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We've been in India for over 3 weeks now and it's no less strange and fantastical than it was when we arrived, since which we have been to Rishikesh in the far north and Chennai, Mamallapuram, Ooty and Kodaikanal in the far south. It's quite fitting that we have visited the geographical extremes of this country, given that this is a country of extremes, in so many regards. Do we love it or hate it? We don't know. Is it the novelty that i like? Maybe. Would we come back? Definately - although not on backpacker's budget again. Where to start... Rishikesh. Informally entitled the 'yoga capital of the world', Rishikesh was full of new age promises of spiritual enlightenment, self-discovery, meditatory awakening and such like... all i really wanted to do was a bit of yoga like i do back in Brum, the asanas (postures), so the yoga being practiced in Rishikesh was a little new age for me, and the be-robed yogis and swamis (teachers) seemed a little full on and far out. I therefore decided against yoga-ing and we spent the 9 days walking/wandering, rapid-rafting, doing a cooking course, watching Hindu sundown ceremonies, eating utterly delicious food, oh and Sid had a full head cut-throat shave. Christmas Day was very unusual as we set off at 8am for rafting. "Where's the pork pie and pickle?", we kept wondering. Bupi was our instructor and Canadian Mark and four Indian guys and girls were our team mates for the voyage. We tackled rapids graded 1-3, which was fine for my first time although Sid of course would have preferred something bigger and better. Some of the rapids offered the opportunity of jumping into the sub-zero water and being carried down stream until limbs started to stiffen. Sid loved it but i stayed (reasonably dry-ish) in the raft. Further down stream Sid jumped off a 23 foot rock-face twice. We then returned to our hotel for a less than traditional but entirely scrumptious Christmas Day curry. And speaking of food... Oh the food. Anyone that knows us knows that we love our Indian food. Well i'd actually gone off it a bit when i left the UK but now i'm right back on track. We have a 'curry count' on the go and some may be proud to know that as of today we are at the grand figure of 99. Between us. In 3 weeks! Sometimes for breakfast (it's the norm, how can we refuse?) and always at least twice per day. We're also keeping a list of the dishes so we can try to recreate them when we get home (or firstly to Oz and NZ where we will be experimenting on willing family members). My latest discovery is the breakfast dish of 'Oothapam'; a lentil flour savoury pancake filled with fresh tomato, served with a small pot of curried lentil stew, another of coriander and chilli paste and one more of coconut and chilli chutney. Mouthwatering at 8am washed down with a cup of masala chai, something else i am addicted to (Dad, note - strong, sweet, milky tea brewed with ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves). Important fact about food - much of it is eaten with the hands and fingers - quite literally rice and sauce is mashed up and squeezed between the fingers to make a patty shape and shuvvled into the mouth - i cannot embrace this way of eating but Sid loves it. If i keep going on about the food, please forgive me! We've met some more 'interesting' people. I spent a 6 hour bus journey talking to the conductor (when he wasn't yelling at passengers) who invited us to his home a couple of hours from Ooty. A lovely chap he was. On the same journey we met a father and son who chatted to us and Sid met a whole hoard of rowdy teens and a stinking drunk.
