Way Down South
After a few days of travel through the interior of Southern India, I'm
at the coast again. I'm way down south, just off the west coast, on a
little island called Cochin (Kochi). I didn't think that I'd ever use
the word "quaint" to describe anything in India, but Cochin is. It's
kind of like the Charleston of India. It's also very PC and many
religions live here in harmony, unlike most of the rest of India. There
are Hindus, Christians, Moslems, and even Jews (we're everywhere). The
Jews have been here for about 2200 years, ever since Babylon. But there
are only about 20 left today (they all took off for Israel, they're no
dummies.)
It's hot here. I mean really hot. Silly hot. And humid. This place
is lush, it is green and there is water everywhere. I spent most of the
other day taking a canoe trip down a river on the mainland. Very
tropical and jungly (that's right, jungly).
I found about what that thing on Indian women's heads (bindi) means. It
means nothing. They just think it looks good. Actually, everybody has
shit all over their foreheads here. When you go to the temple and get
blessed, they often put ash and/or colored powder on your forehead.
There are different patterns and styles depending on whether the temple
is down with Shiva, Vishnu, or whomever. I don't get blessed too much
if I can help it; I can live without a dirty forehead. My coolest
blessing: I was in this out of the way temple, minding my own business
when two women and a priest came rushing up to me. The women grabbed my
arms and led me down to the temple's reservoir. The women then threw
white stuff into the water and hundreds of little fish came up to eat.
As the water churned and bubbled, the priest dipped his hand into the
water, sprinkled it on me, and blessed me.
I broke my cheapest room record by 20 cents. I stayed at a place that
cost $1.20. What do you get for $1.20? Well, you get a 7x12 concrete
cell with a mattress type thing on a raised section of the floor, a
communal hole, and no running water (but there is a pump). It was
actually a lot better than it sounds. It was clean, and was run by a
nice family.
Mammals I've seen:
913 cows
823 goats
367 dogs
75 chipmunks (all of the non-singing species, unfortunately)
66 cats
54 pigs
27 monkeys
3 elephants (inside temples)
2 rats (one of which I saw inside a restaurant while eating dinner)
1 weasel-like thing
1 squirrel-like thing
When children ask me for a school-pen, I ask them for rupees. When they
ask for rupees, I ask for a school-pen. It works very well.
I've taken the train 3 times now, including 2 overnights. The trip to
get here was during the daytime and the scenery was amazing. I saw
people making gravel for new train tracks a few times. Here's how you
make grtavel: A few guys break big rocks for sledgehammers. A few more
people break those chunks into medoium chunks. A few more people break
those chunks into gravel-sized chunks. All day. In the hot sun. I'm
going to remember that the next time I bitch about my job.
Instead of shaking their heads up and down to indicate "yes," Indians
move it from side to side. It's hard to describe exactly. It looks
like someone has punched them in the face and they are wobbily and about
to pass out.
They drive on the left-hand side of the road here. It's not as hard to
deal with as it is in England, though. Whenever you step into the road
you have to be hyper-aware anyway, so I'm always looking everywhere.
And since there really any aren't any rules here, just some general
guidelines, there's a good chance that some of the people are driving on
the right-hind side anyway.
I have heard from Julie. She is about 1500 miles away from me. We are
going to try to meet up in Hospet (Hampi) next week. We'll see... I'll
be around here for two more days, then it's about a two day journey to
Hospet. I'll be there for about a week, and then I'm going to Agra.
I'll be there for three or 4 days, and then home.
Funkiest thing so far: I was playing catch with some kids yesterday.
After dinner, I ran into one of them again. He told me that there was a
celebration down at the temple and asked me if I wanted to come. It was
way cool. Drummers, streets lined with flaming lamps, an elephant. It
was kind of like a street festival. But the most bestest part is that
the celebration lasts for several nights. Tonight there are going to be
3 elephants, fireworks, and a kind of folk dancing skit call Kathakali.
Kathakali is what this part of India is known for and Cochin has a few
tourist places that have Kathakali shows. I was going to see one of
those, but now I am very excited about being able to see it for real.
One odd thing: I know that the Nazi's stole the swastika from here, but
it is still a bit strange to see big flaming swastikas being carried on
top of 7-foot poles.
XOXOXO,
Mike