There's really not much to say about Kerala. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and was a wonderful vacation. We did a jungle walk in the tiger preserve (no tigers though), did a houseboat for a day, did Varkala, a beach town similiar to Goa though less known. I relaxed, sunburned while you all were shoveling a foot of snow off your driveways and shopped. Truly, beautiful.
During this last week I find myself continually looking back to when I first arrived. What I've grown to like, how my opinions have changed about certain things, etc. The homestay, also, was the best possible decision I could have made for myself. My family here is just that, my family.
Sooooo many places yet not even close to as many as I want to see. Bombay, Vijayawada, Hampi, Calengute & Anjuna in Goa, Mangalore (ugh), Alleppy (Kerala), Bangalore on mistake twice, Valparai, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, Varanasi, Bhopal and Cochin, Kumli, Alleppy and Varkala in Kerala in the end here. And who knew so much could happen to a region like Andhra in 6 months? YSR's death, the floods AND the separation of Telengana from Andhra. Come to think of it, I never mentioned the latter. Andhra is split into 3 regions, Telengana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. Telengana holds Hyderabad and has long been wanting its independence. I haven't been following this whole thing closely, though I should be, but it all started when I was up north and continued when I was in Kerala. Basically, a man (an MP if I'm not mistaken) decided to fast until death unless Telengana was given its independence. There was a huge bund (closing of all stores, no busses or richshaws or local trains) throughout Telengana, and not surprisingly, Telengana was handed its independence. Now, however, many MPs from the other regions opposed to Telengana's independence have handed in their resignations and one has also declared a fast until death against its independence. It's all a huge mess, but luckily since Telengana was already promised its independence, Hyderabad is a safe place, though anywhere outside of Telengana isn't. I have a newspaper from the day after a bus was set ablaze and a bank was ruined for not having closed for the bund. Durga jr., who was given leave to see her family in Coastal Andhra, is unable to return because of the danger and the busses still aren't running to Telengana. It's basically a huge mess where in the end somebody's gonna get hurt (not saying that plenty haven't already been hurt in the riots and such, was referring more to one side vs. the other). So yeah, 6 months, 3 catastrophes, no biggie.
I was talking to Katherine on skype the other day, and she asked when I'd be home on Saturday. Naturally I reached for the phrase "Assuming everything goes smoothly", caught myself and held my tongue until I realized that still remains a safe phrase in America. My two personal mottos here were "Nothing goes as planned" and "Everything will work out". And if something does go as planned, you better start praying hard because that means that something way worse will hit you later. Perfect example, Goa. Our trip in Goa went flawlessly, both getting there and while we were there (except for one bribe, but that's nothing in the scheme of things). Then came our trip from Goa to Kerala. We ended up on terrible busses with no sleep, ended up in Mangalore for a whole day, ended up sleeping on the floor of the train station in IJK and had a terribly packed train in general class seating to Alleppy. But phew, we made it, and not only that but we got a kickass houseboat for 3 whole days for a steal of a price, meals included. Then there was the trip home for Joey and me, beginning with the bus boat, hopping on our train earlier than our tickets allowed, stranded in Mangalore, the floods in Andhra and a 20 hour bus ride from Bangalore. But, everything worked out. It always does.
There's still so many places I want to see when I come back. I'd love to see Kolkata, the Himalayas/Northeastern states, more of Rajasthan, Ellora and Ajanta, Madras, Pondicherry, Amritsar, Pune, Visag and Madurai. I've also heard really good things about Nepal, and when Kashmir settles down a bit I've heard its absolutely beautiful there.
Hyderabad is home now, and will always stop back here when I come to India. Also, just today Sowmya got her 3-year work visa approved, so pending a job in the states she'll potentially be in Chicago. I don't doubt that when Alok finishes his Ph. D he'll come over and tour the US, staying in past SIP student's places. Rohit may finally take his GMAT exam next year and go finish his schooling, and Bharat is hopefully going to get out of Delhi soon possibly to Bombay.
The last thing I want to say about India is that it is exactly what you think it is. It is that, as well as everything you thought it couldn't possibly be. India has everything. Snow in the north and lands ringing of Hawaii in the south. The richest of the rich and poorest of the poor. Cutting edge technology and buffalo pulling carts. Supermarkets like Hypercity and tiny little fruit stands on the side of the road. Go ahead and throw out any preconceptions of how India is, because the only thing you can expect from India is the unexpected, a huge surprise, you can go ahead and guess but it'll always throw you a curveball. Gotta love it.
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