10/mar on the other side of hampi 02

I had a very powerful breakfast, since a long day was waiting for me. And a bike as well. One day, without the night, RS30 (0,5euro), twice the price I paid in puri. But even if it’s still cheap, we cannot forget that hampi is a very touristic spot.

I decided to cross the line!! Or better, the river, and go to check the other side. To cross the river the have those extremely simple, bamboo round boats, covered with a kind of plastic. It looked like those cheap swimming pools for children, the blue ones… anyway, with these 2 materials, they manage to take people, bicycle and even motorbikes to the other side. And it was there where I saw Indian women cleaning themselves, and their clothes. And they do all that in the river, without showing any cm of skin, always dressed, probably uncomfortable.

Once on the other side, I started pedaling towards a lake. Any excuse was good enough. Even if it was very very hot! The other side was full of green fields, rice and peanuts, with all those colors, people working, full of animals,, buffalos, cows, donkeys, goats and sheeps, pigs, and lots of monkeys playing on the top of the trees, and yes, and yes, I can not avoid being surprised every time I see one. It’s like seeing cats in Europe!!

The road is only half asphalted, full of people carrying stuff on their heads, back and forth. There are also eunucs… everything together is suggestive. I know I’m using this word a lot, but for me this is India, a never ending excitement of my senses.

After this green stripe of nature and water, canals, rivers, one can see those huge and imposing monolithic stones. You would almost expect to see a giant appearing at any moment, to play with them again…

After more than 400 steps (I lost the number when I was almost at the top of the mountain), I reached hanuman temple, a monkey god. From there, as you can imagine, one of the highest mountains of the area, the view was amazing. And of course, the temple was full of monkeys, some of them very aggressive, but maybe less than the beggars that wanted to charge you money once you were there. Of course, unofficially!!

The temple/house was very small, and not that interesting, architectonically talking. But the top of that mountain was great. A kind of moon-like landscape, where you had to jump to go on. How can these rocks stay in these positions!????? People have different theories; old oceans, volcanos, wind erosion, meteorite impact… If I have to choose one, the meteor one. But with magic involved!

After this temple, lakshmi temple, where a puja was celebrated. A puja is a hindu celebration, like the Christian on Sundays, but without a fixed day. And in the government temples, there’s free food afterwards.

On my way to the river, in another part of it, I passed through a town, full of children, very small, and very happy and waving there hands and saying hello all the time! It was the ‘after school time’.

And after that… I was very tired, and it was very hot. I was also burned by the sun, and hampi was still far. These last hour was hard, since I had to carry my bike (Indian bicycle may easily weight 15 or 20 kg!) in many parts of the way. It was sad to pass by wonderful places, but… I would have time to go back there another day.

Once in Hampi, I found a very nice place to eat, by the river, protected from the sun by 4 or 5 huge trees, a Japanese and a polish playing guitar and tabla… very peaceful and relaxing. There I met Rebecca, a girl from the states. She was very cute, nice and amusing, and super expressive. It was hard to tell her age. We spent the afternoon there, taking it easy, and had dinner with 4 more French. Once in the guest house, I met another French, and one Israeli. It was a great day, and I was destroyed!!

