Like A Rolling Stone

Hello everyone after a very long hiatus!! I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in the dusty, grimy, noise little southern Indian city of Hospet, in which there is literally nothing of interest. I figured that, while I have nothing to do but wait for my 12 hour, cheap local bus to the tiny beach resort-strewn state of Goa (bus leaving in an hour...I'll have to type quickly), I might as well dust off the old blog and let everyone know that India has not quite killed me off yet.
There are many things that I could theoretically blame on my month long break from blogging, including but not limited to: language school, too many going away parties, the Taj Mahal, Delhi's 110 degree heat, Salman Rushdie, monkeys, India's frequent power outages, early trains, late trains, ancient ruins, you get the picture...after all, this is the country that runs on IST (Indian Standard Time, which runs as late as is convenient), and where, grammatically speaking (in Hindi at least), no one can ever be late--lateness just happens to you. But, in reality, I'm writing in English, where one cannot get away with using the passive voice constantly, so I will have to actually come up with a viable excuse. The best one that I can think of is that, while in Mussoorie I didn't have anything interesting to report, since I left Mussoorie there has just been too much to say. That and, jumping back to my Hindi-speaking self, laziness happens to have happened to me.
So What have I been up to? You may have noticed that I've somehow moved almost a whole subcontinent away from where I was a month ago. I am no longer taking Hindi lessons, having completely and unquestionable mastered the language. I'm officially on the move, wreaking havoc on South Asia--as I have been for the last two weeks or so. I've steamrolled through Agra and Delhi, to take in the Taj Mahal and the oppressive heat, respectively. I've spent an entire week bumming around the super posh and super chic city of Bangalore, in the southern part of the country, enjoying the city's happening nightlife--that is, until 11:00 PM, when all the bars, clubs and lounges are simultaneous invaded by breathalyzer-wielding policemen who pound the floors with their nightsticks as people try to buy time to finish their cigarette and their beer. Most recently, I've spent three days in Hampi--a kind of South Asian Machu Picchu, except set in between banana plantations instead of on a mountain--but no less fascinating and captivating, even if it is a bit less dramatic. And now I'm off to Goa to rent a scooter for a few days and motor my way from beach to beach across the 50 miles of coastline in the state.
A lot has happened to me in the last month, and that is in addition to completely and unquestioningly mastering Hindi. I've had lots and lots of South Indian dosas, kind of fried pancakes eaten with this spicy soup called sambaar and pale green coconut chutney. I've been attacked by cows on at least two occasions, and survived them both. I've been attacked by rickshaw and taxi drivers on many more occasions, and haven't quite survived all of them: even if I've still managed to escape with my life (sometimes just barely), my wallet seems to be conspicuously lighter after unknowingly paying five times the fare to go somewhere. I've been through the standard line of questioning ( "Whatisyourname? Whichcountry? Marriage? Whynomarriage? Whatyourfatherworking?) at least once or twice per day since I last blogged, and I must say, I've come up with some pretty creative responses. I've gotten lost many times, been very uncomfortable, spent long chunks of time exhausted, had the Delhi Belly on several occasions (do you really want me to explain what happens to your belly in Delhi? Use your imagination)---in short, its been an exhilirating and unforgettable trip; and there are still four weeks to go!! (during which, I will dare to promise, I will get off at least a couple more blog posts.)