06/02/2005: Leaving India

Hi everyone -

Hope you are well. We're back in Mumbai (Bombay) for a few days before we fly out of here and head to Egypt. Deanna and I are both a bit sad to leave India but with the monsoon rains starting very soon and train tickets completely booked by all the Indian families traveling during school break, our original plan of heading north to the Himalayan region to pal around with the Sikhs and the Dalai Lama (Ladakh, Amritsar, McLeod-Ganj) was looking to involve over a week of actual time on buses and we just couldn't do it. Next time though...

When I last wrote, we were deep in Southern India. From Varkala, we traveled north to Kollam where we caught a boat through the backwaters of Kerala. While in Kollam, we were in an auto-rickshaw driving to the boat jetty when we were forced to stop for what looked like a parade - a parade of horrors that is! When Deanna and I looked more closely at the marchers, we saw a gentlemen pulling a large sled/chariot and seeming to be a bit "crazy" - the man was connected to the sled (as we found out later) by hooks through his skin. He was followed by several gentlemen walking on "shoes" which were a bed of nails. And following them were a line of marchers with their mouths open with both cheeks pierced with a thin wooden "spear". The finale really took the cake though - it was a man suspended from a wooden structure by hooks through the skin on his back...ouch. According to the Discovery special we happened to catch a few days later, it's a Hindu festival to show their devotion and apparently as some of the participants enter a trance they don't bleed and don't hurt.

After the excitement of the parade, the backwaters boatride was very relaxing indeed. Many people don't take the public boat - they hire a houseboat and just spend 2-3 days floating down the river lined with palm trees, small huts, and friendly local people going about their business. Having spent a LOT of time floating on boats in many places during this trip, we decided 8 hours on a boat was enough for us although I would have liked having a cooler of beer and a personal chef on-board. If you've never done this kind of trip however, Kerala is absolutely gorgeous (I'd have to say the most beautiful place in India) and is highly recommended.

In Kochi - which is a really great former Portugese fort city - we had a wonderful time. We went to see a performance of the local dance form- Kathakali - which I had very low expectations for but the demonstration beforehand was actually quite interesting. We also went to see a local martial arts demonstration. Deanna and I were the only guests and therefore sitting rather near the stage - a great view until they demonstrated a weapon which is best described as a hand-held whip of helicopter blades. I was trying not to flinch, but as safety tends to be a bit lax over here I admit I was nervous.

From Kerala, we headed northwards to Goa...stopping along the way in Mangalore to break up a very long bus journey. Nothing of note except that we went to see the new Star Wars movie. I should have suspected something was up because of the hand-drawn black marker signs advertising the theater, or when the driver dropped us off in front of an office complex rather than a theater...but it finally became apparent George Lucas wasn't getting any royalties when the movie came on and the film time-code was emblazoned across the top of the picture. Other than the poor sound, poor color, and the film time-code blocking our view - the movie was better than I thought it would be.

After another overnight bus, we reached Goa. Just in time to close it down...literally. In the three days we spent in Goa, all the beachshack restaurants closed one by one...our waiter actually asked "do you want another beer? we close until October after tonight". It was really sad to watch everyone board up as if a hurricane was coming- but I understood better when we got caught in the heavy rain (on a scooter no less) and the first truck that passed us completely deluged us in their tire-spray from ankles to eyes".

me: "Deanna...do you see the turnoff for the hotel?"
D: "I can't see a thing with this water in my eyes!"
me: "me either" (gulp)

Good times.

Well...a farewell to India then. We're in Mumbai and outside of arranging our tickets (a bureaucratic, inefficient mess between Northwest, KLM, and Emirates Air), we're planning to eat good Indian food and watch one last Bollywood flick before we leave on June 5th.

Wishing everyone the best.