For God Wills It
September 16, 2026
In Genesis, we read, “Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim (the Holy Spirit) was hovering upon the surface of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. God saw that the light was good. So, God distinguished the light from the darkness.” (Gen 1:2-4)
It would be specious of me to suggest that it was the case in the week that I spent at our home stay at Kuzhapilly Beach, Cherai, Ernakulam, Kerala. But it did feel like that. Things worked only in the breach. Through perseverance, the light finally shone through, dispelling the darkness that overwhelms when things don’t go right.
My trip coincided with the arrival of two guests at the homestay. I knew they were coming, but I imagined they would be in their room; I in mine, doing my work – which included conducting a full-day workshop on storytelling and personal branding for faculty of an academic institution. That, however, was not the case. I was in the thick of sorting out things for the guests.
The guests were of Indian descent, East African-born, and US citizens. I had to let go of my favourite room - Atithi Bhagwan Hai (Guest is God). They had booked the room. Check out https://mathewanthony.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/215812420?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fhome. Stuff happens when guests arrive and begin their stay. Well-behaved ACs play truant – declaring a lightning strike. For a communist-ruled state, this was a feature, not a bug.
Red flag (Lal Chanda) flutters aloft on electricity poles. Street lights take their scheduled breaks at dinner time (during the week I was at the homestay). When this unexpected event happens, it is illuminating – drawing attention to the inverters seeking voluntary retirement, having put in their years of mandatory service like non-commissioned defence personnel. The service response to this situation is expeditious - to subvert any attempt to rethink the matter, as the cost of replacement is substantial, filling the annual quota of some providers.
Kerala had a power surplus from hydropower generation over its many rivers. But now there is an oxymoronic scheduled load shedding, seemingly unscheduled. Unusual term: load shedding. Given there is no power, it begs the question: what is being shed and on whom? In Kerala, you cannot engage your own people for load lifting or shedding. The loaders are unionised. Only the unionised workers on their term will lift, and quick to shred the goods if shortchanged.
Our guests arrive and alight from their AC cab into the sweltering heat of Kerala, which respects no seasons but only its own reason to bake anything that moves, stoved into God’s Own Oven. It was all working a moment ago. Now it is not. I called the guys who sold us the AC. They called the Brand AC technician. He called the day off. And the next day - ad infinitum.
Finally, the brand AC technician called. He was fully rested and now ready to work. I checked different rooms where the ACs may need servicing. The AC man is actually coming. Got to get all the ACs serviced before he goes AWOL again.
In our homestay, the cat was at play (not the mouse), littering the room with three kittens in the wash clothes bag, having sneaked in when the door was left ajar and got shut in when the door was closed.
I entered the room – a mini whirlpool had struck the site. Blinds were torn. The wash bag was scattered. Anything movable was moved. No union worker was involved to dictate terms. Just the cat trying to chart his escape after littering three kittens in the wash bag. It would be a stretch to think a body bath was the cat mother’s intent. The anarchist emerged and darted for the open door, not before another spared blind was also cat-nipped- a parting gift of sorts. The room had to be quarantined.
Americans wash up differently after offloading. Jostling for limited toilet rolls during COVID lockdown was replayed many times over on US channels. But Indian toilets are not wholesale tissue absorbent. The sewage plumbing went on strike. The water flushed up - not down. That it happened in Kerala is a mere coincidence. Now two bathrooms were quarantined.
Returning to “ Atithi Devo Bhava ” – the guest itinerary was figured out. Their international health check-up was organised. Excursions to hotspots were arranged. (Athirapilli Waterfall was covered in the last post). Food of their choice – home-cooked - was served. A day-trip on the Houseboat at Alleppey is planned. A trip to tea plantations in the hill station follows.
The homestay location is serene and peaceful, nestled amongst fishermen far from the maddening crowd at Cherai Beach. Between the ‘backwaters and the ocean ’. US Congresswoman from Michigan Rashida Tlaib gave the term ‘river to the sea’ a different twist; censure followed.
In my one week at our home, alias homestay, so much happened. The Good God steered us through by blessing us with guests who showed patience, understanding, and empathy with the fact that an 86-year-old mother of four, including me, was managing the homestay with her steadfast army – almost brilliantly. “For blessed are the people God has chosen for his inheritance.” (Ps 33:12). Stuff happens. Remedies follow when God wills it for his people.
- Mathew Anthony
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