The moment we hit the road in Fort Cochin, the British Colonial atmosphere was discernable. We arrived at our hotel hoping for some rest, but after finding no AC and a giant cockroach in our room, we switched to another room which turned out to be infested with more than 60 mosquitoes that we had to kill, one-by-one over 2 hours. The next morning put us in a better mood, particularly since a cyclone overnight left the city much cooler for our tour of the Chinese Fishing Nets and seafood market. Cochin’s many European influences were apparent in our tour: a Portuguese church, a Dutch palace, and even a synagogue. We stopped briefly to watch a Tamil movie being filmed before lunch over hearty North Keralan biryani. We were awakened from our post-lunch nap by a deluge of rain. Undaunted, we swam across the street to the fish market to buy some fresh snapper and shrimps which we took to a nearby street stand to grill for dinner. Our driver took us to Alleppey the next morning for our houseboat cruise. Floating quietly with our private crew of three, including a chef who prepared delicious South Indian seafood, we took part in the tranquil life of the Keralan backwater for the day. After we disembarked the following morning, we stopped for some local shopping then boarded our flight to Mumbai. Our last day in India was as busy as Bombay itself, led by a spiritual if talkative tour guide. We spent most of the morning at the Elephanta Caves with its Hindu carvings, then the rest of the day catching glimpses of daily life in the lively city – military exercises at the Gateway of India, cricket in the Oval Maidan, topiary at the Hanging Gardens, bustling traffic around Victoria Terminus, peaceful silence at the Ghandi Museum, and manic laundry at Dhobi Ghat. The highlight was lunch, where we finally got to enjoy Indian street food like panipuri in a safe hygenic restaurant. Our flight home that night was marred by a missed connection in Newark, forcing us to spend the next hours moving from standby to standby. We finally collapsed at home in Boston, exhausted from our whirlwind trip. What we did is not for the faint of heart, but with endurance and stamina, our visit to India was an exhilirating and indelible experience.