HO-ho-HO

ok-the radio-AIR, which stands for all india radio-the best damn radio in the world is on and that dreadful theme song from the six flags great america commercial (the one where the kid in the old man suit dances all over the place)is playing with malayalam lyrics. i am wondering whose version had come first. the radio in india is one of it's finest treasures. it was created so all people in india would have access to free radio and they managed to set up 98% of the country with access. i remember a friend asking me why i don't need to take my own music with me to india. "why? when all you really need is a transistor radio and some strong indian made batteries!" she did not understand. "won't you miss western music?" "are you kidding? i come here to get away from it! you can't hear the stuff i hear here back home." i love to sponge up the stuff they play here cause it rocks. nowhere in america can you hear all punjabi radio, rajasthani radio (which REALLY impressed me) and tamil/malayalam radio. there is only one station in most of india, and it varies regionally, but the same format. kind of like npr-national public radio. only the languages change, and slightly different style of music, but always great and always fascinating. they play regional, english, and hindi songs-everything from classical ragas to filmi to backstreet boys, john denver and air supply.

i've been feeling lonely and stir crazy. i am counting the days i will be leaving. i am very homesick and have booked my flight back to bombay, which is kind of a pain. i have to take a train north of kochi, taxi to kochi, fly into bangalore and stay a night, fly into mumbai next day, stay another night, then come home. is ANYTHING easy here???
in the midst of my self deprecation, along comes angela, the girl i met from london during cooking class and invites me to dinner at sabrimala. an x-cook from lonely planet stole the magic gravy recipe and opened his own vegetarian restaurant. this is a good sign, cause i've been feeling anti social, blue, and i would have just sat around for the next 3 days moping and feeling sorry for myself. the holidays depress me. i have no family and i am away from home for the third year in a row. ho ho ho. i know-it's my choice, but it's still sad ass.

the island (i call it this because it feels like a tropical island cut off from the rest of india) is now filled with obnoxious europeans with their ill behaved children. my hotel chock full of screaming danish babies that like to play basketball outside my room at midnight. obviously they don't have to get up at 6 to do yoga. i just stuff my ears with my squishy ear plugs, close my windows and pray for SOME sleep. such a commodity.
HO-HO-HO