Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: February 17, 2007

DEV-il

While I was posting my diary / checking emails last night, Frances went to bed.

Once I was sure she was asleep, I had to wake her up to ask her if she’d do Madrid and London between India and Helsinki next week and to get her to fetch power cabling for laptops, phones etc...

This did not amuse Frances.

Apparently she didn’t get back to sleep and was throwing up through tiredness later: I’m a bastard slave-driver.


If things had kicked off before, now they’re verging on ridiculous/suicidal.

At some point I need to see my family.

At some point I might need to sleep.


Walked away from the polite tourist (sanctuary) hotel into more realistic India. Lots of smiling faces, hellos and waving going on.

Over to the ashram (buying some daft pottery en route which I’m sure I’ll never get home in the hand baggage) in time for some unexpected torrential rain.

It’s NOT monsoon season: this shouldn’t be happening. I obviously brought it with me from blighty.

Shot all day.
Portraits of the actors.
In the rain and standing in puddles.
Between the power cuts.

Had a brief trip out at lunchtime to some small shops nearby.

Learnt a bit about Hinduism (it’s not a religion: it’s a way of life) and a bit about India, reincarnation, politics etc...

Almost bought Mrs. Perou a real pashmina for £200 (most ‘real’ pashmina isn’t 100% pure, but this was…apparently: £200 is a LOT of money here). Got myself some fisherman’s pants for £2.

Had dinner (the BEST steak I’ve had in AGES... please don’t let me get ill: I had promised to go vegetarian while I was here) in a boutique hotel in pondicherry called ‘the prominade’.

Weirdness.
Drinking ‘patio breeze’ cocktails and listening to ‘deep dish’ etc... house music and retouching on a laptop simultaneously: the whole experience was quite bizarre.
we could have been anywhere in the world.

I had so many preconceptions of what India would be like: most of them were
wrong.
The cast of the show were laughing at me the first day I arrived in my
safari outfit. ‘Where does he think he is going?’ they were saying.

I never aspired to come to India... now i'm planning when and where to return.

STILL can’t post pictures….still can’t use phone/email.

Was feeling cut off and frustrated: now just cut off and resigned to it.

Managed to hack into perou.co.uk to show pictures of Mrs. Perou and sons to interested parties and realised how much I miss them all.
Travelling so much is great, unless you’ve left precious loved ones behind.

Home IS where the heart is: feels like I left my heart at home.

:(