We left Bangkok today and I have to say, I was impressed. After all various things I have heard about Bangkok over the years from people and from stories in books and the press I was expecting very little from Bangkok. Perhaps I misunderstood people, but I was expecting a real developing nation dump of a city with beggars, touts, shanty towns and disgusting amounts of hookers.
In fact Bangkok is a lot closer to a low rent Japan then it is to Delhi. We were only in town for a couple of days and only saw Siam Square and Banglamphu but here are a few opinions:
- Pretty civilized roads and traffic by developing country standards. There a lots of elevated interstate type roads and the rest of the roads in the city are well maintained. Regular cars follow western standards of driving, the exception is that the tuk-tuks (Thai Autorickshaws) and motorbikes have a lot more leeway, weaving in and out of traffic when it is slow.
- All streets have wide sidewalks. This may not seem like that big a deal, but once you have been in India, it is.
- If you have been away from civilization for a while, or are in need of counterfeit anything, the very clean Siam Square area is excellent. We went to a very polished new shopping mall and another called MBK that was basically a 6 floor mall of little stores selling counterfeit goods. This was obviously very crowded with Europeans and Thai teens.
- Banglamphu is the backpacker/budget tourist zone of Bangkok. It is most definitely a tourist trap, but at least it is a good tourist trap. There are 500 baht (15 dollar) unglamorous AC rooms galor, and more Internet cafes and cheap food then you can possibly use. Also, pretty much every business is a place that has tables and sells beer, meaning that the main drags turn into a big, cheesy, other side of the world Bourbon street on most nights. There are also some classier drinking establishments in the area, including a blues bar we spent a long time at last night. I can see that if someone is trying to escape from the beaten path this area is probably very disappointing, but if you take it for what it is, it can be pretty fun.
- Touts, hawkers and beggars are very tame. When you are in Banglamphu you will occasionally get asked if you want a tuk-tuk, or to buy some trinkets. However, if you just say no, they go away without any trouble at all. These guys would get laughed at in India, where practically assaulting people with giant balloons is considered fair game. There is also the occasional beggar, but no more then in Boston, and they just sit on the curb with a cup. Not exactly the same as a crowd of unwashed kids who follow you for 20 minutes.
- At least in the section we were in it did seem that there was some prostitution going on, but at least it was pretty low-key. Only once did we actually see a bunch of obvious hookers standing on a street corner. It was more that you would see an inordinate number of white guy (usually British) and Thai woman couples walking the streets and in the bars. Maybe some of these were legit couples, but it was far too many for that to be true of all. Also, maybe these girls harass single guys more, but generally Nisha and I walk around together, so it is kind of obvious we are not interested.
- Metered Taxis in Bangkok are one of the best transportation deals in the world. For a 10km ride it is around 100 baht (3 dollars). This is usually in a relatively new Toyota with nice seats and AC. They are cheaper then an autorickshaw in India, but yet better then the rattle trap old police cars we have in Boston.
- The city is quite clean. Its not Tokyo or anything, but similar to your average US city.
- The traffic at rush hour is the worst I have ever seen. We took 90 minutes to go 4km at rush hour and still ended up walking the rest. If you must travel at rush hour it is better to take a tuk-tuk.
So, perhaps things have improved since some of the things I heard were true, or perhaps Bangkok got a bad rap from westerners who had no street smarts and got taken for a ride by a dishonest tuk-tuk driver. Either way, if you have a little experience traveling in a developing country, or honestly even in a big American city, I would not think you would have any problems in Bangkok. When you have survived some tourist traps in India like Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, Bangkok is like skiing on a green circle after a black diamond, very easy stuff.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Must Have Food in India Part III
Alright, this is the last of the 3 posts about food you must try when visiting India. The first post covered our travels in the north, through Rajastan, Mumbai, Gujarat and Goa. The second post was dedacated to that amazing city of Kochi and focused on the resturant, Dal Roti. I have been assured by the owner Ramesh that the recipes I promised in that post would be up on his blog soon.
Below are my greatest hits from Chennai and Calcutta. Forgive me if I ramble on since I am Thailand now and am suffering from major Indian food withdrawl.
Mutton Kola Curry - I ate this curry for three straigt days in Chennai. It consisted of succlent tender minced lamb meat balls either served dry or in a curry gravy. The fiery gravy was thick with tomato and ground onion, as are most Indian gravies. The major differendce here was an even more libreal use of aromatics in the form of multiple eidble fresh curry leaves, cinnamon, cloves, and many other spices I could not identify. This is the best recipe I could find, but I am not sure if it will produce what we had. If anyone knows of a better one, please let me know! We washed the curry down with frech pineapple shakes and sopped it up with buttery parathas. Ponnusamay Hotel, Chennai
Ayurvedic Vegatarian Meal - This venerated Chennai establishment is also an ayurvedic center. They are a pure veg resturant (no eggs, meat, but dairy OK) that offer a special 26 course lunch. Each dish is to be eaten in a specific order. It started with 5 juices - date nut, beet, buttermilk, branwater, and I think banana. Next was the 4 raw vegatable salads, then 4 partially cooked salads, followed by 4 fully cooked dishes. This was all followed by 2 types of rice, 3 types of sambar (a falvorful lentil gravy ubiqutuois in South Indian meals), fianlyl a dessert of honey and payasam, a sweet. The most memorable vegatables was the banana flower salad. Only after this meal is finished is one to deink water, as this is thought to impair digestion. Not only did I not miss meat during meal, I felt better than ever. Of course, our dinner was Mutton Kola Curry. Sanjeevanam Vegatarian Health Restaurant, Chennai
Bengali Sweets - So Ian has already wrote a bit on the city-wide addiction of Bengalis to sweets in his previous blog. It is all true. There were times this Durga Puja season that we would eat Rasgullas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not entirely by choice of course. How can you resist my Aunt Mya chasing you around with a clay pot full of them? Ian could not.
Most foodies are familiar with the Gulab Jamun, which is a deep fried, sugar water soaked ball of flour and milk solids. This is just the beginning. The king of all Indian sweets, the rassogolla or rusgulla, is a made from milk solids as well. It is not fried, but rather soaked in a warm rose water and sugar mixture. The sweet is usualy served cold or room temperature. These can be modified to include a small cane sugar ball in the core to increase the sweetness. I have seen them as large as a baseball, but normally they are 1 - 1.5 inches in diameter. The perfect rassogolla has a soft texture, a delicate rose taste, and should not be overpoweringly sweet. Once in Udaipur, I starving for them as I passed a sweet shop. I asked the owner for a rassogolla and was brought a small bowl from the back. While all the patrons watched me eat this sweet, I had to feign enjoyment while chewing this sqeaky ball of metallic tasting sweet cheese. He gave me a canned one and thought I couldn't tell!
I could go on and on about the staggering variety of Bengali sweets. What they can do with milk and sugar baffles me. But I would only mention one more - the ras malai. This is similar to a rassogolla but it is flat and soaked in saffron and cardomen flavored milk. Heavenly! If in Calcutta - try Haldirams or KC Das. Don't try the canned version!
Fish Fry - I'm not sure how this famous Calcutta first escaped me on my prior visits. Serving fish fry is as common as serving fried chicken in the south. It's much tastier though. Bengali fish fry consists of a very thin piece of fish smeared with some sort of spice paste, then breaded and deep fried. Sounds simple, and it's divine. Even Ian, that hater off all things fish, ate is fish fry and liked it.
Strangest food we had: Fermented millet alcohol in Sikkim. Steming water is poured over fermented millet in a large bamboo stein. I wasn't particulary strong, but tasted like the last bottle from our carboy of homemade wine - very yeasty. Only my dad and Ian were able to finish it.
That's all for now. Some of the best food we had was at relatives' and friends' houses, too many to mention. Indian hospitality is second to none. As it was explaned to us by a friend in Calcutta, a visitor in a house is treated like he or she is sent by God, and should be fed as such. And we were. I can't wait to go back to India.
- Nisha
Below are my greatest hits from Chennai and Calcutta. Forgive me if I ramble on since I am Thailand now and am suffering from major Indian food withdrawl.
Mutton Kola Curry - I ate this curry for three straigt days in Chennai. It consisted of succlent tender minced lamb meat balls either served dry or in a curry gravy. The fiery gravy was thick with tomato and ground onion, as are most Indian gravies. The major differendce here was an even more libreal use of aromatics in the form of multiple eidble fresh curry leaves, cinnamon, cloves, and many other spices I could not identify. This is the best recipe I could find, but I am not sure if it will produce what we had. If anyone knows of a better one, please let me know! We washed the curry down with frech pineapple shakes and sopped it up with buttery parathas. Ponnusamay Hotel, Chennai
Ayurvedic Vegatarian Meal - This venerated Chennai establishment is also an ayurvedic center. They are a pure veg resturant (no eggs, meat, but dairy OK) that offer a special 26 course lunch. Each dish is to be eaten in a specific order. It started with 5 juices - date nut, beet, buttermilk, branwater, and I think banana. Next was the 4 raw vegatable salads, then 4 partially cooked salads, followed by 4 fully cooked dishes. This was all followed by 2 types of rice, 3 types of sambar (a falvorful lentil gravy ubiqutuois in South Indian meals), fianlyl a dessert of honey and payasam, a sweet. The most memorable vegatables was the banana flower salad. Only after this meal is finished is one to deink water, as this is thought to impair digestion. Not only did I not miss meat during meal, I felt better than ever. Of course, our dinner was Mutton Kola Curry. Sanjeevanam Vegatarian Health Restaurant, Chennai
Bengali Sweets - So Ian has already wrote a bit on the city-wide addiction of Bengalis to sweets in his previous blog. It is all true. There were times this Durga Puja season that we would eat Rasgullas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not entirely by choice of course. How can you resist my Aunt Mya chasing you around with a clay pot full of them? Ian could not.
Most foodies are familiar with the Gulab Jamun, which is a deep fried, sugar water soaked ball of flour and milk solids. This is just the beginning. The king of all Indian sweets, the rassogolla or rusgulla, is a made from milk solids as well. It is not fried, but rather soaked in a warm rose water and sugar mixture. The sweet is usualy served cold or room temperature. These can be modified to include a small cane sugar ball in the core to increase the sweetness. I have seen them as large as a baseball, but normally they are 1 - 1.5 inches in diameter. The perfect rassogolla has a soft texture, a delicate rose taste, and should not be overpoweringly sweet. Once in Udaipur, I starving for them as I passed a sweet shop. I asked the owner for a rassogolla and was brought a small bowl from the back. While all the patrons watched me eat this sweet, I had to feign enjoyment while chewing this sqeaky ball of metallic tasting sweet cheese. He gave me a canned one and thought I couldn't tell!
