Senses engaged

I am utterly grateful for a single room.  At the end of the day (by the middle of the day, really), I am in desperate need of space and (relative) quiet.

Early morning city noises: horns, birds, bustle woke me the first few days.

While sitting in the mobile phone shop the other day, I thought about all the animals-from-games we seem to be:

• Frogs trying not to be squished crossing the road
• Chickens playing on the road clucking our horns – ‘you move first, I will not brake,’ our autorickshaws seem to say silently to one another as they swerve through oncoming traffic
•  Fish trying to find a match – ‘do you know the way to Lower Tank Bund’ ‘how much will it cost to drive us there’  ‘Go Fish’

And try again later.

The smells of India are interchanging.  You can’t decide whether to breathe it in or not.  One moment it tempts you with curries and buttery bread.  The next it forbids it with putrid garbage and exhaust fumes.

Sitting on the balcony in the evening, the bustle of the street ringing below still stirs me.   

I’ve become very tired very quickly the past several days.  There are a myriad of reasons for that: limited caffeine, some jet lag, a lot of emotions, and so on.  But mostly I think it’s the bombardment of stimuli that assaults nonstop.  Even in the evening up on the balcony, there is music blasting, the ever present incessant honking of cars, dogs barking, construction noises – drill, hammer, chisel, bang bang, whirrrr –, people calling out, birds squawking, flash of car lights.

Have I ever mentioned that I like quietude? – Get thee to an ashram! – All this noise zaps my energy.

And on the ground it’s cars whooshing by, people staring, harassing, begging, cars whooshing by, staid water to avoid, smells accosting, cars whooshing by, things being sold, life to observe…and did I mention, cars about to hit you?  Senses, overloaded.

On the upside, one sense that is happily engaged is my sense of taste.  Some wonderful dishes thus far:

• Biryani – of the egg variety, which is a boiled egg, not fried as I thought it would be.  A spicy and aromatic rice dish, it was scrumptious.
• Tamarind rice. Nutty flavored aromatic rice.
• Paneer Tikka with Roti. A curry style dish with buttery flat bread.  Yum! (I could eat this bread all day.)
• Chapati!  (Throw back to Tanzania, here.)
• Vegetable Dosas. A savory vegetable filling inside a crepe-like wrap.

 More to come on this! (Once the stove arrives and the gas is turned on, perhaps some cooking??)