Well, here is the last installment for you. Battling my jetlag is not effective - it's light outside already! At least I got this diary thing done and finished.
Pullikkanam, DC School of Management and Technology in Kerala.
Monday, 28th February
I wake up after a restless night at around five-six in the morning. Whenever the birds do. Sounds of awaking rainforest are incredible. So is the sunrise above the mountains. Everything is so calm and peaceful. It would be impossible to be depressed or irritated in this corner of the world. Perfect harmony of all elements. I am not sure if I'd think the same should I come back in rainy season. Six months of pouring rain nonstop.
Nidhin accompanies me to the guesthouse. His English, or at least his daring to speak it has improved so much since we came. He tells me about what they do on campus when they don't study. He plays soccer and cricket and gets involved in just about anything on campus. It is a joy to see him during the day - he is so alive, always laughing, always in the center of a group of people, running from place to place. He also happens to have a body and face of a Greek god and a fast and sharp mind. The young man will not be lost in his life. He is awfully shy around me, but finally this evening he talks somewhat more at ease. He never had to speak English before he came to the school. He understood, more or less, but he really learnt only at this school. I am impressed - he just plunged in and dealt. And dealt well. I putz around on my computer for a bit and fall asleep before Hillel comes back from the computer lab.
Wednesday March 2nd, 2005
I wake up feeling a little better. Still no voice. I start coughing and hack out massive amounts of disgusting solid green element. Good grief, I wonder what the heck it is that I have. Ha, my voice is partially restored. Who really cares, I feel fine. I hum in the bathroom, enjoying my newly found vocal cords.
Hillel is leaving for Madrid this morning. We debrief and head for breakfast. Sudeep and Nidhin are waiting for us. We eat with the students, then say goodbye. Students line up to wave at Hillel. Jeep leaves and comes back multiple times - they forgot someone on campus it seems. I am to meet with the librarian Arun and with Sudeep and Nidhin about the students' project and how to write a project proposal for their fund-raising efforts. They walk with me to find Arun, only to mumble that they have a class which they are already late for. Silly boys. I send them to class, we'll meet later. I decide to walk around, now that I finally have time for myself. It's unbelievably hot, so I wear a tank top and shorts. I pass the boys' hostel, of course they're all hanging out of the window, yelling at me as I walk by. Politely though, that is the Indian way.
Tea plantation
I walk down the dirt road, headed for the mountains. I have to wedge my way through a pack of cows. Or a herd, is it? They sure know they are sacred, they look me down with their large brown eyes asking how dare I disturb their chewing. I find lovely fragrant pink and orange flowers, I stuff my bag with them. I get to the end of a dirt road, there is a gaping valley between me and the mountains. I turn right and head for the rainforest. I come by an impressive rock formation, that seems to be a river channel during the rainy season. There is only a trickle coming through at this time. There is a fence at the edge of the forest. I climb over - I do need to see the rainforest. There is a tiny narrow path leading through the thick greenery. Dozens of birds are announcing my unwelcome arrival. After a few minutes I come across about ten foot long thin bamboo poles with red flags at their ends leaning against a tree. I wonder what they are for. Perhaps to keep track of each other when people come in a group? Perhaps it's a hunting season? Or are these spears of some local nomads? I was told by the students that nomads live in the forests.
