Bad night. Couldn’t sleep well, as I have had too many spicy meals. Last night the butter chicken was too spicy for me. So, up early for an early start to leave Madikeri. I packed, but could not face breakfast.My stomach needed time to settle . Most of us find that we need Western food as our stomachs aren’t used to masala. ( cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, aniseed) This is the base for the curry mix that we find in most Indian meat or vegetable dishes. I found the sauce to rich and spicy last night. The hotel was a Muslim one, and was quite good. We heard prayer time broadcast on speakers at different times, as Muslims pray 5x a day. The modest mosque was right next to the hotel, but I didn’t find the entrance.
I needed to walk because we had a long drive in the van, and a 6 hour train journey to do. It was pleasant out, cool, and I didn’t get lost. Quite safe in fact. A policeman was walking on the road, and enquired if I was ok, and he walked with me for a while for his morning walk. Indians are fascinated with foreigners. I got back to the hotel to leave at 8:30 AM. The trip took us through rice fields that were being harvested. I had not seen rice fields that were ready. There was a Claas German rice harvester that makes harvesting so easy. Beautiful pink lilies, like our Easter lilies ( and I saw those growing wild too ) were along the roadside. The countryside was forested, and of course we were in the mountains. Trees, and many creepers everywhere, so many palm trees.The road was incredibly windy, in other words, hairpin bends all the way, and it seemed to be downhill. I didn’t mind, as the road was good, and I thought our driver, Sidda, was good. We saw rubber plantations. There was a border crossing from Karnataka province to Kerala province. We had to pay a tax . This took about 5 minutes to stretch our legs. The drive continued for about 20 minutes and we stopped for lunch Kittir ( a small town ). I bought cashew nuts and pistachio nuts as of course they are locally grown. ( Also in Goa ) Our journey resumed with many more palm trees and lush vegetation. We were now probably on the coastal plains. We arrived in Kannur, which is a coastal town on the Arabian sea. It was quite a big city, very busy with tuk tuts, cars, and the usual congestion, roundabouts etc. It amazed me how the driver found his way. All the road directions were in the local Kerala language called Malayalam. ( This word is a Palindrome, in case the Mills haven kids want to know!!) The script on the signs is in this language, which has it’s own alphabet, and the letters don’t make sense to us. I noticed that the script was markedly different from the Karnataka script, and the script in Mumbai. There are 22 official languages in India, ( each with their own alphabet and script ) and 1,635 dialects. Hindi is the official language for Indians to communicate, and of course English is quite widely spoken. Many folk did tell me “No English”. This sounds like I am well informed, and yes I am, as Sanjay, our tour leader is helping me as I blog right now on the train.
So, Kannur…we headed for the station, said goodbye to Sidda the driver, and waited a short while for the train. We were the only second class, which became first class coach, air conditioned. Lots of Indians got on, and off all along the way. A I speak, one guy is standing in the passageway sleeping!! In the other coach there are is no AC, and many Indians just stand in the passageway. The conductor was busy. I couldn’t sit for 6 hours so walked around in the passage way, or stood in the area outside the coach. The door is open, so you can look out. ( but don’t fall out!!!) It is very interesting to see the countryside here, very green. Kerala ( which means coconut ) province is the richest in India. It is mostly Muslim and Christian only in this province. In India Hindus are 82% of the population. The word India comes from the word Hindustan, according to Sanjay.
Now a word about the “Indian head wobble”. Almost all Indians do this while talking to each other or foreigners. It seems to mean “ yes I understand what you say” and is a very unique body language to Indians. It is a side to side head wobble . It usually is done with a smile.
My stomach feels better now. We are due to arrive in Kochin City on the coast at 8:20 pm tonight, and in the hotel at 9 pm. A day of travelling, and observation with no specific sight seeing involved. I met a very interesting Indian government official, sitting next to me. He told me many interesting stories about his job and how he had such a comprehensive view of the country, having travelled all over for his job. I also took a pic of a lady and her cute young daughter. She was very happy for me to take it, and introduced me to about 5 other young men who were in her party. They were all related, and had been to a family wedding. It was so interesting talking to her. I met her young son, about grade 2 or 3, I think. He was quite fluent in English, and very charming. He would be speaking the local language Malayalam, English and would definitely learn Hindi, the official language of India later in his schooling. Then, his job oneway may take him to another part of India, and he would have to learn the official language of that part of India. Indians are multilingual.
On arrival in Kochi, we went by taxi to our hotel, and then off to a place nearby for drinks, and snacks, and then off to bed!!
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