Fabulous Fandango turns 17!

Fandango is the annual food/mocktail/cultural fair put on by the students of the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (IHMCT), Kovalam. This was its seventeenth year and it was well-attended by both domestic and foreign tourists (and presumably many local citizens as well). I think this was the second or third time I attended - it was an enjoyable evening but, in my opinion, still showed some deficiencies in both the student's training and organizational skills vis a vis the expectations of international tourists.

Firstly, I think most international tourists expect that when an event is supposed to begin at 6:30 pm that means that when the doors open and guests arrive they will be able to get food and drink immediately not have to wait an (Indian) 5-10 minutes for their meal/beverage. The scene at many of the food stalls was chaotic - perhaps a ticket system which are used in many shops in Western countries could be utilized so that as people arrive they are given a numbered ticket or token. Then when their number is called out they would place their order. And no queue jumping thank you very much - international tourists do not appreciate it when they see others butting in in front of them.

Secondly, punctuality is also a big part of the entertainment program - the 7:00 o'clock start was missed by probably 45 minutes and began with a lot of usual bumpf that quite frankly we're not particularly interested in as foreigners. I think we (again excuse me for speaking for the whole foreign tourist cadre!) would much more enjoy hearing a little bit more about the college and the accomplishments of the students as well as the student body. For example I know that the students come from all over India and are both male and female. I think many would like to learn more about the curriculum,the course duration and costs. Perhaps even a tour of the college facilities could be offered - I think that would be very interesting and informative.

Thirdly, stage set up needs to be sped up. Perhaps two stages could be used so that as one act is finishing the other can be set up allowing for a smooth and speedy transition.

On the plus side the food was delicious and well-priced. The students are endearing - they are so enthusiastic, earnest and cheerful. Waste was being sorted into organic and non-organic (plastic, paper etc). I am hopeful that this means the organic waste was being composted. Kudos for using real plates, glasses and cutlery and keeping the use of disposable items to a minimum. The entertainment was fine although by the time it started many foreign tourists were feeling fatigued and hot and had probably left. I wonder about using those mister systems like I've seen in Vegas to reduce the heat (it wasn't that hot but the combination of so many people and the cooking made it a bit uncomfortable for some I think).

I didn't get many pictures as it turns out that I don't really know how to set my camera properly for taking pictures at night as half the time the flash doesn't work (have to do some research on that) but here are three I did take.

Good to see this prominent display of a safe-sex message

The main stage with dignitaries and traditional lamp (far right)

Very artistically appealing banner for the Chinese food stall

Signs of progress (or not?)

Things are changing here in India although in my opinion many of the changes are little more than window-dressing and do not extend very far into the culture. For example, Kerala State Roadways, which runs both city, suburban and state-wide busses, has added a number of low-floor busses to their fleet (97 according to their website - 46 air-conditioned and 51 non-air-conditioned) and is running them on various routes in the capital city Trivandrum (and perhaps outside it although I am not sure of this). A couple of photos of the inside of one such bus are shown below. Note the lady sitting in the front left hand side of the first picture (in the blue jacket) - this is a female conductor of which there seem to be more and more. Not necessarily an enviable job since unfortunately men in Kerala have a bit of a reputation for groping and giving ladies generally a hard time on the bus (whether employees of the company and/or other passengers).

 
The busses are popular - especially with the younger set who are travelling to the far-off Technopark and must enjoy the comfortably cool and grime-free ride (it is not that the ordinary busses are that dirty but that they do not have windows but instead have metal grills that are used when it rains and are kept up in hot weather and so lots of grit and dirt blows in). Though they look similar to busses in other countries there are some differences - for example I don't think I've ever heard filmi music or the radio being played over the sound system in a Victoria bus and on the busses here in Trivandrum all the 'stop' buttons have been disabled except for one at the front which the conductor pushes to signal to the driver that they are to halt at the next stop to let off passengers.

