Kottayam: Humidity, Elephants, and a Drum Kit That Won't Fit
it's humid. like, walking-through-a-cloud humid. the kind where your snare drum starts to warp and your cymbals feel like they're sweating. i just checked and it's 22.29°C there right now, but with 91% humidity it feels more like 23°C and a half. hope you like that kind of thing.
i'm a touring session drummer, so i'm used to packing my life into a suitcase and a stick bag. but kottayam? this place threw me for a loop. the roads are narrow, the trucks are wide, and my kick pedal almost became a permanent part of a coconut vendor's stall. someone told me that the best chai in town is at a tiny stall near the railway station-no name, just follow the smell of cardamom and diesel.
"if you're here for the backwaters, don't just do alleppey. kottayam's canals are quieter, and you might spot an elephant taking a bath."
that's what a drunk fisherman said to me last night. i didn't believe him until i saw one. an actual elephant. in the water. with a guy on its back holding an umbrella. i almost dropped my dhal.
if you get bored, cochin and thekkady are just a short drive away. cochin for the art galleries and the smell of dried fish. thekkady if you want to hike and pretend you're in a national geographic documentary. i heard that the road to thekkady is full of spice stalls-someone tried to sell me a kilo of pepper at a toll booth.
the locals here are patient. i mean, they have to be-i've been trying to tune my toms for an hour and the humidity keeps changing the pitch. someone said the best place to eat is a restaurant called *thali junction*, but i keep getting lost because every other place is also called thali junction. it's like they're trolling me.
if you're a drummer, bring extra felts. and maybe a dehumidifier. if you're not, just bring curiosity. and maybe a raincoat. because it's humid, and it might rain, and the elephants don't care.
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