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I decided to use my 20 hours or so in Delhi to finally sate my desire to see the movie
300. Only one theater in the city was playing it, and it was in a far-off suburb. The subway and buses are too ineffectual/confusing so I had to fork out 170 rupees each way for an autorickshaw. The theater itself was quite nice - the screen was slightly smaller than most US theaters, but the seats were larger and there was more legroom. The ticket was only 90 rupees, and a large soft drink large popcorn combo was 92 rupees. In the US I always buy some candy or nuts before going to the theater, but at that price (a bit over $2) I went for the combo. Aren't you proud, Adrienne?
The next morning I boarded the train for the day and a half trip to Kerala. At first my 6 person seating section had five people - myself, a Spanish woman, and three French. However, the French soon decided to move to a more expensive seating section, leaving the Spanish woman and me each with a six-foot-long bench seat to ourselves. This seemed great until I realized
that I would be the only option for conversation, and she really, really liked to talk. When I got out my book to no effect, I resorted to the iPod, but even this made no difference. I eventually had to simply ignore her. This finally deflected her to the Indians around us. I fell asleep but was awoken when she began shouting at a man who tried to sleep on the bunk above her, something that wouldn't have affected her at all. I was greatly relieved when she got off in Goa, both because it gave me some peace and quiet and it showed the people around us that we weren't together, which most people had assumed we were.
When we finally reached Kannur in northern Kerala at around 9:30PM, my stomach wasn't feeling too good. Since I had taken the "deluxe", all AC train, meals were provided. I had only eaten veg, and none of the food tasted dangerous (though none of it was good), but I definitely didn't feel normal. Later that night it was clear I had a case of Delhi belly. For the next two days I ate nothing but a few bananas and mangoes.
In conjunction with the heat (lower 90s, humidity varied from 85-100%), I barely had enough energy to walk to the porch to read. There were some beautiful beaches within a five minute walk, and I wanted to see Theyyam, one of a few different kinds of Keralan ritual dances/performances. Although I never had any cramps or felt too sick, I had no appetite whatsoever, and my stomach couldn't even handle the meager amounts of fruit I ate. I was told not to use the antibiotics I brought from the US unless it was worse, but after two days and no change in my status I started a course. I felt moderately better by the third day, but by then my time in Kannur was done and I was off to Kochi.
I liked Kochi a lot. I barely had to haggle with the rickshaws, and in fact one guy haggled himself to five rupees below my initial offer amount. People seem friendler in general, and it was noticably cleaner than cities in the North. The city is spread out over five or so islands that are all connected by ferries. Fort Cochin itself, the old town, is a little
Backwaters
Kids playing in the backwaters. bit touristy but quite attractive, way waaay nicer than Paharganj in Delhi or any other tourist-centred area I've seen. I saw a Kathakali performance, which was interesting for the first hour or so (it was a two hour performance). There are typically only 1-3 performers, and they don't speak at all. Everything is communicated to the audience via facial expressions and exaggerated body language, though I got the impression that Keralan audiences typically know what's going to happen beforehand, since the same performances have been around for centuries. Supposedly they can go on all night, so I was glad I caught an abridged-for-tourists version.
On my second night, I encountered the most patient and unique tout/hustler yet. I was walking down the street looking for a certain restaurant where I planned to have dinner, and when I passed a man who looked to be in his mid-50s, he led with the usual "hello my good friend, where are you from?". I broke my habit and said the US, rather than the Czech Republic. This got him all excited and he began to tell me about his colleagues at various US universities, and claimed that he was a professor of
religion and Hindu studies at Mysore. When I admitted that I didn't know too much about Hindu mythology, he asked if it would be OK if he joined me for dinner, as he was very eager to teach me. I almost always eat alone and his excellent command of academic English convinced me that his intentions were as he claimed them to be, so I said OK.
After getting some paper from the waiter, he launched into his explanation, making me memorize the 10 incarnations of Vishnu, talked about the Bhagavad Gita and Vedas, all the while laughing and taking great pleasure when I could answer any of his questions. Eventually he moved to Ayurvedic medicine, and he wanted to check my health. He took my pulse and asked me what types of food I ate, whether I meditated or did yoga, etc. He then pronounced me "unbalanced" and tried to sell me some little green pills he had in a canister in his pocket. I declined. He then said that, "typically," people paid him 300 rupees for his services as a doctor. I knew he was trying to get me to pay, but I decided to make him ask for money outright, so I just replied "right, typically." He soon came out and asked for payment directly, and I refused. This took the smile off his face for the first time, and after verbally stumbling around for a minute, he invited me to a "special Kathakali festival" that was typically only for Brahmins, but he could get me in for only 500 rupees. At this point I told him that he was lucky I had paid for his beers and left. It had taken him nearly 2 hours before he asked for any money.
I later took a tour to the backwaters, spending half the day on a larger boat (maybe 60 ft long) and half on a smaller boat, basically a large canoe that was powered and steered by a guy with a pole who just pushed off the bottom. We visited some island villages where they made calcium from the shells of all the mussels and oysters that were harvested from the surrounding water. The guide said that the only real sources of income were selling the meat, selling the calcium derived from the shells, and the selling of mats and ropes that are made from coir, which is derived from coconut shells. The guide's English was quite poor so I got very few of the details about the calcium extraction and coir process.
Late yesterday I arrived in Munnar, which is up in the hills of eastern Kerala near the border with Tamil Nadu. It's much cooler here, and mercifully there don't seem to be any mosquitoes (I have probably two to three dozen active bites from Kannur and Kochi). I noticed a lot of Christian churches in Kochi, though I thought that it might be more due to the colonial history than the current population. Now that I'm in Munnar, I get the impression that there are a lot of Christians in Kerala, as there are more churches than Hindu temples, as far as I can tell. I've also noticed a lot of "Jesus" stickers on cars and autorickshaws, in place of the usual Hindu stickers and small idols that are in nearly every autorickshaw in northern cities.
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