Another change in the city is the springing up of various fancy, youth-oriented eating establishments. Zinc n Rock is one such example. I had read about it in various online sites and so decided to pay it a visit (I'll be honest - I also wanted to pee and I suspected they would have a decently clean bathroom - which they did, nicely done!). The interior is a medley of black, red and musical themes as the photos below show. I had a delicious cold coffee which was 60 Rs - there are lots of other items on the menu such as burgers, brownies, muffins, chips (fries) etc. It was empty when I arrived and by the time I left 20 minutes later four other people had arrived. My guess is that evenings and weekends it will be packed with the college crowd age-group.

The final glossy change that has occurred is in your choice of shopping venues. The first establishment to appear in Trivandrum was Big Bazaar - what I consider the 'Wal-Mart' of India. I won't shop at BB because of their stringent policy of not letting you in with bags - I am certainly not going to leave my backpack which potentially contains my passport, credit/debit cards and other important items in the care of someone who cares little whether it is safe or not. They also have a mania about making sure that you take everything in a plastic bag - on my one and only visit my attempt to get them to put my single item (a bottle of shampoo as I recall) either directly into my hand or into a cloth bag of my own was unsuccessful. Grrr! Finally, I was not too impressed when I noticed the following sign on my walk by yesterday when I was in Trivandrum. Until their policies change I will continue to shop at smaller, non-franchised, locally-owned outlets.

Vacation is officially over!

I decided to give myself permission to have a 'holiday' before I got down to work on a variety of projects during my stay here - most importantly helping Joy to publicize his business (Ancy's bookstore) which is definitely suffering due to the recession. I think 10 days is more than adequate so real industriousness commenced this morning (Tuesday, January 25, 2011).

During my 'holiday' I've had a couple of trips to Trivandrum and my shopping is just about complete. I bought a very fancy (and expensive - 747 rupees which is getting on for $17 Canadian) tiffin box as well as steel plates, a thermos, coat hangers, a glass mug for morning coffee and other odds and ends. I'm still on the hunt for underwear - Jockey hipster in XXL size - but may have to settle for XL and try to diet into them :-). I have no idea what large Indian ladies (and believe me some of them make me look downright twiggy) wear but it obviously isn't Jockey brand. Perhaps they have panties custom made.

I was really proud of my efforts for about 10 minutes today thinking that I had successfully put all the German books in Joy's collection in alphabetical order by author. But then he pointed out that I'd only done so on 5 of the 15 shelf-fulls. Silly me had not realized that the next two columns of shelves were also German. The 400 or so books are now roughly sorted into A-L and M-Z and tomorrow I'll get them in proper order.

Today my netbook has spent most of its time in the custody of Phil Frampton - a writer from Manchester who is a personal friend of Joy's. He's an accomplished writer and journalist with interesting perspectives on a variety of issues. Phil just arrived yesterday and I'm not sure if he has a project in mind for this visit. Phil's trying to arrange Internet using a USB modem (many jokes about dongles have been bandied about!) so that he can surf from the comfort of his room.

I'll do a little more tweaking of the bookstore website this evening and have a quick look at Twitter. On the exercise front I walked for 30 minutes this morning and jogged very slowly for 55 minutes this evening. May get Retheesh - my friend the yoga master - to teach me some stretching though I am strenuously avoiding sun salutations (although I think they would probably be a perfect solution) since last time I attempted them they made me feel nauseous and light-headed.

'The Hangover' is on TV tonight (on HBO) and I'm tempted to watch it just to see how Indian television handles the salty language that I remember from seeing it at the theatre. I was watching something yesterday and the 'N' word was being used liberally but the subtitles - which are included even when the film is in English - kept saying 'black man' - hilarious! Sometimes they transcribe rather rude words without altering them - for example one starting with 'c' and ending with 'nt' for part of a lady's anatomy - since the censor obviously has no idea that it is an 'objectional' word.

Getting (t)here is half the fun

Just a note - I composed and published this post before I changed the date and time setting on my netbook to Indian time - so although it says January 15 (Saturday) it is actually now Sunday the 16th.

Hello friends! It is Sunday morning at about 9:50 am IST in Kovalam Beach and it is great to be here. Okay - first we'll dispense with the story of travail involved in my flight from London. I left my friend Delia's house about 11:20 pm on Thursday evening (the 14th) as I knew this gave me plenty of time to bump my bags (the Seven Sisters tube station has quite a few stairs) to the underground and catch the last train to Heathrow. Unfortunately I didn't do as much research as I should have regarding the 'last train' situation since I missed - by about 15 minutes - the last train to Terminal 4.

