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We've been back in Mumbai for the past two days. The leeches' marks on our skins are fainting little by little.

Mumbai is a land of contrasts. Luxurious hotels are just a few yards away from slumps. That's what shocked us the most when we arrived. A month later we still are not used to it of course but there is so much more about India.

Languages: Indians from different states do not understand each other. Even Hindi is only spoken by a mere 40% and mostly in northern India. There is no unifying language, try that in any European country! English is just for business or tourism, 10% speak it.

Religion: Hindus, Muslims,Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, you name it. All living together. Sure it's not problem free but it's working. We woke up several times with Muslim prayers on speakers but the majority are Hindus... Try that in France...

Society: it's growing by the minute and the vitality of the young is visible. It's very exciting to live in a place changing so quickly. That's why our friends Sudanshu and Meenal feel so good here, they feel they are part of an exciting moment of India's history.

Food: India has the best food in the world. Period.

What a trip. And we are finishing in such a wonderful way: Sudanshu and Meenal are taking us to great places to eat, get massages (by blind people, an amazing experience), and Muriel even got a pedicure and hair color here in Mumbai!

We'll take the flight in a few hours and we already miss India!!!

Blood suckers!!!

I already knew mosquitoes loved me, now I have another bug on the list that loves me too! More below.
Today was our only hike day for the whole trip. They call it the Border trail because we hike along the border between the area where people are allowed and the area where people aren't. It all feels like old style hiking tourism: we are just 4 hikers for 2 cooks/guides and 1 gunman/guide.
The chances to find a tiger are very very close to zero, the gunman is just here to shoot in the air if need be. It's funny how he carries a gun and... an umbrella!
After a short hour of hiking we stopped and were offered a breakfast. The cooks started a wood fire to warm up a pot for the tea. It looked like tourism in the 40's...
Thankfully a big Indian bison shows up. This has put under alert our gunman. He presses us away to a safe area. One of the guide tells us this bull has been a problem around. Charging?
But the real action is actually happening at our feet. Tens of leeches have been trying to crawl up from our shoes since we started. We were given socks/chaps and tobacco powder has been spread over our shoes and chaps. Still these blood suckers keep trying to climb up our pants. I grab some to see how it feels. They are very sticky and I could really feel them when they moved on my hands. I decided not to pay too much attention and kept watching the green lush forest around us. I didn't know then all the trouble I was getting into...
We continued our hike with a few stops every now and then. Our guides made those stops so they could stalk wildlife. Not that many animals actually, but we knew this was a hit or miss kind of hike, so we just kept moving. The drizzle rain became a bit heavier by noon. At 1pm we arrived at a little house under construction; a good shelter from the rain with a big trench all around to prevent elephants from approaching.
That's where I found the first blood stains on my pants. What the heck? Where did it come from? I unzipped the leg from the short to find a bloody spot. What????!!!! A leech has been sucking me while I was hiking and I didn't even notice?? I then free my shirt from my waist to inspect further. A big fat leech falls in front of me. I immediately smash it with my foot and there it is! My blood is staining the floor now! I don't have the backpack anymore and Muriel tells me I have two bloody spots on the back of my shirt too. Oh no! Two more leeches fall from my shirt... Then I find another one on my right arm, except this one is still sucking!! I hadn't felt anything and now after a meticulous count it comes to 6 bites in total. The little fun I had earlier watching them crawl on my hand is gone. These blood sucking beast are actually stealth champs! I will have to be more careful from now on.
Needless to say Muriel and the 2 French woman hiking with us are quite terrified looking at all the blood stains and now everybody is carefully checking all body parts. Everybody gets a leech here or there but I'm the only one with actual bloody marks. They all agree I am the best person to hike in this leech infested jungle. I attract the pest and the rest of the party enjoys ! Yeah yeah...oh! With that leech focus I almost forgot to tell you that yes we got to see a pack of wild elephants and monkeys too!

