South India 2006

Preface

28-07-2006 Reason for the trip? -asks the very beautiful (and I'm not exaggerating) young lady at the Indian consulate. - Tourism -I reply. - That's 50 - she concludes.

01-08-2006 So, we'll be leaving soon (on 6 August at 6.50 in the morning I have my flight to Frankfurt). I've been able to notice, among the people I've confided in that I'm going to India, these different types of attitude:

The first: 'You're going to India? Alone? What courage...but what are you going there for....

The second: 'You're going to India? Would you bring me please a SARI/some silver/some perfume/some incense/an elephant/some opium etc. etc.

The third: 'You're going to India? How lovely, I'd go to Africa too.. what a drag to think that in Italy in 2006 there are still people who don't know where a "little state with only 1,080,000,000 inhabitants called India" is.' Naturally I didn't even answer the latter...

Anyway, I'm ready; I'll put very few things in my backpack.

Today I bought the VIVOTIF (typhoid vaccine) and the antimalarial, but not the one the doctor at the international vaccinations centre in Magenta recommended to me. The prescribed one would have cost me a good 160 Euros (3 packs of MALARONE at 53 Euros EACH). I took LARIAN (1 pack 2 Euros) - what a difference!!! I saved "only" 158 Euros!! On my return I'll be able to say whether I did the right thing..

MUMBAY 6 PM

Soon they'll take me to the BUS STATION. I've booked for 21.00 a place in Sleeper class on a bus to GOA and I'll arrive in that city, if all goes well, at 12.00 tomorrow. INCREDIBLE INDIA!! (as the advert says) a mixture of flavours, smells, colours, people, cows, dogs and everything and more. Yesterday, having come out of the airport at 2.00 at night, I was immediately set upon by a pack of "jackals"; all offering me hotels, rooms, taxis etc. but at prices truly unthinkable for being in India. Fair enough, it was the first time I'd set foot in this country, but I'm not exactly the last traveller in this world either. Anyway the options were two: either I spent the night outside the airport under heavy rain (it's been raining continuously here since I arrived) or I ended up in the hands of one of these "jackals".

After a good hour of haggling I agreed with a man for 650 rupees (1 euro = 57 rupees) for a night in a hotel + a car transfer to that point. I stayed in a good room, there was even air conditioning, which after 1 hour I had to turn off... suffering from the cold in India seemed impossible to me!! This morning I woke up around 10.00, I agreed with the showy girl at the hotel for the bus to GOA. From 900 rupees I got down to 750 and I accepted to avoid too much hassle. I don't understand anything!! Having gone out for a walk under a downpour, I realised that the hotel was the only decent building in the area, among lots and lots of shacks!! Of tourists obviously there's not a trace, but I noticed that Indian poverty is truly humble. As I took photos I was within a few seconds surrounded by 20-30 people staring at me smiling.

These Indians are nice!! Among 1000 "Hi Sir" a barefoot child appeared in front of me. We made friends and together with his brother and other children he took me to VHIAR LAKE where they fished with nets. The barefoot child (almost all of them were) with whom I struck up this strange friendship then accompanied me to the market where everything was sold. After yet another glance at his cut feet I asked him why he didn't wear at least a pair of flip-flops. "No money" was obviously his answer. I went into a shop and for 40 rupees I bought a used pair. As soon as I gave them to him I found myself surrounded by 30-40 children who wanted the flip-flops. I slipped away and went back to the hotel where I chatted with the people who worked there.

After another short wander around these streets I find myself here waiting for the fateful time to say goodbye to this city that is destined to become the most populous in the world. I read that in 2020 it will reach 35 million inhabitants!!

12 AM BUS MUMBAY-GOA

I'm in my "berth" traveling on the bus that will take me to GOA and after a chat with 2 Australians (father and daughter) I start writing to tell something more, also because it will be very difficult to manage to sleep here. The roads are full of potholes and the smells on this "deluxe" coach are unpleasant (who knows what the non-tourist ones are like). I did the trip from the hotel to the point where the bus passes on a motorized rickshaw in the company of the girl from the hotel (she practically scrounged a ride off me but I'm happy about it). She explained a few things to me about Mumbai and Indian religions and pointed out to me that she is not Hindu but Muslim. In short, Hindus wear the dot in the middle of their forehead. When I arrived at the bus "stop" I asked two guys who worked at a kiosk for information and they told me that my bus would pass at 10:00 PM.

