The curse of Eyjafjallajökull is lifted

My adventure begins on the anniversary of my birth - 23rd April. After a week of 'volcanic panic' in England because of the prolonged and ash-heavy eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, I finally made my way to one of the hot topics of the week: Heathrow.

The drive and subsequent lingering at the airport brought about a cocktail of emotions, not least of which was anxiety about what lay ahead. I kept reminding myself of the reasons why I was going to India and gradually, throughout my flight, I managed to push most of my doubts aside and let the excitement take over.

I can't go on without mention of the somewhat hilarious predicament I was faced with on the first flight. As I struggled to my seat along the unkind narrow aisle, my tired eyes fell upon two blue eyed baby boys - cute! Until I realised that one of them was in my seat. Their cuteness quickly evaporated! A rather flustered mum looked at me and asked if we can swap seats, "of course!" I say cheerfully, thinking I'd escaped the baby bonanza...no such luck! The seat flustered mum number 1 points at is in the middle of her and her baby, and flustered mum number 2 with her baby. Feeling I could nolonger withdraw the offer, I squeezed myself into the seat and thought to myself, "happy blooming Birthday!".

The second flight was less eventful, apart from a brief rugby scrum at boarding (Indians don't queue like we do).

Before I write my first impressions of Kochi (Cochin - many places in India are still referred to by their colonial name), I will share my Grandad's first thoughts about India:

He wrote: "First impressions from walking the streets in the city centre were that a good part of the whole population were on the street together at the same time; it was seething with swaying bodies and incessant noise from the people an the traffic.

"In retrospect, it was a formidable culture shock in contrast to our own pattern of life, and it was great in dimension and extreme in its variation."

And how right he was; the streets here are alive with people. Everywhere I look in Kochi there a stalls selling delicious smelling food, traditional clothes, bangles, pungent spices and everything else imaginable! But it is the people I can not keep my eyes off, and it would seem that I too am the object of many people's gaze.