HOT- on the rocks.

The nice part about India is that any expectations you have will most undoubtably be shattered. You are constantly rearranging your footing to catch up with the new perspective, and sometimes your pleasantly suprised and other times you just have no choice but to surrender, melt, scream, cry, sit, laugh or mumble to yourself. These are of course the best times... especially for my expectation heavy American brain.




Here I am loaded up and ready to take a train to from coconut-filled Kerela to Tiruvanamalai on the opposite coast.



Off in the distance you can see the reason for my latest destination... Mt. Arunachala... also the symbolic "Shiva fire lingam." And after my four hour bus ride in the 105 degree weather, I have deduced that this mountain could spontaneously burst into flames and I would not be suprised. FYI... the four hour bus ride... covered 95km... thats over flat land and equals roughly 60 miles. Hmmm.

So I climed 3/4 of the way to the top of Mt. Arunachala today and momentarily posed on the rock beyond which you can see a expansive temple below. This town is also famous for the Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram. This yogi/swami meditation in a few caves on in this moutain for a total of more than 40 years. He has followers from all over the world, and I luckily arrived on the 60th anniversary of his ardhana (death) and have a night of beautiful carnatic devotional music ahead of me. But did I mention its really hot.

"Thali!" One of my faorite South Indian words, because it means all you can eat lunch for less than a dollar. This lunch cost me about $.60 and was unlimited amounts of rice and three types of curry. My favorite part is that its served on a banana leaf, which means no trash and a sanitary "plate". See you tomorrow thali.








In lieu of no t.v., no job, long train rides, and hot afternoons spent under the fan, I have read four lovely books while in India. Two of which are about life in India. I bought these books in India, and I am not sure what there availability is in the U.S., but I would highly recommend "White Tiger"... a fictional tale of the not so fictional life of lower caste Indian trying to work his way up; and "Nine Lives; Looking for the sacred in modern India". Both of these books opened my eyes to more of India than I have ever known, and have given me more inspiration to come back for more. Never simple, always layered and totally undescribable in words, these authors did a great job capturing India.