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Published: September 20th 2009
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Good Driver
Still tried to rip us off though.
At least he smiled alot. And so it was, the last stop on our fabulous journey with our beloved friend Jasmine. After Kannur we would be parting ways. Jasmine was on her way out of the country, infact. And we would be carrying on further south.
We thought that Kannur would be a great place to end things off as it is famous for the traditional Hindu Theyyam ritual. We were really interested to check it out.
It is, supposedly, performed every night either in Kannur or just outside of it. And it turned out that there was a temple RIGHT next to our hotel that was having a weekend Theyyam-a-thon. We were REALLY lucky for that one.
Though, things turned out to be different than planned (as it usually is in life) but that just made it THAT much better.
We arrived in the city, after THE craziest BUMPIEST bus ride of my life, and checked into our last "splurge" hotel with Jasmine. We got a triple room with a TV (so as not to miss Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations) and "air conditioning" (which didn't work).
But the place was great, set in an old heritage home with tons of plants and fish aquariums strewn
Lighting up
One for him, one for the pack, one for him , one for the pack about the property.
Oh, well, there was that crack-of-dawn wake up from the contruction going on in the parking lot, and also the tiny window that didn't let in the faintest of drafts.
But, we dont want to complain now, these are our last few moments in India with our buddy, Jasmine.
Things were going great, for the first day that is.
Walking around town, checking out shops, eating local specialties (BIRYANIS!!) and taking loooooooong rickshaw rides. We visited the Beedi (indian cigarette) factory in the next village over.
It turned out to be COMPLETELY the opposite of what i IMAGINED an indian Beedi factory to look like. Everyone seemed really happy and smiley.
Go figure.
We found a great clinic and Guillaume went on to have his regular, ahem, tests done. He was still feeling a bit odd from everything that he had been through (a.k.a. India).
Well, things took a turn for the worse.
The next day, as we walked into town to do our regular email checks and stool samples...oops, I mean...clinical tests, we noticed something about the town. There was a strange feeling about , sort of like in an old country western flick when the
Hmmm...not what i thought
Not quite the image that came to mind when I thought of an Indian cigarette factory. These women were way too happy to be at work. bad guy comes to town: shop fronts were boarded over, there was NO one in the streets, and everything was just...quiet.
Which is unthinkable in India. Truly.
So, we got to the internet cafe and realized that it looked closed, the sliding garage door (that every shop in india seems to have) was only half pulled down. We peeked in and sure enough, people were still in there, typing, skyping, and blogging away , as usual.
We asked the owner what was going on. He quickly told us that there had been a rumble in the streets, just a few moments before we had arrived. It was hard to get details from him, as his english wasn't easy to follow. A few people had been stabbed and some stores had been broken into and burned down.
Gasp. We were a bit concerned.
It was only the next day that we found out the story, when we read the newspaper.
There was a clash in the street between two youth brigades from different political parties. One party wanted the city to protest and close shop and have all business stop. Well, not everyone was in favor of that, so some shops
Beedi Label
Pretty nice, actually. stayed open and ended up having their windows smashed and worse even, burnt down.
So, when we had arrived in the internet cafe, it was right after this huge confrontation and people were very much on edge.
We were warned to stay in our hotel for the next day or two, at least, until things returned to normal. Boo. But we did as we were told, we didn't want OUR arms to be cut off, for heavens sake.
So, that meant that we were forced to try the only restaurant available to us, and at the end of the hotel's driveway. A chinese restaurant in rural india. My stomach was churning already.
But it turned out to be a really great surprise. The noodles were homemade and it was fantastic! We got it to takeaway (since they weren't really allowed to be open either so we couldn't eat it there) and ate it in our room with much pleasure.
The next day, we weren't really sure what to do. This ban thing was only really happening in Kannur and not in the other villages around it. So, for Jasmines last day in Kannur with us we decided to take a
Theyyam
Traditional hindu dance/trance in Kerala. It was quite an experience. Especially when they practically blasted our heads off with a 20 meter long line of fire crackers. rickshaw to a nearby beach that was supposed to be very beautiful (and deserted!). Sure enough, as soon as we got out of the city of Kannur, we saw that everything else was open, alive and functioning.
We grabbed some snacks and headed for the beach. We ended up staying a long time, enjoying the breeze (it was terribly hot in the city), the water and the sand.
Finally when it was time to go, we figured out how (that always seems to happen) to take the local bus back to Kannur and made it back the hotel. Guillaume wandered around and got us some beers to enjoy with our dinner and we ordered another bunch of noodley dishes and yummy stuff from the chinese restaurant, made a cheers to Jasmine, for being such an amazing person to spend the last four months with and scarfed it down.
I forgot to mention, somewhere, that we DID infact get to see a Theyyam. I dont remember when it happened, before the clash sometime.
We heard that it started at 8pm and that it was an ALL night affair so we showed up around 9pm, i think. Just intime for the GRANDE
Last day
Spending our last day in India with Jasmine, chilling out and walking down a deserted beach. FINALE! (?)
Someone (someone without alot of sense) constructed a 20 meter long scaffolding lined with firecrackers. We didn't know it was going to happen. We REALLY didnt know that it was going to happen RIGHT next to our heads. If someone in that temple didn't go deaf that night I would be UTTERLY shocked. Once it was ignited, there was NO turning back, it had a domino effect, the first lighting the next and so on.
I wish I wouldn't have been there, infact. It was THAT intense. We were scared.
Jasmine SCREAMED a blood curdling scream and we all jumped up and ran away. It was terrifying, I kid you not. This is not an exaggeration.
But before all of that crazyness, it was actually quite cool. The people believe that the performers of the Theyyam themselves have been embodied by gods and therefore the people worship them and seek blessings from them during the performance (the performance being that they walk around and bless people).
It is quite something to witness as the costumes are the most imaginative and complex things that I've ever seen. Incredible.
Anyhow, we were very happy to have seen it and experieced
All smiles
Last bus ride with my girl it (most parts of it).
The next morning we left bright and early, headed to the bus stop to drop off Jasmine.
It was sad to see her go, obviously, but alot of other feelings were brought on too.
I was envious that she got to go home before me, as I was feeling the toll. That certain toll that only India can can bring about unto a backpacker. And also I was sad because I knew that meant that Guillaume and I only had four weeks left before we too would go home.
Alas, her bus drove away and we went to find another delicious Keralan breakfast.
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