Long distance public transport really is the best place to meet locals, as long as they are the kind you like as you may have to sit with them for some time. We've been lucky so far. Also received an invite from a wealthy couple of retirees from Mysore to stay in their home, although i think they were meaning to charge us. As yet we haven't taken up any of these (mostly) kind and welcome offers. Other characters that we've met include a professor of English from Madras university on a Chennai city bus who was the most intrusive, overwhelming person i have ever met (barked question after question at me about British politics, cricket, religion, my family, my life in general etc. but didn't want to listen to any of my answers, then proceeded to quote (or rather yell) various Shakespearean monologues at me, until we finally came to his stop. He also told me how to sit in my seat and called three people on his mobile asking if they wanted to talk to the British woman on the bus with him (which luckily they didn't). Annoying as hell. Met some very boisterous teenage lads in a temple who suddenly surrounded us and threw question after question but were fun, completely harmless and just over excited to be talking to a tall shaven headed white man who knew his cricket. After flying south to Chennai we spent a couple of days in Mamallapuram, a small fishing town/seaside resort a couple of hours south. Spent the time wandering around the towns stone-carved temples dating back 1300 years, eating fresh fish (some curried some not) and taking in the Tamil dance festival opening night, which was fantastic, apart from the camera rage onslaught - tens of media snappers and hundreds of Indian and foreign tourists all pushing and shoving for the best picture whilst not actually watching the performance or thinking about the people behind. Fights nearly started and verbal abuse was plentiful. I took one snap and left it at that as it was getting too ridiculous for words. The dancing was beautiful and dramatic; focusing on head and eye movements and very effective in telling the stories of ancient gods and maidens. Met a lost lass called Sylvia who had spent 60 hours travelling from Poland and had no idea where to go - we found her somewhere to crash after wandering around for an hour or so - it was gratifying to help someone in a situation that we often find ourselves in with nobody around to assist! General stuff about India... the litter problem is immense; we see bins being emptied over balconies and plastic covering roadsides and embankments. It really is very alarming that people have no awareness of sanitation and environmental issues and that the government appear to do little about it. We've seen many fisticuffs and altercations in the street which always seems to draw a crowd - such a contrast after Thailand where people will always avoid any kind of confrontation. Queueing is quite literally an alien concept in many situations we have found ourselves in - public transport being the best example; obtaining a train ticket is a matter of pushing and shoving and forcing your head through a small hole in a wall and attempting to get on a public bus is a matter of being crushed in the crowd hoping that you will be lifted off your feet onto the bus rather than trampled on underfoot. Everyone is in such a hurry and every action is tackled with such urgency but nobody gets anywhere any quicker because so often it's a case of every-man-for-himself-CHAOS and logic-lacking behaviour. Again a huge contrast to our experiences elsewhere in Asia where people generally are never in a hurry. The begging is intense and i don't think i could ever get used to it or be able to ignore legless 90 year old beggars slumped in the gutter, but it's everyday life here. I started writing this postcard on the 6am train from the city of Chennai (formerly 'Madras') to Mysore, en route to our destination, Ooty, 2200 metres above sea level in the Nilgiri hills of the western ghats, and breakfast has just been served at 7am... Cardamom seed mash with chilli tomato gravy and chick pea chilli paste. Yum. Chai is served throughout the journey and at 11am vegetable biryani is served with spiced rice pudding. (Sorry, food again). Sorry this is such a long postcard! Might seem a little out of the blue given my lack of communication to date other than photos.... I think it must be due to India's violent assault on my senses. Although i have enjoyed, and liked, other places much more so than here, India is much more inspiring to write home about, so much life, colour, peculiarities, noise (apparently the noise pollution decibel levels are so dangerously high, that ear-health is seriously threatened in many cities). It's almost as if i must write about it for fear of internal combustion by way of sensory overload. I've just finished reading a book by Rohinton Mistry called A Fine Balance; anyone with the vaguest interest in India's culture and characters should read it. It was the best book i have ever read and i am forever noticing people and places and behaviour that is reminiscent of the vivid descriptions and stories in the book, even though it was set in the mid 70s. Read it, all of you!!! (Kathy - i think you would particularly love it). Anyway, back to the present day (this is no doubt a rambling and confused postcard by now, but we're in Kodai and it's the 10th of Jan today). We previously spent a week in the stunningly situated hill station of Ooty where we trekked through mountain terrain, farmland and tea plantations, rowed on the lake, go-karted in the trashy 'Jollyworld', ate amazing food (again), stayed in a beautiful lakeside family-run guesthouse with a communal lounge where we met endless travellers and were exhausted with the "where've you been? where are you going next? what made you jack it all in?" conversations over and over by the time we left. One of the staff named Boopu was the source of endless jokes between Sid and I and will long not be forgotten due to her troll-like personality (refusing to cook food("she can't do that"??!!) and grunting. Kodai is also beautiful. Yesterday we chilled and awaited the demise of blanket fog covering the town and mountain. Today we walked the 5km around the lake and peddle-boated across it. Tomorrow we plan to go on a 14km walk through the valley. We spent the first two nights at a youth hostel on a cliff precipice with the most incredible valley views but had to move because of the arctic temperatures and steel-hard beds. We are now staying in the centre of town with the bus station as our only view but a little UK-hotel standard comfort is what we're after for a couple of days (a soft bed and movie channels - yey) before we head to the temple city of Madurai before returning to Delhi for a self-styled 5 day sightseeing tour with private car and driver (we're definitely overdue for a little luxury and 'easy' travel). That's all for now although i know i've missed out loads and typed this too quickly so excuse the mess! Lots of love, Sasha and Sid Xxx
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