Four weeks in, Crows and EPCOT vs India

Four weeks in, Crows and EPCOT vs India

So we have been here for 4 weeks now and beginning to settle in nicely, the apartment is beginning to feel like home and though hasn’t as much space as the house had its in a much better place, 3 mins to the beach, not as busy, more Rock than Padstow (minus the Henrys).

We have spent the last week getting the essentials for Indian life, a tawa (a bit like a crepe pan) for making dosas and toast, a juicer/blender/wet’n’dry grinder for making masala pastes, a large kettle (the travel kettle just wasn’t up to the job), 25 litre mineral water bottles and dispenser, various spices and dhals, a supply of fresh yogurt (aka curd) and 5 hundred weight of fruit (various).

Sarah has just come in from a run to Samudra beach not far but in 90+ C heat “a bit taxing” she took the coastal path rather than running along the beach as the sand is soft and she thought it would be easier. Pity she forgot about the steps, she is now sitting on the bathroom floor with the shower on full blast, her running clothes are strong enough to make their own way to the washing basket.

We don’t have a washing machine here, we have a man who picks up the laundry, washes, irons and returns it. No doubt its been to some stream or other along the way and had the hell beaten out of it on a rock but it comes back clean and smelling nice. Talking of washing in streams we saw one of the strangest pieces of bird behavior last week. A local woman had just finished her weekly wash in the stream at the side of the road when out of nowhere a murder of crows and jackdaws appear filling the trees around her. As she packed up to go one by one the crows took it in turns to have a bath, splashing around in the soap suds, rinsing themselves off in the clean water then sitting in the trees, wings out stretched to dry off.  No wonder crows are known as feathered apes, they must have sussed the soap cleans their feathers and maybe acts as an anti-flea treatment too. It was comical watching them patiently queue up to take their turn. Does sir want the full wash, rinse and dry?

One of the best things about being here is the unexpected trivial things we observe, things the locals no longer see as they are so familiar to them. Everyday life has a new and vibrant colour to it here, familiar but alien it shocks, mystifies and delights in equal proportion. We love it.

I've been asked is how do you cope with the poverty, the squalor, the injustice? A friend once said to me “I don’t know how you do it, I couldn’t live there, seeing all those things… we prefer Florida”. To her it was as if I was talking about going to see a horror film. Her solution being if you don’t go and see it, it doesn’t exist for you, you have no emotional or personal responsibility for what you haven’t seen.

This is the difference between holidays and travelling or living in a country. Living here is not like a film, just another entertainment, packaged, sanitised and PG rated, its about being here, a HumanBEING not just searching for the next cling film wrapped thrill. I saw an apartment room advertised yesterday, below the name of the residence was the slogan “Our rooms are clean but not sterile” I think they were trying to say they had character rather than interesting diseases for you to enjoy, at least I hope so. But for me it summarised how some people travel in and through life, they want the glam and glitz but none of the reality, a clean but not sterile existence. I think of them as the EPCOT travellers, folk who want to see the world but want to do it in an afternoon, never be more than 500 meters from a clean toilet and be able to get fries with whatever they are eating.

 I’ve been to Epcot’s version of India, all maharajah’s palaces, elephants, Hindu gods and men in turbans. It’s about as real as Dick Van Dyke’s version of cockney. No beggars, no slums, no tuk-tuk death race (they really should have included it as a ride) no poverty, no real people, no real smiles, no wobbling of the head in resignation that what will happen will happen, no dirt, no plastic bags, no humanity.

The thing which defines India above all others is missing, the humanity of 1.5 billion people living together. (I doubt even using CGI Disney has the budget for that).

EPCOT may be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Give me India, with its problems and joys every time.

Oh well the cable guy is due this morning, pity the electricity is still off from last night’s storm, time for breakfast.

K