25/3/05

8-9/mar hampi 01

It was fun to see that my neighbor in aranchana lodge was helio, the surrealist Italian I met in fort kochi. This very interesting man (52), with the job dreamer, romantic and naiv, eager (desitjos) to live life in his own way, avoiding inertias, or established things and thoughts. And even if we come from totally different generations, we had many things in common while chatting for hours.
I found Michele, the American girl a met in gokarna in the place I had breakfast. India is so small!
In hampi there’s a main temple, virukapsha temple, that reminded me the sri menakshi temple in madurai, both for the forms (even if the one in madurai had colors and this one have not) and devotion of the people. In the moment I was writing this stuff, there was a family singing inside a sort of hindu chapel. Children couldn’t sing the whole songs, but their parents were very patient on teaching them one of the bases of their life, the religion. It was fun to see that when children said something wrong, all of them started laughing!
There was also an elephant that was blessing people for an small amount of money, repeating the mechanical movement I’d already seen in madurai. Quite sad to see this huge animal tied to a pillar with a big chain. There are also monkeys in the temple. But where I saw lots of monkeys was in the hemakuta hill (reminded me the acropolis, in some ways), just next to the temple. It’s a hill full of temples, small ones, and if you walk towards one of the limits, you find those rocks that makes of hampi a very special place. All the temples in this hill were built on a one-huge-single-stone, the biggest I had ever seen. From the top of this hill, you can have a first glimpse of hampi, and discover that the landscape it’s so powerful and suggestive here. You could see mountains made by these huge monolithic rocks, one over the other, reaching very high levels. These rocks seemed to be out of scale for the place, and it was very hard to imagine the origin of such a formations. There were different theories, but for sure magic was there, on a second plane. On the foot of these mountains, there was a green carpet, made out of rice fields, palm trees and other big trees, underlining the river and canals.
This must be the perfect place if you are an artist or a writer, if you control the techniques enough to be able to express the potential of hampi.
Temples are spread all around. Wherever you look, there they are, I good conditions, frozen in the time, and without fences nor stands or man creations. And it’s hot, but it’s ok, since you can sit inside the temple, and enjoy their shades… this place it’s so incredible!!!
After the sunset, I met a Canadian girl I met on the train to mangalore, and another from Belgium that I met in om beach.
The place it’s quite touristic, we can say. But I think that it’s not a big problem here. They are occupying the town, small, and all the areas to be seen are a little bit far from it. So it doesn’t bother that much. Moreover, it’s ok for me, since you have more option for everything, and it’s easier to meet people. But prices are not that low, even if there is competence. They are ok though. There are lots of restaurants, travel agencies, bikes to rent, shops selling religious stuff and other touristic things. Lots of lodges and small guest houses.
When I was going to have dinner, I met alessandro (met him in fort kochi together with helio) with an Italian woman. After dinner, a girl from Barcelona came to join us.
The power cuts happen very often here. But it’s not a big problem since I spend most of the day out. A good thing to do with this happen that often is to avoid eating ice cream. The night was nice and cool, very peaceful.
The day after I went to hospet, the biggest town of the area, 13 km from hampi, because I wanted to buy an mp3 player, or a cd/mp3, and I had also to actualize the blog, since I was behind with it. But I did not one thing nor the other. The cd/mp3 player was supposed to be cheap, but they didn’t work all the time. And to check all different places, choose a shop, and the model… it took me time, and all for nothing. Then, once in the internet place, there was a power cut, and I lost a lot of time…
On the bus to hampi, I met the controller of the bus, and he made me a funny question; Which is your favorite god!?
I had dinner with the Italians and pilar, the girl from bcn. After dinner I went back home with helio, and spent a few hours talking, on the terrace with all that huge sky full of start as ceiling. There were lightnings, but It didn’t rain. We talked about the reasons to leave a place, why we feel attached to the place we were borned, about the security we like to feel…and then we met 3 girls from Korean. I stayed there talking with them till late that night.

17/3/05

7-8/mar on the way to hampi

The room was very nice in agonda, it was a hut, made out of bamboo, the structure, and palm leaves covering the five sides. And the bed was very big, with a nice mosquito net, where was possible to hear the sea, a few birds… there was only another person in my place, a girl from Greece.
Took to buses that let me in margao. There, I wanted to go to hampi by train, but it’s leaving only twice a week, and it had already left yesterday. All the sleeper buses were full, and the last option was to take a normal urban bus, with very little space for the legs, hard seats, and almost a 90 degrees back…
Goa, margao, it’s a different place. You can smell the Portuguese influence all around. The buildings, not high, with very loud colors, clay tiles on the roofs, nice wooden balconies… and no bamboo houses or palm leaves. And the people… Girls dress western style, and I can not avoid thinking about brazil. Here many people is still Christian. I think most of the population of goa, and this can also be seen in the names of the shops, surnames like fernandes, dias, rodrigues…
I had dinner with an Italian woman (45) that was very very talkative, and after that, while waiting for the bus, wrote a few mails.
The bus journey was long and tiring. 11 hours. My knees were touching constantly the back of the seat that was in front of me, and the man sitting right next to me was sleeping and leaning on me all the time! So, even if the cleanliness is no the most common thing in India, I decided to leave the whole seat to my neighbor and sleep on the floor, surrounded by feet, shoes and bags. It was dirty, but much more comfortable, and I managed to sleep a few hours.
We reached hospet at 6 am and the bus to hampi was leaving at 7:45 am.
And I found, very fast, a very nice and quite cheap room, in the center, that is something easy since hampi is very small. Everything I’ve seen from the bus, looked so amazing and different to all the things I’d seen before.

