Another Spell in Varkala

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As I write, the unofficial countdown has begun in my head to my upcoming travels in the north (Rajasthan, Delhi) and WAY NORTH (Leh/Ladakh) of India. It's a perfect storm of seeing loved ones and old friends, as well as the thrill of experiencing a new place and culture. Plus we're going to a city (Leh) that's something like 3,500 meters above sea level, which simply kicks ass no matter how you cut it. I've come to terms with my earlier ambivalence as to whether or not it was a good idea to come back to India, perhaps because it makes little sense to sulk or worry for 3 months. However, a part of me still aches for the wonder of experiencing a new place for the first time. There's something especially enjoyable about that initial learning curve. That having been said, I think Leh will be a real soul soother, and I've come to appreciate the nuances of the South more and more, partially through talking to tourists who consistently praise the relaxed attitude and simplicity of travel in the South.

So speaking of travel in the South, I recently headed back to Varkala for another weekend of pure pleasantness. Manoj and Malin, the lovely couple that I met on my first visit, put me up in their guest house for free (hallelujah!) and proved to be consummate hosts. The room was very nice and would normally cost significantly more than the Rs. 300 ($7.50) and Rs. 100 ($2.50) rooms I stayed in previously. Throughout the stay I noticed little details that set the room apart. For example, the bedsheets didn't have big brown stains on them. There was an overhead shower with hot water. The windows were secured with metal bars, as opposed to wood. It had a beautiful marble porch in front with an overhang and wicker chairs. On my first day in town, I took a nap mid-day with the windows open and a cool breeze entering the room. When a rain storm descended upon the coconut forest outside, the whole situation just felt perfectly pleasant and comfortable. That's one thing that I think can be said for the South. It may not be as romantic as the deserts of Rajasthan or as spectacular as the peaks of the Himalayas, but it's wonderfully pleasant and comfortable at times. When not napping, I spent pretty much the entire first day hanging out at the guest house. Manoj and Malin are living there at the moment as well, so we hung out a lot in the office. Their dogs doubled since my last visit. Last time it was just Liefie (pronounced "Leafy", it's Dutch for "Sweetheart"), a beautiful and immaculately well behaved German Shepherd. She's one of the most active domestic dogs I've seen here, because she doesn't mind roaming among street dogs. She handles them with a zen-like quality, despite their irritating barking and territory-protecting. They've since acquired Layla, a street dog that was caught by the dog-catchers (there's such a thing in India?) outside their house. Seeing her caught in their noose, it was clear to them that she was going to be taken away and killed, so they agreed to take responsibility for her. She's taken quite well to the domestic life and now will only sleep with a blanket under her. Anyways, she's also very well behaved and incredibly smart. For example, she realized that sleeping on a blanket would be better than sleeping on the floor, so she pulled the blanket off her owners' bed with her teeth.

On the second day I went back to Funky Art Cafe to say hello. There were few people there, so I got a couple of beers and played Carom (a game that's maybe a little similar to billiards, but not really) with one of the employees. On my way back, I ran into one of Manoj's friends. Perhaps I should begin by explaining these "friends". Basically, there are a bunch of waiters in Varkala that get laid off every off-season because there's not enough business to pay them. They basically have nowhere to go, so Manoj houses a bunch of them for free in his guest house. These guys do nothing all day but sit around, drink and watch DVDs. They're generally nice guys, if somewhat useless, but if Malin is annoyed by them, I can't blame her. Fortunately Manoj isn't interested in these activities. They're generally really smart guys, though, and they have great English. As a funny side note, I was sitting on my front steps talking with Manoj and his friend whose name I don't know. The friend had just told me how he was merely killing time until another friend arrived with a bottle of brandy. The three of us were commenting on the tourism business in India, and I remarked that I felt that Indians were generally quite "good at capitalism", meaning that Indians are very resourceful when it comes to turning a profit. Manoj made some comment to his friend in Malayalam, and I think he was challenging the friend on whether or not he knew what capitalism means, because the guy suddenly says, in perfect English, "Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are controlled by private individuals." No sooner did he finish saying that than he said, "Ah, my brandy has arrived!" and ran off happily.

