January 1-3, 2015 -- In India

Happy New Year, Everyone!

New Year’s Day, we boarded the 3 o’clock Elephant to parts unknown. Our mahout (pronounced ma- hot) seemed to know the English words for many animals and birds and was good at spotting things, stopping Coleena (his elephant) whenever we wanted to take a photo,  or even backing her up if need be. 

It was just amazing to be sneaking through the underbrush atop our huge elephant, and yes, it DID seem like sneaking – because the spotted deer, sambar deer, tree full of langurs, and even a kingfisher that we passed by very close, appeared unware of us – or at least, not threatened by a common, garden-variety elephant. It was SO peaceful. Coleena would pause every now and again when she came upon a favourite plant or small tree, and use her trunk to strip off a large bunch of succulent leaves which she stuffed into her mouth – not caring much that Mahout was against it. One thing that was surprising to us was that Coleena could negotiate very narrow paths – as if she actually puts on foot in front of the other – or ALL feet in front of each other.  Hard to imagine how she could climb up out of the river on a two-foot wide dirt path without toppling over on one side or the other because of sheer bulk. Good at balancing. Made me think of Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants. 

Spotted Deer

Langur

I want an elephant.

Today we awoke to gentle rain, which has become slightly heavier and does not look like it will be abating. So, we used some of the morning before breakfast to organize photos and get emails written. It seems to be warm enough to sit out on our veranda (in outerware, as the sun is not out to really heat things up) so we can actually get out without getting WET.  But, we do have our trusty collapsible umbrellas with us, so a walk out to the main road is a definite possibility for this afternoon. (We didn’t go.)

It rained the entire day, as it turned out. Poured until night, and then again during the night. Today, however, has been cloudy/sunny but no rain, so we had a chance to walk up the road for an ATM (yes, Folks, they’re EVERYWHERE!) some Kleenex, and to do some scouting.

We saw several  Grey Hornbills feeding in a tree, and the raucous sounds coming from another tree turned out not to be Hornbills (as we thought) but Peacocks.  We came across a good co-ed school on the main road – read the sign – fairly dilapidated – and waved to girls inside who wanted to say hello to us, but did NOT want to be caught in a photo. Public schools here, even the good schools, are in a very run-down condition by our standards. We take our modern or upgraded, well equipped, well-stocked places of learning for granted. Cute, cute kids inside, BTW.

School girls

Passed  a tiny little Doctor’s Office on the way to the ATM (Bank of India).

Doctor's Office

Here’s something–

Outside our abode is a stand of bamboo, and it totally looks like it came from the Dollar Store.

Granted, it IS tall, and I doubt the Dollar Store would have this size, but still . . .  The stalks appear to have been stained turmeric yellow, and painted with fine dark green lines of various thicknesses. They just look so FAKE!  Does all bamboo look like this?

"Dollar Store" Bamboo?

Tomorrow morning, we leave at 7 a.m. in a hired car for Delhi (250 km)  and to give you an example of road conditions here (and traffic as we approach Delhi) this trip will take a minimum of 6 hours. 

The following day, Monday, we fly to Kochi (or Cochin – if you still have the old Atlas).  If anything good happens on our way to Delhi, I shall report it.