After spending a few days alone in Chennai, I was happy to receive a text from Aruna inviting me to come and stay at her home again on Saturday.
I had an unpleasant sleep during the night thanks to bed bugs. I was generally pleased with my hotel room until I had to kill the bloody blood sucking parasites. Oh well. There was no use in asking for another room as I would be only spending one more night there. Perhaps I'll write a negative review on trip adviser to be amongst the other negative reviews on there. Anyway, I was up, ready and itching to go by half 6 in the morning.
I got the usual 7:50 train to Katpadi Junction, then the bus to Chittoor. This time, Aruna's brother Sunil met me at the bus stand. He took me to a tea stall and then some small restaurant for a milk-like-beverage. God knows what is was and what was in it, but it sure was nice! He then took me to meet a friend of his. I'll be damned if I can remember his name or what he looked like now. I know it sounds a bit callous of me, but people here are always wanting to show me off/introduce me to their friends and family, that I have had to digest so many names and personal information in such short time, it's impossible for my brain to retain it all.
So after meeting another friend of his, we finally started to head to his village - Malla Kunta. Once we reached the more quiet roads, he pulled over and said I could drive the scooter for the remainder of the journey. I was well up for it and since I had a moped when I was 16, I was already familiar with driving one. Well, it doesn't take a genius to drive a twist and go anyway.
But these were Indian roads and as I have mentioned before, they are extremely chaotic compared to the roads that I'm used to driving on. Oh, and health and safety does not exist here which I think is great! It's nice to ride a two wheeler without having to wear a helmet. Hell, it was just an exciting experience driving on seemingly lawless roads. I even passed by a police station; whoops, I do not have an Indian licence. But fuck it, who cares? No one does here. It's a breath of fresh free air since I come from a country that seems to becoming more authoritative by the year.
So yeah, I was lapping up the fact that I was the one beeping the horn, rather than the one being beeped at. In India, horns are going off all the time; when they overtake, when they turn, when they're about to run you over if you don't move the fuck out of their way.
It was a fairly long journey; must've taken nearly an hour to finally get to Malla Kunta. We did stop for a quick cup of tea though. Once we arrived, I met Aruna and her cousin at her aunt and uncle's home. I went with them, quite far out in the sticks, to get some fruit from trees (no idea what they're called). I didn't like them myself as found them to taste a bit too bitter for my liking. There's also a massive, deep well there which they used to swim in as kids, but due to there not being enough rainfall now, it has all dried up and nature has claimed it. Possibly the effects of global warming?
Afterwards, we headed back to Aruna's home and I met her family once again. Although I can't understand Telugu (the official language of Andhra Pradesh. Every state in India has a different language in case you didn't know), and they can't speak English, her mother and grandmother often speak to me anyway, often using hand gestures to help convey what they are saying. They seem like really nice people and regardless of the language barrier, I still felt really welcome at their home. It's a wonderful cultural experience spending time with a rural Indian family, I must say.
Sunil took me to their plot of land out in the fields where they have some mango and coconut trees. He bashed down some coconuts from the tree and used his sickle to cut open the shell of the coconuts to get to the milk, of which we then drank. I genuinely love eating and drinking from the land, which I had never experienced before. It just feels...right. And very tasty too!
When we returned back to their home, I met more of Aruna's friends and family. I went with a few lads back to their home where their mother made me some hot milk. I chilled there only for a little while before meeting his father - who is the local tailor, and a few more family members. By time I returned back to Aruna's home, she had pretty much cooked dinner, so it wasn't too long before I starting tucking in to some chicken curry. Not long after I finished, I turned in for the night.
The following morning, Aruna made me some tea and also cooked some sambar rice for breakfast. I then got on Sunil's scooter with him and Aruna and they took me to chittoor where I then made my way back to Chennai. All in all, another lovely time spent in Malla Kunta. It may just be a small rural village, but I do enjoy it there and find the people to be very friendly and pleasant.
It's good to just get away from the modern era and away from people fixated to their technology; people in England are so dependent on it that on the rare occurrence a power cut happens, people start to panic and melodromatically whine how bored they are. Oh boohoo. No television to keep them lobotomised for a whole half hour or so. It's an everyday occurrence here and people just get on with work, or sip some tea, or cook; perhaps they will socialise with one another! Anyway, you get the gist. So yeah, it's just good to get away from the trivial melodrama of first world problems.
