Moving on???

Thought you might like to see an Indian Drug Merchant!

MOVING ON - possibly...
Last day in Calicut. Booked a place by the beach in Karnataka for the weekend.
It is the centenary of the Theological College here, and also of one of the other colleges, so festivities are planned. A 'marquee' is being erected in the square, see picture. It seems to be made of wood and string, as far as we can see, and there are are piles of thatch panels, presumably the roof. Should be quite a structure!
We went to the station to book a train to Mangalore. What a nightmare! Throngs everywhere, and when you eventually reach the head of a queue, people reach round you to shove notes at the clerk. Eventually he told us we needed to go upstairs. Couldn't even find any stairs! Spotted a Tourist hut in the corner. The guy seemed pleased to have customers, even when we only wanted to know where the stairs were! Much amused, he showed us.
Upstairs was a booking office of sorts, with loads of seats while you waited. Looked a long wait. Couldn't work out the system at all, so eventually gave up and decided we would try a Thomas Cook office (yes, really) and see if they booked train tickets. Amazingly, yes! Oh oh - all trains full and waiting list full - waiting list, eh? Possibly air-conditioned bus? Not running! Fly? One hour flight, but not direct so takes about 5 hours and costs @ £250 - no seats anyway! Mmmm. Calicut is definitely running out of charm, don't want to be here all weekend, seen everything, except Moppila Mosques, twice! Young man in Thomas Cook suggested car. Arranged a decent car through 'a friend' and we will be driven. It's 250 kilometers, and, as he said, 'our roads are not good.' Traffic is scary, but we've got to get out of here! Ten in the morning sees the start of a new adventure!
We did try to see the ancient Moppila mosques. Rough Guide said any 'auto wallah' will know where they are. Nobody told our auto wallah! He had no English, but tried so hard, consulted other auto wallahs, took us to two modern mosques and insisted we went in - upstairs in my case -then wrote in Hindi what he thought we were looking for. We found the bazaar (wonderful brass) and wandered round a bit, then gave up on the Moppilas. Sorry! We also passed an enormous area, a field really, strung with acres of washing lines. Think we found the town laundry. All looked wonderfully clean.
Forgot to say, a couple of days ago we posted a parcel home, to get rid of a bit of weight and a few things we now know we won't want. The bookshop organises parcels, which have to be packed a certain way in boxes, then the box is sewn into white cotton for posting. Should be very evocative when it arrives - eventually!
This has been a strange few days. This is not a foreign tourist place and we have only seen two or three other Europeans and most people don't speak English. However, they have been unfailingly kind and helpful, with no attempts to take advantage. The city is big and heavingly busy, quite dirty and often smelly, full of contrasts and terrifying traffic, and has been a really nteresting stay. The 'benison of hot water' and a real bath tub have been heaven and will be remembered!