So anyways I ran into one of these guys and he was really, really drunk and on his way to do some fishing. He asked me if I wanted to join, so I bought some bait and we walked over to the cliff. The fishing rod basically just consists of a line wrapped around a wooden board. However, as he untangled the line another tourist started to talk to us. He's a Chinese doctor named Jinghui who's been working for the last 17 years in Finland. He was really inquisitive and insightful and wanted to talk about the differences between India and China, so I happily obliged. We had a great conversation, but this drunk guy apparently thought that he was hassling me, or else felt jealous that he was monopolizing my time. These friends all love me because I brought "Spiderman 3" on DVD. So he started challenging Jinghui and saying "This guy, he's a good man, OK! I grew up here! Right here! In Varkala, OK?!". Fortunately, Jinghui handled the situation with grace. I ended up exchanging contact info because he really wants to start a human rights organization in China (good luck) and I said I'd try to pass on some resources to him.

So that night some other friends of Manoj arrived from Bombay. This group consisted of three people from New Zealand. They had stayed with Manoj previously and he invited them back as his guest. I had so much fun hanging out with them too. The husband and wife are in their late 50s and have spent their careers traveling to different countries and working as teachers in International Baccalaureate schools. They're currently teaching in Bombay, but they've previously taught in Mongolia and Laos. They spoke very highly of both and said that Mongolia is particularly magical. They were generally just extremely informed travelers and had great outlooks on life. The guy is the only person I've seen in Varkala with a surfboard (still going at nearly 60). They were dying to go in the choppy waters when even I hadn't even considered the notion. They also were really knowledgeable about New Zealand and the Maori population in particular. The other traveler was their niece, who gave up a job and a restaurant business in New Zealand to get a new perspective on life. They had been to Leh fairly recently, so their stories got me pretty fired up for my trip out there.

The third day I had breakfast on the cliff, went for a walk with the Kiwi travelers, and spent the afternoon hanging out at the guest house. I had a good time talking with Manoj about his business and getting insight into how things work in India. He explained how he wants to refinish his roof so that Malin can teach yoga lessons, and how he wanted to open a cafe on the roof as well, but he can't do either at the moment because getting a loan is so difficult. It gave me a sense for all the creative energy that remains bottled up because of the systemic problems, such as corruption. He actually told me a story about a Malaysian businessman who came to South India hoping to make huge infrastructure projects and make a fortune. Within two years he committed suicide. I think what probably got to him is the confusion and helplessness of not knowing how things work in India. If I were ever to do business here, I would absolutely be a silent partner and find someone dependable to do the talking. Just learning to account for necessary bribes in the budget would be too much.

Anyways, that's pretty much the sum of my trip. Nothing spectacular, but once again Varkala provided exactly what I needed. Just pure relaxation, meeting interesting people, and enjoying the scenery. I was in the mood for a sure bet, as opposed to exploring a new place, and that's what I got. On the subject of meeting interesting people, I should mention that I met one other interesting guy, this time on the train on my way into Varkala. His name is Thadeus (he's Indian), and he's an educator who started an NGO called Folo (website foloindia.org). He's only two years into it, so it's small, but he's started a free school for disadvantaged children. Again, I told him that I'd do what I could to help him, but I don't know how much that will be. People's Watch is actually hosting some donors from America at the moment, so maybe I'll mention it to them.

As for work, everything is still going kind of slowly. We've collected the available information about torture on the national level from the National Human Rights Commission and the National Crime Records Bureau. Ultimately, we'll be writing about the LACK of information more than anything else. The record-keeping is pretty abominable. The NHRC uses different categories of crimes in different years, and in 2003-2004 they didn't even release a report. The NCRB only provides a report on Crimes in India for the year 2005 on their website. Unfortunately, some of the numbers seem like they must be fudged. They claim that in 2005, there were no cases of police extortion, fake encounter killings, false implication, failure to take action or disappearances. I haven't yet spoken to Henri about the numbers, but they seem laughable. They admit to 34 abuses of human rights by police in 2005, and of those cases not a single officer was convicted of a crime.

That's all for today. Hope everyone is doing well.

-Aaron

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