APR 7, 13 .. ‘ZILLA ASKS .. PART IV

By Cap Chastain April 7, 2013 Dangerous, INDIA, Kodaikanal, Zilla

WHEW!

Where does the time go?  It has been too long (March 19th) since I last did a ‘ZILLA ASKS Post here .. so here-we-go!

I decided to use Control ‘C’ and Control ‘V’ to copy and to paste ‘Zilla’s actual questions into this Post so you can all read his questions.

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‘ZILLA ASKED ME about the nights here in Kodaikanal.

In his e-mail ‘Zilla said .. A question for you, I assume you do not walk at night after 6:30 pm due to the hazards (which there are plenty), but also due to lack of street lighting, and finally, because there is nothing really to do at night?

I refer you to Blogspot and my series .. BE SAFE !? .. PARTS X and XI .. for details specific to Kodaikanal and its dangers.

YES YOU ARE CORRECT!  It is too dangerous at night here in Kodaikanal to be walking a lot because of the location of my Hotel and YES the street lighting here is very poor.

Here in Kodaikanal and Here in India .. generally .. I have found that-for-me there is very little to-do-at-night.  In the large cities there is so much street-action that it can entertain me in-and-of-itself.  Television in my room is great.  CNN and Sports.  I also entertain myself writing Post Cards.

And when I have access to the internet at night .. as I do in New Delhi and for that matter in Pondicherry since I knew-the-night-sidewalks .. I do a lot of my work at night.

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NOW TO A NEW DEVELOPMENT .. Last night .. Saturday night April 6th .. I got caught-up posting my long Posts of yesterday and over-stayed my self-set-limit of being off-the-street at 6:30PM.  I was still here at 7:45PM.

YIKES.  DANGER.  So I walked up the hill to the Main Bus Stand.  The LAST BUS DOWN THE HILL was at 8PM (Mahesh here at the Internet Cafe told me this). I figured it would be much safer to RIDE THE BUS than to walk in the dark.

I stood for twenty five (25) minutes on a jam-packed-bus BEFORE it left at 8:10PM.  Patti called me and it was all-I-could-do to get my hands down to my side to get at my cell phone the crowding all around me was so severe! It was India-Calibre-Crowded!  After a ten minute ride I had a five minute walk back up to my Hotel. So the trip home took forty-some-minutes.

I think I could pull-off walking back myself.  It would be slow and easy.  Wait for traffic to break (it always does have openings).  Walk only on the paved roadway using whatever vehicle lights appear for illumination.

Bottom line.  I am not-quite-so-skittish now about being out later than 6:30PM because I lived-to-tell-the-tale.

IF I push this and stay later here at the Internet Cafe .. I can do more work later into the evening here on the internet. Time-will-tell.

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‘Zilla said in an e-mail .. A comment regarding Kodai, it appears to be a more up scale town as compared to the large minority of poor people in India, is that accurate?  How big a town, that is how many people?   What is the main industry?  Or is it a more or less resort area?  Your hotel looks great?    Is this the second time you have stayed there?  What are some of the key sites or things you will do there?  Is the area in and around mostly Indian, as compared to the area you were in Pondi which was French?   It’s always interesting to learn about the areas you travel, neat!!

Kodaikanal IS a tourist destination ESPECIALLY AND SPECIFICALLY FOR RESIDENTS OF INDIA!  Kodaikanal was and is a ‘Hill Station’ where the upper class British (The Raj) came to escape the searing heat down on the plains. There is no equivalent here such as the French in Pondicherry and the Germans in Goa.  This IS India.

Yes it is upscale but trust me on this .. there are plenty of India Beggars everywhere.

It is approximately 40,000 population.  I have no clue what else they have as to industry. As to Key Sites .. they are here and last year in February of 2012 I did a post showing them.  I THINK I WILL REPEAT THAT POST TO SHOW YOU THE SIGHTS.

YES this is my second visit .. both times I have stayed at the Raahat Inn.  Last year 2012 for only three nights.

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‘Zilla said in an  e-mail .. I notice in your itinerary, you will travel to New Delhi and to Agra and return to New Delhi – why not stay where you are and travel to New Delhi when you are ready to leave without making an extra trip to Agra?

I HOME BASE IN AGRA CANTT because of my friend of 22+ years Jeevan Lal.  I have left in storage with Jeevan in Agra a lot of my things so I could travel a bit lighter. I like ‘home basing’ in Agra much better than home-basing in New Delhi. So I MUST return to Agra.

Travel-wise it is better to go through to New Delhi and then back-track down to Agra. I have to go to New Delhi for my International flights.

HOWEVER .. I could and I think I will .. see about getting-down-from-the-train in Agra and not go all-the-way to New Delhi.  It will depend on the timing.  IF I were to have to get off the train at 3AM in Agra I would rather go through to New Delhi.

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‘Zilla said in an e-mail .. One note for you, regarding your blog, you list the topics, but you have no date, so it’s just a matter of  clicking each one until you get the key.  Did you intentionally leave off the date?   On your net site you have dated all your writings.

I have NO control over the date and time format on EITHER WEB SITE.  Dot Net dates them and so too does Blogspot but as to the dates being on the Archives I have no control over that.

I COULD PUT THE DATES IN THE TITLE ITSELF.  I MAY DO THAT TO SEE HOW IT LOOKS.

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‘Zilla stated in an e-mail .. As you have traveled so much in India, I do agree that if you get in a nice place like Pondi or Kodai, why not stay and enjoy the smell of the flowers or the “Calla Lilies?   You have a nice room and view, good exercise in walking the streets and hills, why not extend your stay?  I assume you have all the conveniences like shopping, restaurants, but no restaurant like “hot breads” and the great salads and meals like Pondi?

I am DEEP IN THOUGHT ABOUT THIS!

I VERY VERY-WELL! Just may opt to STAY IN KODAIKANAL until the end of April and then go by night bus to Chennai and train to New Delhi.

Here IS-THE-KICKER.  IF I do this .. I will then go to Ooty with only the barest of necessities.  Stay a week or so in Ooty and return here to Kodaikanal.  Ooty is such an ‘unknown’ to me having NEVER been to Ooty. I am not too willing to leave what I have here and drag all that I have with me to Ooty and find it is not what I hope.

IF I do this then:  I HAVE-MY-CAKE-AND-EAT-IT-TOO!

I know how-to-do Kodaikanal-to-Chennai and Chennai-to-New Delhi.

ALL OF THE UNKNOWNS IN OOTY AND MYSORE are ‘bothering’ me at this stage of my game. The heat is oppressive down on the plains.  Over 100 F.

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That’s All Folks .. Cap

IF you are up-to-it .. another Post follows this Post .. so keep scrolling-down to .. JUST A LITTLE FUN HERE .. THIS IS .. AFTER ALL .. INDIA ..