FiVe HuNDReD MiLeS

After the Topslip jungle I was to encounter the media jungle. I was trying not to get lost in the wide choice of Indian tv channels for a whole afternoon, evening and night. I got a decent room with “thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from”(Pink Floyd-Nobody Home, The Wall). I was saved by Mr Murugan`s temple from a total braiwash. Great food and fruit from street vendors helped too.
Lord Murugan Temple, Palani

I went to the hills the next day instead. Bus, 2 kilometres of altitude, Kodaikanal. Mild temperatures, proces rising with the altitude. Kodaikanal is a popular destination for the Indian tourists, who come to cool down a bit. Despite this fact I managed to get a room for a few bucks and cheap dos {trad. Indian food, author`s note} A typical problem of places visited by Indian tourists are, well…the tourists themselves.

Crowds of high shool kids are nice, if you wanna feel like a film star. But the blend of their curiosity and inability to make a logical sentence in English becomes a sore after a couple of hours. I stayed too long in India this time probably :-} It bogs me that great part of school education is in English. Most of the time, the spoken competence is awful and it boils down to “Hello!” and “You from?”, usually uttered somewhere behind your back. One feels like an ape being tested for reactions to some words.
But actually it is not their fault. It is caused by their curiosity, shyness and partly by the method of education. I still like them, A little.

Kodaikanal