Athirapilly Waterfalls

we saw these rubber trees on the way to the waterfalls:

we stopped on this diverted river bed on the way:

doesn't my baby look cool?

this is ashok's cousin, das chettan, showing us how they used to make "spoons" with jackfruit tree leaves. it was funny, dad started to tell the story of how he would make spoons, then das 'ettan walked up, unaware of dad's story, and began sharing a similar story. when we told das of the coincidence, he said to dad in malayalam, "then i am truly your nephew, uncle!"

we loaded up our car on one of these "canoes", and off we went!

india has the best signs, hands down:

the waterfalls, from a distance:

our traveling companion, vyasa prasad (aka bhaiyya):

magnificent!

yet another great sign:

and they keep coming:

this sign might be my favorite! what do the police have to do with this??

there are no words:

if you can believe it, all of the pictures up until this point are from the first week of the journey! more to come friends...

Sankara

kalady

kalady is the birthplace of the famous hindu philosopher, shankara. he lived circa 788-820 c.e. click here to learn more about sankara. it's not a definitive site, but it's a good starting place. for being such a revolutionary philosopher of world renown, the sankara shrine at kalady is nothing to write home about. the actual shrine was closed, but we got to walk along the periyar river, where sankara's legend began.

there is no way to know what he looked like, but i'm guessing he wasn't this "fair". in india, fair=good, pure. dark=bad, impure. fucking ridiculous!

this sign is awesome:

this is a sign that tells the legend of sankara, again, awesome:

this is periyar river where the above legend takes place. i imagine sankara looked more like the guy in the river than any artist's rendering.

ok, if anyone can make sense of this sign, please enlighten me:

next stop, athirapilly waterfalls!

Angamaly

fam

these were taken at ashok's cousin's house in Angamaly.

this is dad and valiamma (his older sister, who is in her 80s!):

the three of us:

ashok has a lot of love for valiamma because she came to the states when he was a troubled youth (aka the high school years), and she loved him unconditionally, without judgment. priceless!

Vaikom

family
this is a picture of ashok's family in vaikom. they were all super sweet to us, and we'll never forget their kindness and simplicity of living.

elephant
this elephant was made by ashok's grandmother many years ago for the festival of onam.

India is Color

tamarind
a main ingredient in kerala cooking:


strange bug
ashok found this interesting insect:


dammit! i forgot the name of this fruit
when we were at ashok's dad's place in vaikom, ashok's cousin just picked these off a tree for us. they were sweet and refreshing, except we had to check for ants before eating them.

Don't Read This if You are Easily Offended!

I Got What America Needs Right Here

Sometimes I'm a little stupid, maybe, a little slow in the head, so I'm wondering if you can help me get something straight....