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A hangover!! I'm at the cyber cafe and the poor guy is back at the hotel with an awful headache. Yesterday was his birthday. We got an Ayurvedic couples massage, then I had our hotel set up a candle light dinner in the garden and serve us Punjabi food, wine and birthday cake. Two glasses of Chianti and he's on his deathbed. I find it strange that he can drink 3 pegs of whisky and be fine, but 2 glasses of wine killed him.I can do two glasses of wine, but one sip of whisky kills me, I think I'm allergic. There were some girls in Alaska who were so tuff, they could drink a shot of whisky and not even flinch, I'll admit it, I thought they were pretty cool. So if you're wondering what I did to satisfy that "western oasis" itch, I put myself and Narinder on the next plane to Goa. It was his first time flying so I let him have the window seat. I had to get out of Bombay, it was alright for the first few days, but then it quickly soured. Firstly, the air quality in that city is AWFUL, smokey and filthy, and I'm sure I've shaved another 5 years off of my life span in the one week I was there. Not just the air quality, but the food is DEADLY! I had food poisoning twice in one week, and a persistent fever for a few days, but nothing a little cipro couldn't handle. I know why most of the population in India is vegetarian, it's just not in one's best interest to eat meat here, far too unsanitary. I saw a market that sold meat and it was horrific. They had some live chickens tied together in by their feet and hanging from the ceiling, and there was some kind of skinned animal torso unrefrigerated with flies all over it. Nothing you would ever even want to see, let alone eat, and now would be a good time for me to tell you that, of all Gods creatures, it is the fly I despise the most! I once heard it said that the average human swallows 8 spiders in their sleep over a life time. I'm curious what the fly quota is? I've met the quota for a 100 lifetimes. I don't know, but I might continue to be vegetarian once I get home. I am feeling much better now though. In India they believe in what I've heard referred to in the US as the "evil eye", here they call it "seen with bad eyes". Four times in different parts of this country I've heard people have make reference to it. Today I was telling the owner of our hotel that my health is much improved now that I'm back in Goa, he totally attributes it to the fact that Goans are used to seeing Caucasian tourists so they're not starring all the time, which apparently is detrimental to your health. Who knows? I don't, and nothing suprises me anymore but speaking of Caucasians, every time we see a white person Narinder will point them out and say, "Look! Some of your villagers!" and he's serious. It's hilarious!!
I was definitely "seen with bad eyes" in Bombay. I kind of messed up, and if I had the chance to do it over again I'd certainly do it the right way. In India people are VERY RELIGIOUS, wether they be Christian, Hindu, or Sikh like Narinders family. That first night in Bombay, when I told you how I had to sleep in the bedroom with the in laws daughters, and then the next morning I insisted that Narinder and I move to his brothers flat, this was a very bad move on my part. Narinder would get me the moon if I asked for it so he willingly obliged my request, but over the next few days it became apparent that this was completely unacceptable to the family, for us to be staying together without marriage was a big NO NO!!! No Indian boy is sleeping in a room with an Indian girl EVER without marriage!! I just didn't know, but I do now and in the future I'll certainly take care to do things the right/Indian way. Have I mention that 99% of the marriages here are arranged? meaning your parents pick your spouse for you and negotiate the marriage with the spouses parents, like a business arrangement. A love marriage is very rare. One day Narinder was asking me if my parents had an arranged marriage or a love marriage, I told him that my parents had what we call a "shot gun" wedding. These arranged marriages seem to work out well some of the time, divorce is unheard of in India, you'll end up dead before you get a divorce. A few weeks ago on the front page of the news paper there was an article about a man who suspected his wife's infidelity, so instead of divorcing her he killed her, himself, and their 19 year old son. I'm traumatized (again) to say that there were VERY graphic pictures with this article! It showed the wife's body in a pool of blood, it showed the husband, laying there, dead, blood everywhere, eyes open with a shot gun in his hands and for some reason his ear was lying on the floor next to him. Pretty nasty ehh? You don't see that in many American newspapers. Still, I love reading the news papers in India, the help wanted section is hysterical!! You can specify that- attractive people ONLY need apply! You can't do that in the US, some fat ugly slob will apply and then sue your ass for discrimination if you don't hire them.
Yea Bombay was a mess, but life here in Goa is sweet. The food in Goa is the best in the whole country.I can say this with some conviction because I've tried the food in different parts of this country, I know what I'm talking about. In the beginning, when I first got to Goa, I told you about this one restaurant in particular that I liked to dine at because they would bring out the fish for your selection before they'd cook it. Well, I dined there last night and the waiter was telling me how they had just got in some fresh crab, and can we show it to you? Sure, bring it out. They bring out a platter and the stupid crabs are still alive and trying to walk off the plate! and the waiters were freaking out, they didn't know what to do. It was priceless!!! Yesterday I was walking and a mango fell off of a tree and landed in the grass right next to me. I had Mr.Knife with me so I took the liberty of slicing it up and eating it. It was the most delicious, tasty, juicy, perfectly ripe mango I've ever eaten. We eat good food everyday. We get up early in the morning and hike in the woods before it gets too hot. I don't know if it's specifically called a rain forest or what, but it's certainly a tropical forest. Lots of palm/coconut trees, mango trees and bananas, jack fruit, papayas and SERIOUS flowers!!. We take our breakfast and then usually nap for a little while during the hottest part of the day. Afternoons are spent on the beach. Narinder is learning how to swim, he's like a little fish, he loves the water. He's so friendly and outgoing that there's never a shortage of people for him to swim or play football or cricket with. This is good because I prefer to just sit on my lounge chair and contemplate the Arabian sea. Actually, I sit and think about all the wonderful and crazy things that have happened in the past two months, the people I've met, the places I've been. It's good to have some peaceful time to sit, think, and process everything. I think about my family and you, my dear friends, how you're back in the US, just a quick trip over the Arabian Sea, Saudi Arabia, over the entire continent of Africa, and then the Atlantic Ocean. I am very far from home!! Like truly the other side of the world far from home and it's almost time for me to come back, something, is telling me, that it's getting to be about that time.
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debbie downer
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time to come home
come home http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24596955/ i dont want to lose my best friend