I left my backpack with them and went looking for something edible and I devoured a PAV BHAJI (I don't know what it was) sipping a tea!!

6 PM CALANGUTE

I'm at the SAAHIL HOTEL in a town called CALANGUTE. The clothes I was wearing a little while ago are hanging in the room hoping they'll dry. I got a nice room for 2 nights and I ended up here almost by chance. Around 9:00 in the morning the bus guy woke me up shouting "GOA GOA". Frantically I got off the coach and immediately I was set upon, along with the two Australians, by taxi drivers and rickshaw drivers. They inform me that we are in MAPUSA. I ask for GOA; "Here is Mapusa" they reply. Well, after a while I understand that I am indeed in the GOA region but not in OLD GOA or PANAJI which are the main cities of the region. I say goodbye to the 2 Australians and take a motorized rickshaw that takes me here to CALANGUTE, still under incessant rain (these bloody monsoons!!!).

I settle into the hotel, take a nice shower (the first) naturally cold, and go out to take a stroll around the village. I spend my day between the beach and wandering around the town. Here there are really a lot of white people, tourism, even though we're not in "high season", is very visible!! I meet 2 Dutch girls who talk to me rambling. They've taken opium or something strange. I enter an antique shop to ask about prices and I talked to the shopkeeper about my project. He was very interested and I realized that in India you can really do business!!! But I'm sure that Goa as a region is very expensive because of the many tourists so for these things there will be time. In a shack I eat a strange seafood rice that I pay 50 rupees for with a bottle of water included, then I get to know a German couple who are returning from the South and I spot a school together with them.

We go in and I give the children some candies I had with me and my notebook. Too bad I didn't have 50 more. Now I'm relaxing a bit, maybe tonight I'll go out and have some fun with the 2 Dutch girls. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, I'll go to OLD GOA on a motorbike.

11 AM CALANGUTE

I tried to take a local bus to get to OLD GOA but without success, I didn't understand anything about it, so I'll wait 30 min. for the motorcyclist I had arranged with yesterday for 150 Rupees. The motorcyclists want 250 while the taxis even 400!! I sip an Indian tea while I wait and tell about last night. Around 9:00 pm I went out and went to CLUB CITY where Ann and Greta were waiting for me at a table. I sat down with them and I realized I wasn't in India. At least not in the real India. I saw the high-society India, the highest castes and the CHRISTIAN Indians (Unwatchable). I was in this place together with the 2 Dutch girls and surrounded by fat Indians who were eating and drinking to excess and outside 10 meters away children, women and men skinny as nails. This situation didn't sit too well with me even though in the end I had a night out eating, drinking, dancing and spending.

In here, apart from the 2 blondes, who tomorrow will go to Paloem (which from what I understand must be the top of GOA), the girls and even the little girls were staring at me but not with the same eyes as the people who look at me when I walk through the streets. Once outside, to ease my conscience, I gave 50 Rupees to the first child who asked me for something (for a beggar a considerable sum)..

3 PM

I just bought a bottle of water and putting it in my open bag it soaked all my papers so I'm drinking a "KINGFISHER" in a restaurant in PANAJI. Inside, apart from me, there are the couple who run the place and their 2 children. They stare at me constantly and as soon as I finish writing I'll strike up a conversation. By motorcycle I arrived at OLD GOA (35 Km from CALANGUTE) risking my life at least 10 times. How he drove!!!! I admired the landscape made up of rice paddies, shacks and real jungle!! I even saw 2 goal posts but in between there was no field to play football on but a rice paddy!! Arrived at OLD GOA without even having time to get off the motorcycle I found myself with 2 candles in my hand (10 rupees) and a necklace of flowers around my neck (10 rupees).

OLD GOA in the end is made up of a devastated temple, a Christian church that externally seems abandoned but internally leaves you speechless, some Portuguese ruins and 4 shacks. And I thought it was a city!! The vendors outside the church wanted to sell me everything and in the end I bought some handmade chess from a vendor from Agra and an early 1900s Indian postcard. I offered a special tea (but I didn't understand the difference between special and non-special) to 5 vendors talking with them and getting them to tell me about OLD GOA. I then took for the first time a real Indian bus to reach Panaji (7 rupees). 10 Km squashed like a sardine but after I had read things on the internet honestly I thought worse.

