Letter from India Greetings all! Hum to hain pardes mein des mein nikla hoga chaand!
Wish I could say that I did not miss dear old US of A, our des now, but would I lie to you?
This old desi heart does beat for MA even though days here are filled with food and fun (in that order)!
With the advent of the monsoons, the lush greenness of Kerala is a sight to behold. I am constantly surprising and disturbing strangers by breaking into song about my Kerala.
Dodging puddles and potholes on the roads is now a piece of cake after a hair raising (pun intended) ride in a Transport Bus from Kochi to my maika in Kalady I had to share the tale with you all.
Our bus was driven by a macho mustachoed Mallu with scant regard for rules of the road. Throwing driving etiquette to the winds, the bloke let testerone drive the lumbering vehicle. His face turned sideways, yelling out the choicest of galis to pedestrians, and fellow motorists while honking wickedly we drove on. Other drivers, equally reckless, showed their respect by getting out of harms way but even this bus could not faze the stalwart cows that looked up from their slumber at the approaching vehicle and went right back to sleep. The driver called the cow, and her forefathers some colorful names and passed by her.
The brats and I sat, guitar, suitcases and all, sandwiched between two big mustaches. The bus brimmed with healthy folks and a particularly fierce bump on the road brought an aunty with an ample behind pat omn my lap. After an initial apologetic smile, she made herself right at home and we rode on with her perched on my knees. Looking around my worst fears were confirmed, almost everyone on the bus had someone riding on their laps.

We rode along placidly, our stupor temporarily broken when spotting a strolling elephant on the road, the mahout dodging traffic, the brats , all excited almost jumped out the window. Not another brow in the bus was raised, in Kerala , bless her, such sightings, apparently are pretty common place.
The tooth rattling, bone breaking Auto Rickshaw drive home is fodder for another piece so you’ll hear about it another time. The moment I started to relate these experiences, the newspaper was thrust on my face by a beaming relative. “ Indian actress and kin detained at US airport” screamed the headline. It related in some detail, the travails of beloved Mallu heroine Samyukta Varma, her family and co-stars when they were detained and questioned at NY on suspicion of being terrorists! Apparently, the gang, jabbering away in Malayam and goofing off (as we Mallus are prone to do), alarmed a high strung passenger. That person , not used to the lingo or such boisterous behavior in the skies alerted the authorities and you know the rest of the story.
"Well, you can jabber away in Swahili or any blessed language all you want, point at elephants and napping cows on the roads in India and not be taken away for questioning.", pointed out my kin, gleefully, . Got to grant them that!
With Mamta threatening to break Vajpayees back and Sunjay Dutt chatting up the mafia, the papers are full of juice stuff I can’t wait to get back and relate to you folks! Anyway, take care, dear readers, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t!

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