Kochi, Kodaikanal and Chennai

KOCHI

Kochi, aka Cochin, is a coastal city scattered across a number of islands, with a melting pot of histories - Malayali (far southwestern India), Arab, Chinese, Jewish, Portuguese, Dutch... Fort Cochin, the tourist center of the town, is set up to make foreigners feel at home - nice guesthouses, cafes for European-style hanging out - to an extent that starts to feel almost weird after a bit, but it was a nice place to hang out for a couple days, exploring the town and the nearby Backwaters, an extensive network of lush islands and lakes and canals.

This was the main part of my trip where I was actually alone, rather than with friends or friends of friends, so the first thing that happened was - I made lots of new friends. Morning at the Kashi Art Cafe: I'm just finishing out hanging out over a late breakfast when a 60s-ish British man asks if he can share my table - everything else is full. No problem, I say, and I'm about to go anyway. But then we get to talking - about health care, politics, travel, our lives, the weeks of trekking he just completed in the Himalayas (and he's 64 years old!!)

Turns out we were both thinking of going to a dance performance that night, and the beach the following day, so we do those things together. On the bus ride to the beach (which is an adventure in its own right...) we meet two exuberant young French Canadian guys and spend the day all together at the beach, playing frisbee in the waves.

In other words, even alone, I'm never alone unless I want to be.


KODAIKANAL

is a hill station up in the Western Ghats, reached by a tortuously winding but stunning mountain road, that seems to draw drifters and seekers of peace and calm. Together with Maike (a German friend of a friend) and Ben (a random extra German we picked up along the way) I stayed with Avi (our generous host through Couchsurfing, a website where travelers can find local hosts and vice versa). He and his friend Vivek took us on an amazing hike through the jungle/forest/whatever it was and introduced us to their quirky friends (the self-designated local guru got very concerned about me and decreed that I should cancel my flight and stay in Kodaikanal for a couple months).

Then totally by accident, I ended up lighting Chanukah candles with a Lubavitcher (ultra-orthodox Jewish) rabbi from Israel and his wife and baby in a truly miniscule Indian village on the side of a mountain. Thinking the whole time: My life is so ridiculous and wonderful right now.


DEPARTURE

I arrived back in Chennai (the city that is my arrival and departure point in India) this morning on an overnight train; I fly to Germany tonight. I both can't believe this trip is already almost over and can't believe I experienced everything I did in just three weeks.

It's ironic: All these people come to India to find themselves and seek spirituality and follow gurus and whatever else, and that's never been me. I never even particularly had my sights on India as a travel destination - it was more an accident, that a friend happened to be living here and suggested I come visit. I certainly came here knowing full well that India would be chaotic, loud, dirty, intense, all of that. I knew better than to come to India, of all places, to seek peace and inner balance.

Strangely, that's precisely what I've been finding these past weeks.