17/3/05

27-6/mar om beach

First thing to do after waking up, washing my face in the sea… after that, swimming a little bit, and then, breakfast. All these things that had lost any meaning (a part from cleaning, sport and feeding) in Barcelona, become very special here.
I had breakfast with the girl from Israel, aia. I decided to go till paradise beach, passing through half moon beach first. To get there, a part from those 5 km, minimum, you’ve to climb a little bit, jump a few rocks that are on the shore, slippery, cross a couple of forests, and walk on the limit of the cliff. These two beaches are still more peaceful than om, but very small, and the water, at least this day, was dirty. The only way to get there is either walking (trekking) or by boat. I swam a little bit and went back. The way is beautiful full of animals, and also with monkeys and dolphins. Everything is so green!
I read quite a lot, and met a few more people. A guy from Austria, a girl from US, and I had lunch with them. After that, swimming for a while, quite a lot, sunset, shower and shaving. Busy day! I met my neighbors, jeff from England and clementine from france. Both English teachers, but not in England. They have been teaching English in Indonesia and china. We chatted for a while, shared a couple of spliffs, and had dinner together. They have been traveling 3,5 years. Very nice guys.
The day after started in the same way. Swimming, breackfast… but what was difernt this time was that on my way to the bar, I found a cobra on the dirt track. The first ‘wild’ snake I’d ever seen in my life. A little bit longer than a meter, moving on ‘s’, and suddenly stopping to rise her head, and show us the beautiful and big ‘neck’. Very scary, but impressive. And of course, I’m not that used to life with this kind of fauna close to me, and since the door here are just symbolic, because they never touch the ground nor the roof… well, I had to accept that I was a guest of the nature, and that I had to get useed to this things.
I finished ‘in giro per il mondo in 80 giorni’. It was nice reading it, but there’s no much info about the places, trips… everything is done with the money and to win a bet, not for traveling in itself. Good anyway. I swam at least 3 times a day now. This is one of the good things of being by the coast. You can do exercise every day. I spent the afternoon talking with Miguel, I guy from galicia that has been (and is) traveling for the last 16 years. He is traveling with his girlfriend rosa, from brasil. After that met a few more people from Holland, Israel, Poland and danmark. We decided to have a bath after dinner, and that was so great! There was plankton that when you were moving your hand, or just the water, was giving light!!! It was great to swim with that halo of light following you all the time, and the water was so warm! And it was also easier to see because the moon was still hidden, and the lights of the few bars open were so weak.
This last group of people, edith and koen from Holland, ela from Poland, susanna from finland, shani from Israel, jakob from danmark and gareth from south Africa, were very nice. I felt very good with them. This night, even if the cobra was in my head, was very peaceful again. Nights are not that hot here.
The first day of march, started the same way. I spent the whole day with them, from the water to the shadow of the bar. I thought I would only spend here a couple of days, and…let’s see. I like it, the place is great, and I feel very comfortable with the people, it seems a small family (or not that small). The group is growing day after day. We spent the last part of the night playing cards and drinking. After that, we made a fire on the beach, and we were about 25, with guitars, percussions and even people singing…wow!!
The next morning I woke up and there were dolphins on the shore. We started swimming towards a rock, and they didn’t followed us… and that was a long swim! The rock was 5 or 6 meter high, and we spent a while jumping to the water from there. After that, I kept on swimming, towards another rock, and then back to the beach. My biggest swim ever! We spent the evening playing cards again, and having lots of fun.
The day after I had a small hangover, alcohol here is cheap! But it wasn’t bad enough, so I played frisbee with koen and gareth. Then, a little bit of internet, where I met miwa and jessi. She from japan and he from Canada. I saw the sunset from the lonely palm again, but this time alone.
Days are very similar, but good, because there's always something, a moments that makes it special. Everything is so easy, and one could keep on living this way for a long while.
I discovered that guereth is also architect, and we spent quite a long time talking about that. He had similar feelings that I have towards architecture. Very interesting, when you can design and built, but not when you work for others, since after a while, 2 or 3 months in an office, it's difficult to learn new things, everything becomes monotonous, and the only thing you do is drawing, drawing and drawing. No creativity at all, just using autocad. I know it's not that extreme, but reality it's not that far from that. Anyway, the 4th of march was a nice day, because I spent a very nice time with all this people, but also because we took 'mushroom chocolate’, from england. We were 8, and 3 pieces of chocolate, so the effect was not very strong, but, at least to me, was very satisfying. For a few hours, everything was extremely beautiful and with lot of power (still more than it is normally). I wasn't stoned or nothing, but my perception of the reality, or at least my reality, was more defined, even exagerated, and every single thing, was ... yes, beautiful!! Nice sunset, nice swim, and then a very relaxed and peaceful dinner... and, I finally learnt to stay on the water floating, 'fent el mort'!!
The day after edith and chani left, and I decided that it was also time for me to leave, after already a week.
I woke up very early, to avoid walking under the sun. There's an hour walk to gokarna, then a bus, and I found myself in agonda, south of goa. I wanted to stop on a beach without people before going to hampi, or at least with less people. There I met a few israelis, and I had dinner with them (4). I really liked 2 of them, a couple, that are living like gypsies, in europe, building there own houses from the things they find around, and also making art and selling it. The bad thing is that when I left I forgot to ask their mails… The beach was very long, and I only found 4 westerners in 3 or 4 km. Quiet night, listening their music (I miss music so much!!), chatting a little bit, and remembering that I havn't seen myself on a mirror for the last 8 or 9 days!! That was a funny thought, since in europe a part from having mirrors at home, there are shops with huge windows, where one can be seen… and this is not happening here.
I left the day after, after walking on the beach a few hours. Had to say good bye to the sea! At least for a while!!