I could go on and on about the staggering variety of Bengali sweets. What they can do with milk and sugar baffles me. But I would only mention one more - the ras malai. This is similar to a rassogolla but it is flat and soaked in saffron and cardomen flavored milk. Heavenly! If in Calcutta - try Haldirams or KC Das. Don't try the canned version!
Fish Fry - I'm not sure how this famous Calcutta first escaped me on my prior visits. Serving fish fry is as common as serving fried chicken in the south. It's much tastier though. Bengali fish fry consists of a very thin piece of fish smeared with some sort of spice paste, then breaded and deep fried. Sounds simple, and it's divine. Even Ian, that hater off all things fish, ate is fish fry and liked it.
Strangest food we had: Fermented millet alcohol in Sikkim. Steming water is poured over fermented millet in a large bamboo stein. I wasn't particulary strong, but tasted like the last bottle from our carboy of homemade wine - very yeasty. Only my dad and Ian were able to finish it.
That's all for now. Some of the best food we had was at relatives' and friends' houses, too many to mention. Indian hospitality is second to none. As it was explaned to us by a friend in Calcutta, a visitor in a house is treated like he or she is sent by God, and should be fed as such. And we were. I can't wait to go back to India.
- Nisha
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Long Live the King - Updated
When you arrive at the Bangkok airport, the one of the first things you notice is the large signs on the side of the jetways that say "Long Live the King". Since these are in the place usually associated with advertisements, I assumed that they were referring to the "King of Beers" or something like that. In fact, when you look at the sign and see only the King's picture on it, you realize that it is actually put up by the government and does refer to the King of Thailand.
I had always understood Thailand to be a constitutional monarchy, which is true, more or less. However, the reverence and visibility of the King is something that I have never seen before. The King's picture is everywhere, almost all businesses have portraits of him behind the cash register and his picture is on all sorts of billboards and signs around the city. Evidently this is the year of his 80th birthday, so in commemoration the Thais wear these yellow polo shirts with the royal emblem on the pocket. These shirts are for sale everywhere and for some reason yesterday at least half of all the Thais on the street in Bangkok were wearing them.
There is nothing wrong with this, pre se, but it does strike a westerner as odd to have one person's picture so prominent everywhere. Also, after being in Japan and India, where flags and patriotic symbols are less pronounced then in the US, it is strange to see the number of Thai and Royal (yellow with royal emblem) flags flying everywhere.
The interesting thing is how the King himself seems to be so revered despite the fact that he is a constitutional monarch. Perhaps this is why the bloodless coup here in 2006 caused so little disruption. It does not seem that any political figure is even 1/10th as respected or popular as the King himself.
Update (6/11/07) - As for the yellow shirts, there was some reason that more people then usual were wearing them on that Monday. However, they are very popular at all times, with at least 20% of Thais wearing them on any given day.
I had always understood Thailand to be a constitutional monarchy, which is true, more or less. However, the reverence and visibility of the King is something that I have never seen before. The King's picture is everywhere, almost all businesses have portraits of him behind the cash register and his picture is on all sorts of billboards and signs around the city. Evidently this is the year of his 80th birthday, so in commemoration the Thais wear these yellow polo shirts with the royal emblem on the pocket. These shirts are for sale everywhere and for some reason yesterday at least half of all the Thais on the street in Bangkok were wearing them.
There is nothing wrong with this, pre se, but it does strike a westerner as odd to have one person's picture so prominent everywhere. Also, after being in Japan and India, where flags and patriotic symbols are less pronounced then in the US, it is strange to see the number of Thai and Royal (yellow with royal emblem) flags flying everywhere.
The interesting thing is how the King himself seems to be so revered despite the fact that he is a constitutional monarch. Perhaps this is why the bloodless coup here in 2006 caused so little disruption. It does not seem that any political figure is even 1/10th as respected or popular as the King himself.
Update (6/11/07) - As for the yellow shirts, there was some reason that more people then usual were wearing them on that Monday. However, they are very popular at all times, with at least 20% of Thais wearing them on any given day.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Another World Series
Just to let everyone know, I did watch Papelbon end the series with that high heat here in a Bangkok cafe. It was shortly after I finished a banana pancake, but that did not stop me from celebrating with a beer Chang.
Now if I can just find a place to catch the Colts-Pats next week...
Now if I can just find a place to catch the Colts-Pats next week...
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Quick Update
- Just arrived in Bangkok a few hours ago. Took Jet Airways from Kolkata and once again my opinion was validated. Even though the flight is only two hours, it is on an international class plane with video on demand and free drinks, including legit Australian wine. My only complaint is that they turned off the TVs for landing before I finished Ocean's Thirteen.
- So far I have to say that anyone who thinks that Bangkok is roughing it should never go near the entire country of India. Honestly so far it is very modern and orderly, especially since things are still at India prices. We arrived at a gleaming new airport, took a taxi for only 300 Baht (9 dollars) the 25km into town. The taxi was a real Toyota and drove on a real highway and the driver gave us no hassles whatsoever. We quickly found a nice basic dorm-like accommodation with private bath for 490 Baht (14 dollars), with cleanliness up to 1200 rupee (30 dollar) standards in India. Walked across the street and am using a cheap Internet cafe, 10 Baht (25 cents) for 25 minutes. Not a tout or hawker in sight.
- Just want to announce that we will be back to writing for real. The Internet situation here seems back to what we are used to, so we are back online.
- I have a HUGE backlog of things to write about from India. In fact I might we writing about India for a while before I even start with Thailand. Honestly, I think our travels in India and Japan are going to represent the part of the trip where we really try to delve into the culture and really understand what the countries are like. I am predicting that Thailand is going to be a little more like a vacation. We will see however, I could be wrong.
- Have been able to watch most of games 1-3 of the World Series as well as game 7 against Cleveland. Man, have I missed baseball. Maybe Colorado can pull it together, but right now the Sox look pretty unstoppable. I love that the young guys are contributing so much to this World Series, looks like we might have a good young nucleus to drive the Sox for the next few years. So far it is looking exciting.
- I got food poising last night and spent much of my evening worshiping the porcelain throne, as they say. I can't believe it happened on the last f---ing day. Anyway the final tally was:
-- 2 weeks of eating carefully
-- 7 weeks of eating whatever I wanted to
-- 1 day laid up with fever in Udaipur
-- 1 evening spent tossing my cookies in Kolkata
Overall, I think it was worth it.
- They have real bars here in Bangkok, and they sell beer everywhere. Just letting you know because I will be in one of these establishments in the near future.
- So far I have to say that anyone who thinks that Bangkok is roughing it should never go near the entire country of India. Honestly so far it is very modern and orderly, especially since things are still at India prices. We arrived at a gleaming new airport, took a taxi for only 300 Baht (9 dollars) the 25km into town. The taxi was a real Toyota and drove on a real highway and the driver gave us no hassles whatsoever. We quickly found a nice basic dorm-like accommodation with private bath for 490 Baht (14 dollars), with cleanliness up to 1200 rupee (30 dollar) standards in India. Walked across the street and am using a cheap Internet cafe, 10 Baht (25 cents) for 25 minutes. Not a tout or hawker in sight.
- Just want to announce that we will be back to writing for real. The Internet situation here seems back to what we are used to, so we are back online.
- I have a HUGE backlog of things to write about from India. In fact I might we writing about India for a while before I even start with Thailand. Honestly, I think our travels in India and Japan are going to represent the part of the trip where we really try to delve into the culture and really understand what the countries are like. I am predicting that Thailand is going to be a little more like a vacation. We will see however, I could be wrong.
- Have been able to watch most of games 1-3 of the World Series as well as game 7 against Cleveland. Man, have I missed baseball. Maybe Colorado can pull it together, but right now the Sox look pretty unstoppable. I love that the young guys are contributing so much to this World Series, looks like we might have a good young nucleus to drive the Sox for the next few years. So far it is looking exciting.
- I got food poising last night and spent much of my evening worshiping the porcelain throne, as they say. I can't believe it happened on the last f---ing day. Anyway the final tally was:
-- 2 weeks of eating carefully
-- 7 weeks of eating whatever I wanted to
-- 1 day laid up with fever in Udaipur
-- 1 evening spent tossing my cookies in Kolkata
Overall, I think it was worth it.
- They have real bars here in Bangkok, and they sell beer everywhere. Just letting you know because I will be in one of these establishments in the near future.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Gleaming Calcutta
After Chennai, Ian and I flew to Calcutta for the Durga Puja festivities. I was anxious to get back there since both my knowledge of India and the Indian economy had grown immensely since I was there last in 2000. Calcutta has always been a magical city to me, possibly because I read one too many British-era historical fiction novels. Anyway, the place is teeming with polite Calcuttans, exudes charm of the British Raj, and boasts the best food and most beautiful women in all of India.
I was interested to see how this was viewed on the traveler's circuit, since I know I am biased. Lonely Planet seemed to give the least visited large city in India due respect - it's own chapter and a very positive write-up. Indians I met all over India seem to agree about the manners, food, and the peculiar concentration of female beauty in Calcutta. It is known for it's gigantic and spooky Kali Temple, the Victoria Memorial (though not a tomb, it's seems like the British answer to the Taj Mahal), the tourist friendly enclosed New Market, and the close proximity to the large Tibetan population in the Darjeeling and Sikkim areas so popular with the Buddhist-loving-hippie backpacker.
This time Calcutta again did not disappoint. I was ecstatic to see that the main areas of town had been drastically scrubbed. For example, the last 3 times I visited Calcutta, I took a picture of a famous Raj-era building. It was remarkable for the numerous trees growing from the walls and the hanging drying laundry of the squatters. Now it is newly white-washed and gleaming. I almost didn't belive it was the same building. Notice also the people walking across the street on the cross-walk in front of stopped traffic. Unheard of last time I was there. Everywhere I went, I saw the signs of economic and social progress. New skyscrapers, multi-story AC malls, grocery stores, the absence of beggars and touts. Granted, one does have to wonder, where did all the beggars go? I am told that they and the evicted squatters have been given government housing outside the city. However, he city's 4 year old push to abolish the cruel human-powered rickshaw and install CNG taxis still hasn't come to fruition. There is still much work to be done.
