"It is the right of the traveller to vent their frustration at every minor inconvenience by writing of it to their friends." -Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

A few weeks ago, my dad asked me what is easier and what is more difficult in India. I've touched upon most of these things in my entries thus far, but there is one thing that I have not mentioned yet, which I think is fairly interesting...I have a really hard time getting out of cars here. The cars in India are much smaller than in the US. Due to the fact that they are shorter in length, the total door area is also smaller. I often forget this when I go to get out of a car and wind up getting my foot stuck, such that my exit from the car usually turns into a sort of tumble. It must be hilarious to watch from afar.

Another short weekend (we worked Saturday) - but made up for it last night. This is Andy's last weekend in town for awhile, so after a few pre-cocktails in my room, we took a car down to Colaba to have dinner at Indigo. Afterwards, we headed to a bar called Karma (how India!) for lots of rawkus dancing, until finally ending up at Insomnia. My nights with Andy are a fun blend of all-out partying, interspersed with really meaningful conversations about life, work, traveling, future, past, and whether the Red Bull in India tastes different from the Red Bull in the US.

This morning I woke up and Skyped with my little sister, who I miss more than sushi. By the way, does everyone know about Skype? (www.skype.com). It's God's gift to people living on the other side of the world from their family. Then I walked up to the big Catholic church near my hotel - not for mass, just to say a quick hey to the Holy Trinity. Outside of the church, there are little huts set up, selling candles, flowers, pictures of Jesus and the Saints, holy trinkets, and little religious symbols made of soap. Next I went to a really cute little area of Bandra with coffee shops, restaurants, and the DVD store. (It sort of reminds me of Larchmont). I rented a few DVDs, got a gelato, and walked along the coast for awhile, where people were drying their laundry on trees and the ground.


A pretty site, but not the most sanitary thing I've ever seen.

Oh yeah, there were donkeys in the street too.


The wind was very strong this afternoon, so it was a really beautiful, purifying walk. I ended up at a small book store on the beach, where I bought a book by an Indian author called "One Night In A Call Center" (isn't that the best book title ever?). As I'm always carrying around a book here, I get into a lot of conversations with people about books. One of the guys who works in Masala Bay recommended this one for me. I bought it on his recommendation...and the genius title. I also got Shantaram and Men's Health (which, by the way, was almost $10. No, not everything...just the magazine.) Since then, I've just been hanging out, reading, resting up, and watching movies. A nice, much needed, lazy Sunday.

Kerala, la, love it.

My trip to Kerala started out as all good trips in India should...with a two hour flight delay. Once we'd landed and started out for our hotel, my first impression of Kerala was of BILLBOARDS. Gigantic billboards. Only, these billboards weren't depicting big advertising dollar products like Coke or Pepsi...they were advertising things like chicken seasoning packets and other Super Bowl worthy items. We arrived in Ernakulam uneventfully enough, fell into bed, and knocked out a few good hours of sleep before rising on Saturday and heading out to Alleppey, where our boat was to take off from.

Kerala has a 91% literacy rate (the highest in India), a low infancy mortality rate, and a very equitable distribution of land and income - mostly due to a freely elected communist government - the first in the world. Driving to Alleppey was beautiful. Lush jungle and huge palm trees line the clean and well paved roads. It didn't feel like we were in India anymore. We arrived into Alleppey and headed for the Tourist Center where we met up with TerriAnn, a good friend of Andy's who had just arrived into India the night before. The three of us set out to find the nicest boat we could. As this was off season, we knew we'd be able to get something pretty fantastic for a fraction of what it would cost during season. We weren't disappointed. The boat we decided on was beautiful, with a really friendly staff.

Once we decided on a boat, the staff had to go out and buy food and supplies for us. I decided to head into town with the guys, while Andy and TerriAnn stayed back at the boat to get caught up.
As we began driving through Alleppey, picking up fresh vegetables, fish, and other supplies, I realized that this, Alleppey, was EXACTLY how I had pictured India before I got to India. (Udaipur was close...this was dead on, almost as if I had been there before). It wasn't so much visual, as it was a distinct VIBE to the city. People swarmed the streets, delicately weaving through motor vehicles. Only here, the people seemed to have the right away (something I had not seen in India thus far.) Flower stands, saree shops, and trinket stores all seemed to explode from the sides of the street. Sunil, the owner of the boat, took me to a really cool area of the city so that I could buy some of the fun accessories for our trip: gardenia necklaces...

