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Hello everyone,
So for those of you who did not know, I'm in India. Surprise! I've been here for three months now and will be here for three more months until going home for one month and then returning here again. Confused? I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, just to update you all in a series of lists really fast, here's some of my life the past three months:

Cities/Towns/Villages/Tiny Places Visited/Lived in:
Chennai
Mangalore
Bangalore
Trichy
Arcot
Vellore
Erode
Madurai
Dindigul
Kodaikanal
Ramnad
Kanyakumari
Nagerkoil
Dharani Nagar
Courtralam/Kuttralam/Kutralam
Rameswaram
Erode


Vehicles I've Ridden In/On:
Car
Autorickshaw (aka: three wheeled buggies of DOOM. Try to imagine a moped enclosed in a small, usually yellow, bubble like car thing. With only three wheels. That's pretty close)
Moped (Also called "Scooty." on the back)
Bicycle (on the back. Not so much with the comfortable, really...especially on bumpy dirt roads)
Two Wheeler (as in motorcycle, not bicycle sans training wheels. also rode on the back. side saddle style, without holding on to the guy who's driving as that would be inappropriate)
Bus (both private and public)
Train (in which I've been in the Ladies' General Coach, Men's General Coach, Seated Coach, AC Sleeper and Non-AC sleeper)

Animals I have seen:
Cows/Bulls
Elephants (walking down the street!!!!)
Buffalo
Goats
Sheep
Dogs
Cats
Monkeys
Lizards
Geckos
Mosquitoes(DAAAAMN THEM)
Flies
Roaches (DAAAMN THEM TOO)
Roosters
Chickens
Ducks
Geese
Rats
Mice
Crows
Beautiful Bird with blue wings
Peacocks
(I think that’s it)

So there are the lists. Beyond the lists I can tell you that these last three months have been some of the most educational of my life. I'm starting to get used to little things here, like the fact that the five year old son in my Chennai house gets more food than his mother and I do, or the fact that we have servants.

The hierarchy here is something very important and something that constantly trips me up. People decide if a guy is a boy, a man, a small boy, etc depending on status. And someone of a higher class will often shourt and scold someone of a lower class in public (even if this higher class person is but a child and the lower class person is an adult). On that note, may I just say that children here put a new meaning to spoiled. Never before have I seen children scream at their parents, grandparents, etc. as I've seen them do here.

Really, though, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. The colours here are amazing and I swear that the same colours do not exist in the States. We'll see if my clothes dull when I get home. Anyway, that's all from me for now. Feel free to email me...mom knows the address. I do my best to reply to emails.
Also, I think you can subscribe to this so you'll get an email whenever I update...and check out the photos!!!!

Much love,
Shaaroni

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Comments

[Matt]

Travelblog
It's not a good idea to actually include your email address (or those of others) in your blogs. There are computers specifically used to search for email addresses on the internet - which are then passed on and used to distribute spam etc to your address. The 'contact member' or 'add comment' facilities enable people to contact you through the site, without gaining your email address until you desire them to. Regards, Matt Watters Travelblog Admin