it was a road trip. and like all road trips begin… this one started late. we were to leave a good 2 hours before we finally left. we were to leave earlier so that we avoided traffic on the way out of bombay, which we didn’t! so… well… its ok!

we were driving to goa. had a friend’s wedding and decided to make it into a trip. 3 of us piled into a car, 1 to join on the way. but goa was a long way off, and we decided to make it a more leisurely drive. so we booked stay with cultural aagan. they organise ethnic homestays through coastal konkan… but as i am digressing i come back to the point.

we stayed with the woman with the funny nostrils. a sweet, elderly maharashtrian woman. she stood during breakfast and gave us an hour long lecture on the ill-effects of smoking, much to the terrible dismay of a chain smoking bengali friend, the main reason she got ticked off! she was short. and normally i wouldn’t have noticed her nostrils as much as i did here. she had vertical nostrils. is that right? they were ‘on’ her face. like her mouth. thus ‘open’ nostrils is a better term.

but we were all sitting at the table, with a clean and clear view of her nostrils! and while the conversation was serious, about cancer and death and how young boys must not do this to their body… i could only wonder whether she realised she had such nostrils, whether it upset her or not? or do we all have our inadequacies which we learn to cover up or maybe just get on with?