Prelude to Thrissur

    

This is the official start of the Rickshaw Run. Many of the rickshaws had just arrived the previous evening so pimping them was a bit difficult. We were told to arrive at the Gujarati Cricket Club across from the Jain temple at the break of dawn to pimp our rides.

Having visited the Cafe Del Mar the previous evening with some of our fellow rickshaw nuts and an independent film crew, the early morning start was a most unattractive proposition and one which we rejected upon suggestion. (We were later told by team Blunderbus, a nice pair of chaps from London, that we did well not to show up so early; nothing was ready).

The Kochi "tea" was abundantly and enthusiastically imbibed, while Sylvia, a member of the film crew, chose a fish and prepared it with the aid of the Cafe's staff, who had invited her into the kitchen so that they could practice vocalizing their limited range of crude propositions on her. The fish was fabulous. Thank you Sylvia.

The evening closes with the sounds of thumping beats echoing off the walls of a nearby mosque. One of the Kochi locals informs Bennett that he likes to dance. Bennett asks if he feels the beat. At this point, the party is raging. The local men of Kochi (not an Indian woman in sight) get funky in the Cafe plaza in a dazzling array of moves. As later noted by a member of Mad Dog and Englishmen, there is no word for homophobia in Hindi.

Posted at 12:00AM Dec 28, 2006 by D Bums