...candles, lots and lots of candles, a huge bouquet of flowers (US$2), and lungis - the male version of the saree, wrapped around one's lower half, sort of like a diaper. We all decided that we should wear the traditional garb for our trek through the Backwaters.

From the Kerala Clothing Catalogue - Monsoon Edition: "The lungi, shown here in Maharaja purple, is the comfortable, breezy way of enjoying the the Kerala Backwaters. Also comes in lychee green and temple gold. 86 rupees."


It's ridiculously comfortable. Next we went to pick up some munchies and BEER. To get our case of KingFisher, we had to go to an actual bar in town that also sold liquor to go. When Sunil and I walked into the bar, it was like the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from Star Wars. Music, talking, drinking all screetched to a halt. Awkward times. So, we finished up our shopping and headed back to the boat.

The three of us cracked open the KingFishers, cranked up the iPod and set out to explore the Backwaters of Kerala. For the next ten hours or so, we alternated between dancing, drinking, lounging around the boat, eating and soaking in the scenery. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Here is Sunil, Andy and I, modeling our lungis...

Dancing...lots of dancing...

And the aforementioned "lounging around the boat"...

This last one is of me at the bow of the boat, with the chef and driver chatting away behind me.

Kerala is truly one of those places where pictures do not nearly do it justice. There is something about how the sun lights up the huge expanses of rice paddies into a fluorescent green color, offset by the darker, more forest greens and browns of the trees that line the coast. It's stunning.

Road signs along the river...Are we there yet?

Eventually, we stopped and hiked out to a huge field for the sunset.

As dusk turned to night, we all got massages in this little hut and headed back to the boat to clean up and to have dinner. With candles all over the boat, we spent the rest of the night relaxing and listening to music before we climbed into our mosquito net hugged beds.

Morning was radiant.


I was not. (Hence, the sunglasses). There was such a different feel to the Backwaters in the light of the rising sun. Boys taking baths at the side of the river waved to us and did backflips into the water, partly to show off, partly to rinse off. A light breakfast, and we pulled into the dock where we had left 22 hours earlier.

We docked around 10am and decided to head to Fort Cochin to check it out before our flight took off that evening. When we arrived in Cochin, we checked TerriAnn into her hotel for the night: this really cute inn with huge rooms, all situated around the main dining room. Lots of Christian artifacts, pictures of Jesus, and a painting of the last supper in the dining room. Kerala, as a whole, is the most Christian place I've been in all of India. There were saint statues everywhere.

We then walked along the bustling coastline (which reminded me of Seaport Village...without the skee ball), passing fishermen with huge nets...

...and children selling various trinkets and post cards, when we eventually came to the restaurant where we decided to have lunch. Grilled prawns and pineapple skewers with coconut rice, and a bottle of white wine for good measure. After some more shopping along the streets and enjoying the breeze from the water, it was time to head to the airport.

My experience in Kerala was wonderful. As a whole, everyone is very happy there, smiles a lot, and is profusely friendly. Combined with the beautiful scenery, it was by far the most relaxing, rejuvenating trip I've had in India thus far. As the Backwaters is only a small part of Kerala, I really want to go back and explore a few more areas. If not during this stay, then the next...

Move To The Music.

I just had dinner at Vista, the restaurant in the hotel, and one of the waiters came up to me and asked if I had a good time at H20 last night. I replied that I did and asked why he didn't say hi. He responded, "You guys were dancing crazy!"

Off to Kerala tomorrow...

Happy...hours.

Tonight I went out with a big group of people from work to celebrate a co-worker's engagement at a place called H20...water flowing down the walls, you get the picture. Finlandia was doing a promotion where if you ordered a large Finlandia drink, you got two spins on their wheel. I won a Finlandia pen and 30% off a bottle of Finlandia. Happy times. Lots of fun Indian drinking games and DANCING. I love the way Indians dance. It's so confident, spirited. Everyone requested my "Oh oh oh oh" song (of course), and the DJ dedicated it to me.

In other, more oppressive news, India has blocked all blogs coming from India to all Indian residents. It's weird, I thought that my blog was blocked to everyone, but I've found out that all of you in the US are able to view my blog, just not me and anyone else in India. It's due to the Mumbai bombings last week. Bloggers all over India are outraged.

My two months anniversary of living in India was yesterday. The first month felt like a month. The second month felt like a week.

