Walkabout

You might call it a Phillips tradition to go on long walks; my dad does, my brother does, I do, and when together we rarely do anything else. I thought in India this would change, maybe it would be too crowded, maybe the heat would be incapacitating, maybe I’d finally realize going on long walks was pointless. Well, out of habit or a deep regard for things pointless, the walks have endured.

Ok, not so surprising, I’ve always walked around aimlessly why would that come to an abrupt halt in India? The noteworthy part though, at least for me, is that I can still do it with such aloof oblivion. To walk in Santa Fe there’s no need to exceed the boundaries of your cranium other than to cross a street or two, to walk in Santa Barbara you don’t really even need a cranium, but to walk in Chennai, it would seem, it behooves one to keep a firm head on their shoulders, like the emergent part of a submarine keeping lookout for rampant cruise ships full of drunk Floridians (in Chennai the drunk Floridians representing the countless captivating happenings taking place all around at all times, including but far from limited to the ruthless drivers). Well somehow, in this proverbial sea of human unruliness, I still manage to zone out in the undernether depths for prolonged periods, only reemerge in front of a giant water buffalo or an oversized bumper car honking its clown-car horn.

I realized this today on a walk, which gives some insight into the makeup of these nether regions into which I immerse. Feel free to chime in with blog topic ideas, otherwise I may continue down this path of obscurity. Don’t worry Zach, I will address your request shortly.