My general state of cultural digestion is that phase where I have so much to say but no words for it. I’ve been in India for almost two weeks now, which seems crazy and impossible. I’m in the privileged position of having lost track of the day of the week, for better or for worse. Either way it contributes to the feeling that I’m floating on my back in the undulating waters of the sliver of India that I’ve been seeing.

I’m in Chennai now. Hampi was amazing, and a bubble apart from other parts of India, I think. It’s a huge campus of ancient Indo-Islamic ruins spread around a huge area, punctuated by villages and towns of ranging sizes, but none too small. The whole area largely caters to tourists, and the economy hinges on their business. But unlike many places where this is the case, agriculture and local manufacturing are still evident. If the tourists suddenly dried up, the area would probably be fine. Hampi was the second largest city in the world, by population, until the Mughals conquered and razed it around 1500.

It was a rookie move and I probably got hugely gouged, but I hired a driver and guide a minute after hopping off my train. My first forray into India Rail was successful, safe, and slow- overall, a positive experience that strongly refutes the reputation that’s been impressed upon me. Kai, my guide, drove me around for the bulk of three days to different sites. The elephant stables, royal palaces, swimming pools. A hike up 575 steps to pay homage to Hanuman’s birthplace. A wander in the jungle following an old man who pointed out a scattering of 3500 year old cave paintings. A short float and spin on a squat, round coracle boat. Watching Lakshmi, the elephant, get her morning bath in the river. Wandering around in this arid paradise among massive boulders and half-crumbled pillars, not knowing what year it is, much less the day of the week.

On one Temple I saw “musical pillars”, thick stone rods that make different tones when hit with wooden blocks, or even the hand. The same Temple had intricate stonework on scales smaller than my pinky, and was designed to direct the monsoon rains to flow in an elegant pattern, through arcing bangle patterns, to drip off of dangling bulbs and to land in depressions where, traditionally, lotus flowers were to be placed.

Another night train took me to Chennai, this one much more comfortable than the first. Chair Class and First Class Sleeper are quite different, I’ll tell ya. I planned my two days in Chennai as a calm time to reset. There are some lovely sights here, and I’ve taken a gander at a few of them, but this little chapter was designed to be a reset, to get me bored and full of energy in the lead up to Rajastan, which is the part of the trip that I’ve been hungering for most! Tomorrow I fly to Udaipur!