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Published: February 9th 2006
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WEST SIDE! why are you so cool west coast of india? you too are way more laid back than the east!
we had a beautiful train ride up to Kollam, which is the best city to start the upward journey through Kerala's backwaters. we wasted no time and jumped onto a ferry boat to explore the winding water ways and salt water canals. after only a few minutes we got to see enormous prawn net contraptions, amazingly colorful birds like Kingfishers (also the name of the best beer here!), and children splashing around in the water.
here in india the polite way kids are taught to beg from travelers is to ask them for school pens (when really they want the hard cash, but look oh so cute and innocent this way). we got a kick out of the children who were monkeying around in the water and still managed to scream at us for "school pens!" yah right, good luck. just to play a long jess threw one from the second floor of our ferry and they all laughed as it sank to the murky bottom. half way on our tour we got off the boat to visit
a very interesting scene that turned out to be the best three days of people watching of all our trip...
before coming to India we had both heard about gurus. when we first arrived in mumbai a couple months ago, we had one man who was travelling to India for his 14th time mainly to follow the famous guru Sai Baba. supposedly this man is capable of making miracles and only picks 10 lucky people a day to talk to from the crowds that flock and fill his ashram. sceptical, we asked exactly what kind of miracles this man has been known to perform... i mean, if he was known to cure cancer or something, we would be sold and become strict devotees as well! no... his miracles are not this miraculous. he once made a jewelled ring appear out of nowhere and the receiver brought it to a jeweller to see its worth. the jeweller claimed they had never seen any rock like it before - damn - he must be a miracle maker. we were hoping to stop by Sai Baba's ashram to try our luck in the rock department, but unfortunately he as out on other
business (probably ordering more rings).
we first heard about a guru who is referred to the "hugging mother" in jess's book Holy Cow and were both intrigued. the hugging mother, or lovingly called Amma, is a middle aged Kerala woman who hugs randoms day in and day out, dawn til dusk! wowza. we were both in need of a hug, so we hopped off the back water tour at her Ashram (temple) for a little sneaky peak.
the ashram is less than a decade old, but it is highly developed because the amount of western devotees has increased at a surprisingly high rate. she had five "sky scrapper" dormitories (the tallest being 18 stories!). the minute we stepped off the boat and onto Amma's territory, we both felt like we lost all sense of time and space. not really, but the people here were kinda whack. we were greeted by a lady dressed all in white who had moved there from Santa Cruz (go figure) just a year or so ago. all smiles, she showed us around and pointed us in the right direction to register. we filled out forms which made us promise to not drink, smoke,
and to respect the rules of chastity.
just our luck! amma was home and giving hugs! most of the year she is touring the world sharing her love one hug at a time, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet this famous and sought after lady in person. we jumped in the long line and only had to wait for about one hour (some people have to wait all day) but that day was a smaller more "intimate" group. in our newcomers briefing, we were given some fun facts: when she was just in calcutta, for three days strait she hugged people from 11am - 5 pm, rested for a few hours, and continued to hug from 9 pm - 5 am. now that is just insane woman! when she does these mass hug tours, she averages 25 hugs/min, but jess and i got a least 30 seconds each! wow. she has hugged over 20 million people and was the recipient of the "Gandhi-King award for non violence" in 2002. and did we mention... WE HUGGED HER!
it's hard to really explain via travelblog but Amma has created a self-sufficient society with the help of
her troops of brain washed mice that like to think they are an "important" member of a new-age utopia. ok, so that was our impression of this place after three days and two nights... but it was def something we had to see and take part in before while experiencing india.
so we hopped back onto the ferry headed towards Alleppey. there was not much to see in this town, especially since most shops and restaurants shut down on the weekends. so... we had ourselves a nice little ice cream sundae and made our way north to fort kochin .
the moment we arrived in this small town we knew we were going to want to stay more than a couple of days. it was a quiet town with little to no street traffic. we tried to squeeze in all the main sight seeing attractions in one day by foot, but quickly jumped on to the back of two guys' motorbikes to zip around to some of the more hidden attractions. we saw churches, cemeteries, a ginger factory, and an ancient synagogue among other things our photos depict.
we have wanted to take a cooking class since
yay our first cooking class!!
watch out... this adorable little lady taught us how to cook up a mean indain breakfast! to beginning of our travels, but it just never seemed to make it into the mix. in fort kochin, we learned how to make a couple traditional indian breakfast dishes - masala dosa and idly that are both served with a delicious coconut chutney we are both obsessed with!
next stace is headed off to a hill station in munnar to explore rolling hills of tea plantations; while jess jets up to gokarna to hike around in search of secluded beaches. we are quite sad to leave each other and fear we might feel some separation anxiety! but the time apart won't be too lonely since stace will meet up with jess at the best beach she discovers...
xoxo S & J
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Adam B.
non-member comment
Hugs!!!
I love giving people hugs. Why didn't I think of making a living of it? I guess I didn't learn anything in college. What a waste of money!