Hollaaaaaa
India is madness. The aesthetic here on stuff like political posters is totally insane. I'll post pics when I get a chance. Basically the politicians are all these film stars and they sort of run dynasties. One of the parties main dude's son whose a lieutenant director or something is named Stalin. Random. Not by coincidence either but a reference to the Russian (Georgian) dictator.
The kids at felix's school rock. They're pretty hilarious. They are super amused by the fact that I'm Chinese. I'm not even going to bother explaining to them that I'm half because of the language barrier but they get really excited to ask me how to say stuff in mandarin. After I tell them they run off giggling. Since this isn't America people aren't super paranoid about pedophiles and the kids are just like more affectionate. Like try to tickle you and hold your hand a lot. It's pretty funny/awkward. But yea literally everyone I've met at this school pretty much remarks with amazement that I'm Chinese. I don't think most of them have ever seen an East Asian person before. We're pretty out in the cuts though so it sort of makes sense. Since it's a theatre school they're also constantly singing and dancing. Another cool thing in India is when you're an adult people add "sir" to the end of your first name. So here, to the kids at least, I am Misha Sir.
Kids:
We all eat the meals communally here and the kids are afraid I'm not gonna be able to eat with my hands so they ask me if I need a spoon pretty often. I think I'm managing quite well though. Here, since the cups aren't super washed and sort of communal, everyone pours the water into their mouth without touching the cup to their lips. Think middle school sharing. Anyways hilarity ensued as I spilled on myself. The food is all vegetarian which here is always shortened to just "veg" and it pretty dank. It's always like rice, or curded rice, and some sort of vegetable mush. It doesn't sound amazing but it tastes pretty damn good.
Yesteday after lunch we went into Kanchipuram. We made the mistake of going during pretty much the hottest part of the day. Luckily the autorickshaw prices are something like 50 cents so we can ride in style. These vehicles are made for like 5-6 people. Yesterday we had 9 which was cozy. Felix said he topped out at 14 once. You basically cram and people sit on your feet and stuff. The lady next to me was missing an eye and had her lid sown shut. It was sort of awkward. Not gonna lie.
Kanchipuram is known for two things, temples and silk. And boy did we see temples. Like 3. And they're all really awesome. In a lot of countries temples are sort of relics of the past, kept around as heritage sites. Here they're totally used everyday a few are well over a thousand years old. When you figure that there's probably 4-5 generations in a century that's totally insane. We ate at the most expensive restaurant in Kanchipuram and we really splurged. I mean we got a ton of food. And like 3 beverages. and it came out to $8. How crazy is that? literally way more than we could eat. The most expensive thing on the menu is this thing where it's like 6 small bowls of curries and sauces and dessert with flatbread and it costs 150 ruppees which adds up to a hot $3. It was mad dank. Afterwards we hit up the bank and went back to the school.
Temple stuff:
Later in the afternoon we went for a bike ride and saw more temples. It's funny because since Felix is white and I'm Asian (or at least half) everyone in the street says hi to you. Literally everyone just yells "hello, what is your name, where are you going?" These random kids totally hopped on the backs of our bikes and we gave them a ride home. Pretty random. Behind one of the temples is a communal pond for like washing clothes and stuff and we saw a kingfisher bird doing it's thang. It's pretty cool, youtube it. Straight planet nature stuff.
Women at Ghat:
Kingfisher:
Last night I managed to get only 6 mosquito bites, which according to felix isn't mad. I was not pleased. Today we're gonna grab some beers, hit up some more temples, and go back to that same restaurant. But not in that order.
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