It was clear to me that I was more than ready to leave the cold, rugged north when a beggar approached the car i was sitting in, just before my 3am departure from the Bodhgaya train station. The familiar, troubled soul had put his palm in my face at my 3am arrival just days before--I gave him ten Rupees. This time, generosity was nowhere to be found--- a harder heart, ragged nerves, my bones tired of the constant damp chill and the middle of the night journeys..... There's nothing like wearing a dirty orange down jacket around the clock for several weeks to make you crave the sun. As the boy knocked on my window, it took all I could muster to not open the car door to shove him away. The begging is non-stop, and while everyone finds their own way to contribute or put up a personal shield against the constant requests, there are moments when you lose your cool. This is when you know you need to take a break.
Skipping like a stone through Calcutta, Mamallapurum, and now Pondicherry, the softness of southern India has washed over me and I am again able to shed some rupees to the less frequent palms as I make my way toward Trivandrum. Here in the south, temples tops are dotted with crosses, mud chai cups are replaced by coffee joints, holy robes are switched to longis and sarongs, palms replace pines, Goan fish dishes replace vegetable curries, crowds are replaced by space, Hindi language by French and English, cafe au lait choked skies change to salty blue ocean views, slow service is replaced by slower, but more efficient, service----welcome mats are replaced by colorful chalk mandalas on store front stoops--metal roofs turn into thatched ones, Ambassador taxis changed from white to yellow, pujas on the Ganges are replaced by fishing nets in the Bay of Bengal----punjab pot bellies melt and stretch into long, lanky trunks----and rickshaw honking is replaced by clown horn squeaking------the shifts seem like I've crossed an environmental, cultural, and psychic border, but the head wiggles, soul searing eyes, and contagious smiles confirm my visa's still valid----"same-same" only different.
