured one or two cows, and everyone had a cheery good-morning for the big Englishman with his hiking poles and camera.
It was still misty as I followed the track across the irrigated fields past the stand-pipe with its designer tap...
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| Driving his home-made car |
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| Designer bathroom fittings |
...past the boy with his home-made car and
...past the lily-pond with the exquisite lotus flowers.
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| Lotus flowers |
The jungle on either side constantly revealed new treasures,
...a glimpse of pale pink flowers framed by banana trees and palms,
then a rubber plantation, silent and mysterious in the mist, with the collection tins nailed to the trees waiting for the new season’s tapping
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| Rubber plantation in the morning mist |
I climbed up the slope to the estate and looked back now that the mist had cleared and knew this was a view I would remember – and that I would also know that early morning walks are a great way to clear the head and plan the day, one of the guiding principles of Ayurveda.
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| Looking back from the estate down the lane I followed |
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