Periyar

It's just 100km from the backwaters center of Alappuzah to Periyar wildlife preserve. But it's a painful 5h bus drive! First 1 1/2 h to a connecting town and then 3 1/2 more hours; and the whole thing on a window less and shock absorbing free bus! Needless to say we pampered ourselves with a good old Tata taxi after the first 1 1/2 h bus drive! So we got there in 2 1/2 hours instead.
Nature tourism is at its infancy stage here. There is very little to do even though you are in such an amazing wilderness. We are just a mere 3 km from 40 tigers, 1000 or so elephants and a whole bunch of other wildlife and there are only a few anemic tours like a one hour boat tour on the lake, a couple or so of nature walks and a pseudo bamboo rafting (we just met 2 British gals very disappointed by it). At any time there are only no more than 10 guided tourists in the whole preserve, 6 on the Tiger trail overnight trek and 4 on the day trek.
The preserve is 1000 sq kms; there could be a few more guided hikes inside the preserve and a whole lot more around it, from village to village for example.
The elephant rides are very limited trail wise, on a fenced yard but still cool. I walked right next to the elephant while Muriel was riding it; amazing, feels like walking next to a dinosaur. For the rest, Jeep tours (thanks but your "bus tours" are enough for me!!!), massages, ayurdevic and yoga classes or dance shows, have little to do with this place.
We had called to make a reservation for the 2 day trek and of course they messed up so it was full... And there are not that many other things to do if you want to hike... Thank god they have a "hard" day trek, 13km they Ray. We are set for it for tomorrow, let's not expect too much out of it!
This is also spices and tea country. We had stopped the taxi on our way here to watch the women harvesting tea and admired the green hills covered by tea plantations.
We also visited a garden where we got so many scents! The guide kept crushing leaves one after the other, my sense of smell was quickly overwhelmed! Peppers, cardamom, curcuma, ginger, multi spice leaf, you name it!

Kerala

Yesterday was a beach day. We took the ferry than a bus and finished with a 2km hike. Cherai beach. Not a great beach, the palm trees are too far away from the ocean behind a stone levee. But it's the cleaner one around Kochi. Goa is supposed to be the best place in India for beaches, not Kochi...
The waves were not very big but the shore break was tough enough nobody was swimming.
We still got to the water to cool off. First time in India ocean! We took a tuc-tuc directly to the ferry. Again we saw big boats in the harbor dumping huge amounts of dirty water from their sides. We learned they pump the mud from below retain the mud and then release the grey waters.

Today we took a house boat to visit the famous backwaters canals of Kerala. 1 night out of the cities, I'm excited about it. We were expecting something simple, well it's low season so we got a floating palace!
... a few hours later...
We sure are on a floating palace but we were expecting a bit more of exploration... after just one hour of ultra slow boating the captain just stopped by a lake and prepared our lunch with the cook. Sure, this Maharajah service! But then, after a couple of hours we still hadn't moved an inch. With so many backwater canals awaiting for us we were a bit disappointed. Muriel went to check and found out the captain was sleeping!!! Not cool. Well after a few explanations we got back on track.

There are villages all along the canals and there are trails along them. It is a very special place where people live next to the water and grow rice on the fields between the canals. Water, palm trees, and beautiful straw boats make for a gorgeous sight. As we stopped for the night Muriel and I went for a little walk. It was so outlandish to see all the people living in the small houses and shacks spread under the palm trees... Lots of kids saying "Hi , what's your name?". Others bathing in the canal; well as you can imagine after Ganga river and Indian Ocean I had to swim in Kerala backwaters too!

Kochi and Elephants

From the desert landscapes of Rajasthan to the green tropical state of Kerala.
It's quite a change. Forests of palm trees, banana orchards everywhere and a beach resort atmosphere here in Kochi.
I was ready for an elephant fun time this morning. Went to the water as soon as I got there and was up to some scrubbing time helping the elephant care takers. Well, I found out elephants are really big and the care takers not very enthusiastic about people getting close to their animals. So we just watched them scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing. Dad, mom and the 4 kids, they all get a scrubbing bath twice a day. Then we walked back to the elephant center taking the road with all the traffic - I learned an elephant walks quite fast, you have to go on a good pace to follow them.
At the center we found out Muriel could not ride the beast. We were hoping to make a catalog of all animals she has been riding and now our plans are stuck...
Even more disappointing was the ride back to the hotel: almost 2 and 1/2 hours for barely 35 miles / 50km!!! Traffic is an issue over here. Herr...

The afternoon we just walked and visited Kochi.
There is an avenue in Kochi where wholesale retailers sell rice, beans and all kind of spices by the 80lb / 40kg bags. Wow! For the first time we really got the scents for which India is famous. So many!
Other scenes less glamorous also. Like the trucks being loaded and unloaded by simple human power. One bag at the time, right on the top of the head or on the shoulders. No forklifts... Even worse, the kids carrying big plates with dirt on the top of their heads from one construction site to another, a few yards (meters) away (this unit conversion thing is getting annoying)

Back to the beach resort atmosphere. We bought fish to fishermen on the beach for the second evening in a row. And then took it to the restaurant so they cook it for us. We love it and are planning to do it again tomorrow!

