Infinite India

A 12 hour train ride is a first for me. For sitting for so long, it’s pretty exhausting.  Granted, as soon as I finished writing my entry, I listened to a little music and fell asleep. I use that very lightly, though, because I tossed and turned for most of the bumpy night. My neck was sore in the morning from the lack of pillow. When we reached our destination, Ali, Brian, and I got off with a relatively vague idea of what we wanted to do: a backwater tour on a houseboat. Upon finding a taxi, we asked about the houseboats. Our driver took us on an hour long ride through Kerala down narrow city streets and alleyways and overgrown flora. It rained a few times along the way. There’s a reason why Kerala is so green all the time. The major difference between the rickshaw I took in Chennai and this taxi in Kerala is that this one took us directly to our destination—we did not stop at any stores, we weren’t taken on any sort of tour, we didn’t even get to pass “Go” and collect $200 (I feel like I’ve used that joke before…oh, well). When we reached the houseboats, we asked a few different owners about pricing. There didn’t seem to be that much variation, but there was certainly a range of quality. Some were dilapidated and dirty, others were fancy and fresh. After some deliberation, the three of us picked a fancier boat with air conditioning (a fan), a TV and sound system with speakers, and an upstairs balcony. Living large! We went to pay our taxi driver who we had decided upon a price for with prior to leaving the train station. As it turns out, he wasn’t really a man of his word, and decided to slap a few hundred extra rupees on our fare for his “help with deciding a houseboat.” Begrudgingly, we obliged. It wasn’t too big a deal because the exchange rate here is damn solid for traveling Americans. $1 is equal to 49 rupees, which we sometimes forget, so a 1,000 rupee fee is really only about $20, which is dirt cheap for an hour cab ride. Split between three people equally is about $6.50. Ka-ching!

We stepped onto the houseboat and removed our shoes—being able to walk around barefoot in such humid weather is probably the ultimate blessing; I don’t even like shoes all that much to begin with. Within a few minutes, we already were being pampered with coconut milk. Kerala is a tropical climate, so coconuts are all over the place. While we were happily sipping, we chatted with some British people on the boat next to us. They told us about a few different places in Kerala to explore and do. I also chatted up London to them and how awesome it was and how desperately I miss it (which I do—a lot!). Our boat slowly pulled away from the jetty and we lazed about on the backwaters for the rest of the day and night. We were provided with delicious snacks and meals along the way. Indian food is spicy and delicious, similar in that regard to Ghanaian food. I ate a fish head. It was fishy. I’m punny, I know. Allepey, the town we left from, is known as the “Venice of the East” because of the vast backwater canal system that many boats meander around. While nowhere near as built up as Venice, the Keralan backwater canal system boasted amazingly lush canopies of trees, vines, and other plants. Like I said before, it’s because of the rain. When we weren’t eating, we passed the time by napping, reading, talking, sitting, pondering, looking, arm wrestling, taking pictures and playing cards. Ali also led me in a brief yoga lesson while the sun was setting. The poses plus the humidity made for a lot of sweat. Even without the yoga there was a lot of sweat. Humidity is rough in most of India, but Kerala is especially muggy. So much downtime was perfect; relaxing on a houseboat isn’t something one does everyday…unless, of course, you live in Kerala.

After our houseboat adventure, we met our same taxi driver from the day before. He had given us his card to call him when we were ready to be picked up. Not entirely sure of our next destination, we asked to be taken to an area, any area, with hotels and restaurants. He drove us to Fort Cochi, a small town on the water that wasn’t exactly close to Allepey. We went to the tourism office and an internet café to figure out what our next course of action would be. A two day, one night tour of Munnar Hill seemed ideal—more time in nature sounded fantastic. The issue, however, was money. We debated over lunch what to do and decided to find a place to stay. We peeked into one hotel to try and see if they had rooms available. While they had space available, we wanted to look around some more. As soon as we left, however, we were approached on the street by a man asking us if we wanted to stay in a free hostel. Somewhat skeptical at this too-good-to-be-true offer, we hesitated at first, but being the money-conscious travelers we are, we decided to have a look. As it turns out, there were no but’s, catches, or fine print; we had found free lodging in the middle of southern India. How was this possible? The hostel was just opening and looking for clients to stay for free and write positive reviews about them online. Simple enough, especially considering they had free wi-fi, air conditioning, a big-screen TV, comfortable beds, clean rooms, and an incredibly friendly staff. We had stumbled across the jackpot of Indian hostels.