And the rest of it? The people were actually the most polite in India. There was very little of the full-body-contact queuing and general rude staring than I have seen anywhere else. The food was actually the most tasty (for fish eaters of course). Bengali sweets are world-renowned. Ian talked about the state's addiction to them in his own blog and I'll go into more details soon. The women? You can ask Ian's opinion of that. However, if you just judge from among my cousins, the Bengali women win it hands-down.
Given the above, you would think it would be on everyone's travel list, right? Wrong. Not only are there less Western tourists in all of Calcutta than anywhere else in India, most have a very negative opinion of it. One Polish girl I met in Chennai was traveling India for three months. When asked if she was going to Calcutta, she replied "I have absolutely no desire." Good, the subtle wonders and historical marvels Calcutta would be lost on her anyway.
~ Nisha
I was interested to see how this was viewed on the traveler's circuit, since I know I am biased. Lonely Planet seemed to give the least visited large city in India due respect - it's own chapter and a very positive write-up. Indians I met all over India seem to agree about the manners, food, and the peculiar concentration of female beauty in Calcutta. It is known for it's gigantic and spooky Kali Temple, the Victoria Memorial (though not a tomb, it's seems like the British answer to the Taj Mahal), the tourist friendly enclosed New Market, and the close proximity to the large Tibetan population in the Darjeeling and Sikkim areas so popular with the Buddhist-loving-hippie backpacker.
This time Calcutta again did not disappoint. I was ecstatic to see that the main areas of town had been drastically scrubbed. For example, the last 3 times I visited Calcutta, I took a picture of a famous Raj-era building. It was remarkable for the numerous trees growing from the walls and the hanging drying laundry of the squatters. Now it is newly white-washed and gleaming. I almost didn't belive it was the same building. Notice also the people walking across the street on the cross-walk in front of stopped traffic. Unheard of last time I was there. Everywhere I went, I saw the signs of economic and social progress. New skyscrapers, multi-story AC malls, grocery stores, the absence of beggars and touts. Granted, one does have to wonder, where did all the beggars go? I am told that they and the evicted squatters have been given government housing outside the city. However, he city's 4 year old push to abolish the cruel human-powered rickshaw and install CNG taxis still hasn't come to fruition. There is still much work to be done.
And the rest of it? The people were actually the most polite in India. There was very little of the full-body-contact queuing and general rude staring than I have seen anywhere else. The food was actually the most tasty (for fish eaters of course). Bengali sweets are world-renowned. Ian talked about the state's addiction to them in his own blog and I'll go into more details soon. The women? You can ask Ian's opinion of that. However, if you just judge from among my cousins, the Bengali women win it hands-down.
Given the above, you would think it would be on everyone's travel list, right? Wrong. Not only are there less Western tourists in all of Calcutta than anywhere else in India, most have a very negative opinion of it. One Polish girl I met in Chennai was traveling India for three months. When asked if she was going to Calcutta, she replied "I have absolutely no desire." Good, the subtle wonders and historical marvels Calcutta would be lost on her anyway.
~ Nisha
Lord of the Manor
After wrapping up Durga Puja in Kolkata, our next planned more was an excursion to north West Bengal with Dave and Susan as well as their friends Sarah and Rakesh. We had met Sarah and Rakesh before because they are the ones who put up Nisha for a month in their nice flat when she was here for a month after the wedding 4 years ago.
A little background. Rakesh works for in the office of a tea company in Kolkata. However, his previous position in the company was the manager of one of the tea estates in Assam. Before then he had been manager or assistant manager at any number of the company's eight estates in North Bengal and Assam. Last time we were in Kolkata he had captivated us with stories of capturing tigers and the enormity of the estates as well as inviting all of us up to an estate if we ever had the time. So, our itinerary on this trip was to fly up, spend some time at an estate, then swing up to Sikkim for a few days and head back.
So, we have an uneventful flight to Bagdogra, the airport of Siliguri, which is the dusty transportation junction of north West Bengal. From there we head out in a couple of SUVs for the 3 hour drive out to the estate. By the time we arrive it is after dark, so all we see are tea plants in the dark as we drive the 2km from the gate to the Bungalow where we will be staying. When we arrive at the Bungalow, Rakesh swings open the rusty gate and we enter into the driveway of this massive two story concrete and tin roof building. The paint is stained on the outside, but by the massive verandas and screened porches you can tell that this is a grand house.
We are met by the three man staff of the house and led inside. Like many leftovers from the British era in India this house mixed mostly 1950's (and earlier) fixtures and furniture with the care and cleanliness of a full time staff being dedicated to it. Our bedroom and bathroom on the second floor was as big as most Indian houses, with a 3m wide veranda out front. There was even an old ping-pong table set up in front of our door. Fitting with this colonial environment we were served tea and a dinner of nice continental food, along with a few sips of country rice wine before heading to sleep. Despite the five air-raid sirens that go off between 5AM and 6AM to wake the workers, we sleep in the cool quiet air until nine.
The next day we headed out in the SUVs to take a tour of the estate. The scale of this operation is incredible. The estate is separated into 46 sections and totals 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres). 6,621 people (the current manager knew the exact count instantly) live on the estate, with over 1,800 of them being permanent employees. The estate has its own school, hospital and multiple churches. We drive 1km and are still in the sections right near our bungalow.
As a crop, tea is basically like a giant hedge. It is a bush, which they plant in rows covering the entire section. The bushes are all spread out with a trimmed flat top around 75cm off the ground, the reason they all have this flat "table" as they call it, is because of how tea is harvested. When the tea bush has grown shoots about 6cm high from the table an army of pickers comes and picks the shoot off the top with their fingers. They remove the part of the stem with the top three leaves on it and discard any stem below. This results when they are done with the table being re-established. So when you look around the table of the tea bushes goes on for miles over the rolling hills. The interesting thing about tea as a crop is that it is harvest time 9 months out of the year. During this time the bushes need to be plucked once a week, thus the army of workers.
When we arrive at the area where the picking is going on we arrive just in time for the "weighment". The pickers all work by carrying a small bag with them as they pick and then depositing the tea in the small bag in a larger sack as the day goes on. Both of these bags are carried on the back by a strap over the forehead, traditional Indian style. Once around lunch and once at the end of the day each pickers bag is emptied into a large truck which is taken to the factory. When the truck pulls up an army of pickers scurries out of the garden, all laden with huge sacks of tea. As each bag is emptied it is weighed on a scale and the "Sadar", or supervisor, makes out a slip of paper that is handed to the picker. The pickers are required to pick 25kg of leaves in order to make their daily wage, then are compensated per kilogram above that. Considering after half a day the bags were all weighing about 30kgs, and one strapping young guy had a 54kg bag, it seemed to be a good day for the pickers.
Also when we were in this area we saw the trap that they had set up for the leopard that was thought to be living in the area. Evidently female leopards will often hide in the garden to have cubs since in the jungle they are likely to be eaten by the males. The problem is that the pickers cannot see the leopard as the pick, so there had been some incidents of mauling in the area. The trap was a cage type, with a smaller cage attached to put a goat into as bait. There was no goat in it at the time as it is only loaded at night. This is the best that they can do right now as it is against the law to shoot a leopard.
After this we went to the tea factory where the raw leaves are turned into the final product. This has to be done quickly as the longer the tea leaves sit around unprocessed the lower the quality of the tea. First the tea leaves are unloaded from the truck and loaded into a 50cm deep layer in the drying machine. The machine is like a big wind tunnel with a mesh floor that the tea sits on. Twelve hours or so later it has lost 30% of its weight and is unloaded. The tea is then ground into little balls in a series of knife rollers (leaf tea is made in a different process) then spread in a thin layer on the floor. This is called the fermentation, and during the one hour or so the tea is on the floor it changes color from bright green to the grey we are familiar with. Next the tea is dried to completion in large furnaces. The tea is then filtered and sorted into various grades of fineness, from course to dust. The tea is tasted, much like wine, every hour by the manager for quality control. Waste is also filtered out that is sold as fertilizer or to industrial caffeine manufactures.
The factory itself looked like another British era creation with lots of exposed belts and even a coal fired furnace for the drier. The thing that was impressive here was that all the leaves need to be processed immediately after they are picked. Now was a prime growing season so this factory was working 24/7 and has processed 48,000kg of tea leaves the day before we arrived.
That evening we were invited to have dinner with the current manager of the estate at his bungalow. The manager is a Anglo-Indian man who Rakesh had known for a long time and everyone called Timmy. His bungalow was smaller then the massive estate that we were staying on, but still extremely large and surrounded by an impeccable garden. It also had a large staff that was quick with the tea and drinks when we arrived. Also at the dinner was Timmy's wife, named Yasmin, and their very western daughters who were home from boarding school, as well as the Sikh assistant manager and his family.
For a while we were just hearing some stories of what goes into running the estate. The job certainly has some appeal in its luxurious perks and colonial English feel. The downsides are also there, with having to get up in the middle of the night to fix things at the factory high on the list. The thing that was most impressive was the amount of responsibility that the manager has. Despite the fact that the laws of the country still apply, the manager in many ways serves as the lord of this manor. In fact, there is a time set aside every week where he arbitrates domestic disputes and makes ruling for which there is no appeal process. The skills required are more diverse then any job that we previously thought existed. Where else can someone be an agricultural manager, magistrate, factory manager, wild animal chaser, etc.
We would see some of this constant excitement soon as a few servants scuffled in and told us that there were wild elephants in the garden right near the fence of the bungalow. As soon as Timmy offered to drive us out to take a look, Dave, Susan, Nisha and I all put down our beers and cocktails and piled into the managers SUV. The assistant manager also piled in the back and was told to keep watch for any elephants approaching from the back of the car.