Temples and caves

We flew this morning to Aurangabad.

That's where the Hindu monk I met at Agra's train station told me we should go. "If you don't see the cave temples you haven't seen India" he told me then. Lonely Planet thinks so too.
He was an educated person. A degree on psychology. He sat next to me announcing he saw I wanted to meet him... That his job was to help people's problems... He also told me he had been a special forces supervisor, he had killed young fighters at the border with Pakistan. Those words rushed a big emotion to my eyes I remember. I tried to hide my tears. He resigned and became first a lawyer and then a monk.

Later, at Jodhpur, I would meet Michel, the French guy. He had such an insight to India after 8 years here. Here are some of his outbursts:
"monks are a bunch of outlaws that conveniently turn into religious people"
"yesterday a couple of kids were calling me names on the street. They didn't know I understand Hindi. So when one of them approached me to beg for 5 rupees I simply gave him a huge slap and asked him if he wanted 5 more."
"when I started to get my employees to clean the bathrooms at the plant I got a bunch of excuses for not doing it. One couldn't because he was Hindi this, another because he was Muslim that, and so forth... I got mad. I even gave them the finger and said " fuck the religion! Here it's like this! And if you don't like it go away!"
They didn't and one of his managers even quit the temple!!!
Sacré Michel!

So, we are in Aurangabad. Amazing temples carved on the rocks, carved starting at the top of their roofs to the ground floor. Many Indian tourists visiting and some asking to take pictures with Muriel.
Others showing their grand kids and asking us to take a picture of them.
We are as much seen as we watch them!

Mumbai under the monsoon

I am writing inside the taxi. Traffic!
The rain is pounding Mumbai no wonder the British came here!
We are a bit wet but it is quite an experience. We spent the day mostly walking downtown.
I like the mix of colonial style buildings with tropical vegetation.
No monkeys here though, nor cows nor sewer smells. This is Mumbai downtown, not India.

We visited a beautiful museum and Gandhi's place. Lots of emotions going on when viewing the pictures and the reconstitution of his life. He was a man!

Had to stop for fruits before arriving home. Papayas, pineapple, bananas, mangoes and watermelon. All of them ripe and have not traveled 2 million miles! Just had a ball cutting them all and sucking the mangoes' pit!

Out of the woods

Feeling much better since Sunday morning. We flew back to Mumbay.

We are much more adapted to India now.
Smells of open sewers in the hot and humid weather, traffic, constant flow of people and vehicles, all these things not as terrifying as they were when we arrived. I have to say I'm kind of loving it.
I don't know, maybe it's because my stomach feels better.
Anyway, last night I was thinking about the whole India trip thing. Thanks to my stomach I kept meeting travelers at the hotel and some discussions were very interesting. Here are some thoughts 'bout the whole thing:
- Several travelers have this fantasy/romantic idea about Hinduism. They end up by quickly changing their minds after some time here.
- Religion here looks very different (lots of gods, colorful, etc.) but at the end it really feels people are slaves of their religion; here more than in many other places. It also keeps them in an uneducated state. How can they drink water from the Ganga?
Anyway, let's move on.

We're driving to Mumbay downtown again today. Thanks to our friends Sudanshu and Meenal we get 5 star service: their driver takes us there and drives us back. We are probably spending more time on the traffic jams than on the places we want to see though!

Jodhpur Hospital

We were wrong.

Anti malaria medicine side effects never get one sick this much.

I woke up with diarrhea again. I was so weak we went to the hospital.
Emergency room was empty, so I went through quickly and got the IVs.
Ciprofloxacin for bacteria nuclear bombing and Metrogyl for the very possible amiba (I'm not sure how to spell it).

It's 8pm now. Just starting to feel better.
Muriel took such a good care of me. She went back and forth to the hotel. We plan on flying back to our friends house in Mumbai tomorrow afternoon. We cancelled our flight to Cochin. We'll plan according to my health!

After some discussion with the doctor we agreed on food poisoning. As soon as he heard train meal he pointed to it. It is true it was our only meal we don't know how, where and when it was cooked. And the timing is right, the first symptoms started 12h after that meal.