16/3/05

26/feb gokarna's fauna & om beach

Gokarna. Holly city for hindus, that attracts a potpourri of hindu pilgrims, Sanskrit scholars, tourists from India, from abroad, hippies and western hindus, quite young, and that are dressing even more ‘hindu’ than the sadhus, with the longest dreadlocks, with ‘om’ tattoos, lots of necklaces made by rudratx around their necks, with huge balls of rudratx. Everything is ‘supersized’ in them, even the last technology nokia that they keep on their sadhu bag. I describe these group of people with a little bit of irony because it’s a bit shocking to see all these transformation, or partial transformation, but I must admit that I’ve never talked with any of them, and I’m possibly affected for the dreadlocks fashion that reigns in Barcelona, or any other fashion. Anyway, thay make this place even more interesting. Gokarna has lots of temples, and it’s the city of shiva. There’s also a lot of merchandizing with all the possible religious stuff. Images, sandal, bracelets and necklaces, flowers, coconuts… lots of things! Also lots of things for the western tourist, cloths, percussions, handicrafts…
To reach the beaches area, there are 2 options; either take a boat that takes 15 minutes and pay 150 RS (2 nights) or cross a few mountains, walking 20 to 30 minutes. There are 4 beaches, separated by these mountains, sometimes easy to cross, sometimes a little bit more difficult. The first beach after gokarna is kudle beach, After this one om, half moon and paradise. I decided to walk to om beach, and it was almost 50 minutes, and it was very hot!! But I remembered again the travelers of the beginning og the XX century, where there were no regular boats or buses…
Was quite interesting to walk through all these unknown paths, deciding at every crossing which way to go, sometimes choosing the right one, but not always.
Kudle beach is very beautiful, but with 6 or 7 restaurants, quite integrated with the landscape. But I was told that om beach was great, a little bit more peaceful and with a nicer scenary. There is also young people, backpackers, of course, and it’s in the middle of everything. Far enough from the crowd of gokarna.
And yes, there are 3 small rocky bays drawing the om, this very nice mantra that you can se anywhere in India. The sand is white, and behind palmtrees and a few restaurants made by bamboo and palm leaves. It’s so beautiful!!!
I chose the sangam lodge, with a nice restaurant close to the sand, but not menacing the beach, and I got the last hut available, a very luxurious one with electricity and mosquito net. RS 70!!! The others, made entirely by palm leaves, have no electricity nor mosquito net, and you sleep on the floor. They cost RS 60. The food was a bit more expensive, but they have to take it here, and accepting that, it’s still a good price.
These small bays, creates by the cliffs and rocks, frame a very nice image of this Arabian sea. Water is clean, calm, but not crystal clear!! What a problem, I know! Showers have no roof. The roof is a palm tree, and the walls separating the 2 showers are low enough to see the one that takes the shower next to you. There’s a quite powerful nature inside this place, with different palmtrees, trees, plants, and dirt tracks following random directions. And, yes, I cannot avoid remembering butterfly valley in turkey… maybe I shouldn’t resuscitate this word and all its meanings…