So here I am, at about 12:30 am on Friday the 14th of January, at Terminal 1. I have picked up a buddy - Renzo from Colombia who is also trying to get to Terminal 4 where our flights will depart later today - his at 6:40 am, mine at 8:00 am. After asking random people and wandering out to the bus terminus where cleaning staff and others had told us we could catch a bus to Terminal 4 (but locals standing waiting for the bus told us we could not) we finally had no choice (we thought) but to catch a taxi to Terminal 4 which is about 7 miles distant on a 'non-walkable' route. Luckily I had cash because the taxi driver informed me that they don't accept plastic for fares less than 50 pounds (weird).

If I hadn't shown up I don't know what Renzo would have done since he had no English money, had left his cash card at home and didn't seem to have any funding alternatives at all. So I guess it was my chance to be an angel which was fine - it's only money. The next day a woman told me that there is something called the Heathrow Hopper that goes between terminals for a flat rate (4 pounds I think) but certainly there was no information about that very obvious nor did anyone we speak to know about it. Oh well - better informed for next time.

So around 2:30 am or so we finally arrived at Terminal 4 to find it strewn with sleepers with their heads cushioned on their bags and tucked in to quiet corners. Only Caffe Nero was open so - using my credit card as I was now out of cash other than about 75 pence in coins - I bought Renzo and I coffee. Unfortunately the Caffe Nero at the airport, unlike their in town branches, had no WiFi so had to make time pass reading and such like. Renzo went to check in at about 5:00 am and we hugged goodbye. He had received some bad news while we were sitting - the death of a relative that was expected but he had hoped to see him before he died - and he seemed very fragile. Poor lad - I hope he had a good trip and that he is now in Colombia.

I went down to my check in at about 5:45 am to find that my flight was delayed to 12 noon but that those of us with connections would be taken by bus to Gatwick where we would catch a flight at 9:30 am that would get us into Doha in plenty of time to make our transfers. It was (barely) organized confusion and I must admit that I was disappointed that Qatar Airways didn't handle it better. There was nowhere for us to sit and they kept postponing the time at which the coach was supposed to be coming. Finally at about 7:15 am we were herded out to a bus and taken to Gatwick. I slept a bit on the bus ride which took about an hour. There was no-one to meet us at Gatwick, it was raining, the trolleys needed a pound coin to obtain and once there (we had to get our bags tagged at Heathrow & then take them with us to Gatwick) we had to drop our checked bags and get through security.

Finally - only about 20 minutes late - we took off from Gatwick. I could no longer keep my eyes open and I drifted off several times and was in that weird state where you're not quite sure where you are, who you are and whether you're awake or dreaming. I had mentioned to the woman sitting next to me that as well as being exceedingly sleepy I was also starving so she kept waking me up whenever food presented - which was fine. The food was pretty good and by the time we got to Doha I didn't feel too bad.

We were disgorged out of the plane into one of those bus thingies and whisked to the terminal which was a sea of people with Qatar Airways staff walking up and down calling out and asking for those on flights to Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and a few other destinations that were obviously leaving shortly. Then it was through another security check - which took about 20 minutes to get to the front of the line and through - and on to Gate 20 for boarding the Trivandrum flight. I had time for a quick pee, brushing of teeth and filling up my water bottle at the fountain (it was lukewarm and not the best tasting but I presumed it would be safe). By the time I got to the gate we were boarding and within 25 minutes we were in the air.

As I suspected would happen I ended up next to a couple of Malayali guys who were behaving in the manner I have come to accept as the stereotypical returning home from work/holiday in the Gulf demeanor of the average Kerala male. The one sitting in the window seat was asked to speak to someone at the back of the plane regarding his duty free - perhaps he was over allowance. No sooner were we in the air than the two of them started demanding whiskey which the flight attendant gave them, they tossed off in a few quick gulps and then were asking for more. I think they got two glasses each before they were told that they couldn't have any more or were basically ignored. Then they started demanding water and would sort of shout randomly at flight attendants walking by and would hold up their glasses and request water while she was still serving people a row or two in front of us. My big fear was that the one sitting next to me - who looked a bit queasy after his rapid quaffing of what must have been two triple shots of whiskey - would vomit on me.

