India at night

I am not really a night person to begin with...it must be my old age, or my lack of eye site, but I am always a bit nervous in the middle of the night. I hate getting up to use the toilet or get a drink of water so I try so hard to do these things before I fall asleep...and this is in London! India has just heightened my trepidation and nervousness by having the darkest night sky in the whole world...or at least the parts I have seen. Alex insists that various countries in Southeast Asia are just as dark, so I will have to see. Once the sun sets, which is between 6:44pm - 7:17pm and yes we have researched this, it is like a whole different place. New and scarier animals come out from under rocks, as well as new and scarier people...well men really. Women don't really go outside in India whether it is dark or light...they are scarcely seen or heard. Street lighting, as well as all other lighting for that matter seems dim or non-existent and at times you cannot even see your hand in front of your face. It's the kind of darkness where you open your eyes really wide and put your hands in front of your body to 'feel' your way around. Very scary. Our newest accommodation offers the most perfect soundtrack to a dark and scary night, as the roof is made of tin and we are literally next to a chicken coop...not to mention we are smack dab in the middle of monsoon season...I know we are all aware of the phrase..."it was a dark and stormy night." Well that is India for you! Last night was the worst of them thus far, which is why I am writing this diary/blog entry...I need to process. Ally fell asleep early and I was just wired...not doubt the extremely sugary coffee I had at about 4pm earlier that evening. I guess I just get so excited about being on holiday that I think I can drink caffeinated beverages at any time...what a fool am I?!? The monsoon gave us some respite during the day, which is always much appreciated, but never without punishment and that punishment came around 1:00am. Now, we all now that I am the more...diplomacy...hmmm...what's the word...stressed out one, so I like to have the nighttime arsenal at the ready. This includes all needs done (face washed, shower taken, toilet used, teeth brushed) and then create the perfect sleeping environment...Alex could sleep anywhere anyhow, but not me...I need to be ready for a storm, swarm of bugs, random violent animal trying to break into the room...basically any of the 10 plagues and more! I like to have a mosquito coil lit and burning, the mosquito repellent plug in the socket heating up, the bug repellent cream rubbed into the whole of my flesh, water bottle on the bed and flashlight next to the water bottle in case of blackouts. Sounds like the perfect set up...if you actually prepare before the late night monsoon hits and a blackout occurs for the rest of the night. Cue last night! I don't know what was going on out there, but coconuts were falling on the tin roof all night long and some animals were scurrying around up there...and the roof is not 100% connected to the walls of our room, so if they were looking to find some respite onside somewhere, they could find those opening and just come to hang out in the room with us all night. Some poor cat was having a bad night and was meowing so loudly until someone must have thrown something at it...or maybe a coconut hit it on the head...no more cat noises. But, the worst part of it all (minus the fact that Al was fast asleep and I had not prepared my arsenal) was the scraping at the front door...Alex and I laugh and make fun that it is probably some random crab scraping his pincers on the front door after hiking the 4k up from the sea to come hang out with us, as we are very cool - but for those of us who have heard the Urban Legend about the couple in the car and the boy goes out to "see what that strange noise is," and when he doesn't return the girl stays inside the locked car all night til morning, all the while hearing a scraping sound on the roof of the car. The next morning, she investigates what the sound was and finds her dead mutilated boyfriend corpse hanging from the tree above with his hand dangling on the car roof scraping it as the wind blows his dead body back and forth...for those of us who know this story, a loud scraping at the front door of your Indian hostel in a blackout in the middle of a monsoon storm feel a bit frightened...maybe a tad apprehensive. Needless to say, I was shitting myself...this time not literally. It's funny the things that go through your mind when you are faced with life and death...well I guess it isn't that dramatic, but it could have been! Alex is rolling her eyes at this very moment, so I suppose I can't be too dramatic, but it was scary and I did do some thinking about things...mostly how I really cannot believe how fast the India leg of this trip has gone and how much I am going to miss it here! I think the worst part was when the power came back on and the television blasted some commercial so loudly that I jumped and then Alex awoke all refreshed and cheerful not knowing what had transpired all night. She is very lucky that I stayed awake to protect her...though she doesn't really show much gratitude. I eventually drifted off to sleep for about 4 hours before the morning noises began...these include morning monsoon storm coupled with rooster cock-a-doodle-dooing...oh and they don't just do it once and they don' just do it at sunrise...it is relentless and all throughout the morning...rain or shine. For those of you who have seen Groundhog Day, you can kind of understand. Just a few more nights in India, so I better breathe it all in and enjoy.