8 PM

I just got back to the hotel and just went up to my room after exchanging a few words with my "guardian angel". I also managed to watch a football match of the local team and now I understand why Indians aren't good at this sport. But let's talk about Panaji the main city of GOA. Nothing special, I wandered around a bit, I ate two things that everyone was eating while drinking a tea. I went to the fruit, fish and flower market where I bought 3 bananas that as soon as I left I gave to the first 3 children I met. I stopped to watch the women with very skinny children buying flowers, and I didn't understand them, flowers aren't edible, isn't it perhaps better to spend the little money on something edible?? Religion is religion and here they are all truly religious; some Hindu, some Muslim and some Christian. Along with the bananas I gave 10-15 rupees on the street to beggars.

I can't help it!! I even went into a barber shop to get shaved. The advice that a guy who had been to India gave is really true; you shouldn't bring to this country either razors or shaving foam; here in India there are excellent barbers and they're also clean since with every cut they change the blade (20 rupees). The return to Calangute by bus was fantastic. I chatted for 1 hour with some kids coming home from school. Last thing, I bought the ticket for BANGALORE. Honestly I wanted to go to HAMPI but the first train for this city would only be on Saturday and not from here but from VASCO DE GAMA. And I can't stay here until Saturday so tomorrow at 7:00 pm departure for BANGALORE. Now I'll take a "little shower" and then I'll follow the Indian music that reaches all the way to my terrace.

8 PM BUS GOA-BANGALORE

I just got on the coach that will take me to BANGALORE and since it will only take 12 hours to do this route I'll tell a bit about facts and other things. Let's start from last night; following the Indian music I ended up in a place where some Tibetans work and I went in barefoot, that is, without flip-flops which are the only footwear I've worn since I arrived in GOA. I chatted for more than 2 hours with a Tibetan girl who told me a bit about her land and the reasons for their escape from the Nepalese highlands.

7 AM BUS GOA-BANGALORE

I'm still on the bus headed to BANGALORE. Last night I had to stop writing because they made me change buses at MAPUSA and then on this coach until now there was no way to write because of the dark. How cold I suffered last night!! That damn air conditioning!!! This is the last time that here in India I take a vehicle with air conditioning!!! At MAPUSA I met 3 guys who have been in India for 1 month (2 Londoners and one Spaniard from Madrid). They're with me on the coach while a sweet Belgian girl whom I saw looking a bit intimidated at the bus change isn't here. Who knows what became of her, she also had a ticket for Bangalore. I'll tell a bit about yesterday (my last day in CALANGUTE). In the morning I went to visit a Christian school that I had glimpsed during the motorcycle trip when I went to OLD GOA.

The rest of the day I spent spending some money and trying to get someone to explain something to me about the Hindu religion. Expenses: 13 rupees for a tea and a Bhaji, 100 rupees for a little wooden elephant and a small sculpture also in wood of Ganish, 100 rupees for a small box that I think is very ancient silver (the best purchase), 200 rupees for a very strange piece of rock with stupendous colors, a sculpture of an elephant made from a stone and a Buddha (which I thought was Shiva), 50 rupees for a meal offered to 2 beggars, 50 rupees tip to my "guardian angel", 15 rupees for 2 corn cobs and 40 rupees for a pack of Wills and 1 bottle of water. In total almost 600 rupees (less than 12 euros). I just looked up but city on the horizon can't be seen so I'll go on writing.

Here the vegetation has changed a lot compared to GOA where it was very dense and I was practically in the middle of the jungle. The landscape I'm seeing now is nothing special; some woods with palms and trees of various kinds and some peasant villages with some cultivated fields. Last thing less relevant, I got the PIN code wrong 3 times so the only contact I had with the western world now is gone. But maybe it's better this way. INCREDIBLE INDIA!!!

12 PM BANGALORE

I just took a room in a guest house. I'll spend I think 2 nights there. The journey was endless: 15 hours!! I'm tired, my back is destroyed but I'm going right away to discover BANGALORE.

11 PM

I just got back to the guest house dead tired but happy. I like BANGALORE a lot, it's a lively, clean and gigantic city. It extends over a vast area and to get around today I used motorized rickshaws. After leaving the hotel with the city map in hand that was lent to me by the guest house manager I wandered around a bit as usual and as usual within 10 minutes I gave the beggars all the coins I had in my pocket. After buying a pack of Wills (here they only have packs of 10 and they cost 27 rupees) I went into a bar with the map in hand and with some papers I had downloaded from the internet about this city. My intention was to drink a chai but the answer was "no chai only …….(I don't remember the name). So I ordered one and they brought me a plate of legumes and various vegetables always very spicy (which I even had seconds of) and some rice.