The night was misty, but with a full moon, and we stained to see out into the dark, not aided by the smoke of Timmy's often present cigarette. As we pulled onto the first jeep track I spotted a silhouette of an elephant in the distance. We stopped quickly and I shined the flashlight on him, but only Nisha was able to see him before he bounded away. At this point I thought the excitement was over, but soon we saw the behinds of numerous elephants emerging from the garden to walk down the jeep track in front of us, directly in the headlights. We stayed at least 100m away and followed this heard for a little while. The herd consisted, but our count, of three adult females and five adolescent and baby elephants.
We lost them over a little rise in the road and when we topped the rise they were no longer visible. Then, the assistant manager spoke quickly and we realized that the heard was now sick of us following them and was 100m away in the garden, heading in the opposite direction, doubling back on us. We got a good look at the train of elepahants as they strode by, doing a fair amount trumpeting and breaking a lot of branches underneath their feet. Timmy made the call that observation time was over and stepped on it before we angered the heard any further. The fog obscured the road on the direct way home, making it unsafe with all the elephants about, so we returned by navigating the maze of jeep tracks that traverse the garden, which Timmy and the assistant manager all knew like the back of their hands. We also encountered a truck and three men who Timmy told us were the "Elephant Patrol", we stopped to tell them where the elephants were and they headed off to try to disperse them with their loud firecrackers and drums.
Dinner was rather sedate after all the excitement, but the food was good and we certainly headed back to our bungalow thinking that this was a pretty exciting night. Not everywhere can elephant chasing be part of the dinner party entertainment.
The next day we headed off early in the morning to go to Gangtok, in Sikkim, for the night and then returned the day after. We were only on the estate for a quiet night before heading to the airport, but we did hear an interesting and sad thing. In the day that we were gone a female picker had been mauled by the leopard in the area where we saw the trap a few days before. She was in the hospital and expected to recover. They were looking into getting the leopard declared a "Maneater" so that the forest department could shoot it, but it would probably have to kill someone before that declaration could be made. The multiple maulings in the last several months did not suffice, certainly highlighting the unintended effects of wildlife conservation laws.
As you can tell by the length of this tale it was certainly a memorable experience, a window into a world that most Americans probably think disappeared many years ago. Sarah, Rakesh, Timmy and his wife were all great hosts and we thank them for letting us see this unique, beautiful, relaxing and sometimes tragic place.
A little background. Rakesh works for in the office of a tea company in Kolkata. However, his previous position in the company was the manager of one of the tea estates in Assam. Before then he had been manager or assistant manager at any number of the company's eight estates in North Bengal and Assam. Last time we were in Kolkata he had captivated us with stories of capturing tigers and the enormity of the estates as well as inviting all of us up to an estate if we ever had the time. So, our itinerary on this trip was to fly up, spend some time at an estate, then swing up to Sikkim for a few days and head back.
So, we have an uneventful flight to Bagdogra, the airport of Siliguri, which is the dusty transportation junction of north West Bengal. From there we head out in a couple of SUVs for the 3 hour drive out to the estate. By the time we arrive it is after dark, so all we see are tea plants in the dark as we drive the 2km from the gate to the Bungalow where we will be staying. When we arrive at the Bungalow, Rakesh swings open the rusty gate and we enter into the driveway of this massive two story concrete and tin roof building. The paint is stained on the outside, but by the massive verandas and screened porches you can tell that this is a grand house.
We are met by the three man staff of the house and led inside. Like many leftovers from the British era in India this house mixed mostly 1950's (and earlier) fixtures and furniture with the care and cleanliness of a full time staff being dedicated to it. Our bedroom and bathroom on the second floor was as big as most Indian houses, with a 3m wide veranda out front. There was even an old ping-pong table set up in front of our door. Fitting with this colonial environment we were served tea and a dinner of nice continental food, along with a few sips of country rice wine before heading to sleep. Despite the five air-raid sirens that go off between 5AM and 6AM to wake the workers, we sleep in the cool quiet air until nine.
The next day we headed out in the SUVs to take a tour of the estate. The scale of this operation is incredible. The estate is separated into 46 sections and totals 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres). 6,621 people (the current manager knew the exact count instantly) live on the estate, with over 1,800 of them being permanent employees. The estate has its own school, hospital and multiple churches. We drive 1km and are still in the sections right near our bungalow.
As a crop, tea is basically like a giant hedge. It is a bush, which they plant in rows covering the entire section. The bushes are all spread out with a trimmed flat top around 75cm off the ground, the reason they all have this flat "table" as they call it, is because of how tea is harvested. When the tea bush has grown shoots about 6cm high from the table an army of pickers comes and picks the shoot off the top with their fingers. They remove the part of the stem with the top three leaves on it and discard any stem below. This results when they are done with the table being re-established. So when you look around the table of the tea bushes goes on for miles over the rolling hills. The interesting thing about tea as a crop is that it is harvest time 9 months out of the year. During this time the bushes need to be plucked once a week, thus the army of workers.
When we arrive at the area where the picking is going on we arrive just in time for the "weighment". The pickers all work by carrying a small bag with them as they pick and then depositing the tea in the small bag in a larger sack as the day goes on. Both of these bags are carried on the back by a strap over the forehead, traditional Indian style. Once around lunch and once at the end of the day each pickers bag is emptied into a large truck which is taken to the factory. When the truck pulls up an army of pickers scurries out of the garden, all laden with huge sacks of tea. As each bag is emptied it is weighed on a scale and the "Sadar", or supervisor, makes out a slip of paper that is handed to the picker. The pickers are required to pick 25kg of leaves in order to make their daily wage, then are compensated per kilogram above that. Considering after half a day the bags were all weighing about 30kgs, and one strapping young guy had a 54kg bag, it seemed to be a good day for the pickers.
Also when we were in this area we saw the trap that they had set up for the leopard that was thought to be living in the area. Evidently female leopards will often hide in the garden to have cubs since in the jungle they are likely to be eaten by the males. The problem is that the pickers cannot see the leopard as the pick, so there had been some incidents of mauling in the area. The trap was a cage type, with a smaller cage attached to put a goat into as bait. There was no goat in it at the time as it is only loaded at night. This is the best that they can do right now as it is against the law to shoot a leopard.
After this we went to the tea factory where the raw leaves are turned into the final product. This has to be done quickly as the longer the tea leaves sit around unprocessed the lower the quality of the tea. First the tea leaves are unloaded from the truck and loaded into a 50cm deep layer in the drying machine. The machine is like a big wind tunnel with a mesh floor that the tea sits on. Twelve hours or so later it has lost 30% of its weight and is unloaded. The tea is then ground into little balls in a series of knife rollers (leaf tea is made in a different process) then spread in a thin layer on the floor. This is called the fermentation, and during the one hour or so the tea is on the floor it changes color from bright green to the grey we are familiar with. Next the tea is dried to completion in large furnaces. The tea is then filtered and sorted into various grades of fineness, from course to dust. The tea is tasted, much like wine, every hour by the manager for quality control. Waste is also filtered out that is sold as fertilizer or to industrial caffeine manufactures.
The factory itself looked like another British era creation with lots of exposed belts and even a coal fired furnace for the drier. The thing that was impressive here was that all the leaves need to be processed immediately after they are picked. Now was a prime growing season so this factory was working 24/7 and has processed 48,000kg of tea leaves the day before we arrived.
That evening we were invited to have dinner with the current manager of the estate at his bungalow. The manager is a Anglo-Indian man who Rakesh had known for a long time and everyone called Timmy. His bungalow was smaller then the massive estate that we were staying on, but still extremely large and surrounded by an impeccable garden. It also had a large staff that was quick with the tea and drinks when we arrived. Also at the dinner was Timmy's wife, named Yasmin, and their very western daughters who were home from boarding school, as well as the Sikh assistant manager and his family.
For a while we were just hearing some stories of what goes into running the estate. The job certainly has some appeal in its luxurious perks and colonial English feel. The downsides are also there, with having to get up in the middle of the night to fix things at the factory high on the list. The thing that was most impressive was the amount of responsibility that the manager has. Despite the fact that the laws of the country still apply, the manager in many ways serves as the lord of this manor. In fact, there is a time set aside every week where he arbitrates domestic disputes and makes ruling for which there is no appeal process. The skills required are more diverse then any job that we previously thought existed. Where else can someone be an agricultural manager, magistrate, factory manager, wild animal chaser, etc.
We would see some of this constant excitement soon as a few servants scuffled in and told us that there were wild elephants in the garden right near the fence of the bungalow. As soon as Timmy offered to drive us out to take a look, Dave, Susan, Nisha and I all put down our beers and cocktails and piled into the managers SUV. The assistant manager also piled in the back and was told to keep watch for any elephants approaching from the back of the car.
The night was misty, but with a full moon, and we stained to see out into the dark, not aided by the smoke of Timmy's often present cigarette. As we pulled onto the first jeep track I spotted a silhouette of an elephant in the distance. We stopped quickly and I shined the flashlight on him, but only Nisha was able to see him before he bounded away. At this point I thought the excitement was over, but soon we saw the behinds of numerous elephants emerging from the garden to walk down the jeep track in front of us, directly in the headlights. We stayed at least 100m away and followed this heard for a little while. The herd consisted, but our count, of three adult females and five adolescent and baby elephants.
We lost them over a little rise in the road and when we topped the rise they were no longer visible. Then, the assistant manager spoke quickly and we realized that the heard was now sick of us following them and was 100m away in the garden, heading in the opposite direction, doubling back on us. We got a good look at the train of elepahants as they strode by, doing a fair amount trumpeting and breaking a lot of branches underneath their feet. Timmy made the call that observation time was over and stepped on it before we angered the heard any further. The fog obscured the road on the direct way home, making it unsafe with all the elephants about, so we returned by navigating the maze of jeep tracks that traverse the garden, which Timmy and the assistant manager all knew like the back of their hands. We also encountered a truck and three men who Timmy told us were the "Elephant Patrol", we stopped to tell them where the elephants were and they headed off to try to disperse them with their loud firecrackers and drums.
Dinner was rather sedate after all the excitement, but the food was good and we certainly headed back to our bungalow thinking that this was a pretty exciting night. Not everywhere can elephant chasing be part of the dinner party entertainment.
The next day we headed off early in the morning to go to Gangtok, in Sikkim, for the night and then returned the day after. We were only on the estate for a quiet night before heading to the airport, but we did hear an interesting and sad thing. In the day that we were gone a female picker had been mauled by the leopard in the area where we saw the trap a few days before. She was in the hospital and expected to recover. They were looking into getting the leopard declared a "Maneater" so that the forest department could shoot it, but it would probably have to kill someone before that declaration could be made. The multiple maulings in the last several months did not suffice, certainly highlighting the unintended effects of wildlife conservation laws.