I've gotten no sleep this week, so I'm deliriously tired. On that note, I'm off to bed...

"If I live to see the seven wonders..."

This is going to be a long one, so I'm going to jump right into it...

After Tuesday's attacks, I was expecting some pretty lengthy delays at the airport for my trip to Delhi. So when I found out that my flight on Friday night was delayed by two hours, I wasn't too surprised or annoyed. It was the first time that I'd flown Air Deccan (India's Southwest), so after I made it through the first gate check, I wasn't really sure where their ticket desk was. So, as I was wandering through the terminal, who should I run into, but Seth Doane! (My friend from Delhi who I have never met, but was planning on meeting that night in Delhi. He works for CNN and had been in Mumbai for the week covering the train bombs.) We didn't have much time, so we said a quick hello and promised to see each other in a few hours.

Now, our plan had been to arrive in Delhi around 8:30, check into our hotel, have a cocktail, meet Seth for dinner and then head out to a club for some revelry. But, after the flight delay, we didn't even make it to our hotel until 11:30. So, dinner plans went out the window and we headed straight to Dublin, a club close to our hotel. Dublin is an "Irish Pub," complete with the traditional Irish dance floor playing Hindi music and TVs playing Bollywood movies. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't in Ireland. Seth, Andy and I made the most out of the hour we had at the club by alternating shots for drinks and dancing to Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai (my "Oh Oh Oh Oh" song), which they played TWICE (in an hour, mind you). Afterwards, we headed to Seth's hotel to hang out, perused his picture albums, magazines (you don't realize how much you miss People until you don't have it anymore), and ordered room service. Back to the Taj for three hours of sleep and then up at 7am to catch the train to Agra. Three hours later, we arrived and headed to our hotel, the Oberoi Amarvilas - which now goes down as one of my favorite hotels of all time. It was exquisite. Some picture to set the scene...


Rather than rushing to the Taj Mahal like a tourist, we tried to play it cool. You know, act as if one of the seven wonders of the world wasn't five minutes away. So, we hung out by the ba-eutiful pool, ate lunch (the first spinach salad I've had since I've been in India...glorious), swam, napped, and then went to the spa for a massage and facial. At about 6pm, I couldn't take it any longer. I put on my black socks and sandals, slung a camera around my neck, and set out for the Taj Mahal. (Andy, who was able to play it cool, stayed back for another nap). The Oberoi was ridiculously close to the Taj, so they provided golf carts to take you from the hotel to the main entrance. 750 rupees later (US$16...or 20 rupees, US$0.40 if you're Indian), and I was standing before the Taj Mahal...


It's hard to describe the feeling of actually seeing the Taj Mahal. It is so completely and utterly iconic that it truly does feel surreal to see it in person. Since it was later in the day, I was able to really enjoy it without getting heat stroke. There were TONS of people ranging from ancient Indian men (such as this debonair gentleman, who I think would be a great mascot for the Taj Mahal)...


to tan, hard-core backpackers wearing trendy Euro outfits like capri-type shorts and tank tops. (Argh! If I only I had a picture to go along with that statement.)

So, let's do this for my description of the Taj Mahal: Copy and paste the word "breathtaking" into www.thesaurus.com and you've got my description. There are not enough words in my vocabulary to accurately describe this place. However, for me, the most interesting and memorable part of visiting the Taj Mahal was getting to see everything SURROUNDING the actual building. You see so many pictures of the Taj, but with no idea as to what's behind it...


to the sides of it...


or behind the camera man when he's taking the photograph we've seen a million times...

So, I spent almost as much time looking and exploring around the Taj Mahal as I did mesmerized by the main structure itself.

Knowing that I would be back the next day, I left after about an hour to meet back up with Andy for dinner at the hotel. Based on how phenomenal our lunch was, we had high hopes for the upscale Indian restaurant in the hotel, and were not disappointed. There were only about fifteen tables or so in the restaurant, intimately nestled around a stage in the center of the room. During dinner, a sitar and bongo drum pair played traditional Indian music, creating a beautiful backdrop to the dinner experience. (The bongo drum guy was on a break when I took this picture which is fine because the lady sitar player was the real powerhouse of the team...sort of the Indian version of the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham relationship - only the bongo guy hasn't spent his whole life lamenting the fact that the sitar player is more popular than he).