I had to eat it all with my hands, cutlery and napkins didn't exist. There wasn't even anything to drink apart from the loose water which for now I continue to avoid. Without anyone seeing me I used this water to clean my mouth and hands a bit. After the directions from the restaurant manager I took a rickshaw to go to CUBBON PARK which is the center of the city. After a little tour in the park where I drank two good fruit juices made fresh with sugarcane I stopped to watch what I thought was a Hindu ceremony. There were 3 men playing strange drums that they carried across their shoulders, a man with a megaphone in his hand and 200 people sitting under a tarp. All this in a corner of the main square of BANGALORE. Then while I was about to leave to visit my first Hindu temple all these people stood up taking each other by the hand and all together they started singing.

They then occupied the center of the square paralyzing the chaotic traffic. At that moment a student arrived who explained to me that it was a demonstration against the government of KARNATAKA by some Hindu farmers. In fact the riot police also arrived who unlike the Italian ones were all emaciated and instead of a baton they had little sticks that I think the Chinese would use to eat. I made the acquaintance of the student who "enlightened" me and with him I went to drink a coffee that by magic for him turned into a lunch (obviously paid for by me). He told me about many interesting things and also suggested I visit a temple where we went together.

Looking at it from the outside I had mocked it but inside it was nothing short of stupendous!! The temple of SHIVA!! Its sculpture is gigantic and as if by magic we went from the chaos of the city traffic of BANGALORE to the indescribable quiet that this place gives you. Now though I'm even more confused about Hinduism.. what a religion!! What strange GODS. Brahma, Shiva, his wife Parvati and their son GANISH (a fat man with an elephant face), KRISHNA, RADA, a cobra, a mouse, a cow's head that talks, a stone that opens… Boh… Outside the temple I returned (with the student) to the commercial area of the city and after a walk and a coffee we arranged to meet tomorrow at 11:00 since he will take me to the village outside the city where a sister of his lives. I started walking and seeing that the stadium was open and lit I went in watching for 20 minutes a baseball game.

A sport I don't like at all!! Back by rickshaw near the guest house I walked a bit through the streets of my "area" eating a tasty plate of peas from one of the many little stalls that are along the streets, going into a cinema where I lasted 10 minutes pretending to be interested in a delirious Indian film. Indian films are all sung and danced. They're all delirious. I forgot I also bought a polo shirt in a LEVIS store for 499 rupees since I gave one of mine to a beggar and the only shirt I have with me I'll give tomorrow to RADAL.

12 AM BANGALORE

My guardian angel (a boy who must be 15) just left me and I just lit a stick of incense that gives off a very good aroma. Today I returned to the hotel much lighter both in material things and in money but much happier and richer than yesterday. It was an unforgettable and exciting day!!! At 8:00 I woke up and asked where the shower was since yesterday my guardian angel answered me: "The shower?? In the morning!!" Well he practically showed me a bucket with a smaller container inside. After the "shower" I went out to discover new things about BANGALORE and after trying in vain to orient myself with 40 rupees I had a rickshaw take me in front of the majestic presidential palace. Walking through the city I bought a beautiful yellow-orange SARI for a friend of mine who imperatively asked me for it when she found out I would come to INDIA.

I could ask her 10 times the price also because the purchase required 20 minutes of hard bargaining. At 11:00 I went to the meeting place with RADAL and after having breakfast we took 2 buses and 1 rickshaw to reach the village. I was the center of attention of everyone, even the village chief was amazed by my presence. I was surrounded by tender dust-colored children who smiled at me constantly. Poor people but what humility. Today these people, men, women and children enriched me greatly and I, in order to reciprocate a little, lightened myself of some material things since at the end of the day I brought RADAL with me here to my room giving him everything that for me was superfluous; a pair of pants, 2 t-shirts, 5 pairs of socks (I don't use them here), the alarm clock (I already bought another one), and apart from the LARIAN also all the medicines I had brought.

