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I am unhappy about Hyderabad and don’t want to think about it, so let’s jump in straight into this new place.

My impression of Kochi so far? Wet, cramped, wet, lots of traffic, wet, potholes, boiled rice, wet, no pavements, wet…oh, and did I mention the wetness? Seriously though, I guess I’m too much of a dryland person (The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is situated in my hometown). I suppose we’ve missed the bulk of the monsoon, though.

Haven’t done much sightseeing, as we’ve been settling down instead. You know, I’d really love to know what goes on in a designer/architect’s mind when he (most architects for the government in India would be male) designs quarters such as these. The flat is large, the largest room by far being the kitchen! (with poor ventilation and little actual storage space). I tried to convince the husband that we could move the dining table into the kitchen, but he thinks it wouldn’t look good when we have visitors. And of course it would leave the dining room without a function.

What sort of families wouldn’t require cupboards? None of the rooms has any at all, and only two bedrooms have a couple of afterthought wardrobes added. In Vizag, all the wall decorations we’d packed in Bombay remained packed, because we didn’t want to defile the nice walls of the civil flat we were renting. Instead we decorated with stuff in the showcase. Here, on the other hand, there are absolutely no shelves anywhere, but at least a million nails driven into the walls by the previous occupants, so all the showcase stuff has remained in storage and out have come the wall hangings.

The husband indulged in some semi-forbidden activity by getting an extra loft-tank installed, as there isn’t any running water except for 45 minute intervals twice a day. Thankfully the kitchen has a loft tank and one of the bathrooms.

The furniture is mostly good, and after a lot of elbow gunk, the cabinet doors in the kitchen are decent now (the amount of ick on them was unbelievable and I didn’t think on first impression that any of it could be removed, but faithful Scotchbrite came to the rescue, along with lots of soap and water). Apparently the previous occupants didn’t care in what shape they left the house. There are two rocking chairs! Good for watching TV while knitting (of which there has been some).

Am I sounding incoherent? There’s lots of things to blog about, but I find the longer I wait to talk about something, the less likely I am to talk about it at all. Does that happen to you too? I somehow feel after a gap that whatever it was doesn’t matter any more.
To be an interesting blog, though, I think it is important to be regular as well as current. Hmm. No wonder this blog is so poorly read. 😦

Today I enrolled as a member of the Eloor library here which is chock full of the kind of pulp/pop fiction I read and should keep me happy. Got two Heyer murders, one Ian Rankin (my first) and for old times’ sake, a Betty Neels (Kimberly, you’ve read her? You know, mushy chick lit of the traditional kind). The library isn’t close by, but maybe that will keep my expenses down. Also spotted a book sale, but the husband didn’t want to stop in the rain.

Before we left Vizag, the MIL and I had a romantic getaway at Araku. The husband was supposed to join us, but couldn’t as the trucker (try spelling that minus tr plus f) let us down but he joined us the second day for the actual sightseeing. Since it was a “suite” meaning a double bed and a diwan, no room rent was lost. I’ve uploaded pictures at my Flickr account. It was very green and lush. No actual rain, but cool. Also saw my first coffee plantation (drive through).

Off to watch Law & Order: SVU. Ta!