For the first time in India (or ever), I had THALI. Thali is an Indian tradition: served on a big platter, several small cups of various Indian dishes are arranged around a pile of rice, with naan served on the side. It's a fantastic (and my now favorite) way of experiencing Indian food because you get to try everything. (Okay, it's a sampler platter basically...but a classy, classy sampler platter). Andy and I spent most of the dinner trying to decide what our favorite was (which was very hard and, at times, got a touch stressful until we had decided on a winner. Mine was the Macchi Anarkali, fish cooked with pomegranate).


After dinner I hung out by the pool and read. Here's a picture...


The next morning, we got up and decided to have breakfast on our terrace, which overlooked the Taj. Fresh mango, all bran, yoghurt, a quick shower and it was off to the Taj for round 2...and this time it was HOT. I'd always imagined that when I saw the Taj, I would be very, very hot. Now, while I have a vivid imagination, I didn't even get close to HOW hot it would be. Literally, sweat pouring down my entire body. It was ridiculous, and yet, all part of the experience. Andy and I bounced around, taking pictures, avoiding wasps and getting in other people's pictures, and repeating the phrase, "I can't believe we're here." It was great.

Oh, I should probably talk about what's inside the Taj (since you can't take pictures inside). Um, well, aside from the body that's somewhere down in there, there wasn't much to it. It's amazingly small (for how gloriously gigantic the entire building is). There is some cool tile work, but nothing that is more remarkable than what's on the outside. To be honest, the best part is that it's a cool respite from the scorching heat outside. Trust me though, you come to see the Taj for the outside, not the inside.

After a few zillion pictures, Andy decided to head back to the hotel, and I headed off to see Agra Fort. Remember the fort that I saw in Jaipur? That was a fort. When Agra Fort was being built, the guys building it must have been like, "Uh, we're really not going to be able to compete with the Taj Mahal over there, so let's just throw up some walls and be done with it." Seriously. I flitted around for half an hour, got really, really bored, and made a break for it. After the AGRAvating experience at the fort, I decided to take an autorikshaw to Mehtab Bagh (or, the "Moonlight Gardens"), which are these beautiful gardens across the river behind the Taj Mahal.

I wanted to go to Mehtab Bagh because I'd read that the view of the Taj was better due to the distance from the monument. And it was. However, the best part of Mehtab Bagh wasn't the spectacular view of the Taj Mahal, it was that fact that you had this spectacular view all to yourself. Aside from a few women tending the gardens, it was just me. The actual Taj facilities are crawling with people. People everywhere. It's quite impossible to have a peaceful experience (not to say that it's unenjoyable...its just not very peaceful and/or spiritual.) However, to view the Taj from Mehtab Bagh was on a whole other plane. I cannot accurately describe how moving it is to view the monument from this vantage point and under these conditions.


The above picture is one of the many snaps (as they call photographs our here), that I took from Mehtab Bagh. I can't tell you how many pictures I took of that big pile of marble. Here's my favorite...


Oh, wait. That's a bag of chips with Christina Applegate's picture on the front. (Her agent must have made that deal pre-"Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead.") Anyways, these chips are very popular with the local Agrites. Here is my actual favorite picture...


It almost becomes a sort of OCD-type obsession. I think it's because every...single...time that you look a the Taj Mahal, you're so floored that you think to yourself, I have to take a picture right now! Really, it's bizarre. (Basically, if this isn't enough for you, let me know and I can send more. Clear out your inbox first though.)

I made it back to the hotel just in time to eat a quick lunch, shower, and hop in the car for the five hour car ride to the Delhi airport. During the ride we had a police officer ask to hitch a ride, saw a snake charmer get struck by a cobra that supposedly was not poisonous, a truck almost topple over into a crowd of people digging a whole in the middle of the freeway, a 40 foot high Hindu goddess statue, a beautiful sunset, an Over The Hedge/AMD billboard, various large dead animals including a cow, and a McDonald's.

The trip back to Mumbai was pretty standard: two hours of waiting on the plane with no air conditioning before taking off, the kind of turbulence that TRULY requires a seatbelt, the scariest landing I've ever experienced, and a cab driver who tried to charge us 500 rupees from the airport to our hotel (almost triple what the actual cost should be).

I love India.


"...I'll make a path to the rainbow's end..." -SN

"Sorry, Steven is not at his computer right now. Please leave a message."

