In the News….

It’s been a week in Kerala….. First we read about a rabid dog in our hometown biting 13 people before it’s captured.  Next we tried to go to a local restaurant, only to be waved off outside the eatery, with a grim NO.    When we read the newspaper the next morning, we found out why.  The health department is checking their list (after a few years of vaca) and going back to the 66% of eating establishments that weren’t granted a health certificate to see if they have magically improved.  They hadn’t, and in fact the reason the health board was checking at all is because there is a huge typhoid outbreak in our fair city, thanks to typhoid carriers who are in food preparation that don’t use good hygiene.  Enough said, right? Today we read the local paper only to see that the city where we spent a week two weeks ago is currently under siege by protestors not happy about land use restrictions recommended by an environmental protection report.  Guns were fired and police vehicles set ablaze.  Not the type of tourist destination we had in mind.  There was also news about huge flooding due to a heavy rain.  You might assume because this is a tropical monsoon-centric area that the infrastructure would reflect the weather, but not so much.

Finally, there was yet another mass transportation disaster this morning with a train derailment, which comes on the heels of 2 buses going up in flames because the drivers are striking roadside objects while passing by, rupturing fuel tanks.  I pinned a big reminder on my desktop to not use the bus system in this country if at all possible, even though we had our daughters take them last Christmas.  Sorry about that! There’s more bad news locally, but that’s plenty.  Sometimes it feels so easy going here, paradise-like weather, gentle friendly people, then other times I wonder if we are going to have to be evacuated when the next big protest comes.  Kerala, with its strong leftist and Communist roots, is firmly entrenched in the protest habit, but up to now it seemed pretty peaceful, even harmless, as we drive by.  I’m going to hope it simmers down a few degrees next week, and I’m not talking about the temperature.
There was actually a positive human interest story this week: a famous cricket player (Sachin Tendulkar, who could be equated to the Michael Jordan of cricket) played his last test match against West Indies this week.  All I knew about it was I couldn’t get some of my students unglued from a tv after our lunch break, and then they explained the match was “historic”.  We still had class.