We are now at the 1 month mark of our time here in Kodai. It is hard to imagine trying to get to know this corner of the world in any less time than a month minimum.

Before coming here, I thought nothing of monkeys other than how adorable they can be. I have discovered otherwise in recent days. Our new home up in the hills is much closer to monkey habitat. They regularly hang around the 

roadsides waiting for naive tourists to get as close as they can and take pictures of them and maybe even toss them a banana. Bad idea. Never let them know you have food and definitely keep your distance.

 

My observation is that there is a whole clan of them that feed from the local garbage bin. I went to take the garbage out on Sunday afternoon. The contents of the plastic bag that I carried was full of food scraps. It even contained a couple of non-edible bananas.  I walked to the end of the driveway to discover that I was being watched by a rather large monkey. I slowed my pace a little, not sure what to do. It was only one monkey so I slowly continued on my way. It followed me. I looked back over my shoulder and realized that this may turn into a confrontation.  I picked up a stick and threw it in his direction. He backed off a little, then came close enough to grab for my bag while hissing at me (or growling – it was hard to tell). He was determined to get my bag. All I remember seeing is an angry little monkey face that was mostly scary looking teeth. Fortunately another person came by in the opposite direction and scared him off for me so I could continue on my way.

The garbage bin is just around the corner from our place. As I approached I realized that my monkey problems were not over. One little guy was intrigued by my bag and started to approach me. Again, I picked up a rock and threw it at him. He dodged the rock and ran up a post by the side of the road. Once it looked like he had no plans to come down, I continued. He looked pretty content just to sit on the top of the post and scratch his butt. (shaking my head and sighing).

I was almost to the garbage bin.  As I got closer I saw that there had to be about a dozen monkeys all clambering around on the bin. They were inside and out – on top of, and around. There was no way I was going to get to throw my garbage in there without an incident.  Again – passersby to the rescue. Two local guys saw my predicament and smiled. I asked them what I was supposed to do now?! They just told me to follow them. They walked quickly to the far side of the bin, and as they did, the monkeys scattered away. They instructed me to quickly toss my bag in the far side of the bin. Once the bag was out of my hands I was no longer a target. The two guys that helped me just went on their way and I turned back to go home. I know those monkeys enjoyed my contribution to their meal and the truth is, I’d much rather that they ripped apart the bag while it was in the bin rather than on my lawn.

Monkeys can also mess with the wiring of the house. A few days ago they were playing on the roof and somehow managed to disconnect our power. The power company had to come by the following day to repair the damage they had caused.

No. I do not hold the same opinion of monkeys now as I did a month ago. I’ve learned to respect the little beasts. Just a thought: What kind of a sick mind would actually come up with a game that claimed that nothing is more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Nothing is more scary than a garbage bin full of monkeys!

My adventures continue.

I am always relieved when I open my eyes in the morning and see daylight. It has taken awhile but it means I’ve changed my internal clock to India time.

By the time I got through the shower, the power had gone out. That ruled out toast for breakfast. Thank goodness for the gas stove top. I boiled some water to make coffee in the French press. After coffee with Harold on the back porch, I was off to do a little shopping. We are on our 3^rd day in Prospect House and had come up with a short list of things that would help us feel more at home here. On my shopping list today were an electric kettle and a blender.

Stepping outside I was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of the fresh morning air after an evening of rain the day before. It’s a short walk from our front door to the entrance to Coakers Walk. It will cost me a whole 10 Rupees to take that route to town but I had all the time I needed so I pulled out my wallet and headed for the entrance booth. In Canadian dollars it’s a whole 20 cents, so I was not putting any shopping in jeopardy with this decision.

Coakers walk looks out over the valley and offers overwhelming vistas of the hills and  valleys that lie below.  Who would have ever thought that this could be a regular part of my daily schedule if I wanted. It’s only a short detour and less than 10 minutes later, I was at the other end of the trail with another 20 pictures on my phone.

I exited Coakers Walk onto the main road again where there are numerous vendors selling whatever you can imagine. I discovered from my walk yesterday that there was a vendor selling deep fried eggs. Talk about a convenient breakfast. I parted with another 40 rupees (78 cents) and purchased 2 for my walk to town.

I did not see the monkeys this morning. Yesterday they were having a wonderful time playing on the road and then running up the chain link fence next to the road when a car came honking around the corner towards them

This mornings entertainment was in the form of a large black and white cow helping itself to some deep fried treats of his own as he passed by a vendor with plates heaping with instant food for a passerby. The owner was not there in time to stop the cow from grabbing a mouthful of treats. He had come running at the cow and yelling as he got closer. I have no idea what he said because he was speaking Tamil, and the cow seemed unconcerned.  It slowly sauntered on its way.