Remember Instant Messenger away messages? Man, I loved those things. Granted, this has NOTHING to do with India, except for the fact that I'm going to be away from my computer for a few days while I'm on my trip to Delhi and Agra. I had started to write an entry about how the last time I went on a trip everyone freaked out and thought that I had given up the blog, when I decided that maybe I should just put up a blog version of an away message. Needless to say, this got me thinking about some of my favorite away messages from college: "Buzzing around like a little buzzing bee," "Houlihans :)" "Jump Roping...not just for little girls anymore" and the many, many Stevie Nicks quotes. I don't even want to count up the number of hours I spent reading other people's away messages and creating my own. It truly is an artform.

So, while I am away - to keep things interesting - I would like you to post your favorite away message (either one of your own, or one you remember from someone else).

I'll be back Sunday night with pictures and stories. Until then...goodnight.

Mumbai Light.

After the past few days, I'm going to try to keep this blog entry light. It's been an emotional few days, and I started to feel like my blog was becoming a "Yes, Steve is still alive" notification service. Having said that, thank you so much to everyone who wrote to check in on me, share their feelings on the bombings, and provide support. Every single email was much appreciated. Thank you. (And thank you to my little sister who "forgot" to tell me that my Mom told her to email me and let me know she got my message, but was unable to get through to my hotel).

The main thing that I would like to share about today is how NORMAL everything was. The trains were running. People showed up to work on time and smiling. And July 12th went on much like July 10th. It was Mumbai's very classy response to the terrorists. And it was wonderful to be a part of.

With all the craziness of the past few days, I've been spending my evenings laying low in my hotel room. The past three have gone as such: Chinese/Indian fusion food ordered from Ming Yang, a small pot of jasmine tea, Bobby Darin ("The Legendary Bobby Darin") and Judy Garland ("Live At Carnegie Hall"), reading "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell," all while overlooking the Mumbai skyline. It's been very relaxing, and a touch surreal.

I'm okay...again.

Seven high intensity bomb blasts on Mumbai railways at rush hour. 40 people dead so far.

This stuff gets me so emotional - not with fear for myself, but with complete and utter sadness that humans do this to one another....that people use their religion or political beliefs as justification to destroy lives.

I'll post more later.

I'm okay.

There are some riots going on in Mumbai right now. Or, as the news is calling it, "contained violent protests." I don't have the full story yet, but they are protesting the fact that a statue of a political guy's late wife was desecrated (somebody put mud on her or something). Anyways, they burned a bus and broke windows in shops and were "heckling" passers by.

I'm going to save my commentary until I know the full story.

But, I'm in my hotel and safe.

Ruminations and Rupees.

In addition to the blog, I'm keeping a separate journal of the personal, somewhat more mundane experiences I'm having in India. After I come home, I plan on melding them together to form the complete record of my experience. However, I realized this morning that I will need to include a lot of the email exchanges I've had with everyone as well. Because I am unable to give regular updates on the phone, a lot of my emails have become these mammoth, detail-centric, personally tailored capsules that will be such an integral part of the complete picture. In addition, a lot of you have given me advice, anecdotes, and suggestions which have been inspirational and helped shape this experience for me. All right, now that that's out of the way, what's going on in India you wonder...

Last night I went down to Colaba with Shana, her boyfriend Amit and their friend Gabriel (who moved here from Sweden three years ago). The drive down there at rush hour takes about an hour, so Shana made us road cocktails (appletinis), which, along with some great iPod music, made the ride very enjoyable (Shana's driver, Bogwan, was driving - he didn't partake in the appletinis though).

Once in Colaba, we had dinner at Indigo (lobster ceviche and seared yellow fin tuna...delicious!), went to some seedy bar for a quick shot, and then ended up at Polly Esther's for a few hours of raucous dancing and boozing. I described this bar during my first week or so in India - it's so collegiate, a total free for all. (They played "Tubthumping" by ChumbaWumba, need I say more?) People just let loose and its so fun.

