south india actually happened

i understand now why blogs are so difficult to update. it's not that i don't want to, it's just that i don't do it. i'm so sorry. i know most of you have given up on me. i am really tired and suffering from a cold. malai khoki lageko chha. coughing. but i will do my best to give you an idea of what my trip to india was like. however, complete sentences are the way of the past.

16 hour night bus trip means dinner with the bus drivers...
awkward silence but i'm proud to eat with my hands

arrive in surunga, jhapa district, nepal
my dajyu meets me at 6am as the bus drivers drop me meters from his home
i drink tea and my new sisters come to take me home
tiredness overwhelms me but i am happy to meet more gautams
the little village atmosphere welcomes me, the houses all stand up on steaks
i sleep and eat and we walk to the river
so much more happens there. i feel loved, embarassed for all the attention, happy
but the next day i must go...indiama janchhu.

india is a new world at first. the sights and sounds seem so different
where did my nepal go?
then the bus starts climbing up hills. happy hills
and then we arrive, nepali words i can read once more
and i find thandiwe, my friend. we match. our dresses are the same blue color.
we walk but soon i feel a fever and sickness. i almost don't make it the long walk home.
when i do it is over. all i can do is sleep. my first real sickness.

finally i recover a few days later and meet a friend of mine from kathmandu's family.
connections are webbing outward the longer i stay here. all people are willing to take me in
kalimpong is great. much like nepal but in india things are different.
water is available to more people, lights also come on and off
there are maintained roads.

and there are trains. after a few days in kalimpong the train became my home
siliguri train station. begger children sleep on the stairs.
but once on the train we sleep on blue vinal bunks, that become sticky with sweat and dust
but heat makes us sleep. i open my book to read but my eyes close
food comes through the train. chai, coffee, chai. samosi! lunch?
always our reply is no. but always they ask and then laugh.
the nepali speakers on the train are saviours. kind, giving, looking out.

when we emerge from the cacoon train, i see a new world
bright colors, sweet jack fruit smells.
but i am dirt and sweat only. soiled takes on new meaning.
we wash and dark water flows.