I didn't know the lack of fever and the coming and going of diarrhea is a characteristic of amiba. I could have treated the whole thing with Cipro and Metrogyl from the beginning... Tough lesson.

Jodhpur - part 2

For the ones following my medical condition here goes the good news: no diarrhea today.

Other than that not much to say, I am just getting better slowly. Stopping the malaria medicine seems to do the trick. But I lost so much energy that it will take some time to be fully functional again.

Muriel did go see the Maharadja palace yesterday. From the pictures she brought it looks beautiful. I hope I'll go tomorrow.

We also met several travelers. This place is really very welcoming. The open space at the first floor is a restaurant / cafe with nice floor mats and low tables. It gathers people all day long for eating, drinking or just chatting. That's how I've spent the last 3 days including this one. Either here or in my bedroom.

My world has switched from tourist visiting India to a guy living sick in a hotel watching and chatting with tourists coming and going. I will soon join them back.

Lots of French, British and some Spanish, Italian. Just one American, from San Francisco.

There's also this French guy that has been living in Goa for the past 8 years, Michel. He cracks me up with his big motorcycle he uses to go to his plant here in Jodhpur. His plant makes wooden frames out of recycled wood. Check the pictures of him and his frames, I feel I have seen these frames in the past! He really is something. He's been in the French special units (Somalia,...) , speed parachuting (that's when you dive head first to get maximum speed, before you open the 'chute, never heard of it before...) and now he runs this business with 50 employees, shipping a couple of containers per month all over the world.

Ok. Enough writing. Let's see if I can get out by myself. Muriel is out in the desert for a camel ride!

Jodhpur day 1

Temperature outside: 40 degrees

This town is beautiful and it looks like we are on another planet. It reminds me some towns in Star Wars. Doesn't it? Look at the pic.

Not feeling great again. I know, this blog is starting to be more about my digestive track disorders than about India! >:)

Anyway, we think we found the culprit: the anti malaria medicine. I got a link with my uncle back in France, he's a doctor and he suggests it could be that. Talking to some people around the hotel confirmed that taking this medicine will give you a good chance to get sick. What the heck ???!!! Am I going to let it dehydrate me to the bones just to prevent malaria? No way! That's it. I am stopping it.
Anyway there are no mosquitoes over here! We might find some on the south but not here.

Well, we had to cancel our desert safari. We were supposed to go and spend two nights in some villages about 90km from Jodhpur. And then ride camels. Her... I am writing a complaint to the pharmaceutical companies!... I know, this last sentence sounds totally useless and nonsense...

To Jodhpur

Early departure from Agra to Jodhpur by train. Very smooth ride all along.

The great majority of the Indian travelers ride on wagons with open windows and no AC. We would have died! Thanks to the AC we enjoyed very much the sightseeing; specially the transition from green pastures to orange sandy fields. There are trees also but quite trimmed by the goats! From far they look like cactus!

For the first time I yelled at the youngsters that swamped us as soon as we exited the train. Not only were they extremely insistent but they tried to take us away from the main exit! One of them even called someone else as he kept following up, probably a scheme? That got to me and I quickly bursted. It kept them away. Till we met the next ones by the prepaid taxi booth... Herr... Several tuc-tuc drivers swamped us again but the lady at the booth stayed firm and we set things right with the only driver left. What a pain there transfers!

But it was worth it. This is the nicest hotel we have been so far. And we got the best suite! Check out the picture.

Agra

Overall the train ride worked well. Muriel and I had taken a night train from Lyon to Bordeaux once and we already knew one can barely sleep on. Sure we lay flat but the shaking makes it almost impossible to fall asleep. Same thing in India!

We arrived on time in Agra, at 6am approximately. The heat was already noticeable and we were tired but we also knew this was the best time to go see the Taj Mahal.
It is indeed a remarkable piece of architecture made of marble. We toured it and pictured it like all the many other tourists; mostly Indian by the way.
And the heat kept going up. By 9am I started to understand that we were going to suffer from the heat. And yes we suffered. This place is like Arizona with humidity as an extra! And there is no AC! By 10:30 we crawled to our hotel, checked in, took a cold shower and simply lay down on the bed under the ceiling fan. Some rooms have AC but the power they need stays off most of the day. Our room has an evap cooler, useless when it's this humid but its powerful fan helps cooling, unless it's powered off like the AC... Only ceiling fans and some lights stay on, thanks to a generator belonging to the hotel.

