Shantiniketan, He Wrote -- By Drew Z. Greenberg

All right, Sports Fans, the tour continues, and it just keeps getting more and more exciting. I know what you're thinking: MORE exciting than the Indian equivalent of a Big Mac? Drew, you are likely saying to your collective selves, we do not understand how such a thing is even POSSIBLE. Fret not, I am here to explain it all.

Since our last visit to the world wide web, Jules and I had an opportunity to travel from Delhi to the sleepy town of Shantiniketan, near Kolkata. When I say "sleepy town," do you conjure up images of Angela Lansbury baking pies while solving curious mysteries? Do you think of homey, slow-paced, just-down-home folks? Well, if you do, the joke's on you - this is India, silly, not New Freakin' England. The rickshaws are just as eager to run you over in sleepy towns as they are in big cities. But Shantiniketan is a small university town, famous for its culture placing an emphasis on art and writing. Unfortunately, the museums evidencing such culture close on Wednesdays. Can anyone guess what day we were in Shantiniketan? Oh, that was too easy. Hey, kids, when traveling, always check to make sure there are no local holidays or regular closings in the particular sleepy town you plan to visit. And do it BEFORE you go.

Now, the visit was not a waste of time. Far from it. In fact, Jules and I took advantage of the peace and quiet (some might say "spooky, Jason-in-a-hockey-mask-like") nature of our accommodations. We ate, we worked a lot of Sudoku puzzles (thanks Drew T. and Jerry!!), we walked the main road to the train station marveling at the local sweet shops and abundance of cell phone ads. We tried our best to figure out why our tiny little guest-house had a ginormous restaurant with a kitchen staff-to-guest ratio of about twenty-seven to one. I got to see local Indian life in a way I hadn't in the cities, and that was nice. And then we left for Kolkata.

Kolkata was a fun experience that Jules detailed somewhat in his recent entries, so I'll let his word stand. And remember, he's always an accurate reporter, but no more so than when he talks about how great I am. (Spending this time with him, I will say here, and I mean all of this time, this whole trip, has been downright fun. And he knows I think that. He's not just making me say that because it's his blog.)

And now, Jules and I are currently in a small Orissa town (south of Kolkata) with Eddie and Sarita. We didn't intend to come here; the four of us left Kolkata yesterday with every intention of spending a few restful days in the beachside town of Puri. A lovely vacation in what we were told was a lovely resort seemed the best way to relax in the middle of our respective trips. Ha, ha! It turns out that someone's definition of "resort" is different than mine (and Julio's and Sarita's and Eddie's). For example, we did not know that "resort" COULD mean "weird place where the rooms look like closets, smell like urine and have blood-stained sheets." "Oh," that dictionary might hasten to add, "also little hairs and cruddy-things on all the pillowcases." Now, look: Jules has been to some low-cost places, and I've gone with him to some of them. We're not THAT high-maintenance. I just like MY blood-stained sheets dry before I climb on top of them. Luckily, Eddie and Sarita felt the same way. We left a large Julio-and-Eddie-and-Sarita-and-Drew shaped hole in the wall and quickly went into overtime to come up with other plans. I'm pleased to say we did a rather good job. We found a lovely resort far from the beach but also with little evidence of homicidal activity, which is SO important. Pools, a lake, five restaurants, a shower, friendly staff... it turned out to be a lot of fun. More later. love to you all, especially the ones who are still reading.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net