I spent a few hours on the beach, surrounded by cows! One of them ate my newspaper… I met I girl from Israel, very hippie. In the afternoon Claudia, a girl from italy, from alto alice, that speaks exactly like heike, and now, I’m sitting a lonely palm that’s hanging on a cliff that’s closing om beach. I’m surrounded by sea, and… there are dolphins!!! This place is incredible. I’ve seen 7 different (I would say) dolphins when the sun is losing power and is becoming orange/reddish. The breeze started blowing, hard enough to reach the perfect temperature, and yes, all these things only for me…
Dinner with 2 israelis, plus a german man after a while, and a woman from Belgium and another man from germany. We spent a few hours chating on the beach, with an almost full moon, that starts getting smaller. Peaceful atmosphere and nice people.
Not bad!

13/3/05

24-25/feb moving to gokarna

The fact of visiting hindu temples with a hindu, allowed me to live a little bit closer the ceremonies that hindus follow once inside the temple, the rituals, details, many things that are always unnoticed, hidden to non trained eyes.
Sashiram came to pick me up with a friend’s motorbike at 11 o’clock. After that we’ve seen 3 temples, his favourite ones. For me they were not amazing temples, since were new and quite small. In the first one, a shiva temple, after giving 4 or 5 rupees to the Brahmin, he blessed us putting water from the water tank on our hands, and then as few flowers and leaves. Together with all that, a small ball of sandal, that he put on my head since he realized that I didn’t know what to do with all that stuff. They always keep the rest at any place; pocket, car, motor bike… After that, Sashiram prayed in Malayalam, word cap-I-cua. After a couple of more hours, he left me home and I spent the rest of the day walking on the beach, internet… easy day! I’ve been walking a lot lately.
The day after a took a bus to mangalore, and from there a train to gokarna.
I finished the book interpret of maladies, and I didn’t really enjoyed that much. Furthermore, I think I had already read it a few years ago, and I think I had the same feeling. I have started ‘in giro per il mondo in 80 giorni’ the book that alessandro gave me in fort kochi, and this one I like it, since I’d seen all the cartoons when I was a child, and of course, many memories came to my head.
I reached gokarna late at night, with the time enough to have dinner and go to sleep.

11/3/05

23/feb theyam & poorakali

It’s good to have destination, a goal to reach, because then if you decide to take not the fastest way, you find yourself enjoying the way in itself. And then, the goal will come, if it was meant to come. I had one of these places to reach, unknown, and not extremely easy to reach. And my way towards that place, that house, was a very interesting way, since I took paths I would never take, far from the main areas, and where no-one speak a word of English. My Malayalam it’s to bad to understand their answers!! Dirt tracks (camins de terra), houses with garden, animals, and fortunately, lots of shadows, since the trees were big! In this area (and on the last few days) I havn’t seen any house made by mud and palm leaves.

My destination, a theyam. I arrive too early, and I decided to sit down, leaning on the back part of a house. After a couple of minutes, I was inside their house having breakfast with them, I sort of strange porridge with sugar, coconut and banana, and a chai, a tea with a lot of sugar and milk. After that their neighbor offered me a coconut, and the water of it was very cool!

At 11:30, the theyam was ready, in a house nearby. First theyam of my life. More than 400 people, sitting on the yard of that community house, under the shadow. Women on the ground, men standing or sitting on chairs. Women on the right, men on the left. The theyam is a religious ceremony, done by necessity. When a family has economical problems, or someone is sick, the talk to the Brahmins, priests, and those organize everything. The ones that ‘represent’ these theyams, are from a specific cast, and after starving for a few days, they enter in a sort of trance, and they think they are avatars of the gods. Other people also believe they are gods. A few Brahmins play percussions, other help to put the make up and to dress the gods. Lots of colors, and strange clothes. In this theyam, the gods were chamundi and vishnumurti. An avatar is an image of god. A hindu god have plenty of avatar, of representations. People doesn’t pray to the gods, since for them they are already here, talking to them, giving answers to their problems.
Each god has 7 or 8 brahmins playing for him, sometimes very very loud, and the rhythm changes very often. Gods follow the rhythm while dancing. They get close to the people, and people are scared, after they run away, talking non-stop, many times just shouting. The walk barefoot on the fire, and people throw them rice, while the gods make jingle the bells, and used their weapons; arrows, archs, swords, tridents…. Suddenly a group of old women started throwing flowers over the gods, with a lot of passion, and absolute belief. All these things can decide the future of that family. Sometimes the music stops, and the gods start talking with the men of the family. Sometimes gods talk to eachother. And at the end, they sacrificed 3 chickens, cutting their heads, and mixed their blood with water, and throwing the water on the floor afterwards. They are really possessed!
Then they started giving rice, and people became mad, since everyone wanted that blessed rice. Today, I can say, I’ve seen people talking to god.
After that and a few more ceremonies, lunch time. The queue was very long!! And even if I started waiting like everyone, they told me to sit and they served me the food. I wasn’t that happy with that, but I had to follow their rules. Of course, the food was for free also.
And again, today, I can say, I ‘ve traveled in the time. This is a very old ceremony, and the people, their clothes, the colors, the atmosphere, the surrounding, music… everything was… amazing. And I was invisible. And very fortunate to be there.

