Wow, I've only been here for a day and a bit but it feels like I've been here for so long. It's not like I feel at home necessarily, it's just that India takes up so much of your attention. This place is mind-boggling. Everything is louder, busier and dirtier than in North America. I never realized how structured Canadian society is until I landed here where there all seems like chaos.
It took about 30 hours of travelling from home to Kodai with 18 hours in the air. Some highlights of my plane trips:
- a one hour delay thanks to Air Canada forgetting to fill up their water tanks for the washroom
-meeting a very chatty French guy in the Colombo airport- he was going to Goa
- being the only white person and one of 3 women in line for a flight from Colombo to Trichy. To my relief an American couple showed up later. It was a very weird feeling to be such a minority.
- And losing my luggage in Colombo- it's scheduled to arriving tomorrow
After waiting for my luggage not to appear in Trichy, I drove with V and G (my aunt and uncle) to their home in Kodai with a short stop in Dindigal to pick up a friend of theirs. Let's just say, driving in India is not for the faint of heart. Basically there are no rules, you can drive as fast as you want all over the road. There are potholes everywhere, the roads are really narrow and virtually no one wears seat belts. There are also cows, goats, dogs and pilgrims on the roads that you have to dodge and in the mountains there are ridiculously steep roads and hairpin turns. At first I wondered how anyone could drive here without immediately dying in a horrible fiery crash but by the time we arrived in Kodai, I didn't wonder anymore. This is India- chaos is the norm.
On the road between Trichy and Kodai we saw water buffalo with egrets on their backs and we stopped for some fresh coconut water and chai. We saw monkeys at the edge of the road who just stare at you as you pass by and the temperature changed from about 25 degrees to 10.
V and G's house is like a cottage, no central heat (which would be helpful in the mountains), limited hot water and unsafe tap water. They rent a house on a beautiful 18 acre property owned by Jesuits. The property has a Bartlett pear orchard and dips into a valley with a swamp at the bottom. This morning we saw a gaur, a wild bison that can quite easily gore you to death. It's a rather old male who frequents the property and whom they've nicknamed Biff. Biff is huge and will simply graze or rest in the shade.
For New Years we went to a party at a neighbour's. We sat outside at a campfire and shot off firecrackers at midnight. Fireworks in India sound like explosives you'd use to demolish buildings- like I said, everything is louder in India.
Everyone I've met are so nice but I'm having trouble getting used to being stared at. In Dindigal, a little girl actually stared at me through the window of the car for a good minute. Then of course there's the people who stick their head of their car window to stare as they drive by. There isn't really any concept of personal space.
India is nothing if not overwhelming and I've already had a lots of moments of brain overload but I'm starting to really enjoy it here. I can't wait to experience more!
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