Wednesday,
11. December 2002 9:40:46 AM
a Christmas carol
I'll
be home for Chrismas. You can count on me. Please have
snow and mistletoe, but Handy, dont touch that tree. *grin*
HOME HOME HOME! I so want to get my butt home and start
celebrating Christmas! We were walking down the dusty,
overcrowded, noise and air polluted streets of Chennai
that don't actually have sidewalks, having our sleeves
tugged by begging children while we step over sleeping
bodies, and I was about to just put my melting brain into
a container, when I saw a sign that said Shopping Mall.
I decided it was time to head inside. And what, oh what
was there to the right? A store that might as well have
been Chapters. I mean,...a real, REAL bookstore... with
a cafe... the land of western civilization... here...
selling coffee... HERE... and... no.... no it can't be...
is that... is that CHRISTMAS MUSIC playing? Can I stay
here until it's time to leave tonight?
OH it was glorious. Escalators! Escalators in a store
that sells rows and rows of books and coffee and plays
Christmas music. It was the closest thing to home I've
experienced. And the closest thing to Christmas I have
experienced. I walked by a Christmas tree in a shop window
and petted the glass, causing even more curious stares
than I usually get. Oh... oh Christmas. Wait for me. I
swear I am coming.
I don't even know what to tell you. I am so consumed with
home and holidays. Let me see.
We spent 4 days in Kovalam, your typical beach paradise
with seafood shacks lining the shore and more shopping
than I thought possible in such a small area. For those
of you who have access to my travel partner, Miss Saunders,
I am sure you will hear all about my adventures there
and I am willing to take the ribbing in person, but for
the rest of you, or until then, I am not about to write
about the insanity that took place. Just know that: I
have 2 standing invitations to have my flight ticket paid
if I want to return; I know what it's like to go where
everybody knows your name (or at least what you were wearing
a few nights before); I had strangers wanting to give
me dresses; and I had my first straight out invitation
to go back to a hotel with a man twice my age to partake
in pot and carnal acts (maybe that has happened before,
but not before lunch at least).
Kovalam was super humid and hot, but it was gorgeous.
There weren't TOO many tourists there yet, so things were
pretty relaxed. I spent most of my mornings on the beach,
then hid in a seafood shack by noon till about 2, then
did some casual shopping, went back to cool off at the
hotel, went to visit my friend Raja at his store to have
a cold drink in the afternoon, then was hassled by Sunni
to eat at his restaurant at night time, and just zoned
out to the sound of the waves for an entire evening while
I eat a plate full of crab. Devine.
No, I am not tanned.
I liked Kovalam a lot because I had a chance to really
get to know some of the local people and talk with them
about life.
And now, Chennai. The land of billboards, honking horns,
and dirt. I want to go home. We have a long flight to
Frankfurt that leaves at 1:50 am, then a 6 hour stopover
*choke* (for which I bought Mark Twain's "Diary of
Adam and Eve" to read, then we fly to Toronto and
the wonderful Handy will be picking us up at 3:30 (? Is
that it? I can't remember) local time. Afternoon. Just
in time for rush hour *grin* and Christmas.
"It's warm outside, but I can hear the snow falling
on my window."
Happy
Holidays boys and girls. This concludes our travelling
broadcast.
Danielle
- DV, 2004, Canada -
additional
infos about the trip and the author
can be found here
