Keralan Adventures

Kerala: floating into paradise

I spent the last week in the state of Kerala on a nested vacation with my family. Kerala is a super interesting place, very different from Karnataka in geography and culture. For starters, there are Hindus and Muslims, as one might expect, but also Christians, Jews and even plenty of Communists. The diversity made for plenty of unique drives and lots of exposure to aspects of India I’d never thought about before. Mostly though, we were bowled over by the natural beauty of the countryside.

The Western Ghats near Munnar, in Kerala

Our journey went as follows: We took a night bus from Bangalore to Cochin (Ernakulum). I was forced to watch this movie because the speakers were on throughout the whole bus. After arriving in Kochi (Cochin), our driver met us at the bus stand and drove us nearly six more hours to our hotel outside of Munnar, in the heart of the Western Ghats. Somehow, the long drive was made bearable by the spectacular scenery during the drive through the mountains.

Our hotel was  about 8 km’s from Munnar itself. Driving around the mountain, we were surrounded by tea plantations as far as the eye could see. As one of my friends put it, “Kerala has shades of green that don’t exist anywhere else.”

Tea

We saw a traditional Kathakali show. In the story we saw, a Rakshasi, or demoness, falls in love with a warrior who is the son of Indra, the lord of the sky and the king of heaven. (1) She takes on a traditional human form in order to woo him, only to be rejected because he says his father must approve of any consort. (2)Enraged, she assumes her demonic form and confronts him again. (3) He punishes her by cutting off her ears and breasts. The whole show was about an hour, and had three actors with some fantastic makeup:

1)

2)

3) No means no

The next morning, we were surprised to hear that our sightseeing was postponed due to a ‘cab strike.’ We soon found  out that this was code for a sort of grassroots communist labor union.  Commie bastards! We spent the rest of the day touring, seeing a national park in the mountains touted as India’s cleanest, and visiting other sites including a dam, a lake, and several waterfalls.

We shared the great views at Erivakulum National Park.

The next day we split for the town of Allepy (whose traditional name reminded me of a certain rock festival), where we rented out a house boat for a tour of Kerala’s backwaters.  The channels all connect into Vembanad Lake, the biggest lake in India – we floated around the whole day amidst coconut and banana palms, rice paddies and small villages. With our own cook onboard, we were served fresh food and drinks. Once we docked at dusk, we had a chance to explore the local town, stumble upon a small temple, and follow our noses to a coconut oil factory.

A houseboat in front of a rice paddy.

Rice

Unfortunately, this trip did not end well. Almost immediately after we got back, my temperature shot up to 104 degrees and I had all sorts of lovely bodily emissions for 24 hours.

Toddy, the probable culprit.

To paraphrase Jamie Foxx, I blame it on the alcohol: Toddy, a coconut/palm brew that locals drink. We asked our boat driver to obtain a half liter for us to taste it…I should have known better after he showed up with an old water bottle half full of dirty looking milky white liquid. Lesson learned; immune system strengthened.

Today I leave for Mysore, the royal city of India, to spend time with relatives, bathe with sandalwood soap and see the sights. More to come – thanks for reading!

Welcome to India

Holy Cow, I'm in India!

With Turkey in the rearview mirror, I’ve arrived in India for the second leg of my travels. It’s funny – while I was in Istanbul, I drew lots of comparisons between it and Bangalore: bustling spaces, street vendors and corner markets, crowded layouts and old (really old!) buildings, traffic, noise, and general urban chaos. I’ve been to Bangalore plenty of times, so I knew it wasn’t exactly the same.

Then I got to India and remembered how different it actually is. The 30 km drive from the airport to our house took about 90 minutes because of traffic – rickshaws, buses, cars, scooters, bicycles, cows, dogs, and people were taking up space at some point on the road. I saw public urination, naked homeless children and defecating cows within an hour of landing. I’ve been here for 5 days now and I haven’t gone 20 minutes without hearing a traffic horn. Welcome to India.

Bangalore (now officially known as Bengaluru, which is really how it’s pronounced in Kannada) is a pretty amazing place in it’s own right though. I can still say I’m from beantown – in one anecdote, the city was named by a hungry King who stopped through and ate some delicious boiled beans. Besides rich history and a diverse geography, it’s now widely considered to be the IT capital of Asia with companies like Infosys and Wipro contributing $10+ billion worth to India’s annual IT exports. A few of my younger relatives here told me about how IT jobs here are commonplace among college students – the vast majority of jobs available are in IT, software, CS or some tech related field.

Traditional South Indian meal, served up on a banana leaf.

