The lazy blogger

I know I've become very lazy in blogging. India has become my home now and it seems slightly strange to write updates of my daily life, while different to what my life has been in the past, they have become my new normal.

I am now used to mud and noise and car horns and people shitting and pissing and spitting in the street or whereever is convenient. I'm used to everything being shut just when I want to go and buy something, everything shuts from about midday until the evening. I'm used to the soaking monsoon rains. I'm used to eating curry at every meal, craving it even. I'm used to zoning out when people are speaking in Oriya around me. I'm used to being stared at. I'm used to kids yelling out hello when I walk past. I'm used to having no work to do for long periods and then being dragged around the countryside to do some really interesting work. I'm used to riding on motorbikes through remote jungle villages. I'm used to sitting in the homes of very poor people while they tell me their stories. I'm used to getting three or four share auto rickshaws across town to see someone about something then be told it is not possible today. I'm used to waiting. I'm used to things not happening as they should. I'm used to Indian generosity and friendliness. I'm used to wearing Indian dress. I'm used to being asked what I ate today, or yesterday.

So what is there left to share when I've become used to all of this.

The next series of entries will be exerpts from emails to my dear friend Clara describing some of my experiences to her over recent weeks.