SUNDAY AFTERNOON TEA

'Come for afternoon tea on Sunday'...  Dr Prasad and his wife spoke perfect English.  They had lived in England for many years and spoke affectionately of the Cotswold - it seemed a far away place sitting in the Indian heat of their sitting room.  I was given a glass of water, a traditional greeting to a guest who has just arrived.  I was quite used to this formality.  When I first arrived in India, I used to blush with embarrassment as I pretended to take a sip of the water, terrified of upsetting my constitution and rendering myself incapable of anything for days as my bowel recovered from the invasion of microbes.  But I have acclimatised to the water and it has no effect on me at all these days.  Tea and biscuits were brought - 'Nice' biscuits - they seem to be universal - this ordinary biscuit has gone global.  We chatted on about schools both here and abroad, the climate and which places, I should definitely see in India.   'Have some ice-cream..... you must try the Baroda ice cream.... it's famous' ?  On top of my tea and Nice biscuits, at 5 p.m. on that hot Sunday afternoon?  It seemed wickedly decadent !  An enormous bowl of ice cream was set down before me - everyone watched as I tucked in...I wondered when and what time of day they, themselves, chose for eating ice cream?  Perhaps they only had it on a Monday ?  And I was being spoilt?  It was rich and creamy with the odd  nut and piece of crystallized fruit.  Having seen the local cows walking around the streets eating newspaper and plastic bags, I couldn't help wondering how on earth they managed to produce any milk at all.  This bowl of ice cream was clearly a miracle !