After the theyam and on my way home, I was invited to a poorakali representation, a religious dance with children boys and men. They dance, sing and clap their hand around a blessed trunk. The 4 cardinal points are also blessed by the Brahmin. So they start going around on one direction, and then to the other, singing slower and faster, making movements more difficult every time… for one hour. After that, they invited me to have dinner with them, and when I was going to sit on the ground with the others, they placed me on a sort of pedestal, one meter above the ground level, and they all sat making a half moon surrounding me. They could be around 35 men and 10 women eating there (women only after cooking), and all of them looking at me. Fortunatelly the food was great and easy to eat with the hands. They offered me a spoon, but a refused. After that, a ginger coffee, very good. Unfortunately no-one spoke English, so we spent the whole dinner looking at eachother’s faces, and smiling. Everytime I was trying to say something, the started laughing!! After shaking all 35 people hands, they took me to the main road, since this place was a little bit hidden, and I think it wasn’t that safe. I would like to know if one day we’ll see immigrants in these way, as guests. But of course, they will never look at me and think I’m one of them… well!
I didn’t spend a rupees in the whole day today!

So well, responding to that sentence ‘ India, either you love it or hate it’, I would say that if you hate it it’s just because of a lack of interest in India, because they have so much to give and offer, always with a smile in their faces, making you even feel sometimes guilty about their problems and poverty. Your mind must be open, remembering that this is not our clean and ‘perfect’ Europe. This one is being the most intense trip of my life, where I’ve been more in contact with the people, and where I’ve seen the most amazing things. This is another world, another way of looking towards life, full of spirituality, of traditions, beliefs, details and colors… of course is not the perfect paradise, for them I mean, but there is potential, and I hope that poverty, sex differences, casts, dirtiness… will soon be only on our memory.

When I thought that I was going to sleep, I met 5 guys in my hotel, very open people. We finished trying the traditional clothes of north kerala on me! White lungie (pareo) with a color stripe, and neckerchief or shawl on the shoulders. We took a few funny pictures, because even if they weren’t children, the became mad when they saw the digital camera.