Then I got sick.
Herr...
Was it the scorching heat? The Ganga revenge? A meal? Or the side effect of our malaria prevention medicine? Or all together??!!
Anyway, my digestive system was not holding anything and I only stayed focused on preventing dehydration.
We still made it to a rooftop restaurant to admire the sunset over the Taj Mahal.

This morning I felt much better. We woke up early to go see Agra Fort. It's another beautiful building, mostly made of red sandstone. Some areas are made of marble with precious stones engraved on it. Amazing art work. A huge falcon kept flying above our heads, quite close sometimes. My stomach was better so I was happy! To the point where I asked my tricycle biker to switch seats on our way back to the hotel! I made it! I drove some Indian traffic by myself! Sure it wasn't Varanassi traffic but still! I was proud.

Herr... Diarrhea came back this afternoon. Just a little bit after I took the malaria medicine! Why do I get the side effect they mention?!
So, now here I am stuck between the ceiling fan and the toilet while Muriel went to visit a palace with some newly met travelers.

I actually recognised them at our hotel's restaurant so we sat and chat together. It was the same Peruvian American couple that I had met in Varanassi! Back there she looked desperate as her husband had lost his temper with the very poor service we were all having. She then had asked me for some help but there was very little I could do since their kitchen was totally overwhelmed by a big group!

Well, they came back earlier from the palace. Too hot. I'm glad I didn't go. My tummy feels better also. Immodium was the answer not Ercefluryl. I didn't get food poisoning, I'm simply adjusting!

Night train

Here we are on the train linking Varanassi and Agra.
I'm on the top bunk bed and Muriel right below. We are on the corridor, the window is not well placed for sightseeing and the glass is tainted and dirty. We feel like we're on a 2nd world war submarine!
Plus it shakes a lot!
It's 9:20pm and we will arrive in Agra at 6am. I got plenty of time.

The excursion from the hotel to the train station in Varanassi was an epic. Short, but still an epic. It was our first ride on a motorized tricycle, nicely called tuc-tuc (or rickshaw). We have used those tuc-tucs in Peru but let me tell you, this has nothing to do with it! There is so much honking, sudden starts followed by screeching stops plus all the sharp turns to pass everything you can, that after only a few minutes you get sick. And then the driver stops and says "it's there". You look at the direction and you see the building indeed. The problem is that you have to cross a road with 10 plus lanes.
The roads are totally choked. All vehicles drive probably no more than 35mph but they are very close to each other, almost bumper to bumper. And then there's the difference of speed between each other. The fastest are the motorbikes, they literally flow between all obstacles at an amazing pace. Then you have the tuc-tucs. They are not the fastest but they still have an engine! The cars and the bicycles go probably at the same speed and they go slightly faster than the tricycles. Did you get the picture? Now add the horse carriages. They're romantic but totally out of place! And to finish, the people. They are the slowest but they make the most dangerous change of directions! Oh! And of course no vehicle has a single passenger, carpooling is taken very seriously over here: 3 adults are commonly seen on a single motorbike, 7(??!!) on a tuc-tuc, etc.
So here we are, Muriel and I, looking at the above described traffic, both ways also.
I think Muriel really got scared. Well, I felt a little bit like at the start of a scary climb: if you think too much you never start it. So I just started walking my direction. I think Muriel grabbed my backpack and just followed.
Of course we made it. And we're proud of it!

The train station is another experience to remember. So many people on the floor waiting for their train: sleeping, eating, resting, kids, families, monks, all kind of people! We kept looking for our train on the big screen but it didn't show up. Luckily we found the Tourist desk which helped us. The train was on time.

An easy morning

The mouse won. It escaped from the room I don't know how.
But my stomach won yesterday's night battle too.
That makes us even.

Now we're just relaxing on the beautiful balconies above the Ganga river. Much hotter day today, less clouds. Thankfully there's a refreshing breeze.

We are riding a night train this afternoon to Agra. It's going to be our first train ride in India. Looking forward to it!

Varanassi day 2

Beautiful day. We walked all the Ghats, meaning the docks, all along the Ganga river. Amazing colors and scents except for the cow dung and many other "dungs" (dog, goat, monkey and yes even human...)

Passed by sacred cremation spots also. I had never seen a bloody foot sticking out of a bon fire, well, now I have! The bodies are covered with nice silk and flowers and then set atop a big wood fire - several hundreds a day. Young children bodies and other categories are not burnt but thrown out of a boat with a heavy rock instead.

