Sunil asked me to come and stay in Chittoor for the weekend, and, since I had no plans to do anything in Vellore now, I thought sod it and left Katpadi a couple days earlier than planned to do so; the benefits of travelling independently.
So I checked out of the hotel and caught the bus to Chittoor bus stand where Sunil waited for me. As usual he got me a small cup of tea from a tea stall. He had some things he needed to quickly get done so I just sat and waited for him. I saw a shop opposite advertising toy guns and got lost in a train of thought: It is somewhat disturbing giving kids a chance to reenact violence and murder with toy gun, isn't it? What is bizarre is that they are not allowed to play violent video games or watch gory films, but they can pretend to kill eachother with toys - which I suppose could inadvertently lead to injury thinking about it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think kids should be banned from imitating a solider in a war or whatever. I just saw this advert whilst sitting and sipping tea and thought the hypocrisy amusing is all.
Anyway, so I sat and thought about trivial shit waiting for Sunil to come back. Once he did, we set off to find a place to drink beer. He drove quite far from the town and stopped at a liqueur store and got me a bottle of Knock Out beer - aptly named seeing as it is 8%. We sat down by a table, chatted and I also had another beer called Kingfisher which is just as strong. I guess the people here in India don't do weak shit eh? I had about the equivalent of four pints before we set off back to Chittoor, feeling slightly tipsy of course.
Sunil took me along to a cricket game he and his friends played. As a non-sports person, frankly, I found my time at the playing field boring. I did try and keep myself entertained by playing my uke, but then people wouldn't leave me alone. Suffice to say people were more interested in me than their cricket match; can't say I blame them since cricket is so boring.
After about two hours of boredom, we finally left. We visited his aunties tailor shop and then drove to her house with her and her daughter to meet more of their family. They were very pleasant people. His aunt gave us some tasty milk ice-cream and told me about her time spent working in Saudi Arabia. She also showed me her daughters English school work which I must say is very good! She can spell and punctuate better than a lot of the illiterate people on my Facebook (ironic since a lot of them spout the old "you're in England so speak English" retort when being xenophobic pricks. They would do well to heed their own words!)and she's only 10 or 11 years old! After spending some time there conversing with his family, we headed off and I got booked in to the same hotel I stayed at last time I was in Chittoor. I had initially planned to attend Sunil's friend's function, but by time he came back to pick me up, unfortunately, I felt too tired and wanted to sleep instead. So he said he would come by in the morning and we would do something.
Sunil did indeed drop by in the morning (later than the time stated of course), but only to inform me that he was going to Tirupathi and wouldn't be back until the evening. So, left alone, I decided to go for a very long walk and explore Chittoor. I walked down some busy narrow streets where there were shops and stalls galore; street vendors trying to shift me their cheap wares, women selling a variety of fruits, and food stalls filling the air with a nice smell of different food being cooked. I also walked along a quieter main road where there were mountains in the backdrop, lakes and some temples. After some time, I decided to head back in to town and find myself a bar.
There was a bar just around the corner from my hotel, so I went in and got myself a big bottle of Knock Out. I stood alone for a little while when a friend of Sunil's came in - Vinoth(?). He said he had recognised me one time with Sunil, but I couldn't remember him; I have met many of his friends briefly, after all. He joined me for a drink and then more people started chatting with me.
A lady who worked as a glass collector/waitress took a liking to me and kept shaking my hand as she "wanted some of my white skin," as Vinoth put it; a lot of women in England think a more tanned skin is attractive and in India, a lot of women think a more pale complexion is attractive. Perhaps these women should swap countries! I recall Aruna saying to me that she wishes she had white skin as she feels ugly. Ugly?! I hate that there are people who feel that way about themselves. I think all skin colour is attractive and can't for the life of me understand why people obsess over how they look. Well, I suppose the media has a lot of input actually. In India, you'll see all beauty products being advertised by pale Indian women stating that other women can be beautiful too if they buy whatever miraculous product they are advertising - much like the brainwashing adverts in the UK then! So I just told this lady at the bar that the colour of our skin is not important; we are all beautiful and we are all equal. She's a damn hardworker and deserves respect too, so I kissed her hand and she smiled and done that head bop that Indian people do (it's common for people not familiar with this Indian gesture to mistaken them for nodding no, when actually they are agreeing).
