back home

i've spent most of my time back sleeping. and typing this, i'm still unbelievably exhausted. but i've an interview at 3pm today, so it's best to get to bed soon.

india was good for me. just not in the ways that i expected. which is how it always goes, no?

the blog has been completely updated with words and pictures. i went back to the beginning and uploaded it as i had meant to. so now the trip is done.

time to move ever onwards.

bisous my friends, see you on the other side.

i spent as much time on the terrace as possible. it is, hands down, my favorite place in india.

i have, dear readers, attempted to capture the sky for you, since that is the part that i tend to see as i lie in repose on a straw mat. i have done a poor job of it, since none of these pictures have captured its immense beauty, but their cumulative efforts will have to do.

final thoughts

i love this terrace. i don't think i can say it enough times. but this house, this view, the familiarity of it, the settling into the paces of a foreign life.. this is how i define india. when i talk about india, this is what i'm referring to.

meals eaten primarily on banana leaves. food parcels wrapped first in banana leaves, then in newspaper and tied with string. the fact that you're not supposed to put your mouth on any bottles here, so learning to arc the water/soda into your mouth and not all over your shirt. the dirt. the beauty. the sky. the fact that the south is covered in coconut and banana trees. the mountains. the oceans and rivers that are reachable within 20km. the heat. dear god it's hot. the breeze in the evening. the water scarcity and learning to alter how you view it. sitting around under a fan passing the time with sudoku and oh so many cups of tea. scaring uninvited cats out of the kitchen. cousins and family and laughter and food.

i'd like to figure out how to make sure all kids have sandals of some kind. so many go to school barefoot. and they walk such great distances. it makes my shoe collection seem unnecessarily opulent and needless.

i've remembered what it means to be an adult. i've been avoiding it since i moved back home. it's time to properly mean what i say and say what i mean. and to take myself and my actions seriously. i've been so flippant in my regard and disregard, so surprised at when others take my silliness seriously. it's been a long time coming, but i'm glad my resolve has finally made a reappearance.

the last days tend to be quiet

hanging out at my grandparents house

and goofing off in my aunts garden

the cousins leave today

this was our last weekend in india. jenna and sherwin came down to nagercoil with us to keep us company and hang out. without them, we would have been dreadfully bored.

no trip to the beach. my dad came down with a stomach bug that has him bedridden with a fever and cramps.

so... we leave tuesday night.

it's been an interesting trip. it's been hard in ways i didn't expect and terrific in ways that i couldn't capture in film. i don't know that i'm ready to go back, but i'm not ready to stay either. i've done all the progress one can make in a vacuum. it's time to resume my life and see what happens next.

through downtown nagercoil

for a ghee roast. yum. i know, i'm obsessed.

Drawing to a close

Last night was replete with cousins, midnight star gazing and cloud shaped imaginations. There is something fantastic about a view of a sky so immense that it feels like you'll fall into it's starry depths.

There's some gadget called an inverter which stores current so that when the power gets shut off, our fans still run. In every room but the one I was in, ha. But that meant I got a straw mat and wandered to the terrace to watch the sky turn brilliantly blue. Pictures can't quite capture it. It's one of those, you just have to be here.

It's 8am this final Sunday in India. Which means that the power is back on. Time to go find my first cup of tea and break my fast with newly made crisp appam.