Much of the rest of our time was spent walking around and relaxing. During our preports about India, we warned about loudness. Kerala is the quiet part of India. That being said, there are plenty of things for travelers and tourists to do. Dutch and British colonial influence is still felt—we passed by a Dutch cemetery and right next door was a British gentlemen’s club. We were also warned that street food will rip our stomachs to shreds. We ignored that, opting to eat must of our meals from vendors. It was always touched by hands, wrapped in old newspaper, but mouthwatering and delicious. Often we would sit on the floor in the lobby of our hostel and eat straight off the newspaper; college has taught us well.

Our final two days in Kerala were especially exciting. We had been considering getting ayurvedic messages to see what all the fuss was about. After exploring several different spas, we stumbled into one that was attached to a cultural center. Stripping down, we donned these bizarre cloth diapers and laid on the tables, waiting for the masseuse. When mine arrived, he began by asking me to lie on my back. He poured oil all over me. Lots of different oils. He didn’t so much massage me as rub me and lather the oil all over my body on both sides. When that was finished, I had to hop in a steam room and let the oil settle all over me. Then I showered in a bucket. Taaaaaaasty. As strange as it was, I was oddly refreshed by the time it was over. I would probably do it again. Afterwards, we decided to take in a cultural show, which included Kathakali, a traditional Keralan dance theatre form that I’ve been learning about in one of my classes. Frankly, it was odd. And a little scary, especially when one of the performers jumped out into the audience. A few girls sitting near us ran out and didn’t come back. By the end of the show, only Ali, Brian, and me remained. I’m glad I witnessed it, though; 2,000 year old theatre is a very special thing to witness.

On our final day, we decided to head to the beach. A slow start in the morning prevented us from getting there as early as we would’ve liked. Once we set out, however, we didn’t look back. We jumped on the ferry and took it across the water to another town. Once there, we took the bus for over an hour up north to Cherrai Beach. The bus stop was about 3 kilometers from the beach, so we had to walk there. Tired and somewhat frustrated, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to walk, especially after the long bus ride. Upon arrival, we had to climb over some rocks to the beach. Beyond the rocks, there was the perfectly blue water of the Arabian Sea. I stripped down to just my shorts and jumped in the warmest water I have ever swum in. The waves were enormous and pushed me around all over the place. The water was salty. I realized to myself I was as far away from Colorado as I possibly could be on this planet. After all the weirdness and hesitation and strange emotions I had been feeling, I was finally at peace, in the water, floating far away from the land I love the most.

If there has been a country that has inspired me the most, it has to be India. Everything has given me this sense of ethereal wonderment. We were told it would be “an attack on the senses,” but that implies that it would hurt; I’ve felt such joy from the sensory overload of my past few days here. To be perfectly honest, Kerala is definitely not like the India portrayed in movies and other media. It’s cleaner, quieter, and slower. That’s what makes this country so fascinating to me, though. The people who chose the Taj and other “tourist” destinations are got a completely different India than me. I must come back. India is so big. Any adjective you want to describe India could in some capacity. Yes, it’s dirty. Yes, there’s poverty. Yes, it’s sad. In all its negative stereotypes and connotations, India is ultimately a beautifully complex land that I cannot write about as well as I wish I could; I leave that task to a writer far better than I ever will be. It is an impossible task to succinctly describe. It is impossible to not use hyperbole when talking about it. If Semester at Sea claims to give us appetizers about all the ports we visit, they gave us barely a glass of wine for India.

I will return for an indeterminate amount of time and backpack around the country. For now, we must move forward to Malaysia. I’ll probably write again before that, probably about India. If I had to pick a word for it all, I simply would choose this: mesmerizing.