It reflects its European influences to this day (and I don’t mean just in the high number of Europeans that tend to flock here)
My favorite sight from Kochi, though, was that of goats who would go out of their way (and squeeze as tightly as possible underneath small roof edges) to avoid being soaked by [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Fort Kochi
Posted in Tourism, tagged Humor on 23 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A glimpse into Kanyakumari
Posted in Tourism on 22 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
(Would give you more than just a glimpse, but uploads are occurring at a maddeningly slow speed at the moment.)
The “relaxed people of South India”?
Posted in Fetishisms and Imaginaries, Tourism, tagged Humor, Two worlds on 22 July 2009 | 2 Comments »
“Guidebooks always write that South India, and Kerala in particular, is full of relaxed and laid back people; that it seems to be on a different schedule than the rest of India. That hasn’t exactly been Sapna and my experience, however. It is true that you spend a lot of time not doing very much [...]
A dream or nightmare?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Two worlds on 21 July 2009 | 2 Comments »
What an appropriate subtitle for this blog! That pretty much sums up how I’m feeling at this point in India. I can’t get out of my head a particular incident I had recently: on a bus to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, a bus conductor tried to cheat me twenty rupees. Long story short, [...]
The rains have finally come
Posted in Environment, Tourism, tagged Climate, the Hindu, Wayanad on 18 July 2009 | 2 Comments »
Which is good, but Kerala is paying for it. As for myself, I’m in Ernakalum (staying in beautiful Fort Kochi), trying to introduce myself to the community of people involved with organic agriculture here. The non-stop heavy rain has made bus rides and walking pretty unpleasant, though (although I cannot complain about the [...]
Not comforting….
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged the Hindu, Trivandrum on 15 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I still haven’t mastered the art of walking in/crossing the street gracefully here. But this is not comforting to wake up and read:
(from the Hindu)
Some pictures from a houseboat trip in Kollam
Posted in Malayalam, Tourism on 14 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Kollam=next district up from TRV. Houseboat=traditional home of many fisherfol
Note the fishing nets (Cheenvala, Chinese Fishing Nets).
Autorickshaws and haggling over 50 cents
Posted in Malayalam, Travel logistics, tagged Books, Humor, Malayalam, Trivandrum on 14 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Depending on the types of interactions I’ve had all day, I either feel that everyone here is out to rob/screw me, or is trying to just make an honest living.
For example, I’m sometimes overcharged 30 rupees for an autorickshaw ride of under 4 kilometers. I never know when and how much to haggle, and [...]
Language update
Posted in Grad school life, Malayalam, tagged Malayalam, Two worlds on 12 July 2009 | 3 Comments »
If you want to know the truth, I’ve hit a low in my Malayalam studies. I’ve mentioned before that Malayalam is a hard language to learn –but what really hit it home was my inability to read Kerala in Malayalam last week. Kerala, the birthplace of my parents. Kerala, the place whose [...]
Kathakali
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Trivandrum on 8 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I finally had the chance to see a Kathakali performance here in TRV at Vailoppilli Samskrithi Bhavan, a Kerala cultural center.
Kathakali is considered a traditional form of theater, where stories are told mostly with specific gestures (many made by muscles I didn’t realize moved so much). Yet, these gestures are often what one might consider [...]
