Svefn-g-englar

Chapter 1: A letter.

To Minami Kanako-chan,

I am sorry it took so much time for me to reply to your email, but we hadn’t gotten around setting up the computer in the first few days. And, anyway, I was too busy helping around dad to move the furniture. I even went in with my admission application to my school! And, is India hot! I think I am at an altitude higher than the entire Nagano Prefecture, but it’s still close to 30 degrees Celsius.

My mom’s well. Well, as well as she can be. My father is certain that the fresh mountain air will be better for her. My sister’s okay. She’s going to the same school as me, and I guess that would be some major problem once again.

There are so many stars here! Well, of course, I think there are as many stars in the Japanese night sky, and I guess you would have seen the Milky Way when you go to Nagano city, but I have never seen something this beautiful! It’s very strange for the daughter of an astronomer to not have seen the Milky Way, but I guess that just shows the level of my interest. Even when we went to that Observatory, as you would remember, I was more interested in sleeping. Anyway, the stars seem very close to you, and I can make out the constellations with the charts in my house!

Nainital is not really a city. It’s a very small town, and I mean very small. There’s a big lake, and all around that there are houses and hotels. There are so many hotels! The big main street which runs around the side of the lake, called the Mall road, is surrounded by and endless number of them! All look really expensive, and I think they probably are. The entire place is just for tourists, it seems. The roads get blocked, the streets are full of people, and the entire mall road is closed in the evenings. And the parking is absolutely nuts. It feels like a Tokyo market area in the evenings, it is that crowded right now.

Nobody believes I am not a tourist around here. I guess that’s expected. I think it’s a bit like how it was in Yokohama. Of course, I feel a bit out of my skin here. I mean, it’s not like there are lots of Japanese people around , so I am an odd one out. (^・ω・^ )

I mean, without you all, it feels very lonely. So here I am typing on in my laptop, watching a game of hockey being played on a grassless ground, with lots of dust in the air, and lots and lots of people. Though, I hope to have some friends by the time I write you my next looooooong letter, I did meet an interesting boy. It’s a really fascinating and mysterious thing. I know you’ll love it! Let me tell you that story.

I was walking around and found him inside a hidden kind of meadow. The morning after I had arrived, I thought of going on an exploration expedition, and packed a nice lunch and hot chocolate milk for myself, and headed over to the large peak you can see in the middle. You’d ask me, ‘Erika-chan, why do you do these things? These can be really dangerous! If something happened to you?’ But, the roads here are quite safe. I don’t know about the interior of the Himalayas, but these are concrete roads. Steep, but I think someone who jogs around can easily climb these. I did. And, that’s when I met that boy. He played me the flute, while I relaxed in the shadows of the most beautiful Deodar Cedars. However, evening soon drew in, and I had to go. And I asked him his name, of course (I remember what happened last time). His name is Indrasen (ィンドラセン). You have to read the ‘do’ katakana fast.

But, that’s not the mysterious thing! When I got home just as the lights came on, I met with the girl who lives with us. Actually, we live with them (we rented their top floor for ourselves. I have a great balcony!), and she is going to the same school as me. And, they are Buddhists too; they are Tibetans. So, anyway, I was talking with her, and I told her about this encounter (because I was oh-so-excited). But then the girl said there was nothing like that meadow ever! I don’t know about this, but I am thinking of going there again. It’s a very mysterious thing, isn’t it?

Anyway, I will write more! Here are some pictures!

With love,

Kurokawa Erika.