By the time you see this I’ll have been in Kerala for two days. Before you start sending me messages along the lines of “do you ever work?”and “why are you on a 1-year vacation?” just note that I’m going to Kerala for my fellowship’s midpoint orientation.
That being said I figured that since my midpoint doesn’t start till Wednesday I might as well use the weekend before for some vacation (especially since AIF is paying for the roundtrip tickets). Oh whatever. Stop the judgment. If you were living in Hyderabad/Telangana you’d take weekly vacations too. Plus I’ve been sick. Really sick. I couldn’t even eat for 2 days. If you know me well you know that for me not to eat for a day is pretty much a red flag that my funeral is near. Anyways here is the plan
Saturday: So we’re staying in Fort Cochin. Turns out there is no actual fort here.
Sunday: Took a canoe around the backwaters of Kerala. Ammaazing Then I ate 3 forms of coconut curry. Even better.
Monday: Tomorrow we’re taking a bus to Munnar. heck out this sick Tea plantation we’re staying at: http://www.theteasanctuary.com/ ((Don’t worry Ishara, I know your tea is better).
Tuesday: Day in Munnar, maybe hike to some waterfalls, and then back to Cochin
Wednesday: Train to Thiruvananthapuram. The name of this city is honestly probably the reason God gave us copy and paste.
From here we go to Kollam which is close to the facility that we’re staying at and attending midpoint.
Thursday – Saturday: Midpoint Orientation. I’ve been asked to put together a brief presentation to present to the other fellows which I’m posting here if you want to see.
The presentation has two key messages.
1. Despite appearances, I HAVE been working on something at Roshan Vikas
2. I’ve failed in my (fake) goal to become less of a yuppie, but at least now I’m a yuppie who has seen India
Saturday: More orientation, then off to Bombay at night
Sunday: Bombay Marathon (likely to collapse)*
Monday: Why leave?
Tuesday: Back to Hyderabad (gross). Likely will encounter skinny, mustached engineers on my flight back. Small, but not less than 30% chance of a mustached woman.
So I’m really looking forward to Keralan food. Supposedly its better than my current favorite Indian food – Goan. I’ll be the final judge and report back next week. What I’m not looking forward to is my midpoint orientation' scheduled 6AM yoga. It’s such a stereotype to go to India and do yoga. Plus I’m not in any way flexible. Plus yoga doesn’t really honestly improve fitness (I don’t care about Madonna). PLUS ITS 6fuckinAM.
*There is small chance (100%) I'll go out Saturday night in Bombay and miss the marathon. This would be very sad.
So did you really like Mallu food, so much for it to tip over Goan food?
ReplyDeletewait, so did you make it to the marathon? btw, we drove in the direction of the cachew farm, but then passed it and went on a boat ride instead. so you didn't miss the cachews!
ReplyDeleteidunno, thought that was important to share.