That was my Tamilnadu

Dear Sam,

I left Kanyakumari and right now I'm sitting in the very politically historical Indian Coffee House in the Keralan capital Trivandrum. All of the employees of this chain coffee place even share ownership. The communist leader Ayillah Kuttiari Gopalan (aka AKG) made all this possible by supporting the workers in the 1950's. Today India has 400 ICH and around 51 in Kerala alone. Lonely Planet suggested it and since I had to stop here to get to Varkala anyway, I thought I'd honor them (tihi) by having my late lunch here. Let's see how the coffee tastes here. You know that I stopped drinking coffee here in India because it tastes neither like hot water, nor like make-me-feel-puke syrup, nor like tea, nor like coffee or may be like everything I mentioned.

Okay, der Kaffee haut mich nicht um, aber er ist in Ordnung.The main attraction of this ICH where I'm sitting is its architecture. It's got 4 levels and no stairs! So you can literally walk uphills and downhills. Vivienne would have had fun playing here and oh my God my Poori Masala looks poisonously red.

I went to visit the Vivekananda Rock this morning, the last rock at the southest tip of the cape where he meditated most probably on the 25th, 26th and 27th of December in 1892. First I thought he might had taken a boat there. But no, he SWAM there and meditated about India. Well, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar swam the Damodor river to visit his ill mother (a legend), so why can't Swami Vivekananda swim that little part among the three seas for the greater mother India?

Just next to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial stands the Indian Statue of Liberty. No kidding! It does look like one! It's the statue of the very famous and celebrated Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. It's 133 feet high commemorating the 133 chapters of  his ancient ballads "Thirukkural", is a work of more than 5000 sculptors and was erected in 2000. I'm pretty much sure it will turn blueish green like Liberty by the year 2227 :-D.

Thiruvalluvar was a great thinker (... yes, philosopher might be the proper word). Have you read or even heard of his "Thirukkural"? You should. The morals and philosophy of these verses could be adopted as a lifestyle like Yoga (Yoga is just not a sport, it's a lifestyle! Never make that mistake!). I first came to know about Thiruvalluvar in Chennai while we were visiting the Valluvar Kottam Memorial. Bala and Vinay took us there. It was my second week in India. I'm thinking of getting the whole "Thirukkural" when I'm back in Munich. Somehow I think Thiruvalluvar is more spiritual than Vivekananda. For me the Swami is more like a political and moral leader than a spiritual one. May be because I'm not a sister from America ;-).

So, my journey towards the unknown resumes. I almost wanted to bite my hand when I went to the "main busstand" in Kanyakumari bacause they had real cheap government run lodging for 150 Rs. a night. Fudge! I was waiting for the so called direct bus to Trivandrum which never came. Then after a long long time a bus driver told me to hop in and took me to the busier and more central Nagarcoil. This reminded me of my journey by buses through half the length of Goa (twice: first time with Alina, Linnea and Victoria and the second time with Jules). From Dabolim (first time)/ Madgaon (second time) to Vasco to Panaji to Mapusa to Pernem to Arambol encountering really-weird-things-at-that-time-and-really-funny-things-right-now kind of experiences. Tell you some other time. I survived that! I can survive anything related to buses in India. The journey itself is always quite enjoyable if you get a window side seat, but it is ALWAYS the "waiting" that makes my brains boil (I don't know how else I can describe the feeling -.-).

"You just sit and wait half of your day in India" - Quote Jules. She is right. And this is how India taught me patience (and Mathieu anger ... lol).

It's raining cats and dogs and I think I'm the only person in the ICH now. Okkaay, writing letters to my secret love while listening to Taylor Swift with a cup of Indian filter coffee in a humid Indian rainy day sounds really cool, but the creepiness around me is not so cool at all.

So, I'll hit the roads, or better said, the rails.

<3 - TZ
06.05.13