What a day!!!!!1

11/3/05

22/feb indian hair & pallam town

I woke up in the darkest darkness. Madikeri like many other cities in India suffers habitual electricity cuts. And in a room without window, and without flashlight nor candles… but a cold shower (15 degrees inside the room) made me see things brighter and took the laziness out of me! Bought ‘the times of india’ only RS 3 and had breakfast in a nice Indian bar. Places are not touristic at all here. I would love to feel the same warmness in the bars of Barcelona, where is hard to be treated as an habitual costumer. This happens here after only a couple of times! In the bus to bekal, north of kerala, I made this amazing discovery; all (and I say all) Indian women have black hair. And the same happens with Indian men. And again, all Indian women have a long plait (trena). The only women with short hair are the widows, in rememberance of their husband. The life of a widow in India is supposed to be very hard, they can be just left away, and finish begging very easily. IN kolkata, things were a little bit different. The fashion, in men, was to dye their hair reddish, some color between red and orange.
The bus trip is nice, relaxed, and with great views over the coffee plantations first, and palms trees and the canals at the end, where the weather is different as well, much hotter and humid. I’ve seen for the first time a very strange kind of palmtrees; They are very high, and the trunk is absolutely vertical, and very thin. They look like metal pillars. On the top, small palm leaves. The trunk reminds me the bamboo trunk, with all those partitions. The proportions are great, they are elegant!! I’ve also seen a family of monkeys, 6 or 7 sitting on a tree, watching cars passed very peacefully.
In the bus I’m the only non-indian again, and there are plenty of hindus, but also many muslims. North of kerala is supposed to be a muslim area.
I decided to stay in a nice hotel (RS90) in pallam, a town on the main road, 2km far from the beach. I verify that the area is mostly muslim, 60% muslim, and 38% hindu. The rest Christians. The room is great, the biggest and cleanest one I’ve been so far, and the owner seems to be nice.
I went to the beach, and there I realized that this is a non-touristic place. Kilometers of empty beach, surrounded by mangroves on one side, and that huge Arabian sea in the other, very wavy and moved. No buildings at all, only one or two hundred meters from the shore. After walking one hour, I found a fisherman. IT came to my head that beach in brasil, the naturist beach I forgot the name, but I feel safer here. After a while, a river crosses the beach, and in that crossing there are lots of birds, and eagles. I met there 7 muslims, very funny people, and they told me to take a picture altogether. Everything is great here!! It’s like a small paradise, where people is friendly, landscape pleasant, temperature good… After say bye, I started going up, following the river. There were rice fields on one side, and fishermen the other. Then I crossed the train rails, and I reached home after a little bit more than one hour, feeling lost for a while, too close to the sinset time.
I don’t know to how many people did I say hi today!!
And another nice feeling I had, was that I always see these people, these villages and surroundings from the train, and now, passing by the train, when I was waiting to cross the rails, Irealized that I was one more character, not only observer. I was also part of the landscape, an active part.

11/3/05

21/feb Dr. Premnath Punja

I started walking towards the abbi falls, 9km north west of madikeri. After leaving the town, with the burkas and saris, cows and rubbish, I step into another world of smells and pure air. Madikeri has those drawings under the doors drawn by the Brahmins again, that had disappeared for while, at least in the touristic areas I had been, where tradition and religion is harder to see, a bit more blurry. Everything is so silent over here, no car horns, just birds, sometimes a cow, or the waving hands of the people. After 40 minutes walking, an old man stopped his car, and took me with him for a couple of km. After that, he invited me to his house, not far from the waterfalls. And it’s nice to see that you are in the right way, just by the sound of the water. First you realize that there’s a river, then the water became noisier, and afterwards you discover the waterfall, where the ambient is cooler. There is me and 3 more men, Indian, next to the water. The waterfall is not high, and there’s not a lot of water coming down, but the place altogether is very relaxing. I sat down and wrote for a while. After that I went to towards Dr. Pramnath Punja’s house. On my way I met a few Indians, and all of them knew about him and his family. And that’s because the family is one of the most powerful of the area, and it has been like this for the last 3 generations, since the british empire time. One of the roads has the name of his grandfather… Once inside their property, I realized that they live on another Indian reality. I’ve always met people just living, never rich, but never poor. After more than one kilometer, I reached his house, leaving other smaller houses behind (workers houses), big trees, beautiful plants and flowers, and the nice view of the coffee fields. And if the outside it’s amazing for the nature, and for how they keep it, in perfect conditions, the inside of the house is also amazing, just like a museum, a part of the history of the area, from the region of coorg, with lots of anecdotes, a few explained, many other forgotten. Walls full of pictures (all of them ib black and white, with a thin layer of dust), art pieces, sculptures, novelty titles, a huge billiard table, big spider lamps… and lots of rooms, 2 assistants…
He received me very effusively, alone in that big living room. I was still recovering from all the beauty I had seen in those last minutes. Once sitting on the sofa, and with snacks on the table, he started explaining me about the family and about the house. He, very aristocratic, was delighted to know that I was an architect from Barcelona, one of the few places he hadn’t been in Europe.
The house was built in 1848, under the british empire’s government, by J.P. Hunt, a rich Scottish man. And he showed me pictures of the house on a interior design british magazin, and on a book, with an article talking also about the family. His grandfather bought the house in the beginning of the 1900. He was the first Indian judge in India. He was the judge of the coorg’s district, and after that moved to mangalore, a bigger city (that has changed too much, he told me). His father followed the tradition of educated people, and studied at the university. He was also judge, and named by the british, member of the legislative council of coorg, during 40 years. And I would say that it was something important, because he was so proud about it. Furthermore, the grandfather was also named rama raobahadur, an important title higher than sir in England. He is, or was, now he’s retired, doctor, psychiatrist, and had been working many years in England. His family is living abroad, England, usa.
The pictures in black and white, were quite interesting. His relatives seemed to be maharajas!! Men with tourbans, jewels, and women with saris, and more jewels. After chating for a while, we had some food, and after a coffee. He has more than 100 people working in his coffee plantations, and that’s his job now. He explained me the differences between arabica coffee and robusta coffee. He told me the names of all the flowers and trees…
A part from all this, he also owns a golf course, quite big, and he would take me there on the sunset time.
We kept on chatting for a while, and when we said goodbye he apologized to me because he would have loved me to stay in his house, but he was leaving to bangalore soon. I’m eternally invited, he told me, and better with my wife…that was funny!
His driver took me to see the golfcourse, that was big!! And yellow instead of green. IT’s supposed to be nicer after the monsoon time. There were 4 old Indian men playing, and they, as well, were very wealthy people. On our way here, I was dreaming on an India of palaces and maharajas, because of the sunset time, the colors of the sky, Indian music on the stereo, that nature outside…
So, again, a very intense day, totally unexpected, that is filling my days with light and color, giving still more sense to the trip, and of course, to my life.