I arrived at Anna Street which is a main shopping strip for all of Kodai. It is less than a mile long and it is full of shops on both sides. Everything you want can be found in a store on Anna Street. The stores are all narrow and long, and several are housed under 1 roof that is often 2 or 3 stories high. Very few of the signs are in English so I can only choose which shops I need to visit by what I see as I walk by. There are a few store titles that are self explanatory such as Pastry Corner, or CHOCOLATES.  I’ve walked this road many times since we got here and it’s starting to feel comfortably familiar to me. I see the same things every time I visit this stretch: sidewalk vendors with stacks of sweaters and sweatshirts, sellers hunched up next to a large variety of shoes that are paired up neatly and all polished to a shine in hopes of catching someones attention who needs shoes; there are flower vendors selling strings of jasmine by the foot, street food vendors, there are people carrying massive bundles on their heads weaving their way through parked cars, motorcycles and other pedestrians and there are cows.

“The poor will always be among us” John 12:8. They are always well represented on the busy streets in hopes of finding a compassionate soul who will give them a handout. Today as I looked for the kitchen appliance store, a white cane caught my eye and the sound of loose change in a tin cup drew me closer. A young man with a white cane was standing along the roadside next to a girl who was probably close to his age who was also blind. They stood there accepting any donations from people who they could hear walking all around them.  Immediately heartbroken for these 2 young people, I reached for my wallet and handed them both some paper money, giving them a compassionate warm handhold before continuing on my way.

I found the store I was looking for. As I walked in I looked down the narrow and cluttered aisles to see silver pots and pans of all kinds. It was easy to locate exactly what I wanted so I didn’t need to spend much time in the store. The hot pot, (electric kettle) cost me less than $10, and the blender put me back about $50, but I was happy to buy them both so I could be on my way.

The language is definitely a barrier in a lot of these stores. If there is no one around who speaks English, someone will go find a someone else who knows slightly more than they do. My Tamil vocabulary consists of 2 words, “Hello”, and “thank you”. I must work on that.

As I was leaving the store I received a text from Harold warning me about a large Bison that had just walked through our yard and was making its way towards the road where I would be coming home. The Bison are large and intimidating animals that could do a lot of harm if provoked. Avoid them at all costs according to the locals. I left for home with my eyes peeled for a bison sighting on the way.

The Bison had long gone by the time I got home, and the power was still out so Harold and I sat on the back porch drinking tea and comparing our morning notes while we waited for the power to come back on again. I had planned to do a load or two of laundry, but it was looking like that was not going to happen.

While we sat there, the afternoon monsoon rain started up. We listened to the rain and watched the clouds obliterate the valley. What else do you do when the power is out and the weather forbids any hiking/shopping/exploring of any kind? I went to my room and laid down for an hour or so. I had barely begun my rest when I heard someone knocking on the front door. Hoping that Harold would hear it and respond, I ignored it. He didn’t hear it as he was still out on the back porch, and the knocking continued. I went to answer the door and was greeted by 3 women in sari’s wanting to discuss firewood. This would have been a possibility if I understood anything they were saying, but all I could guess is that this discussion had something to do with firewood. It has only been 3 days since we moved into this place, I am clueless to know the firewood protocol for our house. Not knowing what I didn’t know, I tried to communicate that I would contact the man in charge and have him make arrangements for firewood. This prompted a rather lengthy discussion amongst the 3 women. Again – I have NO IDEA what they were saying so I could be neither flattered or offended. In hind sight, I may have made a mistake. If they were going to supply us with a load of firewood, that would be fantastic, but again, I don’t know! After our failed attempt at a conversation, they left and I went back to my afternoon rest.

Supper this evening was simple and easy. Domino’s Pizza (again). Still working on how to source the kind of food that we would like to prepare for ourselves. The pizza was great. It tasted like home.

After supper we had arranged a Skype call with Harold’s Dad and May. It was so fun to connect with them again and get more background from Dad about some of the things we were seeing, and some of the people we were meeting. Everyday gives us a little more information on a period in Harold’s parents’ lives that we never knew.

This is not a typical day yet. We have yet to know what a typical day looks like. This was a fun day that felt very much like a vacation day. Tomorrow will include some time spent with a local piano technician. He is excited about the opportunity for me to teach him how to tune aurally and improve his technical skills.  Tomorrow is another day. Every day is a new adventure.