Winding Down

Well, just as we are coming close to the end of our Indian adventure, it occurred to me how unwound we have become. The other day as we were having our leisurely boat ride Alleppey canals we saw a boat transporting 2 young Western women. One was listening to her i-pod,, the other was reading. Miriam and I just looked at each other: it wouldn't have occurred to either of us to do anything to entertain ourselves during the very low-key ride. We were perfectly content to simply "veg out" as swe do most days. stuck in traffic: no problem. slow service - oh well. our pace is just so low key. the only time i turned on a tv was the day i was recuperating from being sick...and then i just sort of flipped through the channels without even watching. if we get a newspaper at our lodging, i page through it...but about the only news from the States I saw was that Michelle Obama and the girls had come to DC and there was no space for them to stay at Blair House. I imagine that got more than a few inches of print in the Washington Post. Otherwise - I'll just have to catch up when I return. When I get the paper I give the sudoku a try (yes - they have sudoku in the paper here!) - but unlike at home where I work it to death - here if it's easy I do it...if I get stuck I set it aside and a few days later just throw it away.

Coming home will be an adjustment, to say the least.

today we went to what was billed as an elephant orphanage. it wasn't exactly waht we expected - there were elephants, but they were chained and we really aren't sure how they were procured. ON the way we say an elephant working - helping bring huge tree trunks across a road. Back in Alleppey, Shakkeer spotted a vast number of huge bats handing upside down in the trees. It must be something at night - as there are certainly enought mosquitos for them to feed on. In any case - it is our last day in this area. tomorrow we drive to Cochin, from which we depart for Mumbai the following day.

As things have turned out - we actually were glad taht Neel departed for Cochin today as originally planned. As you may have picked up - we really were not on the same page as to expectations. While he had billed himself as an expert in Kerala - he actually was not well versed on places to stay, did not organize our itinerary in the most logical way (we had way too much backtracking) and, in short - used this as a nice paid vacation for himself. He had told me that he would show us places that the guide books don't know about, etc. In fact - early in the trip he stopped at a book store to buy a guide book. If that was going to be the case - he at least should have boned up before we met. But all that is behind us now. Fortunately Shakkeer more than made up for Neel's shortcomings. He is the one who was filled with local information. He could give us the names of birds, trees, etc. He spoke Malaram (the Keralan language) as well as Tamil, Hindi and English (and probably more languages we never needed). He was unfailingly attentive, prompt, reliable, courteous - everything you would want. If I randomly mentioned an interest in something, he would pick right up on and tell us where or how we could see it. He will be with us until the Cochin airport and we will have many happy memories of him.