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  Varkala, India
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Varkala is an up and coming seaside resort near Trivandrum but not nearly as touristy as nearby Kovalam. I had a partial view of the sea from my room. However, in my 3 days in the resort, I didn't even go onto the beach as I'm not really a beach person and there are a lot of strong undercurrents. I was quite happy to watch the huge waves hitting the rocks below from the palm tree lined cliff where all the hotels, restaurants and cafes are situated. I found Varkala to be far too touristy for me, but took the opportunity to catch up on some reading. The only Indians around were those running the restaurants and the craft shops (although I did venture into Varkala town for an hour where the buzz of Indian life was going strong). Since the tsunami had hit trade was slow and the many children who were sent down by their parents from other states to work along the cliff top selling thin sarongs looked desperate and sad - they had to sell a certain number every day to be assured of a floor to sleep on and some food for the day - far from their parents and surrounded by rich, hippy tourists all looking for spiritual upliftment in India - talk about contrasts

The coast of Varkala

! Some of the visitors to Varkala that I met, were long-termers (who didn't show any interest in seeing the real India) or annual visitors. I spent the next few days joining in the search for a zen lifestyle by doing some yoga - although compared to the hardcore, I was pretty crap!

I also had another dhara session with the guy who taught yoga, who was also an ayurvedic practitioner - this was another dirty outhouse experience this time with no shower attached, so after the very unrelaxing experience, I stumbled back to my guesthouse dripping in oil (all over my clothes) and waited until they heated up some water in a bucket for me - even after 30 minutes of washing my hair, I couldn't get the oil out.

I met various people in Varkala, many doing meditation or chanting courses, some who lived there and ran guesthouses (especially the zany woman at The Red House, where I had a superb array of Indian food - about 6 dishes for 70p! On my last night in Varkala, I joined some of the yoga lot and we had a group meal ending in a crazy sing-song - including the popular 'Imagine' and 'I will survive' - a hilarious night involving no alcohol.

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