We see dead people.

Whoo! Feels like an epoch has passed since I was last able to update concerning subcontinental adventures. Since the last good internet connection (Bangalore, mid Feb), we've trekked through some very impressive temples in Trichy, overcome some austere bedding situations (think card table with sheets; an almost ubiquitous challenge in Tamil Nadu), visited Frenchified India in Pondicherry, taken a dip in the Bay of Bengal, laid low during a transit strike in Hyderabad, sat it out in general in charmless Chennai, and discovered a surprisingly refined ( relatively speaking) Kolkata (that's Calcutta, if you're nasty).

We've also watched countless hours of Bollywood films/music videos (some damn impressive), dropped in on a Hindu full moon festival, made a real attempt to understand why anyone likes cricket (World Cup is happening here), slept on a few overnight trains, and in general weathered the improbably diverse sights, smells and sounds that comprise daily life here on the subcontinent.

We no longer possess anything that can be considered "clean" (washing in the sink accomplishes only so much), but our stomachs are nigh-invulnerable (famous last words) and I'm even beginning to know which way to look before I cross a street----(this in itself is like a zen koan; there is no right way to look, you must look all ways at once, including into...the future). I've learned that the sidewalk is not just a sidewalk, it is also the road, the kitchen, the bathhouse, and the saloon (ed note: saloon here is a pervasively used misspelling of "salon", disappointing all those searching for a beer in dry towns.)

We are currently in Varanasi, and have spent the day exploring the ghats (steps) leading down to the Ganges. People wash and do their laundry in uncomfortably close proximity to lounging water buffalo (who send their wash out), and cremations are a regular occurrence on the very same banks. The river is currently very, very low and as you might imagine, the water is dirty. Yet the Ganges remains one of Hinduism's most holy places, and everyone and their shaman is here to pay their respects. The roadways that hover thirty feet above the river bed are labyrinthine affairs full of shops, food stalls, goats, chickens, cows, vipers (trained, of course), puppies, motorcycles, people with drums, newlyweds, and lastly, exhaustingly, a man with a monkey on his head. The only creature I haven't spotted in the alleys is an elephant, and that's probably because it would not fit. It is quite a place indeed.

Have loads of pics and videos to share once good internets pass our way. Stay tuned.