The Start of a Secret Affair

Isn't it funny how things are sometimes just meant to be? I am a great believer in kismet that beautiful word with a mysterious meaning... like serendipity and déja vu, there is a sense of twilight and supernatural about it. I believe now we were destined for Spain...somewhere, in some heavenly, devine organiser, the forces that be rerouted our path to the the Iberian Peninsula. But did it just happen? Was it as simple as resigning from an amazing career and buying three one way tickets to Alicante? I look back and recollect... easy? No! but meant to be? Yes!

In 2002, we were living in Eldwick, an idyllic village in West Yorkshire with a beautiful house overlooking the Yorkshire Moors. The location was stunning with each season being so crisp and clearly recognisable... when the winter came the moors looked like nicely risen victoria sponges with a thick layer of icing sugar and when the summer dropped in, the landscape was as stunning as a treasure chest of emerald nuggets. With a location like this, good jobs and Krish in a great school, why would we want to move? At the time, we didn't want to move and we hadn't thought about something as big as emigrating to a new country since the mid 1990s when Ketan and I had been on the verge of applying to become Canadian citizens. At that time we had bought the books on a life in Canada and we had completed the application forms only to find ourselves in a dilemma. My father was seriously ill and the pressure on my family especially my mother was enormous so we decided that now was not the time to realise our dreams... now was the time to support our family and simply to be there. We thought that emigrating was a dim and distant dream which now would remain that way forever. After a bitter struggle with his health and a connoction of complications, my father sadly passed away in 1997 and I knew then that our decision had been the right one. The late 1990s were difficult ones for our families as no sooner had my father died, my niece, Hetal fell ill overnight with what turned out to be a terminal illness... her story is too melancholy to write in detail and one which remains with us forever. Sadly this beautiful, bubbly 18 year old who was at the starting line of life's race, cruelly never got to even set off... contracting a terminal illness, sadly dying in January 1999. These two losses in a short period of time, raised so many unanswerable questions in our heads...and over and over again we asked Why? Why? Why?

Then in the summer of 2001, we decided to take a holiday in Spain. We had never been there but my boss, a lover of Andalucia, had sold it to me and I in turn had convinced Ketan to book flights and a hire car. We would travel to Malaga and from there journey through the Alpujarras, explore the Moorish cities of Andalucia and coast through the Costa del Sol all the way to Cadiz and back. On a scale of one to ten, this I would say was 15! It was just incredible... the stunning topography, the warm and loveable locals, the eternally blue skies, the rich and vibrant culture... everything (except ofcourse the meaty cuisine) was perfect. We simply fell in love again and it felt like both Ketan and I were having a secret affair with the same person... she was called España!

This blog is dedicated to the late Rameshbhai Madhvani and the late Hetal Gandhi... God bless.