Well you almost lost your intrepid reporter in Periyar last week. Straight after filing my weekly update I walked out of the internet cafe and went for a sixer down the stairs. I closed my eyes and wondered where I would land and finally I found out when my head came to a sudden halt with a bang, on a rusty stand. Kerpow!
Street scene In Kerala
I gingerly felt the damage and I was sure I could feel my bony skull. In any case, torrents of blood were gushing out and soon I was sitting in a pool of blood on the steps of the cafe. A lot of people came running and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where I was staying. Then out of the mists my driver mysteriously rolls up in his car and takes charge like my knight in shining armour.
Well, of course it's Eddie Murphy!! to my aid
Off we go to the local hospital and suddenly I'm facing all my fears in one hit. A hospital in India? Yikes! Bleeding on the brain anywhere? especially India! Yikes!
Anyway, we roll up at the local hospital which was small and quite quaint. There were quite a few people standing in the (one) corridor but I was pushed through as my status of being a foreigner with a big head wound made me very important, especially since blood was trailing down their corridor.
I was told to lose my handbag and shoes and go into the surgery and panic, panic, a young man I'd seen in one of the shops I'd visited, who has now mysteriously surfaced at the hospital, grabs the bag off me and tells me he'll look after it. Red alert! I was quite prepared never to see my bag and credit cards again - but what to do? I obeyed, and swayed into the surgery where I was told to lie on the hospital treatment table.
I was pleased to see that the two attending nurses were wearing surgical gloves though! They put disinfectant on the wound and shaved around it and then the young doctor came in and had a look see. I was convinced that my wound was at least 6 cm deep but sadly it wasn't deep at all. But it was long - it was 8 stitches long so I felt important again! I was given a tetanus shot and the whole exciting operation only cost 600 rupees - a mere $15! And furthermore, the Indian agency which had organised the whole trip (Indian Panorama) picked up the bill without a murmur! I certainly didn't expect that kindness!
And my bag is waiting for me too! I'm staggered that so many preconceptions have been completely annihilated in one fell swoop! But this did put rather a dint on our travel plans as (just in case I'd shaken my delicate brain too much) I had to stay put for 24 hours and couldn't move ahead to our next destination the next day.
Actually, I didn't mind at all as this was a rather lovely location with wild monkeys which jumped around on the balcony of each hotel room. We were told not to feed the monkeys but when I popped my head out early in the morning and saw a delightful fellow sitting on a ledge I just had to give him my remaining 1 1/2 bananas. He was so pleased he clambered on the roof and peed over the side of the awning on my head. How sweet. So that might be why we're not to feed them.
Monkey Magic
However I was told a story. A monkey climbed through the window of an English girl's room and stole her camera. She raised the alert and the hotel staff chased the monkey through the grounds and into the next hotel. By then the monkey was already bored with it and luckily dropped it on the grass. Apparently the monkeys can open doors too.
The monkeys live over the road from the hotel behind a long wall that serves as a boundary to the wildlife reserve. There is a huge bamboo cluster growing right against the wall and the monkeys love to spin around in it, swinging from stalk to stalk. They love to sleep in it at night because it's nice and cool in the middle of the cluster.
Their daily routine is - wake at 6am and play around in the hotel grounds or in the bamboo, then at 8am go deep into the reserve searching for food and then return at 3pm for more afternoon fun and games on the hotel balconies and in the trees and bamboo. Sleep at about 7pm. They share their bamboo with huge fruit bats which also hang from the stalks at night.
I looked over the wall expecting to see a magnificent sight below and was horrified to see that the lovely little stream that flowed through it was completely choked up with rubbish. What a shame. Rubbish seems to be a major problem right throughout Kerala and later, Goa. Interestingly, no one accepts responsibility for it either. The locals all say that all the littering is done by Indians visiting from other states in India!
Anyway, I saw a most intriguing animal scurrying through the rubbish in the creek. I could have sworn it was an otter but it had lots of gray fur. I wish I'd had a better camera to photograph it. However, wild elephants live in the reserve and I believe tigers do too.
As for tigers, there is a huge promotional campaign in India which features big sign boards strategically placed on highways and also television commercials which say "1411 - this is the number of tigers left in India".
Well, it is good that they have noticed - however, the problem is that farm land is encroaching on the tigers' habitats and of course the tigers have diminished food resources.
