Yesterday we got a face book message which made me squeal
with delight. Philen Naidu, author of My
Life My Africa asked if he could visit us for 3 weeks and of course we jumped
at the offer. Having someone here to
talk to, share ideas with and take some pressure off our workload would be wonderful
but imagine that someone being a traveller who spent 5 years on foot travelling
to Zambia while experiencing life on grass roots level with the locals and then
writing a book about his life experience. It just sounded too good to be true.
I haven’t actually read Philen’s book even though I knew
of him, so the anticipation was all the more exciting. The day arrived and he got off the third bus
from Jozie, tired from 36 hours of travel but we greeted him with a cold beer
and a big grin. I expected someone taller and of a bigger frame but then again
I also expected he’d have a funny Indian accent and bring a bag of chillies
tucked under a sarong. He did bring some
spices but he was more blown over to find Theo’s kitchen fully stocked with
Tamarind, smoked chillies and every spice necessary to sustain his love of
cooking.
I’d spent the morning wondering whether our first
encounter would be a braai in the shade of my new granny panties, (the ones I
spoke about in an earlier blog) which flapped on the washing line like a big
cerise tarpaulin. He arrived on Theo’s
birthday so naturally a braai was a given.
I soon realised that we’d be eating chillies with every meal, which was
up Theo’s alley but I puckered up for a steady 3 weeks of anticipated ringsting.
We spent the first night sloshing down a
few beers and excitedly figured out that we were on the same page about life,
the universe and things that make us tick. Three weeks are not going to be enough time to
discuss our passions and interests since the topic of food from different
cultures requires a whole chapter of its own. His zest for life is like a fresh
breeze blown in from the north and revitalized my soul, leaving a curry trail
and old negative thoughts in its wake.
I working on ME again and I’m filled with joy and vigour. Damn it’s good to be alive.
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