I also bought a 50 kg sack of rice that the women of the village divided up. In this village with the farmers and the chief I was in their fruit plantations (I even saw a cobra!!), they had me taste strange tropical fruits and then after picking about ten coconuts we toasted to our meeting with the milk of these fruits. RADAL's sister (35 years old widow with 2 children) prepared a delicious lunch for us that we ate, naturally without cutlery, sitting on the ground in their little house. I also drank for the first time since I've been in India water that didn't come from a sealed bottle. It was the most beautiful day since I've been in India; talking and getting to know these people, playing with these children enriched me a lot even though until today I had never seen poverty this close. I would like to help them…..but I don't know how…

6 PM MYSORE

I'm traveling even though I'm in my room sitting on my bed. A moment of relaxation and then I'll throw myself into the AMBA VILAS PALACE where apparently tonight from 7:00 pm there will be something grand. Here in MYSORE I arrived at 12:00; I struggled to get rid of the usual Indians who pester you for hotels and after a long walk I find myself at the HOTEL KARTHIK a real dive but very cheap (175 rupees a night). Here my guardian angel is a somewhat perverted guy but very nice. When I asked him where I could find a map of the city he literally took me by the hand and accompanied me around the city where he had me buy an almost useless map. Walking through the streets he started asking me strange questions about girls and practically wanted me to take him to a lodge (at 2 in the afternoon!!!).

Well in the end I almost ended up there by force and found myself in the middle of 10 Indian girls saying "I want english man" addressing me. I managed to slip away saying that I was married and that I was a convinced Catholic. After straightening out my guardian angel a bit I had him take me to visit the grandiose Amba Vilas Palace which is a stunning palace of the sultans from the early 1900s with over 600 rooms and luxuries unimaginable elsewhere. After leaving this Muslim place which like the Hindu temples must be visited barefoot my guardian angel went back to work at the hotel. So after a good plate in an Indian restaurant I started wandering around the city and I noticed that here the beggars compared to BANGALORE have multiplied.

A man with strange things on his face that I didn't understand what they were presented himself in front of me and after multiple attempts he managed to win, taking me where he wanted. I found myself with him in front of a splendid Christian cathedral and after a quick look inside this church (here too as in OLD GOA in place of the twelfth apostle there was a woman) the man with the boils introduced me to a guy who was the owner of a shop of truly good perfumes and incense. But the surprise was about to arrive in fact he pulled out a huge box with inside various qualities of hashish, marijuana and even opium. Well I left this shop with 200 grams of incense in my pocket and more than 10 grams of very good weed (all for 150 rupees). Have a good trip!!!

11.30 PM MYSORE

Last night I went out to admire the sultans' palace all lit up. It leaves you speechless!! Then almost as if by magic Beatrix, a girl from Paris, arrived in my hands.

3 PM MYSORE

Beatrix left yesterday at 6:00 pm for Bangalore. With her I spent some splendid moments; we visited the CHAMUNDESWARI TEMPLE and for the first time I bought and therefore tried opium. Strange but pleasant effect that perhaps was amplified by Beatrix's sweet company. Now I'm returning from a tasty lunch had I think in the most luxurious restaurant in MYSORE (250 rupees) and from the DEVARAJA BAZAAR where I bought sensational perfumes and incense, a strange violin and a wooden box. Today August 15 here as in all of INDIA INDEPENDENCE DAY is celebrated, the streets are covered with Indian flags and the women show off splendid SARIS. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to everyone I'm going to celebrate with the Indians.

12 AM ERNAKULAM-KOCHI

I'm staying at the lavish HOTEL SRINIVA in ERNAKULAM a city in the fascinating region of KERALA. Maybe too much luxury for me but this time instead of looking for the usual dive I settled here. After today's very heavy journey, fortunately relieved by the beautiful landscape, I need to rest a bit and a bit of comfort and luxury every now and then doesn't hurt. From Mysore I left this morning around 9:00 with a ramshackle bus and arrived in CALICUT I took a 2nd class train (57 rupees) to get here at 10:00 pm. All with the backdrop of a splendid landscape. KERALA is very green and the palms and gigantic bamboos shelter almost the whole state from the tropical sun with their shade. This journey naturally in the company of very nice Indians since during the trip I didn't meet a single westerner.

Now that I've also tried one of those trains that everyone advises against; well apart from the many crowded people, the very uncomfortable seats (fortunately I managed to sit down), the very low speed and the bars instead of windows I recommend them. Otherwise what kind of India would it be if you're not in the middle of the people.