As is only natural all this quick ingestion of alcohol means you're going to have to pee. The line up for the washrooms at the back of economy (there were 3) was soon eight or nine men deep. I wanted to go, especially since I know the bathroom at the Trivandrum airport is often not too pleasant to say the least, but while I was waiting we hit turbulence, the seatbelt sign came on and we were all chivied back to our seats. Mr. Queasy next to me kept undoing his seatbelt and making moves like he was going to get up but by this time we had begun our descent and I told him that he wasn't allowed to get up and so he glumly rebuckled his seatbelt and was no doubt thinking highly uncharitable thoughts about me. I personally could have cared less if he had been tossed about the airplane (of course I don't really mean that - or do I?) by turbulence but I would have had to get out of my aisle seat to let him by and I wasn't going to disobey the rules. Such a brown-noser am I!

We landed on time - at the delightful hour of 3:20 am - and joined what could only be described as a MOB of people in the arrivals hall (which believe me is far too grandiose a name for it) of the airport. Despite there being a completed and spectacular looking Terminal 3 travellers are still being subjected to this frankly embarrassingly shabby building. I went to the toilet to find only 1 of the 2(!) cubicles working - the other door, which as I remember contains a squat type Indian toilet was held closed with a piece of string. There was no toilet paper but it was relatively clean although buzzing with mosquitoes. By the time I left there were probably 10 women waiting to go. Not very impressive.

It seemed that three flights - mine, one from Kuwait Airways and one from Emirates - had arrived all at the same time. Now we were all being channeled - although not with sufficient cordons - into three or four roughly formed lines for the FOUR (yes only FOUR) immigration officers checking passports and visas. I stood in line for at least an hour before I made it to the front. Thankfully it wasn't too hot but tempers were starting to fray and it seemed nothing I did could make people happy. Our line was probably 4 or 5 people across and so I let a couple of the Indians from the right hand column go ahead of me - then some Indian guy from a few people behind me came up and asked it I was going to go since I was blocking the people behind and they were getting upset. The guy at the desk heard him and rebuked him sharply - there was lots of Malayalam (the language of Kerala) flying around with the word 'foreigner' occurring frequently.

Within a few minutes I was through this step, the guy at the next stop who looked at my arrival card asked me how long I'd been in line. I replied about an hour and a bit and he said "You must be fed up.". I said no and supplied the usual excuse/explanation - "It's India". "Yes" he replied, "Incredible India!" with a smile. I laughed and went through to pick up my hand luggage - which was being X-rayed yet again - and on to the baggage carousel. There are only two baggage carousels at Trivandrum and since 3 flights had landed the Qatar flight's luggage (I think we must have been first to land) was on the floor off to one side. My bags were easy to find (I think I may have been one of the last people from the Qatar flight to make it through immigration) and within a few moments I was out at the pre-paid taxi counter booking my taxi. At a little after 5:30 am I arrived at the Marina Guest House and as the sun came up on Saturday, January 15, 2011, I was strolling along the beach enjoying the feeling of the sand beneath my bare feet and the waves washing over my toes.

I bathed Indian style (filled a bucket and used the scoop rather than running the hot and cold water through the shower since I suspected that there would be too much temperature variation as the geyser struggled to keep up with the water flow and the shower is also not very powerful) and set out around 8:30 am for coffee at the Leela hotel. I then travelled into Trivandrum to get money from the bank machine, have lunch at Arriya Nivaas (see previous post for details) and do some shopping. I found things quite a bit more expensive - thali lunch is now 110 rupees (up from 90 in 2009 and 75 in the 2 years before that) but otherwise not much different. There is a new air con, low floor bus running between Kovalam Beach, Trivandrum and outlying destinations (most crucially the Technopark) and that is very comfortable although almost twice as much as the regular bus (26 rupees versus 14).

