In India, even the flower market is run by men. Strewn with refuse and dead flowers, it’s a place that doesn’t charm at first sight. The peeling walls are patched with old movie posters. “So this is the place my guidebook suggested,” I doubted silently.

But the merchants ask to be photographed, offer delightfully fragrant blossoms, and create skillful arrangements to adorn women’s hair or as offerings to the gods. And the experience transforms little by little.

See the post for a photo gallery.

Kerala is an Indian state that stands apart form its neighbours.

It’s the state with the highest rate of literacy in India and life expectancy that rivals many developed countries. Kerala is strikingly green. The vegetation is lush and thick.

See post for a photo gallery.

When I landed in Chennai, I realized I was also in the city of Madras. But when I wanted to explore the state of Madras, I learned I would be hopping around Tamil Nadu.

I haven’t been on this planet long enough to know a lot, but I never heard of a country that loves to change the names of its places as much as India.

As Istambul was Constantinople, Mumbai was Bombay, Kolkata was Calcutta, Bengaluru was Bangalore, Haora was Howrah.

When we travel, we discover that the way we do things isn’t always the correct one. That our culture is only one among so many. And that human beings, fundamentally, have the same needs no matter their differences.

All this is very lovely. But when I hear an Indian burping loudly on the table beside me, it makes me, like my mother, want to scold him and follow up with a lesson on good manners.

When I see a man collecting audible phlegm in his throat before firing it with gusto on the sidewalk, I’m urged to start a little chat on the basics of hygiene.

Not one among the dozens of beach-facing restaurants in Varkala have beer and cocktails in their menus.

But ask a waiter for alcohol and he’ll produce a tattered home-printed sheet from his pocket listing Tom Collins, mojitos, Cosmopolitans, all the classic mixes. Order a beer and an ice-cold Kingfisher bottle will appear in seconds.

The restaurants aren’t allowed to sell alcohol. But like anywhere else, in Varkala, the rules are negotiable if the price is right.

Chennai

Longest beach in world
By a sea of rickshaw fumes
Get me out of here.

Four more haikus inside.

I started to like India more when I saw that their tourists can be just as goofy as our own.

Indians, too, flock en masse to touristy spots in India. They also eat at overpriced yet bland restaurants overlooking the sea. They buy plastic made-in-China knick-knacks from souvenir hawkers.

And they hold the sunset in their hands or pinch the top of a palace for pictures. Just like we do.

I understand now why India is a major innovator in mediation, patience, and inner peace. You really need it here.

After one week in India, I’m still waiting for the payoff.

So far, three cities in, I’m not seeing many reasons to stay.

Whatever claim you make about India the opposite will also be true.

This makes it a pretty difficult country to write about. But by my own logic, it also makes it a very easy country to write about.

And yes, there is tons to report after a mere few days in the country. The problem is that few of it would go beyond the most cliché.