Goopy Slug Man and other new friends

Our lives in Varanasi sort of straddle the realm of tourists and of expats.  Both are lovely in their own right, but the tourist side certainly holds more excitement.  Wednesday we were at Open Hand having lunch before harmonium les

son, reading internet stuff, and, um, drawing super heroes. 

(Ben loves drawing super heroes all of a sudden.  Actually, what he loves is coloring in super heroes that I draw for him.)

We were hard a work on Volcano Man when Ben came to the attention of a man in the next room with a keen eye for superhero genius.  In no time Ben was discussing the intricacies of superpowers and the relative merits of such luminaries as Heli-Rickshaw Man and Slime Man.  Picking up on his admirer’s deep engagement with the subject, Ben cajoled the guy into drawing a super hero with him… Goopy Slug Man! 

 

Turns out the super hero afficianado is a Serbo-British DJ and music producer.  We got to talking about music and he played us samples of his work and some wonderful Cuban music too. 

Other visits to tourist hangouts have yielded  a friendship with a retired German doctor dividing his time between India and Nepal, a night of fantastically laid back acoustic folk music by and Israeli-American woman, and even a lovely lunch with two older ladies from none other than Milwaukee.  Its always a treat to hear tales of other peoples travels and collect ideas for further journeys of our own.

But best of all, while our favorite Varanasi hangout is often frequented by friendly and articulate travelers, it is also graced by the presence of Kristofer and Simeon, four-year old boys from South Africa, whose parents run the place.  I wish I had pictures, or even video, of the three boys in action, but likely as not all you’d see would be a blur.  They literally run circles around the café, roaring, howling, screeching and meowing.  No waiter or couch is safe but luckily, the transient hipsters are all quick enough to move out of their way.  Ben will certainly miss his afternoons with Kristofer and Simeon, but we’re hoping to run into them in Dehli (their hometown) at some point.  Perhaps Goopy Slug Man will put in an appearance too.