Kozhikode

As we work our way north, we crash in Kozhikode for a few days. As we climb off the train, we are greeted with the usual scores of men selling food and drinks to passengers, but we notice that at this station every other vendor is selling halwa. Our first impression of Kozhikode turns out to be the one that will probably be the most enduring: this is the place for halwa. What is halwa? Hard to describe... officially defined as a "sweetmeat", it is like jelly but firmer. It can be made in a variety of ways with a variety of ingedients, but most seem to involve some combination of fat, sweetener, grain, and liquid (often milk) with lots of nuts and dried fruits. Even as I write this, that sounds a bit gross and, in truth, the big blocks of it look a bit gross sometimes, too, but the stuff is delicious. Martin finds a place that I dub a "halwa showroom" (right next door to an indentical competing "halwa showroom") where they let us sample plenty of flavors before we take home two fairly small pieces.

our room at the KY Tourist Home is perched on the sixth floor of a building across from the bus stand, giving us a great aireal view of the smog and the chaos of arriving and departing buses. I am entirely too amused by the names of buses here: Saffron, Safari, Friends, Comrade, Ave Mariya (I am changing my middle name from Marie to Mariya), Unity, Prestige, Jasmine, West Coast, Fusion, Intimate, Challenger, Starlet, Bright Star, Three Star, and Five Star. In fairness, I should mention that there are buses with Hindi and Arabic names (the Muslim population has been increasing as we move north), but those are much less entertaining to me. The Hindi names all seem to be in honor of various deities, and the Arabic names... well, I have no idea what they mean.

In our wanderings, I have one of the best coconuts I have had in India. I noticed the vendor took care in picking it, thunking several of them before skillfully wielding his machete to remove the top. He doesn't really speak English, but I gush about its wonderfulness and try to ask how he knows which ones will be good. He is pleased and teaches me the sound that a full coconut makes when you thunk it.

Martin and I are pretty pleased with ourselves. After just two days and a few nice walks, Kozhikode feels amazingly familiar and easy to navigate.