9/3/05

19-20/feb on the way to madikeri

I woke just in time for the check out, good breakfast / lunch, in the same place of the last 3 meals, a place with only Indian people, a little bit dirty, enough, dark but with light colors, decadent, like many of the places in India, but with big and good meals, especially thaly costing only 12 RS. Asslam, the owner, was treating me like the most habitual costumer, after eating there a couple of times. Hello Barcelona!! He told me all the time.
That day, a was on my way first to ernakulam, twin city, and then to mangalore, a city in Karnataka, the state next to kerala, in the northern part. And like most of the times, they told me that the train was full, but that I could make a reservation, paying, of course, and we would see. And like most of the times, there was no problem on finding a free place. They always keep a few seats for foreigners, because they say that we always make decisions at the very last moments… and I guess that’s true. But is not very nice for the Indians that can not travel on that train just for that reason.
I spent a few hours updating my blogs, and went to the platform one to wait for my train after having dinner. The train I was taking, was an overnight train. And there I found inga, the german yoga teacher. Just by case it happened that we had the same compartment.
Once in mangalore, 8:30 am, I took a local bus to madikeri, a hill station that george, the Portuguese guy, told me it was very nice. 160 km, 4,5 hours. Lodge, late lunch and sunset. The road wasn’t that good, and as it’s quite high, 1200m, was full of ‘road curves’. But it was nice to go up slow, seeing the landscape changing, from the sea shore to a hill station. Everything very peaceful, small towns every now and then, trees instead of palm trees, and very dense forests. Everything green, even if the rainy seasons will arrive in a couple of months. There were shadows everywhere, and the temperature was lower, pleasant. And again, when you are 1 cm further from the touristic paths, there are no foreigners at all. I was the only one on the bus, and I only saw 5 more in town.
Madikeri is a very good place to walk around, since the mountains are very green, full of plants, flowers, big trees, and what makes the place different, full of rice, coffee, tea and cardamom plantations. You can also find waterfalls, rivers…
I saw the sunset from the raja’s seat. It’s a high mountain on the western side of the time, easy to reach walking, and where the best sunsets of India can be seen. (that’s what I was told!!) But this day, Sunday, was very busy, and full of noise. There was also fog and clouds, so the sunset wasn’t that spectacular. But, instead of admiring the nature of the place, I spent a few hours admiring the stories from an old Indian man, 87 years old. It was a little bit disappointing to see that at the end, he was asking me 50 RS, for the chat… It was also interesting to chat with another man, 50, and for free. He was hindu, and couldn’t understand a life without an ‘official’ religion…
After dinner, I started thinking about the time that I would like to spend in the north of India, in the himalaya… hard decisions!!!

9/3/04

look at our world, it's so big & amazing!!!

Hello everybody!!!
I’ve created another blog, where I’ve posted a few pictures I’ve taken since the beginnig of 'everything'. I hope you’ll like them, and please, don’t hesitate to write comments!! (about the pictures, the light, the colors, the topic, about anything you like!!!)

And once again, thanks for keep on writing mails and comments!!

Thousands of hugs!!!

http://jordimatasimages.blogspot.com/