Happy belated Diwali everyone. I spent last week in South India exploring the beautiful state of Kerala with some AIF Fellows (Rick, Natassia, Ekta, and Meera) and a couple of new friends (Chandni and Shan). Chandni is one of Rick’s old friends who has been living in India for the last year and wanted a big trip before she headed back to the States. Shan is probably the best driver you could ask for. He is instantly likeable, knows a lot about the area when asked, quick to fill requests, and probably the safest driver I have seen in India. Despite only knowing the AIF Fellows for two months now, it seemed like a reunion of old friends.
The short summary is that it was an amazing week of relaxing, hanging out, and exploring a side of India that I never knew existed. Because the week was packed with events and memories, I cannot begin to write a summary that would do justice to all the memories create. So I have decided to upload a bunch of pictures (see new photo album) and give a list of my Top Ten Highlights of the Diwali Trip:
10. Nature – Despite any rumors about me hating nature or trees, I actually really enjoyed the amazing natural beauty that Kerala had to offer. We saw a plethora of waterfalls, tea and spice plantations, backwaters (rivers and lakes), and a tropical rainforest.
9. Pictures of Ekta – I’m not sure if she likes to be in them or just was the only one asked, but it seemed like half the pictures we took over the week were of Ekta contemplating, questioning, or posing in some other fashion for the camera.
8. Bollywood Music on Repeat – The theme song of the trip was hands down “My Desi Girl.” Chandni rightly predicted that though we may not like it at first, it would grow on you. And it does. Like cancer. I think we heard the song about 500 times during the week.
7. Elephants – We saw elephants a few times in the wild, once grazing in a field off the side of the road and another time during a boat ride in one of the national parks. We also got to feed, pet, and ride some tame elephants through a spice plantation, which was probably more fun for us than it was for the elephants.
6. Jumping – After learning how to use the continuous shot setting on our cameras, we found it fun to jump around in our pictures, whether in a tea field, during a trek, or into the water.
5. Houseboat – At the end of the trip, we spent the final day and night on our own three-bedroom houseboat. The ship’s staff made us some great meals and then found us a nice place where we could jump in and swim around.
4. Swimming in a Waterfall – Even though it was rainwater, it was freezing, but swimming in a waterfall was definitely was one of my favorite memories of the trip.
3. Friends - Getting to know my friends better through various games, deep conversations, or meeting family members.
2. Traversing a Subcontinent – It was great to get down to South India, but the journey there really deserves another entry by itself. But since that probably won’t happen, here is the summary: I started with a long bus ride from Udaipur down to Ahmedabad, Gujarat where I was lucky enough to catch one other AIF Fellow in town. We all went out to dinner before the Kerala crew caught an overnight train to Mumbai. After arriving early in the morning, I went with Ekta to visit her family friend’s place where I found two of my favorite things in the whole world: a rain shower and people who will feed you good home-cooked food until your stomach hurts (and did it ever). They were incredibly welcoming and I hope I’ll be able to get back down to Mumbai to see more of the city.
1. Food – As many of you may already know, I live to eat rather than eat to live and this trip was a just what my stomach needed. While the food in the north has been great, it was a treat to get some beef and the quality and variety of seafood down in Kerala was delicious. There are also apparently over twenty types of bananas in Kerala though we primarily stuck with plantains and a variety of banana chips.
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