Indian Switcheroo

As soon as I finished the blog and the rain subsided, Valerie and I walked out of the bungalow for a walk along the cliffs . We wanted a delicious thali (all you can eat many dishes meal on one platter) and I was still depressed.
A man was just sitting there and asked "are you going to the elephant festival?" to which I responded "WHAT elephant festival?" When he replied there were 21 painted elephants gathering in the afternoon for a festival 30 minutes away, I was pleased as punch. You know how much I love elephants! Then, he said the price which was too much and we started to walk away. He asked if we'd been to Varkala town yet. No. He said he was taking his friend's mother to the doctor in town in his rickshaw and if we wanted he'd take us into town for free for a delicious thali. Val heard "for free" and I heard "delicious thali" and we were in!
The thali was fantastic, Varkala town interesting and full of kind people who smiled again. We went to an ashram and circumnavigated the tomb and felt very peaceful. Then we saw 21 elephants resplendent in gold and taller than ta ta trucks parading along the street. On the way back, we stopped at a temple and two teenage boys gave me two flowers. People smiled and waved as we drove along and suddenly, the magic of India reappeared.
Is it the energy of just Val and I? I think so. When we're with others, everything shifts. We realized this quickly as we headed for the beach and ran into the three kiwis again. Suddenly, everything felt different. Our driver parted from us and a weight reappeared. The sunset was spectacular on the arabian sea as hundreds of little fish skipped in little black schools along the crest of the waves. The muslim fisherman went out just after the call to prayer and within moments, an entire city of a thousand twinkling fishing lights adorned the water. "I love India," I sighed as I raised my sarong skirt and felt the waves splash up onto my thighs. Voila!
We decided we'll stick together unless someone with something to contribute comes along. The kiwis contributed plenty, but a different energy that made things heavier, somehow. Valerie is a lovely woman. She studied for one year with a shaman in Peru and is an ayahuascera/medicine woman who lived in the deep, deep amazon in extraoridnarily primitive conditions. She's tough and spiritual, yet refined. She also happens to be a former fashion model who retired at 30 after an extraordinarily successful career. So, she contributes a bit of fashion to my walk, i.e. she plucked my eyebrows, and I contribute a bit of easy going chit chat with people to hers. We're a great combo and I love her like a sister. We are on the same level. And this is why we flow with India. Even when it sucks, India comes back and surprises us. We're lucky to be here. Lucky to have eachother. And just plain lucky to have both left our western lives for the quest of spiritual awareness and just plain dirty living. Hurray!
So, the avarice we're experiencing. I do believe it's a ripple of the tsunami caused by the financial crisis of the world. Clearly. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we can't escape that people's lives are changing and grasping seems more of a constant in an otherwise tepid realm of consmerism. I'm guessing anyway.So, it seems that just when I despair about India, India regifts me with love and sweetness and 21 elephants with wet snotty trunks that hold my hand as I walk along the row to greet them. I was the first tourist to do this and quickly noticed another ripple -- other tourists shaking hand/trunks with the elephants and beaming with joy. India's not so bad.