Random Memories of India

• the wearing of knitted woolen hats, especially in the morning when it's "cold" (maybe 70 degrees)
• men wearing scarves around their necks with weather well into the 80s
• girls wearing bangles
• men wearing lughis - often in groups wearing all black or all orange when they are visiting a temple
• houses and stores in ALL colors, especially turquoise, yellow, blue, green, pink, orange, lavender
• roofs of thatch or terra cotta
• signs painted on stucco walls - especially black on yellow
• total fluidity in the "lanes" of traffic - all directions
• wash bucket and spout pitcher in every bathroom
• toilet spray hose
• stores selling buckets, pitchers, containers in all assorted bright colors
• strings of jasmine and other flowers
• boys and girls in groups in their school uniforms - always walking, walking - in mountains, in cities, everywhere
• autorickshaws
• cows, goats, dogs everywhere
• oranges, bananas, coconuts everywhere
• lots of dirt and trash
• brooms made from the spine of the coconut frond
• of course - the TATA trucks

Another random note - at our hotel in Kanyakumari I noticed the sink and the floor drain each had a mothball deposited - which I found very strange. Hating the odor, I was about to take them from the room and throw them away. Then I thought (I have been here a month after all) - I'm in India - there is probably a reason for them. I asked Neel and he right away said - yes - they're to keep away cockaroaches!!!! I put up with the smell.
Ah well - off for an Ayurvedic massage -an hour long for less than $20. How could I pass it up?