3 PM CHERAY BEACH

I'm on CHERAY BEACH, a beach on VYPPEN ISLAND which is located west of another island (FORT COCHIN). I got here by first taking a bus from M.G. ROAD in ERNAKULAM to FORT COCHIN, then from FORT COCHIN on a rickety boat I reached VYPPEN ISLAND, and finally another bus from the "port" brought me here to CHERAY BEACH (about 3 hours). What peace!!! It was worth it!! Only the sound of the waves and 2 Indian girls smiling at me. Yesterday at 8.00 in the morning I was already wandering the streets of ERNAKULAM, the modern and wealthy area of the city which is also the center of commercial activity. It feels like walking through the streets of a city like Bratislava, with the difference that the surroundings are made up of friendly Indian faces that smile at you and want to talk to you.

After a hearty breakfast I asked about the buses, always written in Hindi, to go to FORT COCHIN, where I arrived after 1 hour. On the bus I got acquainted with an antique dealer to whom I mentioned that in Italy I do his job. In India, on public transport you never sit next to girls, women sit in front and men behind, but I like to break the rule every now and then. The bus crossed 2 very long bridges to reach my destination, which is also the terminus. This city, I think, arose on the estuary of a large river. A collection of islands and peninsulas connected to each other by bridges and boats. The Indian Venice!! FORT COCHIN is an area of narrow streets and old buildings, and in this labyrinth is the oldest Jewish ghetto in Asia. Centuries ago a thousand Jews lived here, and now many houses have been turned into beautiful antique shops that, however, have prices that are a bit too high.

I saw many tourists and I got acquainted with 2 guys from Florence who were paying 1500 rupees each for a room in FORT COCHIN. I pay 400 and it seems like a lot to me. I visited the 16th-century synagogue, a Christian church from which some children emerged asking me for pens. I had a bag with 10 bananas inside and I gave them all to them. I always buy fruit to give away around. It takes little to win an innocent smile. After a chai (how many I'm drinking) made for me by an old man who wanted to palm off some grass on me, I got on a random boat to a random island. I ended up on VYPPEN ISLAND (a fishermen's island) and after a short walk I met 4 local guys: a mechanic, 2 fishermen and a small-scale marijuana grower.

With them I spent the afternoon drinking beer (naturally offered by me) which I went to get by motorbike with one of them, smoking and watching the fishermen cast and pull in their nets. Back in Ernakulam along the reverse route, I "woke up" in the middle of buildings and traffic. What a difference from the little island. After a couple of beers in the worst bar in ERNAKULAM and 4 words exchanged with two local mafiosi, I went back to the hotel at 23.00. Between beer and joints I didn't even have the strength to take off my clothes.

9 PM ERNAKULAM

I'm in my room. On CHERAY BEACH I met the two 19-year-old girls who were smiling at me. Our chat was interrupted by the arrival of a monsoon, so after leaving the beach we sheltered under a shack drinking coconut milk. Around I had noticed that there were many red flags, posters with the hammer and sickle and images of CHE GUEVARA, and they confirmed it for me. I'm in the communist state of KERALA, and I was pleased to learn that it is the Indian state with the highest literacy rate (over 90% of the population). Since I've been in India it was the first time I lingered so long with 2 local girls, and when it was time to say goodbye I didn't know what to do... I didn't know their customs.... Now I'm in a moment of indecision: I don't know whether to spend the night here in my nice room or try to go to the bus stand and take (if there is one) a bus to KANYAKUMARI...

9.30 PM KANYAKUMARI

Last night the desire to visit new places prevailed over laziness, so I put my backpack on my shoulders and headed to the BUS STAND. I asked for information about KANYAKUMARI and ended up on one of the usual beat-up buses heading to TRIVANDRUM (the capital of KERALA), from where, after more than an hour's wait in the middle of the night, I took another bus that brought me here. Apart from the usual Indians who always want to talk on this bus, there was a girl with a very beautiful face. She really struck me!! I got off the bus at 5 in the morning (I thought worse) and deliberately fell into the hands of the usual hotel, room, etc. touts (they wait for you at all hours) and had myself taken to the decent HOTEL JASS (200 Rupees a night). After a shower with the usual bucket I was fascinated by what I saw from my window. Indescribable in words.

This morning at 9.00, despite sleep and tiredness, I was already out and about on the streets of the southernmost place in India (obviously excluding islands). After watching the fishermen on the beach fixing their nets, I took the tourist boat to visit the two sacred islets not far from the shore. On one there is a temple dedicated to SWAMY VIVEKERANDA (I didn't understand who he is), while on the other there is the giant statue of SAINT THIRUVALLUVAR watching over KANYAKUMARI. These visits in the company of the usual Indian tourists—today too I ended up in about ten photo albums of wealthy Indian families. Back on the mainland I was (I think) in the holiest place around. A temple where to enter you not only had to be barefoot but also without a shirt.

