Rise and Shine

Here’s a piece of advice for your next trip to Bollywood land. You can leave that travel alarm clock at home since it is not in the least bit necessary here. I learnt this fact on day one.

The place wakes up (quite noisily) at about 4AM and wakes you up along with it. Around this time, a variety of noises start making their way through glass and walls into your bedroom. These are a mix of a muezzin’s call to prayer, tollywood (yes, the Tamil film industry is actually known as Tollywood!) songs, devotional music and loud conversations! All of this is against a background of barking dogs, highway noise and other unrecognizable sounds. And this was not a unique celebration of New Year’s day because the entire performance repeated again on day two.

I have been told that it takes about a couple of weeks for your brain to adjust to these noises and treat it as normal background sound. At this point, the brain is able to push these sounds to the back of your mind and peaceful sleep would return. I will let you know when this happens. Meanwhile, pack a dozen ear plugs!