As you can tell by the length of this tale it was certainly a memorable experience, a window into a world that most Americans probably think disappeared many years ago. Sarah, Rakesh, Timmy and his wife were all great hosts and we thank them for letting us see this unique, beautiful, relaxing and sometimes tragic place.
Durga, the Mother Goddess
So sorry we have been so out of touch. We have had very little access to the Internet, but have been able to upload pictures. Now for the stories behind them...
After we left Chennai, we went to Calcutta to celebrate Durga Puja with my dad's extensive family. Durga puja is the largest puja celebrated in West Bengal. Community organizations prepare huge and colorful pandals which is a themed house. These temporary foam and cloth structures inside hold the elaborately decorated pratimas, or idols, and outside play host to a small carnival. The streets are lighted all around the pandal to guide the public. The thing to do during the main four days of the festival is to walk around touring pandals with your friends or family all night long (literally, our driver did not come back in the morning after pandal hopping all night). Like Mardi Gras where the question of the day is "which parades have you seen?", in Calcutta during Durga puja, it's "how many pandals have you visited?"
As with the Ganesh pratimas in Gujarat, the pandals for the Durga puja are all involved in fierce competition for prizes given away by the newspaper organizations and the city. Some even have political messages - one had a figure of Bush holding a missile while nearly being attacked by a lion. Durga was standing on the earth to symbolize peace. I believe this was in reference to the now-stalled US-India nuclear pact which the government of West Bengal, the Communist party, oppose out of solidarity with China. Anyway, all were great fun.
There are religious ceremonies that take place daily by the pandit (priest). on the 4th day, called Asthami, devotees assemble for a complex ceremony that occurs at a time prescribed by the astrologers. This year, it was 8:27 PM on Thursday the 18th. During the 45 minutes after 8:27, Durga will appear for a split second in the form of the pratima. Anyone seeing her at this time will have their prayers answered. It was actually an electrifying experience being among so many people who believed that they would see their beloved goddess come alive before their eyes in the form of the decorated Durga pratima. There is nothing I have witness in Christianity that could compare to the excitement of this part of the puja.
After this most holy period, then anyone can touch the pratima, not just the pandit. On the 5th day of the puja, the pratima is loaded on a truck and brought to be immersed in the Ganges, with great fanfare and sorrow. I am sure that even Bush is holding his missile at the bottom of this muddy river.
More to come soon. Please leave some comments!
-Nisha
After we left Chennai, we went to Calcutta to celebrate Durga Puja with my dad's extensive family. Durga puja is the largest puja celebrated in West Bengal. Community organizations prepare huge and colorful pandals which is a themed house. These temporary foam and cloth structures inside hold the elaborately decorated pratimas, or idols, and outside play host to a small carnival. The streets are lighted all around the pandal to guide the public. The thing to do during the main four days of the festival is to walk around touring pandals with your friends or family all night long (literally, our driver did not come back in the morning after pandal hopping all night). Like Mardi Gras where the question of the day is "which parades have you seen?", in Calcutta during Durga puja, it's "how many pandals have you visited?"
As with the Ganesh pratimas in Gujarat, the pandals for the Durga puja are all involved in fierce competition for prizes given away by the newspaper organizations and the city. Some even have political messages - one had a figure of Bush holding a missile while nearly being attacked by a lion. Durga was standing on the earth to symbolize peace. I believe this was in reference to the now-stalled US-India nuclear pact which the government of West Bengal, the Communist party, oppose out of solidarity with China. Anyway, all were great fun.
There are religious ceremonies that take place daily by the pandit (priest). on the 4th day, called Asthami, devotees assemble for a complex ceremony that occurs at a time prescribed by the astrologers. This year, it was 8:27 PM on Thursday the 18th. During the 45 minutes after 8:27, Durga will appear for a split second in the form of the pratima. Anyone seeing her at this time will have their prayers answered. It was actually an electrifying experience being among so many people who believed that they would see their beloved goddess come alive before their eyes in the form of the decorated Durga pratima. There is nothing I have witness in Christianity that could compare to the excitement of this part of the puja.
After this most holy period, then anyone can touch the pratima, not just the pandit. On the 5th day of the puja, the pratima is loaded on a truck and brought to be immersed in the Ganges, with great fanfare and sorrow. I am sure that even Bush is holding his missile at the bottom of this muddy river.
More to come soon. Please leave some comments!
-Nisha
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Out of Touch
Today we leave Kolkata and are flying to Bagdogra, in northern West Bengal, to visit the tea gardens and Sikkim with the Basu's family friends. We will have no Internet for the next few days.
Also, we have a lot of stuff to write about, but in the Hyatt the only computer to use is Susan's computer and it is shared among all four of us. This is a lot less CPU time then when we go to Internet cafes and get two computers. Once we get back to the normal Internet setup we will catch up.
BTW, I was able to watch the last half of the Sox game 7 here in India. Nice game, I am optimistic the World Series will be on TV as long as I am willing to get up early to catch the 8PM games.
Also, we have a lot of stuff to write about, but in the Hyatt the only computer to use is Susan's computer and it is shared among all four of us. This is a lot less CPU time then when we go to Internet cafes and get two computers. Once we get back to the normal Internet setup we will catch up.
BTW, I was able to watch the last half of the Sox game 7 here in India. Nice game, I am optimistic the World Series will be on TV as long as I am willing to get up early to catch the 8PM games.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sweets.... Bengali Beer
Sweets are an obsession in Bengali culture. Especially at Puja time, where they are served anywhere and everywhere. The most popular ones in Kolkata are the Rasgulla and the Gulab Jamun. Others are popular as well, but these are the ones you see the most.
I finally have this obsession figured out, it is basically exactly the same as American's obsession with beer. Drinking is quite taboo in most parts of India, so a substitute is needed, and has been found.
To demonstrate, try switching out the word "beer" for "sweet" in any of these observations and see if it is not true for Americans.
- At any celebration or family gathering, sweets will be served.
- A common topic of conversation at said gatherings is the quality of the sweets, and where the best sweets are made.
- People at celebrations attempt to get you to consume more sweets then you are prepared for or comfortable consuming.
- People also commonly discuss how many sweets they have consumed in the past at other celebrations or how many were consumed by the attendees of a celebration.
- At a large party it is common to have a large barrel of sweets (actually a giant clay jar).
- It is considered more festive to consume sweets in one gulp, rather then consuming then consuming them bit by bit.
- If you go over to someones house to consume sweets, it is essential that you bring some with you. These also must be more sweets around then anyone could reasonably consume.
- You can never have too many sweets at a party.
Funny sidelight to this:
We were watching the Bengali news channel on TV and they had a reporter out at a Pandel announcing that the club had been given some award for the design of their Pandel. First everyone was just standing around staring at the camera, as Indians do. Then when he announced the award everyone started dancing around like mad and a man walked into the crowd with a giant jar of sweets on his head. A second later, someone reaches in from off camera and stuffs a giant Rasgulla into the reporters mouth, silencing him at his obvious embarrassment.
I finally have this obsession figured out, it is basically exactly the same as American's obsession with beer. Drinking is quite taboo in most parts of India, so a substitute is needed, and has been found.
To demonstrate, try switching out the word "beer" for "sweet" in any of these observations and see if it is not true for Americans.
- At any celebration or family gathering, sweets will be served.
- A common topic of conversation at said gatherings is the quality of the sweets, and where the best sweets are made.
- People at celebrations attempt to get you to consume more sweets then you are prepared for or comfortable consuming.
- People also commonly discuss how many sweets they have consumed in the past at other celebrations or how many were consumed by the attendees of a celebration.
- At a large party it is common to have a large barrel of sweets (actually a giant clay jar).
- It is considered more festive to consume sweets in one gulp, rather then consuming then consuming them bit by bit.
- If you go over to someones house to consume sweets, it is essential that you bring some with you. These also must be more sweets around then anyone could reasonably consume.
- You can never have too many sweets at a party.
Funny sidelight to this:
We were watching the Bengali news channel on TV and they had a reporter out at a Pandel announcing that the club had been given some award for the design of their Pandel. First everyone was just standing around staring at the camera, as Indians do. Then when he announced the award everyone started dancing around like mad and a man walked into the crowd with a giant jar of sweets on his head. A second later, someone reaches in from off camera and stuffs a giant Rasgulla into the reporters mouth, silencing him at his obvious embarrassment.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Another Quick Update
There is no Internet cafe in the Hyatt in Kolkata, so we use Susan's computer. Unfortunately we have been out a lot, so very little blogging time.
- Last night we went to one of the actual ceremonies that they do in front of the Durga idols at a medium size pandel in the neighborhood near the hotel. Was really cool to see, a lot of incense and drumming and smoke. The point of the ceremony is so the devout can see the Durga come to life for a split second in the smoke. None of us saw it, but will all the stuff going on you really want to believe that it will happen.
- We also had an incredible dinner afterwards at the Tandoor restaurant in the ITC Sonar Bangla hotel, the other ritzy place in the area. Really incredible meat, best cooked chicken I have ever had.
- Traffic in Kolkata is the worst. Kolkata has a larger car to every other vehicle ratio then anywhere else in India. Unfortunately all these cars reach gridlock much easier then the auto and 2 wheeler mix in most other cities.
- It may be because it is basically Bengali Christmas here, so everyone is in a good mood, but I actually appreciate Kolkata more now that I have been in other parts of India. People are very nice here, and even if you are a westerner at a Durga where very few westerners would ever be, people do not stare or make you uncomfortable. People were very nice at the Puja last night where we did not know anyone. Nisha was very nicely invited to go up and light some candles and people were otherwise very welcoming.
- There has been a lot of new development here, so the city is looking nice. However, they really need to get all taxis and buses to CNG like in the rest of Indian big cities. The air quality here is really bad compared to Delhi and most other big places. The issue I believe is the resistance from the drivers and car owners. I understand that this must be a difficult thing to push through, but once it is done it is really worth it.
