Tea Time

Heck, it's the end (almost) of the trip, so why not? I decided to blow off the rest of my meager savings on a trip out to the hill stations of Kerala, where the tea plantations are. Got a package at Olive Brook, a homestay, and woopeedoo and alakazoo, I'm glad I did.

But it was a shock to the system.

Instead of humid backwater/lagoon air, you get the crisp tea-scented breathable air of the mountains.  Breathable!  I haven't had a good breath of fresh air since.. the Turkish Mediterranean coast.  And instead of dust and trash strewn roads, you get rolling fields, hanging precipices, craggy peaks – all the good stuff from alpine views along with a rush of greens – sort of like snorting mint up your nose (but in a good way).

Actually, our driver stopped today to pick up some lemongrass that grew on the hillside and all the greeness is sort of like that also – fresh lemongrass up the sniffler.

It's seriously green. Hopefully I'll take photos tomorrow to prove it.  Today is Sunday, so the plantation workers are off, but with the sunlight hitting just right, and the clouds rolling by just right, and the flowers and birds and streams blooming and singing and gurgling just right... well, it's like a little peace of pastoral heaven. 

I love tea fields now.  Green green green, and cut all even so they track the contours of the hill.. rounded on top, they make me think of little gnomes, heads underground while their bushy green hats plop out, a cover from prying human eyes...

And beef is back on the menu! (This is pure British colonial / Portuguese Catholic country, after all).

Oh, and instead of the usual straggly backpacker crowd, dinner at the lodge last night had me talking to:

• A wife of a US State Department officer on holiday from Delhi;
• Her mother, holding a doctorate in English with enough disposable income (from her real estate investments) to travel the world and teach (e.g. Kenya, China, Nepal), freed from two marriages;
• A Brit and his wife, hailing from Cambridge.. he didn't tell me so, but I'll just remember him as the Professor with impeccable manners; and
• A pharmaceutical executive and her husband

I talked to the dude, since per the 'rules of being a guy' dictated that men cling to each other when surrounded by all women. I also had a beer with him (that was also dictated by ROBAG).

While the women talked about traveling and anthropological stuff, we yapped on safer arm's length issues, like derivatives, hedge funds, leveraged products and all the other adult stuff.  I hadn't touched finance stuff in a year and here in one night, it was like being stuck in a conference room during a prospectus meeting with no exit.

And another thing: Yupno and I descended into bouts of sound effects and noises whenever we talk to each other.. and since we've been traveling by ourselves, I'm afraid that I've lost the ability to converse like an adult.  Last night, whether it was the Bush hijacking of America, or privacy in a terrorized and techo-fast world, or the funny Indian accents.. whatever it was, I found myself kind of ridiculous.. saying not exactly the right words and conveying not really the correct sentiments, but really trying to do so in an adult world, except I felt like a poser somehow.

All I wanted to do was to get my voice back, that mixture of hibernated cynicism and liberated optimism grounded in pure childish imagination. Exactly. But Time, that bastard, moves to fast, and my adult baggage is somewhere up along the road.

Green green green. I feel so colonial. And still so green with the burst of a citrus-sunset from the anvil-yapping dog-choo choo train clouds!

Note: Ever notice how different nationalities talk? The Brits are very self-deprecating, thick with irony.. and very proper.  And Americans to me are annoying, very me-me-me everything relates to me. God help me not be that guy who always talk about his travels or himself... if anything, I'll just refer to my blog. Ha ha. (Har).

when are you coming back, bud?

Posted by: ink | December 01, 2006 at 09:14 PM

if immigration lets me pass, dec 17, fancy.

Posted by: j.fisher | December 02, 2006 at 05:07 AM

wait, so you guys are coming back in 2 weeks?? wow. can't believe it went by so fast!

Posted by: sanguine smile | December 08, 2006 at 06:40 AM