Proved to myself today that it is possible to ride a bicycle while wearing a sari. Probably not advised, but possible. But it’s so hot and humid today that I can’t wear it much longer and must retreat to my house to take off all my clothes. A few of the teachers said it might rain, which would feel wonderful but would apparently be bad for the crops. I don’t quite understand why, as I think most of them are irrigated.

Mornings in the Keralan countryside are peaceful, but could by no stretch of the imagination be called quiet. Apart from noisy birds and monkeys, the temples like to get into the action at around 5:30, blasting music to let their parishioners know it’s time to get up. I took a sunrise walk the first morning I was here and was amazed to hear music from each temple (and they are densely spaced) at rock-concert volume billowing out into the rice paddies. Surreal. Continue reading “Rain?”

I am in pain today. Apart from my mural painting class (where I am learning to draw Indian jewelry, what … Continue reading I have quad muscles

It is a law of nature that when you spray insect repellent in a room that has an overhead fan switched … Continue reading Miscellaneous Musings 2

I left Fort Cochin on Wednesday, catching a slow bus to Alleppey after numerous false starts. I found a ‘heritage … Continue reading Varkala

I can now unequivocally confirm that bedbug bites are the itchiest known to woman. It’s been three days of hell, … Continue reading Bedbugs

Fort Cochin today. A short ferry ride from Ernakulam, but a world away. Fort Cochin is a clean, expensive resort enclave. Lunch today cost me almost ten times what I’m used to paying, although my hotel room is not so bad. I’m enjoying the relatively cleanliness and quiet of Fort Cochin, but its surreal aspect is irking me slightly. I was hungry this morning and just wanted a snack from the street, but there weren’t any; there aren’t any girls selling flowers for your hair. Continue reading “Not India?”

Bought my first sari yesterday. I’ve heard so many people say that saris are too hard to put on and that westerners shouldn’t anyway because they just can’t pull it off. Well, I have the sort of cussed personality that makes me get annoyed when people say I can’t do something. So off I went to the biggest sari emporium in Trichy. Just to put this in perspective, when you travel around India by far the most advertisements you see are for saris (the second most prevalent are for jewelry). When you think that 500 million people wear them every day, you’ll realize that there are one hell of a lot of saris available. I’d been eying them for weeks, so at this point I had ideas about what I wanted: a mix of cotton and polyester so it doesn’t wrinkle easily, a bright color but dark enough not to show sweat stains, and a fair amount of gold. I came out with the above – a royal blue with a printed gold motif – for 275 rupees. One could pay as little 150 or as much as 15,000 in the store I went into. I imagine that in a bigger city it would be possible to pay a lot more, but as the 15,000 rupees saris were incredible, I think you would have to have actual gold thread and precious stones embroidered into the cloth to make it more special. Continue reading “Girly Stuff”

I went to the Rock Fort Temple in Trichy yesterday afternoon. You enter through a portal in the bazaar and find yourself in a vast complex with covered stairs leading up every which way. All along the route are shrines, some lit by concealed shafts of sunlight. You emerge into day about 100 feet below the temple; in the last bit the stairs are carved out of the rock itself, not particularly regularly. The temple itself is not as dramatic as its setting, but from the top you can see all of Trichy. It’s not such a big city, which may be why I’m enjoying it so much.

There’s something about the fact that you are required to take off your shoes to enter temples that makes them more memorable. I’ve always loved walking barefoot, and I find that the experience of a place is heightened by feeling it underfoot: stone alternately cold and hot, rough and smooth. Continue reading “Temples and More Temples”

I came from Ooty yesterday, after having spent a few days relaxing. Sunday night I had a really amusing time playing cards with … Continue reading Indian Valentines