“Attack on the Senses” Explained…
People who have been to India often say that the experience is an “attack on the senses”. I now understand why, and it’s for that reason that I’m really starting to love my time here. Funnily enough, I didn’t consciously realize this until yesterday. It hit me as I was walking to collect Nerrel for work, and I heard the “soap-boy” guy calling out what sounds like “soap-boy” (but really is “sapoo”, which means green leafy vegetables) from somewhere close by. I usually hear him as he cycles past the guest home in which I’m staying, early in the morning, along with the call of the “I know” bird. I call it the “I know” bird because it sounds like it’s calling out “I know”. I was told by the husband of my host, that it’s actually a minor bird. Either way, both sounds are pleasant alternatives to the rude-awakening of a traditional alarm.
On my way to collect Nerrel every morning (except Saturday or Sunday), I will often walk by: various species of cows, some of which feed directly off low-hanging tree leaves; several stray dogs, often sifting through small piles of rubbish on the roadside; a few workmen and workwomen, prepared to haul and heave for the day on local construction sites (very impressive to watch); and a few other people, who look set for various other daily activities, especially IT-related, given the www.website-name-here.com t-shirts many adorn.
I also frequently get a whiff of a manure-slash-urine concoction (albeit, not as frequently as I did in Hampi), some rotting fruits, and the sweet smell of a jasmine hair train.
The taste of Shirley’s sweet, milk, tea, usually lingers in my mouth and I start to think about the evening meal Shirley will be preparing for us that day. Shirley is the owner/manager of the guest house that I’m staying in with some of the other volunteers. She is an absolutely fabulous cook, so much so, that I’ve only eaten out approx. 3 times during the week since I’ve been here. I really have no idea of what I’m eating half the time, but it’s always so, so, SO, good.
Every walk I take here I’m entertained by something that appeals to, or shocks, my senses: the fabulous, ornate, chalk + something-else-that-produces-red-marks, designs that many home-owners draw on the roadside in front of their front door/gate; or, as I saw yesterday, an open-air funeral down a side road that seemingly lasted most of the day (it was there when I went to school in the morning, and when I returned in the afternoon).
Yesterday, I also had the pleasure of purchasing and eating a freshly steamed corn cob from a push-cart going by. It was sprayed with lime juice, rubbed in chili-salt, then handed to me in a corn-husk.
I could go on and on about all the “little things” that call my senses into action here on a daily basis. They all continue to enthrall and draw me into the local way of life; just as I had hoped ;-).
Tags: Travel
libbyswan
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