A taste of home and lime pickle

Beyond my grandfather's inspiration, my other motivation to visit India was gifted to me by Cardiff University's Youth of India Society (YUVA). I met some wonderful people through this, who were wonderfully passionate about their Mother land, not least of which was my good friend Shree, who I stayed with for the week in his home of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Another bemusing and eventful journey under my belt, I arrived at Shree's luxurious family home and enjoyed a few days of his mother, Meera's, homecooking (founding my affection for spicy and zesty lime pickle) and Raju family life.

This was my first true encounter of an Indian home and I quickly understood the importance placed on family. Shree (or Sandip, as they affectionately call him) and his brilliantly tenacious sister, Sneha, whisked me out to dinner most days and tried to show me as much as possible of their cosmopolitan home in the few days we had together.

Sneha took me shopping for some beautiful Indian clothes and both her and the shop assistants were amused by my 'strange' colour choices and difficulty trying on the large Salwar trousers.

I was also honoured to be part of Shree's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary celebrations. Setting off early in my new bright orange dress, I rode on the back of Shree's scooter - out of the city - along streets laced with coconut, banana and betel nut trees. We were heading to the hills and to the Esha Ashram, a serene Shiva temple where the family gave thanks for the long and happy marriage. The most memorable part of the experience for me was, dressed in just a deep red robe, bathing with Sneha, Meera and Shree's grandmother in a special pool containing Shiva's silver orb. Sneha and I helped Shree's grandmother to swim over to it and we all took it in turns to place our hands on it and feel its vibrations.

To finish off my visit, Sneha took me to a Mehindi street artist to have my hands decorated with

henna. The rich reddy brown artwork was vivid on my (persistently) pale skin. In south India, traditionally the bride and groom have Mehindi for their wedding day. In the north, all the female wedding guest join in and 2 days before the ceremony gather for a Mehindi party. Shree's family laughed at my impatience as I sat and fidgeted in my seat, waiting for it to dry.

Indian family life is built upon the foundations of love, respect, faith and good food and I was lucky to be a part of that. Thank you to the Raju family!