It starts as soon as I open the door: that bizarre, enigmatic sensation of being somewhere utterly contradictory. The Subway restaurant on the edge of Trivandrum’s Technopark campus is the only American chain restaurant for literally hundreds of miles around, and this makes it both the starkest example of Western influence on life in Kerala and the most jarring collision between that influence and the steadfast conservatism of this corner of India. The restaurant is right next to the building in which I work, so today I’ve decided to spend my lunch break there.
The music always hits me first. No Bollywood vocoders or Malayali whistles here: the dial is always tuned to an American radio station, generally near full volume. As I walk in, a track by one of my favourite groups, Arcade Fire, blasts out of the PA – a group I don’t think I’ve even heard in restaurants back in NZ, let alone in India. “I woke up with the power out! Not really something to shout about!” shrieks singer Win Butler as I walk to the vegetarian counter. Living as I do in rural Kerala, this line is peculiarly apt.
Jdanspsa Wyksui 
Hey hey,
I really like your writing style and will definitely come back to read some more… specially about India. Was there last year and just love it :)
cheers, Julia
Thanks, Julia! There are so many stories to tell in India, I don’t think there can ever be too many. At least, that’s what I tell myself when I feel like I’m writing too much…
I had a brief look at your blog, it looks interesting – especially the pictures of Western food, close-ups of peanut butter sandwiches and all that… I miss those things sometimes. But no, it seems you write well, I’ll have more of a look later when I have time :)
I really enjoyed your blog. I am a world’s citizen, I was born in Brazil, have lived in Australia, New Zealand, UAE and Bahrain.
One day I hope to visit India and experience this amazing country.
http://www.inaier.blogspot.com
Thank you, Inaie. I see from your blog that you lived in Palmerston North for a while. How did you end up there? The FELADAPUTA post cracked me up!
I’ve always wanted to go to Brazil, too. Thanks for reminding me, must get around to doing that one of these days…
Hi !
I did my mba from Trivandrum, kerala.And our school from that subway is about a 5-10 mins journey.Since I had no personal vehicle, I use to borrow classmates bike and use to dine there once in a while.The love with ice tea starts from there.
http://mclodha.wordpress.com/
Maybe you saw me there? I would have been the saip. But their iced tea is like sugar syrup! Don’t know how you can like that stuff…