Apollyon's Adventures in India
back to August 16, 2006
Goodbye Jalgaon! 3am sleeper train to
Nasic. No, not the
British philosopher who concidered anarchy to be the only just form of society, it's a
city.
I have met Sanket's uncle and cousin, Suniel and Neha, Suniel sings all the time, which is
ok because he has a great singing voice. I think
Simon Cowell would like him but he is too old for
India Idol, one of the biggest Indian shows. I caught the Independence Day special.
The amount of family and friends I have had to meet has become
ridiculous. The worst moment came when I had just been through another
barrage of about 15 photographs with everyone in the room. The
matriarch of the house reached for the
photo album and
rummaged around until she found a
picture. It was a
photograph of the last
white guy who had visited. He was sitting in the same chair against the same wall with the same over used respectful smile on his face. I had the
horrible feeling of someone else five years from now seeing my photo and thinking the same thing.
Ad infinitum; into the future.
Sanket's family won't let me thank them for their perpetual kindness anymore. Now if that's their custom then that's fine but the Brit in me screams to say 'thank you' after every cup of tea, in the same way that I say 'sorry' after someone steps on my toe or would say 'please' when asking for my executioner to take a good aim. I have only realised in the last year (due to my living and working with foreigners) just how ludicrously polite we are. I just wish we had kept other things from our former national psyche; I want to be like Sherlock Holmes; not like a bumbling apologetic Hugh Grant.
I have taken to saying ‘cheers’ instead.
I have visited a few remarkably crappy temples. You see Sanket's family has a vast array of differing religions. Sankets Dad is a seer, he predicts the future. Neha is an omni-theist, we get along very well. His uncle and grandmother on one side are harai Krishna (although they all it something else) most of the rest are Hindu (each with a different preferential God), and they all practice at least some yoga. Sanket is the odd one out being as he is, atheist. (There are no Jains or Muslims that I know of.)
It makes sense on a day-off that they all share a car to get to the different sights. Now I expected every temple to be a glorious example of architecture. However it is practical for them to go to 1960's concrete boxes. I think they picked up a vibe from me and took me to an awesome black rock temple at night. Candlelight and evensong. Gorgeous.
I have spent the next day visiting Solari vineyards the biggest, best and most successful vineyard in India. I tried their whole selection on a veranda overlooking the worlds largest clay dam. I was so lovely I ended up buying their three most expensive bottles.
Well that's the whole idea I suppose.
forward to August 19, 2006