A truly relaxing place, for meditation, total quiet, but I had to struggle to make the holy men understand that I didn't want to immerse myself in the water. I had lunch eating a lobster and, thanks to the teaching of good old Fred, I bought two, one I had cooked for me while the other, with its claws tied, I had put alive in a bag. After lunch I went to the beach and the lucky lobster that ended up in the bag regained its freedom. In India it's possible to have a clear conscience even with lobsters. One you eat but the other lives... The restaurant waiter told me about a river that forms waterfalls near a village in the middle of the jungle not far from here.

So, asking for information, with a bus as usual without doors and without windows I arrived at THUCKAY and from there with another even more beat-up minibus, crossing a wonderful landscape of mountains and jungle, I reached the village of THIRPARAPPU. I was at the waterfalls for more than an hour and then by mistake I found myself in the place where the women wash. I took a couple of photos (after all they wash clothed) and slipped away into the jungle where from the huts people looked at me as if I were an alien. I even saw an elephant free and one in chains (poor thing). Now I'm going to drink a beer with a guy from SRI LANKA (well, we're close to that island). In THUCKAY from a seller I bought a small metal box dating back to the 1400s and 2 rings that must be 1000 years old for little money. I think it's a real bargain!!

10.30 PM KANYAKUMARI

This morning as soon as I woke up I put on my swimsuit and a T-shirt and went to the beach with only a small towel in my hand. At least at the point where three different seas meet and the waves fight battles of foam, I had to swim.. Then around KANYAKUMARI I met Giusto, an Italian who married an Indian woman and has lived here for 20 years, an antique dealer by trade. I bought an old silver bracelet from him. After a long chat Giusto advised me to climb to the top of a mountain from where you can admire a spectacular landscape. To get to the foot of this mountain he kindly gave me a ride on his motorbike, first inviting me to his house (practically a museum). So, with a pair of flip-flops on my feet, I improvised as a climber on this rocky mountain full of cobras (I only saw 1).

Halfway up the climb, after meeting a couple of hermits with very long beards in meditation, I reached a small temple where the holy man invited me to enter, offering me fruit blessed by him. After leaving the temple I immersed myself in total quiet among strange plants and various types of reptiles, but despite many attempts I couldn't make it to the top of the mountain. I took 3 different paths but all blocked by insurmountable walls. During a siesta the quiet was interrupted by some voices spoken in the strange TAMIL language; 5 boys (all Muslims) from the village at the foot of the mountain appeared. I spent a few hours with them but with really limited dialogue (none of them spoke English). They still managed to explain to me that this mountain is sacred because its flora is made up of many medicinal plants.

After going down to the village all together, I wanted to offer my new friends a beer (very expensive for them) and we set off with 2 motorbikes (3 on each) toward a VIN SHOP, but, incredible, we were stopped by the police. Here too!!!! I quickly said goodbye to my companions and slipped away in search of a bus to return "home." Arrived in KANYAKUMARI I ate a small fried barracuda and spent the rest of the evening talking with Giusto.

11 PM MADURAI

I arrived in MADURAI after an endless journey (200 km in 9 hours). The bus I was traveling on even broke down. Anyway, it was worth it. I'll only stay 1 day because I've already bought the ticket for CHENNAI. I'll leave tomorrow evening, time is running short. Today I saw a beautiful temple from the outside. Tomorrow I'll go back and I hope to also manage to see the monkey temple. MADURAI, a city where the streets seem like a flooded river (you walk through water and mud) but very very sacred.

11.30 PM MADURAI

I'm finishing the beer that my guardian angel brought me and smoking a joint in complete solitude. In India it's really true: the hardest thing to find is solitude itself. I'm staying at HOTEL ASCORA PALACE 11, PERUMAL THEPPAN EAST, TOWN ALL ROAD MADURAI 1 (100 rupees), a real dive!! Not even the hostel in Amsterdam and not even the beat-up room in the Algerian quarter of NICE were worse. I share it with a friendly reptile and 1000 insects.