This morning, I (painfully) woke up around 10 and decided that I wanted a coffee from Mocha. When I went downstairs to catch a rika, I was sort of out of it and the rika driver told me that it would be 150 rupees for a ride to Mocha (which is outrageous). I laughed and told him, no way, 50 rupees (which is ALSO outrageous. um, actually, it's only about a dollar, but that's not the point). However, I should have just told him that I would pay what the meter read. So, we get there and I realized that I only had a 50 rupee note. The meter read 16 rupees and I asked him for 20 back. He told me no, it was 50 rupees. I started to argue and realized that he was totally right - I told him I would pay him 50 rupees. So, I started laughing and told him that I knew what a good deal he got out of me. He told me that he would wait for me while I went into Mocha to get my coffee (who wouldn't when the hungover foreigner is paying almost triple what the ride should be!) I agreed, but told him that on the way back, I would pay the meter price. So, when we got back to the Taj, I realized that I gave Mocha all of my small bills as a tip and only had a 50 to give him. I asked him for change and he started laughing. I started laughing too and told him, yet again, that I knew what a good deal he got out of me...man, I really showed him!

Ganesh hearts Steve.

I swear, the travel gods of India are shining down apon me. I won't go into the numerous examples, but every trip I have planned thus far (and those forthcoming) has just fallen into place. One illustrative example: Andy and I were planning a trip to Dubai. After looking into flights, timing, etc., it just wasn't working. So, I started asking around, reading my guide book, when I realized that Kerala (in the southwestern part of India) would be a much better place to go - especially at this time of year. So, I sit down to email Andy and find that I have an email in my inbox from him suggesting that we go to Kerala instead of Dubai. I'm telling you, this stuff just clicks. Tonight I went to buy the tickets for Kerala and found that the rate I thought we could fly to Kerala for, was in fact $100 more (for a grand total of $466 - way too much when you're trying to go to three different places, three weekends in a row). So, a bit dejected, I tried one last search on mobissimo.com (an Indian traveler's best friend), and got a round trip ticket for $116 (AND, the timing worked out way better than the $466 flight). Whoa, remember when I said that I wasn't going to go into the numerous examples? How about a sweet picture of Kerala to spice this regrettably technical blog entry up?

This picture is of the Kerala "Backwaters." We're going to spend two days drifting through these lush, interconnecting rivers and lagoons on a boat that's powered by two guys pushing it along with sticks. It's supposed to be very slow and very peaceful. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Kerala is two weeks away. NEXT week is...

THE TAJ MAHAL.

Perhaps you've heard of it? We'll fly into Delhi on Friday night and meet up with Seth - a guy from LA who I've never met, but have a ton of mutual friends in common with. (Seth and I have taken to referring to each other as "a friend," because "a guy who I've never met, but have a lot of friends in common with" is a bit cumbersome.) Then on Saturday, Andy and I will head to Agra to see the Testament To Love. We're taking a gamble on the weather, but at worst, I think it will be really cool to see the Taj shrouded in a misty rain. At best, we'll see it in the golden colors its most often pictured in.

We're still working on our third trip of July.

And tonight I bought a Lonely Planet guide for the only "out of India" trip I'm planning. Any guesses?

Sun!

A great day today...Though the newspaper forecasted "heavy, heavy rains," it rained about ten drops this morning and that was it. Just after lunch, I was in a pretty deep work conversation with my friend Amit when the sun came out. I stopped him in mid-sentence and dragged him down five flights of stairs to go outside. It was beautiful. After six straight days of clouds and darkness, I was like a little flower, drinking up the sun.

And then, as if the day could get any better, Arish and Kristin, two of the principles at Prana, arrived from the US today with three cans of SUMO TECH for me. (For those of you who aren't up to date on Bumble & Bumble's masterpiece, or have never gotten a haircut at Rudy's, this is my favorite hair product. India is all about "the wet look"...while I am not.) Good hair times.

So to top this wonderful day off, I bought some cheese, wine and apples from Patel's and will be answering emails and reading some more of Jonathan Strange tonight. Happy Thursday.

Play Day!


So we were all sent home from work early today due to the rains (MonsoonMania2006! Not to be confused with MartiniMania2002). It's really a bizarre feeling to be sent home from work due to weather. Although I had a few classes cancelled due to snow at Notre Dame, I'm really not used to the concept of things being cancelled due to weather.

But, I'll take it!

I came back to the hotel and decided to have lunch at Masala Bay, the really nice Indian restaurant here. Due to the rains, the manager at Pure was doing double duty and managing Masala Bay for lunch today as well. She noticed that I had finished my last book (White Teeth), and we got into a long conversation about books. I actually wound up coming up to my room so that I could give her my copy of White Teeth. She's like my little book buddy now.

