South Asia Trip (Sept - Dec 2002)

Week #11/12 Update

Well, this is my last update and I am writing it from the comforts of my home in Vancouver and my laptop. The familiarity feels so good and I am excited to be back. That feeling might die down soon though. So I left the last update with meeting some cool people in Varkala, Kerala.

The remaining days in Varkala were spent chilling with my new friends - Sooraj, Hamy, Jinu, Kalkal and Ganesh and my newly acquired wife - Tarinee! Yes, for all my days in Kerala I was a married man as everyone just assumed that this young Indian foreigner looking couple must be together! Why else would two young people of opposite sex be hanging around together?

On Saturday we all left Varkala to go to Allepy for Hamy's younger sister's first communion. Tarinee and I checked into a guesthouse and shared a double room for $3.50 each! Spent the two days with Hamy's family (large extended family visiting from all over Kerala for the communion) and friends. Had a great time as I got to experience Keralan culture as a friend of a Keralan and not a tourist roaming around Kerala! Ate some great home cooked food and enjoyed some good company. Both nights we sat around and chilled out. We also had live music as some of the guys play instruments so we were singing songs all night. Best part was when we started singing old Hindi songs! The communion was awesome and the church ceremony was quite long and we only got the tail end of it. It was amazing to see so many Indians in a church and all the kids in white dressed for their communion. I think there were over 100 kids performing their communion. My whole life I have known Indians as Hindu, Muslim and Sikh and to see such a large number of Indians in a church was a first. Imagine hundreds of Indian women in saris in a church! South India has definitely changed and broadened my perception of Indians and I am glad I got to experience it.

One of my favourite moments was after one night when Tarinee and I left for our guest house and were still awake and had a Mickey of rum left over so she and took full advantage of a nice hammock in the sand gardens of our beautiful guest house. We lay on the hammock for a good 2 hours drinking rum and chatting. By the time we went to sleep it was 5 AM. It almost really felt that I was travelling with a wife! Oh well, I had to divorce her the next day as we were going in separate directions so with the traditional Muslim custom I repeated 'Talaak, Talaak, Talaak' to confirm the divorce!!!!!

I finally had to leave for Goa so that I could continue to Mumbai for my flight back to Canada. I certainly did not want to leave after having met those guys in Varkala and I wished I could go back to Varkala and hang out for a few more weeks with them. Meeting them and developing a lasting friendship with them has so far been one of the best things to come out of my trip to India and I look forward to returning to Varkala to see them again. Hamy and Ganesh surprised me and came to see me off at the train station.

My train ride to Goa was uneventful until I reached the station I was meant to get off according to my ticket. I decided to stay on and get off two stations later so I could reach the beach I intended to go to easier. About 10-15 Gujarati men got on and were returning to Ahmedabad after attending an exhibition in Goa. Quite a lively and loud group and we got talking. They were so excited to know that I was a 'Gujarati Bhai' from Canada and conversations were plenty. Also, the train decided not to stop at the station I wanted and I ended up on the train for another hour and the next stop was in some remote town in the state of Maharashtra (north of Goa)! So there I was with a bunch of lively Gujus at 11AM waiting for the freaking train to stop at any station. So I had to catch a rickshaw to this town's bus station, then a local bus back to Goa! This was definitely the one time I was thankful to my parents for teaching me Hindi! Otherwise, I would have been through hell!

Goa was anti climactic after my experiences in Varkala and the number of Israeli tourists was mind-boggling and I felt claustrophobic. Stayed one night at a guesthouse on Chapora beach and it was beautiful but I was alone and Goa was not the right place to be alone. So I contacted family and stayed the next night with my aunt. Her son (my 2nd cousin), Sayju (23 yrs old), and I got along really well and he took me around Panaji (North capital of Goa) and I got to try some good food. Ate a lot of seafood and other street food that was amazing. There is a huge flea market at one of the beach towns in Goa every Wednesday and I got some awesome bargains there as Sayju was with me and his Konkani and Gujarati is much better than mine and all the vendors were mainly Gujarati! Goans are not very entrepreneurial and majority of businesses in Goa are run by Gujus.

Made my way back to Mumbai and had a week to spare with family and shopping. Lots of last minute shopping and I got three new prescription glasses for a total $150! Met some more family members and said my goodbyes. Finally got a chance to spend some quality time with the two uncles that I was staying with. I really did not want to leave and if I did not have a family reunion and a huge DJ gig to return to in Vancouver I would have stayed longer and helped my uncles with their business! My visa still had 3 more months on it.

So here I am back in Canada, which is home for me, yet I feel misplaced in this world having lived half my life in Kenya and the other half in Canada, but being brought up in a very Indian way. All the experiences I have had in the last three months have been amazing and given me a better insight into my own culture and why things are and are not the way they are! Way of African life in Kenya always seemed an African tradition to me but now I know that there are a lot of things that Africans do now that are a direct influence of Indians and their way of life in India. And my thirst to explore S. Asia has increased now and I consider this trip an appetizer, the main meal to come in the next 2-3 years and I sincerely hope that a few of you will have the opportunity/chance/time/money to join me when I go next. I definitely intend to return one more time and for more than 3 months. An ideal would be to quit my job 6 months before World Cup 2006 and make my way to India and then attend the world cup on my way back! There is a seed of thought for any of you that would like to join me. You have 3 years to start planning!

In the end, there are a few lines that I thought of that capture how I feel after my experience. I am no poet but this is an attempt by an engineer!

I do not belong to Kenya anymore, yet she exists in my every childhood memory, I never belonged to India, yet she is the most important part of me, I do belong to Canada, yet she will never fully know who I am.

Thank you all for reading my emails and making me feel that I have close friends and family that I could share this experience with. And for those that replied and kept in touch with me over the 3 months, your words and encouragements and comments made the experience much better.

Till I see you all personally, 

Sameer