6.30 PM MADURAI

Sunday morning at 6.00 I'll have my flight from Bombay to Frankfurt; time is running short and I'm very far from this city. I'll have to travel a bit faster than usual. In 30 minutes I have hotel check-out. Here in hotels they count the day for you (24 hours) and I arrived yesterday evening at 18.00 (I got 1 hour knocked off). This morning I went to visit the SRI MEENASKSHI temple with its truly splendid Gopurem; there are many temples in the south from what I've seen, but these are the most beautiful and colorful I've seen. Inside the temple I spent more than 3 hours, but the most beautiful places are hidden from the view of non-Hindus. After leaving the temple, Ganesan big and Ganesan junior, two friendly Indians I met last night; I had lunch eating the usual spiced rice with mama Italia and I accompanied Ganesan junior to the slum where he lives.

In these places you touch poverty with your own hands!! Then, after saying goodbye to 2 friendly and also quite pretty French girls from Nantes, I dedicated myself to looking for some treasure to bring back to Italy with me.

4.30 PM CHENNAI

I'm at CHENNAI/MADRAS airport; in less than 2 hours I have my flight that will take me to Mumbai. I arrived in this city yesterday morning at 7.00 after a night trip of only 11 hours. Arrived at the bus station I asked a guy if there was any transport going to Bombay. And he answers: "Only train 52 hours." What???? Well, the idea of spending my last 2 Indian days on a train really didn't appeal to me, so I had a rickshaw take me to the airport where I bought a ticket for Mumbai (2500 rupees). 2 hours of flight instead of 2 days of train. A lot of money for being in India but well spent!! Once the thought of the trip was out of the way, I settled in at MENAAM LODGE where I had a decent room. After asking some information from the old man at the lodge, I set off to take the local train to go toward the center; a center that I think I never found.

I got off at the FORT stop and found myself surrounded by policemen and soldiers. After leaving this military zone I was on an immense beach where, with my feet soaking, I chatted happily with a friendly Indian girl. Then I started taking buses and trains at random, wandering around the city until midnight. Small city. Only 7 million inhabitants. I didn't meet even one tourist!! That's why I think I never found the center. This morning at 8.00 I had to leave the room and, after leaving my backpack at the reception, I took a turn around the snake park and also the zoo (how sad). A goddess has just appeared before me....I'll try to strike up a conversation.

11 PM MUMBAI

I got ripped off again!!! I escaped the first but I fell for the second. I'm at the very squalid ROYAL INN, paying 620 rupees!!! Never slept in a worse place, not even in MADURAI. Tomorrow morning I'll say goodbye to them—so much for 3 nights here!!

9 AM MUMBAI

I just had my backpack fixed by a cobbler and in a little while I'm going to the center of Indian commerce, and this evening if I can I'll also take a look at BOLLYWOOD. Yesterday morning I changed hotels; my room still sucks but with the same treatment I'm paying only 200 rupees and not 620!! I'm at the AMBIKA HOTEL near the SHER-E-PUNJAB GUARDAWARA, which is a big mosque. Basically I'm in a Muslim area of Bombay and my window looks right onto the courtyard of this mosque. Bombay is truly gigantic. My hotel is 25 km from the center!!!! To get there yesterday morning (rush hour) I had a rickshaw take me to ANDHERI station and here, after the 4th failed attempt to get on the train and at the moment when I was about to give up, a guy pointed me to the 5th platform (basically the slow train, the one for old folks).

I took that one and after 1 hour I got off at the MARINA LINES stop, finding myself at the beginning of the famous MARINA DRIVE (a construction site). I walked the whole thing (3 or 4 km) on foot with a stop at a Muslim festival where they even offered me rice full of ants. I passed in front of the big hotels, in front of the headquarters of powerful banks, through various slums, through the fishing village, to arrive after 3 hours in front of the GATEWAY OF INDIA and the TAJ MAHAL. Then I spent my time on the touristy ROAD near this majestic hotel. I had lunch at LEOPOLD and met a Jamaican guy. At 23.00 I took the train to return to my area.

8 PM FRANKFURT

I'm in FRANKFURT station. I arrived in this city today at 13.00 from Bombay. I'll spend the night here in the surroundings, also because I don't feel like spending 30 Euros for a hostel. I left my backpack here at the luggage storage. I'm dead tired and it's cold. Tonight from 1.00 to 4.00 in the morning the station will close to the public. Ugh!!! Tomorrow at 8.00 I have my flight from Frankfurt HANN to BERGAMO.