I had an unpleasant sleep during the night thanks to bed bugs. I was generally pleased with my hotel room until I had to kill the bloody blood sucking parasites. Oh well. There was no use in asking for another room as I would be only spending one more night there. Perhaps I'll write a negative review on trip adviser to be amongst the other negative reviews on there. Anyway, I was up, ready and itching to go by half 6 in the morning.
I got the usual 7:50 train to Katpadi Junction, then the bus to Chittoor. This time, Aruna's brother Sunil met me at the bus stand. He took me to a tea stall and then some small restaurant for a milk-like-beverage. God knows what is was and what was in it, but it sure was nice! He then took me to meet a friend of his. I'll be damned if I can remember his name or what he looked like now. I know it sounds a bit callous of me, but people here are always wanting to show me off/introduce me to their friends and family, that I have had to digest so many names and personal information in such short time, it's impossible for my brain to retain it all.
So after meeting another friend of his, we finally started to head to his village - Malla Kunta. Once we reached the more quiet roads, he pulled over and said I could drive the scooter for the remainder of the journey. I was well up for it and since I had a moped when I was 16, I was already familiar with driving one. Well, it doesn't take a genius to drive a twist and go anyway.
But these were Indian roads and as I have mentioned before, they are extremely chaotic compared to the roads that I'm used to driving on. Oh, and health and safety does not exist here which I think is great! It's nice to ride a two wheeler without having to wear a helmet. Hell, it was just an exciting experience driving on seemingly lawless roads. I even passed by a police station; whoops, I do not have an Indian licence. But fuck it, who cares? No one does here. It's a breath of fresh free air since I come from a country that seems to becoming more authoritative by the year.
So yeah, I was lapping up the fact that I was the one beeping the horn, rather than the one being beeped at. In India, horns are going off all the time; when they overtake, when they turn, when they're about to run you over if you don't move the fuck out of their way.
It was a fairly long journey; must've taken nearly an hour to finally get to Malla Kunta. We did stop for a quick cup of tea though. Once we arrived, I met Aruna and her cousin at her aunt and uncle's home. I went with them, quite far out in the sticks, to get some fruit from trees (no idea what they're called). I didn't like them myself as found them to taste a bit too bitter for my liking. There's also a massive, deep well there which they used to swim in as kids, but due to there not being enough rainfall now, it has all dried up and nature has claimed it. Possibly the effects of global warming?
Afterwards, we headed back to Aruna's home and I met her family once again. Although I can't understand Telugu (the official language of Andhra Pradesh. Every state in India has a different language in case you didn't know), and they can't speak English, her mother and grandmother often speak to me anyway, often using hand gestures to help convey what they are saying. They seem like really nice people and regardless of the language barrier, I still felt really welcome at their home. It's a wonderful cultural experience spending time with a rural Indian family, I must say.
Sunil took me to their plot of land out in the fields where they have some mango and coconut trees. He bashed down some coconuts from the tree and used his sickle to cut open the shell of the coconuts to get to the milk, of which we then drank. I genuinely love eating and drinking from the land, which I had never experienced before. It just feels...right. And very tasty too!
When we returned back to their home, I met more of Aruna's friends and family. I went with a few lads back to their home where their mother made me some hot milk. I chilled there only for a little while before meeting his father - who is the local tailor, and a few more family members. By time I returned back to Aruna's home, she had pretty much cooked dinner, so it wasn't too long before I starting tucking in to some chicken curry. Not long after I finished, I turned in for the night.
The following morning, Aruna made me some tea and also cooked some sambar rice for breakfast. I then got on Sunil's scooter with him and Aruna and they took me to chittoor where I then made my way back to Chennai. All in all, another lovely time spent in Malla Kunta. It may just be a small rural village, but I do enjoy it there and find the people to be very friendly and pleasant.
It's good to just get away from the modern era and away from people fixated to their technology; people in England are so dependent on it that on the rare occurrence a power cut happens, people start to panic and melodromatically whine how bored they are. Oh boohoo. No television to keep them lobotomised for a whole half hour or so. It's an everyday occurrence here and people just get on with work, or sip some tea, or cook; perhaps they will socialise with one another! Anyway, you get the gist. So yeah, it's just good to get away from the trivial melodrama of first world problems.
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