We had another drink and shortly a clique of transgender females came in. They too took a liking to me and all wanted a picture taken with me. They were quite the laugh and livened the place up a bit but left after a short time. It was then that Vinoth wanted to take me to his village, so we got on his motorbike and rode off.
Once we got on to the quiet roads, he let me drive the bike. I've never driven a geared motorbike before but quickly got the hang of it and I loved it! I definitely want to get my own bike now sometime. It really is bliss driving one on the country roads. Eventually we stopped at a village I was familiar with; we were close to Malla Kunta so I thought I would use this opportunity to say a final farewell to Aruna. Sunil came and picked me up and we headed to his village.
It was good to see Aruna and her home one last time. I asked her how marriage life felt and she replied nothing has changed; she still lives at her parent's home and Sunil his. I then asked her if she was going to look for a job in the city (as she wanted to do), now that she didn't need to have her fathers permission, but she said Suman doesn't want her to. Well, I guess she will always have a leash around her neck, tied by Indian traditions and held tight by the man who supposedly loves her. I don't think much more was said. She told me to take care and be careful and I just said goodbye and hopped on the back of Vinoth's bike and, sadly, didn't look back.
Eventually we arrived at Vinoth's village. I was feeling a bit too melancholic to be chatty with anyone so called Sunil so he could take me back to Chittoor with him so I could have a drink. Once we arrived, he took me to a bar where we sat, ate and drunk for about an hour. He took me to my hotel and we said our goodbyes and I soon passed out. I will miss Sunil. Sure, it's hard to converse with him due to the language barrier, but he is a generous, kind and caring man. If you ever read this mate, you're a good man. Thank you.
And that was it. Sadly, it was time to leave familiar surroundings and my good friends. Next stop: Bangalore.
So I checked out of the hotel and caught the bus to Chittoor bus stand where Sunil waited for me. As usual he got me a small cup of tea from a tea stall. He had some things he needed to quickly get done so I just sat and waited for him. I saw a shop opposite advertising toy guns and got lost in a train of thought: It is somewhat disturbing giving kids a chance to reenact violence and murder with toy gun, isn't it? What is bizarre is that they are not allowed to play violent video games or watch gory films, but they can pretend to kill eachother with toys - which I suppose could inadvertently lead to injury thinking about it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think kids should be banned from imitating a solider in a war or whatever. I just saw this advert whilst sitting and sipping tea and thought the hypocrisy amusing is all.
Anyway, so I sat and thought about trivial shit waiting for Sunil to come back. Once he did, we set off to find a place to drink beer. He drove quite far from the town and stopped at a liqueur store and got me a bottle of Knock Out beer - aptly named seeing as it is 8%. We sat down by a table, chatted and I also had another beer called Kingfisher which is just as strong. I guess the people here in India don't do weak shit eh? I had about the equivalent of four pints before we set off back to Chittoor, feeling slightly tipsy of course.
Sunil took me along to a cricket game he and his friends played. As a non-sports person, frankly, I found my time at the playing field boring. I did try and keep myself entertained by playing my uke, but then people wouldn't leave me alone. Suffice to say people were more interested in me than their cricket match; can't say I blame them since cricket is so boring.
After about two hours of boredom, we finally left. We visited his aunties tailor shop and then drove to her house with her and her daughter to meet more of their family. They were very pleasant people. His aunt gave us some tasty milk ice-cream and told me about her time spent working in Saudi Arabia. She also showed me her daughters English school work which I must say is very good! She can spell and punctuate better than a lot of the illiterate people on my Facebook (ironic since a lot of them spout the old "you're in England so speak English" retort when being xenophobic pricks. They would do well to heed their own words!)and she's only 10 or 11 years old! After spending some time there conversing with his family, we headed off and I got booked in to the same hotel I stayed at last time I was in Chittoor. I had initially planned to attend Sunil's friend's function, but by time he came back to pick me up, unfortunately, I felt too tired and wanted to sleep instead. So he said he would come by in the morning and we would do something.
