Love and hate in India

Maybe it was the burning sun or the hypnotic waves or the crowd of people shouting "heeeelooo" everytime one went outside the protective fence around the small houses we rented in Cherai Beach in Kerala, that resulted in me doing nothing for weeks. Have I read any books? Maybe one... What about drawing? No, I can't say I have been doing that either. And did I ever finish my web page as planned? No... (could I use the inflammation in my wrist as an excuse?). I think I have been staring into warm air (and I have to disappoint you all, or maybe mostly myself by admitting that I haven't gotten any smarter by what could resemble some kind of thinking) for hours every day only interrupted by the daily search for food. Should it be the really bad food at Brighton close by, or the superb food at Sealine 2,5 kilometres down the road (think about all the hassle of getting 12 people down there on one motorbike and two scooters), or of course, one can make the food one self, but should I then include the rest of the bus crew and by this spend hours making food? Not to mention all the guests we have had; Are, Espen, Kjersti, Stine, Markus, Hilde, Thorsten, Kirsten... No wonder I am really tired of food.

But now all this is behind me as I am sitting in an internet cafe in tourist-Varkala further down south in Kerala, waiting for the night train to Mangalore. Here it is hard to find Indian food, and I can't but wonder if I am really in India. For all I know, this could be South-Europe or Gran Canaria (I have never been there though, but sun-loving tourist with white, fat bellies are the same everywhere, rigth?). But even I have to admit the cappuccino was really good after weeks with bad chicory powder-coffee...

India has been both great and less great. It has been both love and hate, to put it in a hippie way. Here is my hate/love list of India.

Hate:
Uttar Pradesh (in North India) which just might be the synonyme for hell
Staring people
Giggling men
Men touching you when you walk by
Drunk men (who breaks the bus' front window)
Garbage
Martin diving into the waves and almost getting paralysed
India's insane traffic with trucks, cows, richshaws, scooters, bikes, wagons everywhere, not to mention insane driving
Instant coffee with chicory
Hippie tourists...
The food
Helpful people
The sun

Love:
The food
Helpful people
The sun
Fresh seafood from the fishmarket
The Ocean and the beaches and the palms
Lili who was always there in the morning at Cherai beach
Albertm, the caretaker at Cherai beach, with the caps covering his bold head
The neighbours at Cherai beach (except the ones smashing our front window of course)
Fresh pineapple in the morning
Colourful silk