- Last night we went to one of the actual ceremonies that they do in front of the Durga idols at a medium size pandel in the neighborhood near the hotel. Was really cool to see, a lot of incense and drumming and smoke. The point of the ceremony is so the devout can see the Durga come to life for a split second in the smoke. None of us saw it, but will all the stuff going on you really want to believe that it will happen.
- We also had an incredible dinner afterwards at the Tandoor restaurant in the ITC Sonar Bangla hotel, the other ritzy place in the area. Really incredible meat, best cooked chicken I have ever had.
- Traffic in Kolkata is the worst. Kolkata has a larger car to every other vehicle ratio then anywhere else in India. Unfortunately all these cars reach gridlock much easier then the auto and 2 wheeler mix in most other cities.
- It may be because it is basically Bengali Christmas here, so everyone is in a good mood, but I actually appreciate Kolkata more now that I have been in other parts of India. People are very nice here, and even if you are a westerner at a Durga where very few westerners would ever be, people do not stare or make you uncomfortable. People were very nice at the Puja last night where we did not know anyone. Nisha was very nicely invited to go up and light some candles and people were otherwise very welcoming.
- There has been a lot of new development here, so the city is looking nice. However, they really need to get all taxis and buses to CNG like in the rest of Indian big cities. The air quality here is really bad compared to Delhi and most other big places. The issue I believe is the resistance from the drivers and car owners. I understand that this must be a difficult thing to push through, but once it is done it is really worth it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Quick Update
We finally are up in Kolkata. We had our first experience on the cheapest airline in India, Air Deccan. Everything was actually fine, brand new plane and we showed up on time with our stuff. Their mascot is a sketch drawing of an old man with a briefcase wearing a Dohti. Only in India will that be painted on the side of your plane. A couple of things:
- The Durga Puja pandels are really impressive. This is their biggest festival of the year, and neighborhood clubs all over the city set up these crazy big houses for their Druga idols. They are temporary structures made of cloth, Styrofoam and plaster of Paris, but they are still up to 50 feet high. They do different themes every year, so far we have seen Harry Potter's castle, several Turkish-desert themes and Styrofoam carved Jain temples. The idols inside are very impressive as well.
- If you like Indian sweets, as I do, Kolkata is nationally known as the best place to get them, and everyone is always feeding you copious amounts of them during Puja. Very nice.
- More updates later, off to the Puja now.
- The Durga Puja pandels are really impressive. This is their biggest festival of the year, and neighborhood clubs all over the city set up these crazy big houses for their Druga idols. They are temporary structures made of cloth, Styrofoam and plaster of Paris, but they are still up to 50 feet high. They do different themes every year, so far we have seen Harry Potter's castle, several Turkish-desert themes and Styrofoam carved Jain temples. The idols inside are very impressive as well.
- If you like Indian sweets, as I do, Kolkata is nationally known as the best place to get them, and everyone is always feeding you copious amounts of them during Puja. Very nice.
- More updates later, off to the Puja now.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
AID INDIA
Feeling particiulary decadant about traveling these 5 months, Ian and I decided before we left that we wanted to volunteer for a week of our travels. Through four degrees of seperation, we were put in touch with Dr. Banaji Sampath from AID INDIA in Chennai through Amisha's mother, Chandan Sharma.
Staffed by dedicated men and women, AID INDIA is a NGO based in Channai whose main activitis are designing, implementing, and testing educational materials to improve the math and English education of students all over Tamil Nadu. They develop these materials then lobby the powers that be to implement these changes. It's a win-win situration for the children and the politicans. In addition, they are involved in rural health activities and education.
We both had interesting projects that we completed in a week. Ian built a PHP program to keep track of the organizations' scholarship awardees. He was literally in a sweat-shop working from 10 - 7 for 6 days in front of a computer in a stifiling hot office. He was able to create a very useful tool for the organization.
Their rural health education focudsed on women's health issues. In my discussions with Prabha, the health program coordinator, it became evident that they could benefint from both staff and village health-worker education in cancers affecting women. The most common cancer plaguing women in India is cervical at 30% and then breast at 19%. To put this in prespective, cervical cancer in the US plummeted after the advent of the PAP smear in the 1960s. Now, cervical cancer lies in the upper teens of most common cancers in the US. It seems fairly unknown here (as with some women in the US), that HPV, an STD, if the causative agent of cervical cancer. In common with many diseases targeting the poor around the world, it is a travisty that anyone dies of cervical cancer since there are such effective secondary preventative treatments. A recent NEJM cost-effectivness study of cerivcal cancer screening determined that if India screened women with one PAP smear, the lifetime risk of cancer by approximately 25 to 36%, and cost less than $500 per year of life saved (Goldie 2005). The Indian government has decided that the screening would be prohibitivaly expensive. Poverty, disenfransiment, female sex - a terrible mileu for womens' health.
Here was a great oppturnity for education. I developed educational pamphlets on breast and cevical cancer that will be illustrated and translated into Tamil. I also researched and prepared a lectures on cervical and breast cancers for the staff of AID INDIA - everything from pathophysiology of cancer, to prevention and treatment. Some of the 20 attendees were completely proficient in English, though most needed near simultaneous translation into Tamil by Prabha. I was pleased and supriesed that after hearing me lecture about cervical cancer for 90 minutes on a Saturday morning in a 90 degree room, they wanted to hear more about breast cancer. The two-and-a-half hour lecture was punctuated by lively discussion and question and answer periods. Unlike med school classes, not a single person fell asleep!
We both gained great gratification from the services we provided and met many great people. Hopefully our efforts were recieved in the like.
~Nisha
Staffed by dedicated men and women, AID INDIA is a NGO based in Channai whose main activitis are designing, implementing, and testing educational materials to improve the math and English education of students all over Tamil Nadu. They develop these materials then lobby the powers that be to implement these changes. It's a win-win situration for the children and the politicans. In addition, they are involved in rural health activities and education.
We both had interesting projects that we completed in a week. Ian built a PHP program to keep track of the organizations' scholarship awardees. He was literally in a sweat-shop working from 10 - 7 for 6 days in front of a computer in a stifiling hot office. He was able to create a very useful tool for the organization.
Their rural health education focudsed on women's health issues. In my discussions with Prabha, the health program coordinator, it became evident that they could benefint from both staff and village health-worker education in cancers affecting women. The most common cancer plaguing women in India is cervical at 30% and then breast at 19%. To put this in prespective, cervical cancer in the US plummeted after the advent of the PAP smear in the 1960s. Now, cervical cancer lies in the upper teens of most common cancers in the US. It seems fairly unknown here (as with some women in the US), that HPV, an STD, if the causative agent of cervical cancer. In common with many diseases targeting the poor around the world, it is a travisty that anyone dies of cervical cancer since there are such effective secondary preventative treatments. A recent NEJM cost-effectivness study of cerivcal cancer screening determined that if India screened women with one PAP smear, the lifetime risk of cancer by approximately 25 to 36%, and cost less than $500 per year of life saved (Goldie 2005). The Indian government has decided that the screening would be prohibitivaly expensive. Poverty, disenfransiment, female sex - a terrible mileu for womens' health.
Here was a great oppturnity for education. I developed educational pamphlets on breast and cevical cancer that will be illustrated and translated into Tamil. I also researched and prepared a lectures on cervical and breast cancers for the staff of AID INDIA - everything from pathophysiology of cancer, to prevention and treatment. Some of the 20 attendees were completely proficient in English, though most needed near simultaneous translation into Tamil by Prabha. I was pleased and supriesed that after hearing me lecture about cervical cancer for 90 minutes on a Saturday morning in a 90 degree room, they wanted to hear more about breast cancer. The two-and-a-half hour lecture was punctuated by lively discussion and question and answer periods. Unlike med school classes, not a single person fell asleep!
We both gained great gratification from the services we provided and met many great people. Hopefully our efforts were recieved in the like.
~Nisha
Monday, October 15, 2007
Dandiya of my Dreams
Saturday we went to a Dandyia party hosted by the Gujarati community in Chennai. Dandyia is a dance done during the celebration of the Navratri, a holiday celebrated all around India in the beginning of October. My first experience with dandiya was in high-school. The large Baton Rouge Gujarati community hosted these at the LSU ball room several times during Navratri. Women and men would get dolled up in their finest saris, lengha cholis, and kurta pajamas. The dancing would begin with an intricate and energetic 6-beat dance around the dance floor to drum heavy music. The main event was the dandiya dance. Danced by all, the dance was preformed with wooden sticks in each hand. Dancers tap other dancer's sticks to the music to symbolize the fight between the goddess Durga and a mighty demon king. It is similar to a contra or square dance where two lines of dancers move an opposite direction from each other.
We arrived too early dressed in our best at 9, and met Arvin, the only other person there at the time. Turns out that he just moved back to Chennai after 15 years in the US, mostly in Porter Square, Cambridge. After killing some time getting coffee with him and his friends, we returned at 10:30 and the party really got started. Hundreds of people were pouring from chauffeured cars dressed in the most spectacular costumes. The female children, teenagers, and young women were dressed in elaborate lengha cholis dripping with jewels in their hair, ears, necks, hips, hands, wrists, ankles, and feet. Even the babies were lavishly decorated! The male children, teens, and young men were decked out in what looked like a short baby doll dress with matching dhoti. Now I see why the guys in my high school did not come dressed in traditional garb. Despite looking like they were wearing their younger sister’s dress, this unusual male outfit actually looked very dashing while twirling around the floor later in the night.
The music set up included 4 full drum sets, a keyboard, and a few singers. The first dance is the garba which is a high energy dance around the perimeter of the dance floor. I know two of this type and did dance for a while. However, just like in high school, once I got the hang of it again, the girls I danced behind switched to one I did not know leaving me there wondering what was going on. (I found out later that they take classes the month prior to the Navratri season.) Around 12:30, there was a dandiya for the teenagers and children. I suspect this was separate because the older teens and young adults get overly enthusiastic with the dandyia sticks. I'll bet that dancing with the kids caused many a gossipy mother to whisper next to her and say “can you imaging that grown woman, dancing with the children!” in scorn. Of all our time traveling, this was the first night I had to go to bed early since I was scheduled to deliver a lecture in the morning.