And I have some exciting news...one of the things that I miss most from home is PLAIN iced tea. Not iced tea with no added sugar. Not lemon flavored iced tea. Just regular old, leaves soaked in water, plain iced tea. Until now, I thought that the concept was non-existent in India...but they have it at Masala Bay! I almost hugged the guy who brought it to me - such a treat.

I'm not too sure how to spend the rest of my day. I'm going to go to the gym, maybe hit up Mocha for a few hours (I am already really into my next book "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell"). Oh, and I'm going to email my little sister (who noted that, while she had been reading my blog, deserved a personal update). It's coming Pookie!

"There are only two refuges from the miseries of life - coffee and music."

...so says the menu at Mocha. It is only now, after spending four hours at Mocha, that I realize how much I had been longing for Home. Not home in the sense of LA or Carlsbad or the United States - but the feeling of complete comfort, a mix of old and new that puts you at ease and urges you enjoy the moment for everything that it's worth.

My cab ride over to Mocha was beautiful. Sundays is a big day for Bandstand (the street that runs along the ocean and in front of my hotel), as there are usually tons of people enjoying the ocean, chatting on benches, eating grilled corn on the cob, drinking fresh squeezed juice, and smiling. I thought that it might be deserted today due to the weather, but was happily surprised to find the complete opposite. People were still doing all of the same things, only drenched from head to toe. No one looked bothered or annoyed by the heavy downfall, merely pleased to be enjoying the day.

It's ironic that I would reference Lula's in my past post, as I'd been searching for a place like it ever since I'd left Notre Dame (and been unsuccessful in LA thus far). Mocha is as close to Lula's as I've come, and I would go so far as to say, surpasses it in many ways. The decor is very India with deep, rich colors, antique style furniture, modern Buddha paintings and carvings, mismatched pillows, intimate seating areas, and star shaped lanterns hanging from the uniquely shaped roof. It's beautiful. With my eclectic musical tastes, its rare that I find a place playing better music than what my iPod has to offer - not so with Mocha. The music was a fantastic mix of soothing electronic, modern Hindi songs, and a range of US songs: from 70's California folk-rock to deep, rarely played Coldplay tracks. They didn't play a bad song. The sound system was heavy on the bass, but in a soothing way. I started off with a Chai tea latte, then decided that it was definitely worth breaking my coffee fast for an extremely appropriate cup of Monsoon Malabar coffee. I got a little hungry, so I decided to have a grilled vegetable and cous cous wrap. (How great is cous cous?)

I did some more trip planning and almost finished White Teeth (best line from the book: "You are the one extra chili pepper in the hot sauce!") Four hours later, I was the most relaxed and content I've been since I arrived in India. I finally decided it was time to go home around 5pm. I still smell like strawberry mint hookah. I can't wait to go back.

Pelted.

I'm sitting in my room right now, looking out at the ocean as the rain pelts the coast. It hasn't stopped all day. It's very dark and the wind is incredibly strong. The palm trees are bending so far that it looks like they are going to snap. There are moments where it lets up a bit, but within a few minutes it's back to full force.

I've spent most of the day reading, catching up on emails, planning my next few trips and listening to music. Oh, I also created a Monsoon Mix. The mix relies heavily on a lot of songs from the Notre Dame era. The rainy weather here is very reminiscent of what I used to walk through to get to Lula's, a coffee shop in South Bend. (...rain, snow, shine...I loved that place. There was nothing like studying while huddled in the blue corner, sipping a huge mug of mocha.) Here it is:

Round Here - Counting Crows (From "Across A Live Wire")
Wanna Be - Nine Days
Lose You - Pete Yorn
Mona Lisa - Guster
She Says - Howie Day (From "Australia")
Bitter - Nine Days
The Path Of Thorns (Terms) - Sarah McLachlan
Only Dreaming - K's Choice
Fever Dream - Iron & Wine
Emergency Trap - Mogwai
When The Day Goes Down - Eurythmics
If I Fall - Aqualung

This week was a long one (6 days of work), so it's really nice to just kick-back today. I'm thinking about braving the weather to go to Mocha, a coffee shop in town. I might even break my coffee fast (!)

Last night I had dinner at Anish and Apoovra's to watch the soccer match. Another friend from work, Aby, came too. We arrived about 7pm, had a few drinks, some light appetizers, and chatted about this and that. A really lovely evening. At about 11:30, I was getting really tired and was about ready to leave when Anish came out of the kitchen with huge plates of food and said, "Dinner time!"

It was delicious.