Kerala

Women on the beach in Varkala.

The people you meet when you travel alone in India.

On the train into Kerala, my cabinmates were two middle-aged Scotsmen who, not an hour into the trip, pulled out this bottle of Smirnoff as well as a steel water bottle that looked like mine only it poured out Scotch. Then one said to the other, “We’re going to a Communist, Muslim state! Bloody ’ell, can’t get much worse.” But they were clearly enamored with India, and they were joking, and it was kind of hilarious.

Then on the Kerala backwaters, I shared a houseboat with two Aussies who were self-proclaimed Socialist revolutionaries. They debated over popular misconceptions of Lenin and whether he really said all he needed was more power. The guy was reading a history of the Russian revolution. The girl was on her way to Delhi where she was going to stay with members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). They weren’t joking, and it was still kind of hilarious.

Finally finished the book while coming and going on a boat on a river. Awesome.

Another sunset, another moonrise.

After over 5,000 kilometres, spread across 14 train rides, 3 of them overnight, this was my last one. We had arrived at the station not knowing when the next train to Kochi was leaving, so I asked the guy in the ticket window when the next train to Kochi was leaving, and he pointed to the one at the platform that was just starting to move. I looked at the train, and back at the guy in the ticket window, and asked him how much it would cost. Before he could answer, I asked, “Can we just get on now?”

He offered a now-familiar variety of sounds and head movements that seemed to answer in the affirmative, and the train was starting to accelerate, so I ran. I ran to the train, grabbed the door rails and jumped onto the carriage for my last, great Indian train ride.

Always wanted to do that.

Scenes from Kochi.

Keener’s. Heh.

These guys invited me—for a donation, of course—to help with pulling up the fifteenth century Chinese fishing nets. I think I did alright.

Got to get up close, too.

And see dolphins.

The guy on the left was the boss of the operation. And after a few minutes with him, I kept getting the nagging feeling that he reminded me of someone. Couldn’t figure it out. Then I was looking over these photos, and saw this one with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and imagined it was a cigar, and replaced the white and blue trim of his shorts with red and black, and cut off his shirt sleeves and added a “23” to its front and back. You know what I’m saying?

Kathakali.

Bugs. Constant from my first day to my last.

And that’s all, folks.