There is a famous case in Goa at present where a villager is being tried for killing a tiger early last year. Apparently the tiger was eating livestock so it met an untimely end at the hand of villagers. However, I was told by a cynical observer that the forestry department cracks down hard on villagers but turns a blind eye to politicians who decide to do a spot of tiger hunting. I do hope the commercial does turn the situation around. But they will have to stop the destruction of the tigers' habitats.
They Keep Reminding us!
I must put in a good word for the incredible work ethic of the people of Kerala. Our driver, Biju (Eddie Murphy look alike) who seems to work every day while on assignment, and who only gets a break between jobs, sat in the car outside the hotel all day while I was indisposed because it was ' his duty'. I tried to get him to leave his car to take a cup of tea at least, but he refused to budge. And furthermore, he, and all the other drivers, often sleep in their cars at night! This is the only solution for them when they are in pricer resorts. Fortunately, sometimes the owners of guest houses find a room for the drivers which is very kind. I would have gladly let him sleep on the couch in our accommodations which were usually huge. We'd have a bedroom, lounge/dining room and bathroom and it wouldn't have worried me at all but I knew he'd say no.
Another young fellow of about 24, who I'd first spotted working in one of the shops, later turned up selling tickets at a night show and then he later told me he worked all night doing something else. I asked if he ever slept and he said 'only an hour or two'. He says that on the very small monthly salary of 1500 rupees (39rupees to the dollar), he has to have 2 more jobs to survive. In the monsoon season in June, July and August, when it rains every day, he works on spice plantations as do other people working in the tourist industry.
The big paying jobs are our favourite thing - call centre operators. They start on a minimum wage of 10,000 rupees a month and can earn terrific bonuses if only we don't hang up on them!!!
Kerala Folklore Theatre
I went to a most amusing show at Cochin on my last night there at the Kerala Folklore Theatre and Museum. This wooden building, which has been built in the traditional ancient Kerala style, is the brainchild of a man who has been collecting Kerala antiquities all his life. The treasures are now housed in his museum and what an interesting display it was. There were ancient and most peculiar musical instruments; scary masks for Kathakali dance shows; jewellery; wooden carvings which were so well carved I could have sworn they were stone sculptures; palm leaf manuscripts (I still have to tell you about my experience with the palm leaf reader) containing prophesies and medical texts; puppets; wooden and bronze utensils; mural paintings; oil lamps and spectacular costumes. It really was extremely interesting.
In fact, the museum had everything except water for sale. Just as I thought I'd pass out as it was the usual hot day - as luck would have it, some tourism people had attended a display there that afternoon and there were two young coconuts full of juice, left over. Saved!
We were then taken into the theatre where we were unfortunately for the theatre, two of five visitors. However, they've only just opened and I hope it becomes a hit as the show was a riot. The reclining rattan chairs were really comfortable and where normally I would become fidgety during such a show, I was really able to enjoy it.
It started with a display of traditional Kerala martial arts. Two men leapt around brandishing swords and shields and doing somersaults. Then two female dancers performed two quite different styles of dancing. They showed the eye movements and hand gestures that are so much a part of the Indian dance style and then danced around, stamping their feet to ring their bell anklets and wobbling their heads from side to side.
Then a Kathakali dancer sat on the stage to show the eye movements and hand and facial gestures that are the Kathakali's stock in trade. Their full green faces and painted clown mouths are most intimidating in appearance. They are the traditional Kerala dancers and are most commonly male although they dress in voluminous skirts with jewellery.
After this display our dancer performed a routine with the most unusual co-star. I thought he was made up to resemble a monkey - he certainly looked like one with a face painted black with yellow stripes and a sort of little cymbal thing on his nose - but I think he might have been supposed to be a bore (as in pig). The Kathakali dance routine is actually a whole story which the storyteller relates at the beginning of the show.
I've seen one of these shows before and they can go on and on, but fortunately this one was more succinct. The monkey-man was very encouraged by my obvious amusement and played up to the cameras (as it were) accordingly! He shrieked and made monkey faces (can't imagine how anyone could think he was a pig) and was generally a hoot. He had to shoot the green faced dancer with an arrow and then of course, after dying, the green faced one is resuscitated at the end. What a riot! A great time was had by all and after it was all over and
I peeked into their dressing room, the funny monkey-man who was now looking more like a real live man, waved enthusiastically.
I will report on Goa in my next communication and then relate the finer details of the Ayuvedic treatment and fortune tellers.
Bye from India!
Love
Roslyn
