Riding the rails

There are times when I'm sitting in my room and listening to music that I forget I'm in India. Then the smell of burning garbage begins to waft in and I'm reminded.

In a few hours, we'll all be getting on an overnight train to Chennai, formerly known as Madras. We'll be touring Tamil Nadu and Kerala for two weeks, looking at temples and beginning work on our final projects for the architecture class. Eliza, this means I won't be able to put your posts online for awhile, so you'll need to talk to someone else.

We just got done with our weeklong break from classes, which coincided with the Desara festival. This involves thousands of tourists pouring into Mysore from all over Karnataka for concerts, sales, and a big parade. During the festival, it became absolutely impossible to go anywhere in the downtown area. I thought I'd seen crowds and traffic in New York, but this is something else. At least there we don't have to deal with cows in the road.

By the way, what kind of cool stuff do people want from India? All I know is that Areti wants "kooky" earrings. I need to bring some part of the experience back home for you guys!