I had a fabulous time dancing with the kids and teenagers and ended up chatting with many. No one could talk for long though. They had to dance their best. There was a white-haired man in an all white kutra wandering among the dancers with a clipboard. In the center of a dancing hurricane, he looked like a bored judge at a dog show. I found out from them that he was the judge for the prize of king, queen, prince and princess of the festival. They are also judged on their costumes and dancing. Prizes range from a TV or DVD player to a 17,000 Rs ($450).
A nice woman we met emailed me some pictures I just posted on Flickr. We have not seen anything like this in India – where the men, women, and children are all free to enjoy themselves at the same time. In this nearly dry town, it was also the most memorable night out we have had without booze in awhile.
- Nisha
We arrived too early dressed in our best at 9, and met Arvin, the only other person there at the time. Turns out that he just moved back to Chennai after 15 years in the US, mostly in Porter Square, Cambridge. After killing some time getting coffee with him and his friends, we returned at 10:30 and the party really got started. Hundreds of people were pouring from chauffeured cars dressed in the most spectacular costumes. The female children, teenagers, and young women were dressed in elaborate lengha cholis dripping with jewels in their hair, ears, necks, hips, hands, wrists, ankles, and feet. Even the babies were lavishly decorated! The male children, teens, and young men were decked out in what looked like a short baby doll dress with matching dhoti. Now I see why the guys in my high school did not come dressed in traditional garb. Despite looking like they were wearing their younger sister’s dress, this unusual male outfit actually looked very dashing while twirling around the floor later in the night.
The music set up included 4 full drum sets, a keyboard, and a few singers. The first dance is the garba which is a high energy dance around the perimeter of the dance floor. I know two of this type and did dance for a while. However, just like in high school, once I got the hang of it again, the girls I danced behind switched to one I did not know leaving me there wondering what was going on. (I found out later that they take classes the month prior to the Navratri season.) Around 12:30, there was a dandiya for the teenagers and children. I suspect this was separate because the older teens and young adults get overly enthusiastic with the dandyia sticks. I'll bet that dancing with the kids caused many a gossipy mother to whisper next to her and say “can you imaging that grown woman, dancing with the children!” in scorn. Of all our time traveling, this was the first night I had to go to bed early since I was scheduled to deliver a lecture in the morning.
I had a fabulous time dancing with the kids and teenagers and ended up chatting with many. No one could talk for long though. They had to dance their best. There was a white-haired man in an all white kutra wandering among the dancers with a clipboard. In the center of a dancing hurricane, he looked like a bored judge at a dog show. I found out from them that he was the judge for the prize of king, queen, prince and princess of the festival. They are also judged on their costumes and dancing. Prizes range from a TV or DVD player to a 17,000 Rs ($450).
A nice woman we met emailed me some pictures I just posted on Flickr. We have not seen anything like this in India – where the men, women, and children are all free to enjoy themselves at the same time. In this nearly dry town, it was also the most memorable night out we have had without booze in awhile.
- Nisha
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Indian Economics
One thing that has interested me in India is trying to figure out the amount of money that people make and spend compared to the US. I find this to be a topic of some interest, since in the software business companies are constantly trying to leverage India. However, I do not feel like many people actually have an idea of what the savings actually are. The following is all information that I have gleaned from different conversations since I have arrived. It is therefore probably not accurate, but may at least be interesting.
If we look at it first from a purely statistical standpoint, the GDP per capita of the US is 43,444 dollars per person and for India it is 3,737 dollars per person. So by this reference the average US person should make about 11 times more then the average Indian. For the purposes of this article I am going to think of it as around 10.
In terms of how much money people make, my impression is as follows (everyone talks in terms of per month here, so I will go along). I think a service worker, like a guy who works in a mid range hotel cleaning and serving etc. makes around 4000 rupees a month, or 100 dollars. This figure I got from a rural area, so it may very well be higher in a city. I have also been told that 20,000 - 40,000 rupees a month (500 - 1000 dollars) is what someone with a good white collar job makes. Supposedly this is enough to get you a decent place to live and a cheap car or motorbike in Chennai. I have also been told that making 1 lakh per month, aka 100,000 rupees (2,500 dollars) is what it takes to be making a lot of money. I would assume this means that you have a nice house or flat in a new development and a nice car. I would assume most likely a servant as well. These numbers do make sense more or less. Someone who makes 25,000 dollars a month in the US is very upper middle class/upper class. The 40,000 seems a little high since that would be 10,000 dollars a month in the US. That is definitely a little more like upper middle class. As for the hotel worker, that would only be 1,000 dollars a month in the US, which is low since I am pretty sure people in that strata make around 20,000 a year. This is not surprising though since there are a large supply of such workers in India and limited demand.
I also looked up recently the price of transport. A Tata Indica econobox costs around 3-4 lakhs here (7,500 to 10,000 dollars) and an Ambassador is around 5 lakhs (12,500 dollars). An imported car mid-range car like a Honda Accord, which seems incredibly sleek and luxurious in India, runs a whopping 15 lakhs (37,500 dollars). Pretty steep by US standards. I am pretty sure this has to do with import duties. On the other hand a common motorbike here, the Hero Honda Splendor, only runs you a mere 40,000 rupees (1,000 dollars). Seeing how cheap these motorbikes are compared to the cars, which are not very discounted to the US, you can see why the motorbike is dominant as the transportation of the common man.
As for consumer goods, a bottle of coke runs you 15 rupees (38 cents). It is 25 rupees (63 cents) for diet, which is particularly infuriating to me. A one liter water is 10 rupees (25 cents) and a bag of grapes costs about 20 rupees (50 cents). We pay around 120 (3 dollars) for a box of cereal and 80 (2 dollars) for a 1 liter box of irradiated milk.
If you want to eat out, a all you can eat lunch at a working man's restaurant costs around 50 rupees (1.25 dollars). Dinner at more of a mid-range kind of place usually runs around 140 a person (4 bucks) while Pizza Hut or another clean corporate kind of place is 250 (6.25 dollars). A top end 5 star hotel kind of deal will run you 750 a person (around 19 dollars).
The thing that I notice about this is that while it is true that the average Indian makes around 10 times less then in the US, the stuff that they need to buy is not that much cheaper. 1.25 for a good meal sounds cheap, but that is more then 11 dollars for lunch (by the 10 times multiplier, which would be a lot to spend in the US, even for a Indian buffet in Cambridge. The Coke is 38 cents, but if Coke was $3.80 in the US, people would certainly not drink nearly as much. Cars are especially bad because they do not cost that much less at all.
I am sure that this seems rather obvious, that the standard of living is less. I thought however that it would be nice to be a little more specific. I find it especially surprising how much less purchasing power even a professional person has, especially in the transport and mid to high end restaurant arena (60 dollars for Pizza Hut?). At these prices I can see the motorbike and homemade daal ruling India for quite some time.
If we look at it first from a purely statistical standpoint, the GDP per capita of the US is 43,444 dollars per person and for India it is 3,737 dollars per person. So by this reference the average US person should make about 11 times more then the average Indian. For the purposes of this article I am going to think of it as around 10.
In terms of how much money people make, my impression is as follows (everyone talks in terms of per month here, so I will go along). I think a service worker, like a guy who works in a mid range hotel cleaning and serving etc. makes around 4000 rupees a month, or 100 dollars. This figure I got from a rural area, so it may very well be higher in a city. I have also been told that 20,000 - 40,000 rupees a month (500 - 1000 dollars) is what someone with a good white collar job makes. Supposedly this is enough to get you a decent place to live and a cheap car or motorbike in Chennai. I have also been told that making 1 lakh per month, aka 100,000 rupees (2,500 dollars) is what it takes to be making a lot of money. I would assume this means that you have a nice house or flat in a new development and a nice car. I would assume most likely a servant as well. These numbers do make sense more or less. Someone who makes 25,000 dollars a month in the US is very upper middle class/upper class. The 40,000 seems a little high since that would be 10,000 dollars a month in the US. That is definitely a little more like upper middle class. As for the hotel worker, that would only be 1,000 dollars a month in the US, which is low since I am pretty sure people in that strata make around 20,000 a year. This is not surprising though since there are a large supply of such workers in India and limited demand.
I also looked up recently the price of transport. A Tata Indica econobox costs around 3-4 lakhs here (7,500 to 10,000 dollars) and an Ambassador is around 5 lakhs (12,500 dollars). An imported car mid-range car like a Honda Accord, which seems incredibly sleek and luxurious in India, runs a whopping 15 lakhs (37,500 dollars). Pretty steep by US standards. I am pretty sure this has to do with import duties. On the other hand a common motorbike here, the Hero Honda Splendor, only runs you a mere 40,000 rupees (1,000 dollars). Seeing how cheap these motorbikes are compared to the cars, which are not very discounted to the US, you can see why the motorbike is dominant as the transportation of the common man.
As for consumer goods, a bottle of coke runs you 15 rupees (38 cents). It is 25 rupees (63 cents) for diet, which is particularly infuriating to me. A one liter water is 10 rupees (25 cents) and a bag of grapes costs about 20 rupees (50 cents). We pay around 120 (3 dollars) for a box of cereal and 80 (2 dollars) for a 1 liter box of irradiated milk.
If you want to eat out, a all you can eat lunch at a working man's restaurant costs around 50 rupees (1.25 dollars). Dinner at more of a mid-range kind of place usually runs around 140 a person (4 bucks) while Pizza Hut or another clean corporate kind of place is 250 (6.25 dollars). A top end 5 star hotel kind of deal will run you 750 a person (around 19 dollars).
The thing that I notice about this is that while it is true that the average Indian makes around 10 times less then in the US, the stuff that they need to buy is not that much cheaper. 1.25 for a good meal sounds cheap, but that is more then 11 dollars for lunch (by the 10 times multiplier, which would be a lot to spend in the US, even for a Indian buffet in Cambridge. The Coke is 38 cents, but if Coke was $3.80 in the US, people would certainly not drink nearly as much. Cars are especially bad because they do not cost that much less at all.
I am sure that this seems rather obvious, that the standard of living is less. I thought however that it would be nice to be a little more specific. I find it especially surprising how much less purchasing power even a professional person has, especially in the transport and mid to high end restaurant arena (60 dollars for Pizza Hut?). At these prices I can see the motorbike and homemade daal ruling India for quite some time.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Auto-Wallah 2007 - New from EA Sports
After using autorickshaws for much of my transportation the last 6 weeks, I have developed a decidedly love-hate relationship with them. My main complaint is that you need to haggle for every ride. I honestly would not mind paying more if I could just get in one, have them use the meter, and pay what it costs when I get out. But I digress, today I am here to give props to the India and its Auto-Wallahs, so here is goes.