Sunil did indeed drop by in the morning (later than the time stated of course), but only to inform me that he was going to Tirupathi and wouldn't be back until the evening. So, left alone, I decided to go for a very long walk and explore Chittoor. I walked down some busy narrow streets where there were shops and stalls galore; street vendors trying to shift me their cheap wares, women selling a variety of fruits, and food stalls filling the air with a nice smell of different food being cooked. I also walked along a quieter main road where there were mountains in the backdrop, lakes and some temples. After some time, I decided to head back in to town and find myself a bar.
There was a bar just around the corner from my hotel, so I went in and got myself a big bottle of Knock Out. I stood alone for a little while when a friend of Sunil's came in - Vinoth(?). He said he had recognised me one time with Sunil, but I couldn't remember him; I have met many of his friends briefly, after all. He joined me for a drink and then more people started chatting with me.
A lady who worked as a glass collector/waitress took a liking to me and kept shaking my hand as she "wanted some of my white skin," as Vinoth put it; a lot of women in England think a more tanned skin is attractive and in India, a lot of women think a more pale complexion is attractive. Perhaps these women should swap countries! I recall Aruna saying to me that she wishes she had white skin as she feels ugly. Ugly?! I hate that there are people who feel that way about themselves. I think all skin colour is attractive and can't for the life of me understand why people obsess over how they look. Well, I suppose the media has a lot of input actually. In India, you'll see all beauty products being advertised by pale Indian women stating that other women can be beautiful too if they buy whatever miraculous product they are advertising - much like the brainwashing adverts in the UK then! So I just told this lady at the bar that the colour of our skin is not important; we are all beautiful and we are all equal. She's a damn hardworker and deserves respect too, so I kissed her hand and she smiled and done that head bop that Indian people do (it's common for people not familiar with this Indian gesture to mistaken them for nodding no, when actually they are agreeing).
We had another drink and shortly a clique of transgender females came in. They too took a liking to me and all wanted a picture taken with me. They were quite the laugh and livened the place up a bit but left after a short time. It was then that Vinoth wanted to take me to his village, so we got on his motorbike and rode off.
Once we got on to the quiet roads, he let me drive the bike. I've never driven a geared motorbike before but quickly got the hang of it and I loved it! I definitely want to get my own bike now sometime. It really is bliss driving one on the country roads. Eventually we stopped at a village I was familiar with; we were close to Malla Kunta so I thought I would use this opportunity to say a final farewell to Aruna. Sunil came and picked me up and we headed to his village.
It was good to see Aruna and her home one last time. I asked her how marriage life felt and she replied nothing has changed; she still lives at her parent's home and Sunil his. I then asked her if she was going to look for a job in the city (as she wanted to do), now that she didn't need to have her fathers permission, but she said Suman doesn't want her to. Well, I guess she will always have a leash around her neck, tied by Indian traditions and held tight by the man who supposedly loves her. I don't think much more was said. She told me to take care and be careful and I just said goodbye and hopped on the back of Vinoth's bike and, sadly, didn't look back.
Eventually we arrived at Vinoth's village. I was feeling a bit too melancholic to be chatty with anyone so called Sunil so he could take me back to Chittoor with him so I could have a drink. Once we arrived, he took me to a bar where we sat, ate and drunk for about an hour. He took me to my hotel and we said our goodbyes and I soon passed out. I will miss Sunil. Sure, it's hard to converse with him due to the language barrier, but he is a generous, kind and caring man. If you ever read this mate, you're a good man. Thank you.
And that was it. Sadly, it was time to leave familiar surroundings and my good friends. Next stop: Bangalore.
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