Sunday 22 February 2009

Kumily

Hahahaha is what i feel about the last few days or so. Let me try and give you an insight into my mindset and experiences.
As i left Goa my train was about a 26 hour journey down south to the beautiful backwaters of Kerela. It was due to leave at 11.18 pm and arrive sometime early afternoon the next day. I booked sleeper class non air con, sort of second class of three choices. The train arrived at 1.30 am which was quite normal so i have been told. I met a few other Westerners the usual sort of mix, a Yank and his irritating "where can i plug my hair drier in?" kind of girl, an Englishman and me. We braved the food together and looked out for one another. I got some broken sleep and then bloody 5.30. Chai,chai,chai, chai,chai,cobie,cobie cobie,chai,chai which means tea or coffee was all i heard for the next 12 hours or so interspersed with begging every couple of minutes relentlessly then people got on to sell everything possible nothing of which was of any value to me although the idea of buying Daniel a doll that sung in Hindi quite appealed to me as i would love to see Stu and Sam cope with the racket.
So, i arrived in the town where i was to get the boat to the Ashram of course the boat only leaves once a day so i had to stay over night. I stayed in Johnson's Backpackers which was great, so clean and cheap.
Happily refreshed after a good nights sleep i headed off to the jetty driven in a tuk tuk, oh boy what a ride.
The boat ride was a scream. Within minutes a whole group of us had gathered and the booze started flowing and the laughter and merrymaking were overtaking us all. The ride took about six hours taking us through some amazing sights with a stop off for lunch which consisted of some rice, dhal pickle and some other vegetable all on a palm leaf and we all used our hands as there was no cutlery evident. Fairly tasty but not great.
Fishermen using ancient fishing techniques and life going on with children running along waving at us enthusiastically was a common sight all along the banks of the river as we lazily passed them by.
A couple of our group, two Jewish Americans were seasoned Ashram visitors as they were making a documentary film about Ashram life. They had robes already and really looked the part. Anyway by the time we reached the Ashram we were all in high spirits and not feeling very spiritual at all...... I will continue soon as it is hot and the Internet keeps crashing. The sign read Internet cafe but i am sitting in some guys bedroom with a computer in it...that seems to be India and so far i love it.