Culture shock *Warning - rant*

Gone are my beach bum days.

So me and Calum left the surreal dali-esque landscape and Indian hut cafes of Hampi and, after some poking about with our railway bookings managed to get trains all the way to Kochin, Kerala, with a day in Bangalore.
Well, I've been mostly spending my time on beaches and in villages and small towns for possibly too long and when I arrived in the technological and student capital of India (25% of Bangalores population are students!) I felt very out of place.
It was all so modern, women were walking around in jeans and smoking (blasphemy) and there were sidewalks and traffic lights!!!
McDonalds and subway was everywhere and the price you would pay for a full meal and chai up north was just enough to get you a Grande Latte in Coffee Day (ah but real coffee is amazing!)
The real shock for me though was when we decided to go to the mall for the sole purpose of buying an i-pod. I had almost been going crazy since me and my i-shuffle parted ways and decided something had to be done about the lack of music in my life. Also, at least the taxes on i-pods here are less than home!
I find myself hating shopping centers though. The shiny, clean, perfection of everything makes me feel inferior and insignificant, advertisements for perfect skin, the latest model of I-don't-even-care and skinny mannequins sporting what to be seen in this season makes me feel depressed and self-conscious and everywhere there's a subliminal message of "buy, buy, buy".

Now this all sounds a bit strong and pessimistic seeing as in my younger days I spent plleeenty of time in a shopping center (and not even a very good one!) after all, they are handy things sometimes. If you need a new i-pod for example. But i guess my perception has changed slightly in the last 3 months of travel... Don't ask me how yet, I doubt I have enough insight to answer truthfully but in my introspective moments it is something I shall be thinking about!
Anyway, I split the cost of a new shiny i-pod with Calum so really, I'm being a little hypocritical When I say I'm so against consumerism. I'm a westerner, I grew up with the consumer root firm within me (well, maybe not so much as some people in my society I dare to say and hope is true) every advert we see on TV, in magazines, on posters, etc, hits home to our sub-conscious minds that if we were skinnier, more tanned, had more money, shopped in monsoon and owned the new nokia model that can do almost everything except perhaps make phone calls, our lives would be perfect. Just like the model we see plastered up the billboard along the grey, monotonous streets where faceless people trudge along in their joyless little bubbles of imperfection.

bullshit!!!!
Anyone who can think for themselves are beautiful in my eyes.




*Ahem*
With my mind going off the track of what I originally intended to write in my blog I may end this post quite soon or just surrender completely to the ramble/rant dialogue that seems to pour so freely through my fingers...
Whatever, if I intended to write something perfectly formed and meticulously edited I don't think I'd ever have the energy or spirit to approach a keyboard. I'm also not asking anyone to read my rambles. They're just here because I enjoy forming my thoughts into words sometimes. Why not?