I spent the first couple of days at my cousin’s wedding, which went smoothly without a hitch. The first meal I ate was from a balay yellay – literally, ‘banana leaf,’ which are used for religious ceremonies or special occasions. Miraculously, I avoided any stomach issues (knock on wood…) despite eating from these three times in a row.

For the last few days, I’ve been sitting around mostly, planning some upcoming trips to other parts of the country, reading old Phillip K. Dick novels that my cousins left lying around the house (sidenote – A Scanner Darkly is fantastic – need to watch the movie again), and going on walks to local markets and shopping complexes with my parents, who are also here from Boston. We are staying in the neighborhood of Banashankari, which is one of the districts of what’s known as ‘old Bangalore.’ Translation: Two cows have set up camp outside our front gate for the last 3 days. The rainy season is nearly over and there are downpours virtually every night, like clockwork, around 6 or 7 pm. That means the mosquitoes are pesky but it’s relatively cool during the day.

India is home to much tradition and spirituality. You can even call God on a cell phone.

One interesting thing that’s been happening is a populist support movement for Anna Hazare, a former soldier who is leading the country’s movement against corruption. He is also all over the local papers and news, and on three or four separate occasions I’ve seen groups of youths in the streets with Indian flags and pro Hazare slogans and cheers. Independence Day in India is nearly here (ides of August), so the country is already in a patriotic fervor. Even as an Indian-American not living here, I was very impressed and excited that the issue of Indian corruption (in politics, in government, in finance, in industry, in education…literally everywhere) is being addressed explicitly by the young Indians here.

This coming week I’ll be taking off for some sightseeing and relaxation in the lush countryside of Kerala: Tea plantations, river cruises and potentially some elephant riding. Stay tuned…and thanks for reading!

The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist

When in Istanbul…
I picked this up a couple of days ago. Great writing from the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Orhan Pamuk. Think of the last time you read a book and became completely absorbed in the story. Pamuk dissects how fiction is a metaphor for reality – when we read and write it, we are constantly making assumptions, suspending beliefs, and projecting and stitching together parts of our own lives. Highly Recommended.
EDIT: Click on the picture for the link (Sorry Anthony)

More Istanbul

The Marmara Sea, South of Istanbul

Another week in Istanbul, another set of adventures.

Anadolu Medical Center, about 30 minutes from Istanbul

I visited Anadolu Medical Center, one of the best hospitals in Istanbul, in Turkey, and in this region of Europe (even though technically it’s located in Asia). They have amazing facilities (cleaner and more spacious than hospitals in Washington DC for starters), a diverse and accommodating staff, some super rare equipment (one of three Cyberknife machines in Europe) and staff that’s trained all around the world.

Cyberknife. This thing is cool.

The hospital's design allows each patient room to have a view of the sea.

I took a ferry south across the Marmara Sea to get to Bursa, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire. It is famous for its silk goods (I bought some).  I also visited a 700 year old Ottoman village called Çumalikizik, where we saw some really narrow streets, met an old lady who tried to arrange my marriage, and had a traditional lunch in the mountains.

Ulu Cami, a mosque built in Bursa in 1391.

Streets in Cumalikizik, a 700 year old Ottoman village

I’ve settled in a little bit more over the last week, hanging out with my flatmates and their kitten. We’ve grilled, nargileh’d, and gone out, but most nights we’ll have a drink on the balcony as the sun goes down. Alcohol is expensive here, but the local beer (Efes) is pretty tasty. I’ve also been enjoying Raki, which has a licorice taste that’s surprisingly good.

A ferry to Prince's Islands

I did a daylong trek across the Prince’s Islands just south of Istanbul. These were formerly used for exiled princes during the Byzantine period, but soon became an upscale fancypants area for the wealthy. There are no automotives on the islands outside of trash, medical and delivery vehicles. This means there are lots of bicycles and horses. We did a 15 km bike ride in the blazing sun around the biggest island Büyükada (literally ‘big island’), which is basically a mountain in the middle of the sea.The bike ride gave us some of the most amazing views I’ve seen in a while:

Even the crappy houses get a nice view here

Atop the biggest of Prince's Islands, Büyükada

I only have a few more days left in Turkey, but this trip has been amazing. The little moments are what are making this trip memorable – standing at the front of a ferry in the Marmara Sea with the wind blasting through the air, hearing the muezzins call to prayer every dusk as the lights turn on across the cityscape, or getting lost in a back alley only to take a turn and be at the top of a hill with 3 famous mosques in plain view. Instead of staring out of a window to daydream, I find myself simply looking at what’s through the glass. Without getting too mushy, let’s end on this quotation by Samuel Johnson:

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”