momentum

There's no more delaying it. We've made the purchase: the era of the beach will end. Realizing that the entirety of February has so far been spent on the beach, we bought train tickets to Kolkata (Calcutta). We leave from Chennai in a week, readying ourselves for the 32 hour journey with jars of imported peanut butter and banana chips. In the mean time, we're hoping to stop off at a hill station called Kodaikannal in Tamil Nadu, home of my people. Although I am excited to be moving (traveling again), the thought of packing up my backpack doesn't seem so inviting. This means turning my back on the beach - to blue waves, hot sun, multi-colored sand, 5 ruppee samosas and 25 rupee masala dosai, made fresh in front of me. No more floating out in the warm Arabian sea and watching the sky turn pink as the sun heads towards Africa and on the North America to wake all of you up to a day I've already witnessed.

But, for some reason, Calcutta really appeals to me. We've learned by now that it's best to keep major cities to two or three days - the pollution, crowds and noise become completely overwhelming, otherwise. From there, it's off to Darjeeling and the Himalayas, and then to meet Dina in Delhi.