Immeasurably More

"Speed thrills, But kills"

Driving in India is best experienced for yourself. You will see a lot of yellow on the tuk-tuks, but not a lot of it on the pavement.  Lanes are purely abstract concepts to be referenced when an oncoming bus overtaking a mini van leaves the taxi driver no choice but to surrender the middle ground.  This is the closest we will ever get to being part of a high speed chase in an action film.  But the drivers here are more polite than the stars of action films; they have this way of communicating with their horns: There's no way, Buddy. No way. I am not stopping for the likes of you. Be somewhere out of my way or take the consequences. And noone seems to take this personally.

"It is music that you wish would never end."

If wearing a sari seems complicated,  that's because it is complicated.  So many folds held in place with so few safety pins. So much fabric to be kicked out of the way with each step. There's probably not many things that can get as many stares in India as two blond Western women in sparkling saris. TIRMa blames the looks on my white blond hair; I blame it on her height. Sometimes the Indian women will wave if they realize I have caught them staring. This is different from how it was in China, where the Chinese tourists photo stalked me with their long camera lenses.  This feels less threatening;  more amused by the unusual. Friendlier.  More complimentary. Still,  one of my friends Uncles made a point of telling us - in Munnar where we are going tomorrow,  we should not speak to the locals after 8pm. Maybe there is 1 person in 100 who will cause trouble, but there was a report in the paper last week...

"I wasn't expecting to sing hymns at an Indian wedding." One of the English guests commented. Kerela is a predominantly Christian area and my friends wedding would be comfortable to most Western Christians including familiar scripture ( 1 Cor. 13) and songs. Even the party dance music was familiar; the last song of the night for which we were all summoned to the floor was... Feliz Navidad!