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i am back from a very short (but intense!) trip to kerala, on the south-western indian coast. we stayed mostly in varkala, at the bomboo village on the north end of the cliff. many tourists (most of them europeans and north americans) and a sort of india_is_the_shanti_way environment. but the place was really nice and, for once, being a “normal” tourist is not bad. and what is normal, after all?

during our stay in varkala, we made a one-day trip to the back-waters a sort of lagoon with thousands of small canals that can be sailed by small boats. pietro is wearing a hand-made safety jacket (which was not safe at all, btw!) while we were trying to protect him from the sun with an authentic keralan umbrella. we had the traditional kerala chai, we saw men repairing boats in the traditional way and women making ropes with coconut fibres (at a rate of 200 ropes per day or 6 hours work. one day is payed 100 INR - 2 EUR. when they come home they still have to do house works). this area is apparently covered by electricity, cable and bradband internet. probably the rope-making women don’t have much time to surf on the net, but maybe their husbands do.

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this (the pictures that follow, i mean) is what christmas looks like in pondicherry. not quite sure that all the lights you see were put there just for christmas, though, but the city is very nicely decorated, for one reason or another (maybe the president’s visit to pondy?). in these days, the local government is promoting a vaccination campaign against filariasis. a big (fake) mosquito is lying on the beach, to recall people’s attention. and to wake-up my nightmares…

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today is the aid-el-kebir, a very important muslim festivity. here are some photos of the aid 2005 in a village of the atlas, in morocco. i whish a happy aid to all my muslim friends.

it has been raining all day. the never-ending monsoon rain brings relief to this land and its people, every year. i have never seen raining like this. only in sierra leone, many years ago. today schools are closed, fishermen won’t be able to sail and will receive 5 kg of rice from the government. it’s no joke, it’s monsoon rain.

this rain makes me think that it is winter. this morning i found myself thinking, or should i say “hoping”, that it was going to be a cold day. i even put a sweeter on… how silly. it is still hot. as usual, one of the things that i miss the most when i am not in italy, is winter. i care very little about many “italian” things that i can’t find here. i can survive (up to many days) without parmesan, i can survive without wine if there is reasonably good beer, i can even drink chicory-coffee, but one thing i really miss when i am not in italy: winter. i miss cold and snow. and it’s a strange feeling.

for those of you who understand italian, there is a new post on podkasbaht (my podcast). to listen to the episode, go to podkasbaht or follow this link and let me know your comments about it.

a sunday at the kailash resort, some 10 Km from pondicherry to celebrate pietro’s birthday. Continue Reading »

as you might already know, i recently moved to a new place. last month i left morocco for india. i thought it was a good moment to change my website as well, and that’s what i have been doing during the last couple of days. so, be patient. i’ll put everything back on-line very soon, in these shining new pages, with the same old love.