I had a little nap when I got back to Kovalam - which may have been a mistake since I felt awful for the 1.5 hours after it and keep feeling that if I didn't keep moving I would fall into a coma where I sat - but then got a second wind around 8 pm. Dined with Joy on chicken fry, dosa, salad and curry he bought from a new cafe he frequents. Had tiramisu from Tesco - which still seemed okay despite being unrefrigerated in my bag since I left Delia's on Thursday night and arrived at Kovalam Beach - as dessert and then - most exciting - did laundry! There is an old washing machine here at the guesthouse - it is great fun. You fill it up by connecting it to the tap and then set a simple timer to agitate the clothes from 3-12 minutes. There is a normal and a gentle agitation setting. Then you drain the washing compartment by turning the dial to drain and then you can repeat the process and either wash again or simply leave out the soap and rinse the clothes. After you are happy with the cleanliness of the clothes you put them in the other compartment and set the spin cycle which gets them surprisingly dry simply using centrifugal force. I did two loads of laundry and most of it is pretty dry this morning from hanging all night. Some of these clothes will just hang in the cupboard until I leave as they are far too heavy and hot to wear here.

So - I am here and I am happy. The weather is to my mind perfect although I think others are disappointed that it isn't hotter and sunnier. I slept last night without the fan on with just a sheet covering me and it was comfortable. Joy will bring my mosquito net (which is at his house) back today and we'll set it up but I slept last night with repellent as my only defence and think I only got a single bite. Today - I might try and have a massage or a foot reflexology session as I am feeling quite stiff. I'll finish off the tiramisu and tomorrow I'll begin planning out my exercise regime for my time here. I may throw in some yoga and try and regain some of the flexibility that seems to be lost when you get involved more heavily in running. I'll be set up with drinking water by tomorrow at the latest (there is a 20-litre bottle in my room but I asked Joy to get a new base as the one he had looked dubiously grimy) and the Internet is working well. I am currently sitting on my bed composing this posting.

Life is very good and I shall endeavour - over the next few weeks - to update this blog frequently and give you all a taste of life here in paradise. Ciao for now.

Anticipation

Are you old enough to remember this video from Carly Simon? It encapsulates many of my feelings about my upcoming trip to India. There is someone special there for me as well as a strong sense of identification with the country itself which I am at a loss to explain. Perhaps, as I often quip to people when they ask "Why India?" I really did live there in a previous life.

Strangely, my most powerful sense of belonging occurs in Mumbai, which many people find a most challenging city. I simply love it blemishes and all. I doubt I will get there this trip but hope to make a pilgrimage there sometime in the next couple of years to pay my respects to those that died in the the November 2008 attacks. It shook me deeply to see pictures on TV of Cafe Leopold, CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and the Taj Hotel riddled with bullet holes and blood-spattered. Awful.



So tomorrow morning I'll leave on public transit (I don't drive and I'm the ultimate cheapie so don't take the PCL to YVR even though it is much more convenient and faster) to catch the 11:00 am ferry. Then from Tsawwassen a short bus ride to Bridgeport station and then the Skytrain to YVR. I've got three days in London and leave for Trivandrum via Doha on Friday morning London time. I get in to Trivandrum at the delightful time of 3:20 am on Saturday morning. Oh well.

I've got some ambitious goals for the approximately 10 weeks that I'm gone. I want to improve my jogging speed and lose some weight both of which should be achievable since I find myself naturally eating less in the heat and many of the fattening foods simply aren't available (cheese, chocolate, cake) and as you get lighter jogging faster is easier! I want to work on my writing although that's pretty nebulous at this point. Basically I want to come back to Canada with a clearer idea of how I can make a living using my talents and discover and create a passionate, purposeful lifestyle that allows me to reach my full potential.

I don't know how much I'll be tweeting since India is 13.5 hours ahead of Victoria which makes 'real time' participation pretty challenging. By the time the twitterverse is heating up here it's time for bed there. Although Kovalam Beach (my destination - it's the beach resort near the capital Trivandrum) is not that close to the equator the day and night are pretty much equal length so it lends itself much more to early rising and early bedtimes.

I will have more time to update my blog there and so, once I get over the worst of the jet lag and get myself settled in - probably by Monday the 17th of January - I'll start posting articles and pictures. I may have time for a quickie post from London as well - wonder if they've got free WiFi at Heathrow yet? Probably not! More later friends.