Then we adventured by ourselves into downtown. Yesterday we had a guide and it seemed impossible to find our way without him. Well, today we managed to find the Post Office and a small eatery we were looking for. Trust me, not a small feat!
Food wise we also decided to go on our own and avoid the waiting at the hotel. I have to say I love it. But I probably went a bit too far tonight; I saw those green leaves and the stuff they put in, then they fold it and chew it. Well, I didn't know it was mostly for chewing... So now my stomach is trying to figure out what to do with what I swallowed. Wait and see.

Yes I got a bit adventurous today. We took a rowing boat in the evening and asked to go to the sandy beach on the other side of Ganga river. There I overcame my fear of bacteria and dived into the river.
Well, you know, all the shit I was talking about previously ends in Ganga river...
Ha! It felt so good! It was a great pleasure to swim, the water was warm but still very refreshing. I could have stayed in this side of the Ganga for a long time, the water is cleaner, it is very quiet and peaceful. Well, finally we continued our romantic rowing trip back to the Ghats. But as soon as I started to row we saw a dead cow floating on the river. I am taking a good scrubbing shower tonight!

We finished the day admiring the religious ceremonies along the river. This place is a highly religious place, there are many Indians coming from all Indian States.
It is very crowded and all day long there are youngsters asking you to hire them for guiding, boating, picture taking, taxi and you name it. Most are not too insistent but I have to say that during the whole day only once I haven't been solicited to be sold something. And we have been solicited tens of times. It was an older person just happy to chat with French people. But all the talk still needs to be in English! Going far away from the main Ghats really helps to find peace.

Voila. That was our day.
Now, if you excuse me, I need to chase that mouse that entered our room a few minutes ago...

Arrival at Varanassi

Now in Varanassi. 1200km from Bombay. Very humid. The trip from the airport beats anything we've seen so far. People, vehicles of all kinds, crowd, cows, goats, everything.
Bombay seems clean and futuristic compared to Varanassi...

Monsoon in Mumbay

Monsoon experience yesterday evening.
The heavy rains didn't stop and we just walked back to the apartment getting totally soaked! Many people in the street were getting soaked too and enjoying it.
It's a hot shower actually; one just needs to have clothes that dry fast...

Le premier jour en Inde

Nous voilà à Bombay!

La pluie nous attendais comme il se doit avec la mousson, mais elle n'a pas duré bien longtemps.
Meenal nous a accueilli royalement en nous envoyant son chauffeur. Le trajet depuis l'aéroport nous a mis dans l'ambiance: Traffic incroyable, klaxon permanent, mais à l'arrivée quel accueil! Un appartement sur tout un étage, avec vue sur la mer il n'y a que des sociétés pour louer un  immeuble comme ça!! vous avez dit crise???!!!!)
Heureusement les petits plats indiens de Meenal nous font digérer ces chiffres...

Meenal nous a raconté tous ses projets ici. Depuis quelques années elle travaille sur des micro-financements. En regroupant plusieurs projets similaires de villageois (acheter une chèvre par exemple) elle trouve des investisseurs, et ça marche! Le chiffre des investissements est passée de 40 000 à 4 millions d'€ en deux ans.
Ça fait beaucoup de chèvres!
Maintenant elle se lance dans un projet qui lui tient à coeur: l'éducation. Elle va dans les bidonvilles et propose une éducation à ceux qui la veulent avec une garantie d'embauche à la clé. Sacré Meenal!

Sudanshu lui continue son job avec le corporate america. Il se bat avec le système Indien corrompu en essayant d'y mettre de l'éthique. C'est pas gagné...

J'ai profité pour lire le journal de Bombay aussi. On y parle de l'eau insalubre, du manque d'urbanisme, des cas recensés de maladies dues à la mousson, d'un nouveau site internet pour informer les noms des dernières victimes du rail (10 morts par jours!!!! trouvés sur les rails!!), de ces enfants ignorés qui meurent encore dans les mines de charbon, mais aussi des promenades à faire dans la jungle environnante, et l'interdiction de la cigarette sur les plages de Goa à partir d'Octobre!

Nous nous reposons cette après midi. On ne dort pas très bien dans les avions.

Entretemps au pied de l'immeuble d'à côté une petite foule s'est agglutinée, avec télévision, police et tout le tintouin. Une star de Bolliwood se meurt à ce qu'il semblerait.