On our way to Kerala

Hey we're on the train now to Kochi. The train kinda rocks side to side and jerks every now and then, its a bit freaky and hopefully my handwriting doesn't look like crap. I feel like I'm a tad more paranoid than the average person about dieing while moving around and derailed train comes second only to a plane crash. Don't worry I'm not overly paranoid just a teensy bit. 

Alritey so yesterday we went around parts of Madras. We started with a boat ride since the city is along the Bay of Bengal and the area's really pretty. Not quite as great as Kerala but still green. We saw a lot of birds, I could've used your help with em :) Mostly pelicans, cranes and some little guys I didn't know. I liked the little ones cuz they flew close to the water surface dragging their feet and their wings made tiny splashes with every beat. So every time our boat neared they'd skim out trails and pepper water everywhere. Otherwise, the ride was just relaxing whenever the boad didn't seem on the verge of tipping over (it was real small with a powerful motor). Then we went to an alligator sanctuary. There were just a ton of alligators lounging around. A lot of them rest with their mouths open which makes them look like they're dead which was a bit creepy. There were also a bunch of turtle and snake species which were cool. They didn't have any King Cobras which I was hoping to see, speaking of which we saw a snake charmer in Delhi. We only watched for about a second; the fact that there's a loose cobra and all the guy's using is a flute isn't all that reassuring. 

After the croc place we drove by the coast for a while. Like I said on fb we didn't walk around mostly cuz we couldn't get in and were pressed for time. After we picked up Madhirika from college she took us to this massive mall. The place was huge, I have some pictures, but it's surprising how many large shopping centers there are. We saw at least 5, of which this was the largest, and though Madras is a big city, considering the median income I don't get how all these malls are sustainable. I got to eat subway for part of dinner and tried on their Indian kinds. it was like a regular grilled chicken but the chicken was made tandoori style (just baked with chilli and some spices) and had some strange sauce on it but it was good. After that we just looked around for a while and checked out the movie theater which was a lot cheaper than at home :-/ As we were heading out we saw a strange spa where you could get your feet cleaned by fish. You stick your feet in tanks with tiny fish that apparently eat away dirt and dead skin. So of course we tried it :) It was the strangest experience, it was similar to the prickly sensation you get from your leg falling asleep except you could see the fish doing it... 

It was late by the time we finished up so we headed home. Today we mostly hung out with the fam but ran some errands too. My mom got a couple of saris and we picked up some dance stuff for Sweta. We also finally got the sweets we're bringing home. You wanna but them as late as possible so they're fresh but Kerala sweets are very different from the kind we like so we saved picking em up for our last day in Madras. Good sweet shops have so many different options, it's kinda like walking into a cheese shop in France... They have a lot of pastries and fresh desserts that you can eat at the bakery. Indian cake and pastry is usually soaked in juice so it's sweeter than US cakes and the frosting is different; I enjoy eating it a few times but only a few. The rest of the shop, about two solid walls, are dedicated to traditional sweets. We had to limit ourselves a bit since we needed stuff that would be good for a few weeks but that still allowed for most of my favorites :) Plus obviously we had to sample everything, even the stuff we weren't considering getting so it was pretty delicious. I'll bring you some when we're back hopefully you like em. That was about it before we hopped on the train. Saying goodbye to everyone especially ammumma and thatha was sad :-/

Trains are always feel germ nasty and seem a bit ominous like I mentioned but I still enjoy them. They remind me of when we used to live here. Anyways I'm off to bed soon so goodnight. I'm guessing it's really lat in japan so sweet dreams :)

-Sanj