A White Man's day in an Indian Summer

Hey Y'all. My girl Ibiza and myself, Jimmy travelled to Indeea for a time away from our usual pandemonium back in the US. I swear to the good lord, I began to respect the Indians , especially the Chinnai people beyond the 7th heaven for so graciously putting up with the local sun. Have you ever planned an outing with your partner for months, and end up sleeping separately , despite making all the other arrangements ? Ibiza and myself found ourselves a good Hotel property and it had all the finer aspects of a romantic night - light food, cheesy colors , good air conditioning and a gentle flora aroma wafting the corridors and all that was left to do was , you know. I leave it to you.

But once we entered the room, as if by some witch's spell, we both detested our very physical presence and we quickly stripped ourselves of all clothing and slept on separate beds with a big thud and went off to sleep , and believe me, ( I hope she doesn't ever read this ), I wouldn't have done anything else that night to make me so happy other than sleep with my arms and legs stretched covered by fine satin and puffy pillowcases. Reason ? Y'all out there who haven't been to India during the summer don't know what it is to be roasted and cooked in the sun during the day. 

It all began in the morning, when she had made a big list of things to do. Typical girlfriend protocol, thanks to her Indian friend Nadia from chinnai who she connected and gave out the directions to the last T from eating certain dishes and swiping my dollars in shops where should could just paint herself Indian. My puppy literally went into every shop and tried out ornaments for every single hole in her upper body. I didn't notice much of tattoo or hair coloring here, as people seemed to have a dark shade of hair with a rare sighting of a young man or woman with some streaks. The girls out here seemed to be interested in jewelry and different styles of clothing like the saree and choodidharrr. Ibiza had little to eat , but her bag kept increasing by the hour and I just let her have it, the woman had been putting long hours at her work and she deserved all the joy out of every penny she made. 

I treated myself to an occasional soda and didn't bother to try clothing as I have a lean butt and the trousers were not really matching my size. I did buy some wallets, keychains , a casual vest with a Go-India ! sign in it for memories and my bar buddies back in LA. Suddenly, I saw myself in a mirror and man ! I was like I just got myself beetroot facial. I had turned so pink and the places where I had been carrying some weight , it had weird white marks and I looked like Pig Broth covered in cheese. Ibiza herself looked equally pickled but she was so engrossed in the ethnicity of the place that she was running on auto-pilot, not minding of the occasional jibes from certain local people who made fun of her . But the people were largely friendly and didn't appear to be threatening. 

I was badly dehydrated and my eyes were scouring the neighborhood for some coconut water or chilled lime soda. I just spotted one and in my excitement landed on a big pile of cow dung . I froze out of shock , I was embarrassed and turned red only to be brought back to senses by Ibiza's shrill gargantuan laughter. A good Samaritan brought some bucket of water and I washed my legs but my socks got wet. So, I purchased some loafers from a local shop and stuffed my shoes in a sling bag and proceeded further. In this drama, I forgot to go the coconut shop but spotted a sugarcane juice shop . Both these shops had good footfall as people seemed to dig the juices due to the merciless sun, albeit no one seemed to throw a big fit about it. They all got so well adjusted , except for us both Cheesy blokes.

We tried some local foods , mostly swarmed by the youngsters who seemed to be engaged in loud chatter as the whole area was abuzz with sellers, random people engrossed in what to buy next and an occasional serious looking person staring into oblivion. Ibee bought me some lovers stuff when suddenly there was a clap and a tap on our shoulders followed by some loud local lingo. We turned around to see some transgender folks loudly asking us for money and they pinched our cheeks and one of them kept their hands on my head. We politely refused to give anything as our travel guy warned us to be careful about people who asked for money either through alms or like them. Still, out of a last minute decision, I gave them a 50 rupee note and they both kind of circulated their hands around us and knocked on their foreheads pouting their lips muttering something. I felt happy in my own sweet way. 

The sun seemed to set earlier than our place in LA , and the overall energy levels seemed to come down but there was always someone selling something. I might be making a premature observation, but in my eyes, it did look like India is plush with business opportunities as people made a livelihood doing so many things. We had some coffee or kaapi as the local brother pointed out and it was a good taste of hot milk and liquid coffee. I kept checking my watch , looking forward to the night I was planning with Ibiza, but to my dismay, she appeared withered out but felt satisfied on a day well spent. I was trying to get online but my mobile wasn't really helping me stay connected and I was just using it for taking pictures and occasionally connecting to a public wifi in some of the shops she went in. I felt so real- no, we felt so real. 

Strangely, we could actually feel like we were living, you know , how can I put this. We felt alive. There is so much happening here. People, temples, churches, dogs, poor people on streets, sellers, cows - like , it seemed as though India was a Live movie shoot going on while we felt more static back in our home. Things were serene, planned, disciplined and organized - not that I mean to say India is chaotic , but It is so damn lively and lovely in its' own way. We entered the hotel premises, to be welcomed generously by the hotel folks, they were pleasantly surprised looking at all our bags and our sun thrashed skin , as we made slow steps into our room and back to scene 1. 

I am now awake, in bed as she is deep asleep and I am planning to hit the sauna. But I wanted to document this day of my life in my journal, and here we are....! Cheers . I am off to some fun in the water !