If there were more Playstations in India, or more Americans had been here, there would definitely be a video game out by now celebrating the fearlessness and skill of the Indian Auto-Wallah. The thing about these guys is that they can navigate city traffic must faster then a car, due to their amazing maneuverability, so besides being the cheapest form of transportation, it is also the fastest. The common tricks of the Auto-Wallah would all fit well into a video game. They cut through secret gaps in medians to reverse direction, as well as secret cuts through construction zones to get ahead at a light. You can never stop at an intersection, unless there is a cop standing right in front of you. Driving the wrong way down the street, or the wrong way around a rotary (especially fun), no problem. The sidewalk, totally fair game. The lanes on the road mean nothing, and they are happy to mix it up with the bikes and bullock carts in the gutter if that is what it takes to get around a city bus, the arch-nemesis of any good Auto-Wallah.
In addition to the driving, the game could have fun with the diverse loads that you will be asked to carry (all these examples are real). Obviously foreign tourists are the best fare, especially when you can coax them to a rug shop or hotel that pays commission. But, you can also make good money getting a recurring contract to take 10 Catholic girls to school every morning. Other less glamorous cargoes can include a man with 6 live goats or a stack of rice bags. You could even have the game so when you pull over to pick up a load you need to negotiate the price. You would have to be able to spot the white faces quick and know to quadruple the price. Unless the sahibs look like they have been here for a while, in which case you just double it. If you charge to much however, your juicey fare could walk to the next guy.
To be realistic, however, the game need to capture that you can never run into anything. Even if you make a bad move and try to head down a bazaar street at 8PM, you need to never touch the pedestrians, old men on bikes, motorbikes with 3 guys on them or cows. Actually if you hit a cow that should probably end the game immediately, since your soul will be ruined for many reincarnations. Actually, a cow might actually be preferable to hitting a scooter with a couple and two kids on it, because then you are libel to get lynched by the locals.
Anyway, tell me this game would not be fun. Crazy Taxi made a lot of money in the US, but there the crazy driving all has to be fake. Here you can drive the same way, but it is for real.
If there were more Playstations in India, or more Americans had been here, there would definitely be a video game out by now celebrating the fearlessness and skill of the Indian Auto-Wallah. The thing about these guys is that they can navigate city traffic must faster then a car, due to their amazing maneuverability, so besides being the cheapest form of transportation, it is also the fastest. The common tricks of the Auto-Wallah would all fit well into a video game. They cut through secret gaps in medians to reverse direction, as well as secret cuts through construction zones to get ahead at a light. You can never stop at an intersection, unless there is a cop standing right in front of you. Driving the wrong way down the street, or the wrong way around a rotary (especially fun), no problem. The sidewalk, totally fair game. The lanes on the road mean nothing, and they are happy to mix it up with the bikes and bullock carts in the gutter if that is what it takes to get around a city bus, the arch-nemesis of any good Auto-Wallah.
In addition to the driving, the game could have fun with the diverse loads that you will be asked to carry (all these examples are real). Obviously foreign tourists are the best fare, especially when you can coax them to a rug shop or hotel that pays commission. But, you can also make good money getting a recurring contract to take 10 Catholic girls to school every morning. Other less glamorous cargoes can include a man with 6 live goats or a stack of rice bags. You could even have the game so when you pull over to pick up a load you need to negotiate the price. You would have to be able to spot the white faces quick and know to quadruple the price. Unless the sahibs look like they have been here for a while, in which case you just double it. If you charge to much however, your juicey fare could walk to the next guy.
To be realistic, however, the game need to capture that you can never run into anything. Even if you make a bad move and try to head down a bazaar street at 8PM, you need to never touch the pedestrians, old men on bikes, motorbikes with 3 guys on them or cows. Actually if you hit a cow that should probably end the game immediately, since your soul will be ruined for many reincarnations. Actually, a cow might actually be preferable to hitting a scooter with a couple and two kids on it, because then you are libel to get lynched by the locals.
Anyway, tell me this game would not be fun. Crazy Taxi made a lot of money in the US, but there the crazy driving all has to be fake. Here you can drive the same way, but it is for real.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Another new food post
I too have been busy at work. Here is the second installment of Must Have Food in India. I will write about my time in Chennai at AID INDIA in a few days. Enjoy!
Back to Work
If you have been wondering why the blog output is a little off lately, except for catching up on things that happened a week ago, it is just because we have not been doing much except for sampling the Indian working stiff life in Chennai. Basically we have just been getting up in the morning, at which point I usually go for a run by the big downtown beach. Then we get to the office at 10AM (normal start time here), have lunch at the amazing Indian restaurant down the street and then leave at around 6:30 - 7:30. Then a trip for dinner (Chinese, Mexican and Pizza Hut the last 3 nights) and back to the hotel.
For the first time on this trip you are probably not jealous of what we are up to, besides maybe the leaches. Basically I am doing the same thing you probably are, except the office is non-AC, in Chennai mind you, and my office chair is a plastic patio chair, no Aerons here.
We are doing some good work however and that is really the point anyway.
For the first time on this trip you are probably not jealous of what we are up to, besides maybe the leaches. Basically I am doing the same thing you probably are, except the office is non-AC, in Chennai mind you, and my office chair is a plastic patio chair, no Aerons here.
We are doing some good work however and that is really the point anyway.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
First Impressions of Chennai
A few things on the city that will be our home for the next week:
- Chennai is not the most inspiring Indian city. It is fairly sprawling and spread out, and I do not think the sites here really stack up against the other big Indian cities. I can see why from a pure tourist standpoint is it written up in the Book as more of just a place to arrive or depart from. It is not well set up like Mumbai either, just the basic Indian chaos.
- That being said, the modern stuff here seems better then anyplace else. Near the AID INDIA office are 3 nice modern grocery stores. The only other one I have ever seen was in Kolkata, and that was just one. We went to a massive mall here tonight that was like a real mall. We ate Chinese at a great restaurant court that also had Pizza Hut (more high end in India then in US) and South Indian. I know this may not seem like a big deal for those at home, and against the idea of being in India, but after so long away from these things you start to appreciate them more.
- The only things that separate Chennai autorickshaw men from pirates is that they don't have a parrot on their shoulder and they don't say "Arrrrrr". They all don't use the meter and no matter how much haggling you do and you end up paying 2 to 3 times the km cost of anywhere else in India. This includes Mumbai where you at least get to ride in a real car. I would have a much easier time forking over 80 rupees to go 3 km if at least I had a parrot to talk to.
- We are staying in a pretty nice place called the Hotel Himalaya. Room is 1100 rupees and we have a new AC unit and a fridge in our big clean room. Also 24 hour Internet cafe. The only drawback is that the neighborhood is the least appealing I have seen in Chennai, it is a real dump out there. We will also be lulled to sleep by the symphony of 1000 car horns. I kind of wish the AC unit was old and rattled more.
- The work at AID INDIA seems pretty good so far. Nisha is working on some materials for health education and I am working on computerizing their files of students they sponsor. The people are nice and the office is in a nice pleasant area of town.
- South Indian food rocks. The little fast food places usually have very nice dosas (thin lentil pancake) and other great light snacks. They have great fruit juice as well.
- We took our longest (15 hours) and last ride on the Indian rails last night. Great sleep as always, 2AC class rocks, especially when you get the big 4 berth area to yourself. Also Nisha and I are big into Backgammon and Rummy 500 these days, really helps pass the time, thanks Ern.
- Chennai is not the most inspiring Indian city. It is fairly sprawling and spread out, and I do not think the sites here really stack up against the other big Indian cities. I can see why from a pure tourist standpoint is it written up in the Book as more of just a place to arrive or depart from. It is not well set up like Mumbai either, just the basic Indian chaos.
- That being said, the modern stuff here seems better then anyplace else. Near the AID INDIA office are 3 nice modern grocery stores. The only other one I have ever seen was in Kolkata, and that was just one. We went to a massive mall here tonight that was like a real mall. We ate Chinese at a great restaurant court that also had Pizza Hut (more high end in India then in US) and South Indian. I know this may not seem like a big deal for those at home, and against the idea of being in India, but after so long away from these things you start to appreciate them more.
- The only things that separate Chennai autorickshaw men from pirates is that they don't have a parrot on their shoulder and they don't say "Arrrrrr". They all don't use the meter and no matter how much haggling you do and you end up paying 2 to 3 times the km cost of anywhere else in India. This includes Mumbai where you at least get to ride in a real car. I would have a much easier time forking over 80 rupees to go 3 km if at least I had a parrot to talk to.
- We are staying in a pretty nice place called the Hotel Himalaya. Room is 1100 rupees and we have a new AC unit and a fridge in our big clean room. Also 24 hour Internet cafe. The only drawback is that the neighborhood is the least appealing I have seen in Chennai, it is a real dump out there. We will also be lulled to sleep by the symphony of 1000 car horns. I kind of wish the AC unit was old and rattled more.
- The work at AID INDIA seems pretty good so far. Nisha is working on some materials for health education and I am working on computerizing their files of students they sponsor. The people are nice and the office is in a nice pleasant area of town.
- South Indian food rocks. The little fast food places usually have very nice dosas (thin lentil pancake) and other great light snacks. They have great fruit juice as well.
- We took our longest (15 hours) and last ride on the Indian rails last night. Great sleep as always, 2AC class rocks, especially when you get the big 4 berth area to yourself. Also Nisha and I are big into Backgammon and Rummy 500 these days, really helps pass the time, thanks Ern.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Quick Update
- We did the Kerala houseboat thing (which I am writing up separately) and are now in the beach resort of Varkala, also in Kerala. This place is really nice, good beach and nice walkway along the top of the bluffs. All the restaurants and stuff are along the walkway, which is nice because you don't have to deal with walking on Indian roads. We can also see the ocean from our hotel room. The name of the hotel is Krishnatheeram for these searching on the internet. The hotel is pretty good, and the location is the best in town.
- Unfortunately we are only here for one night (last night) because tonight we are taking an overnight train to Chennai (aka Madras). Once there we are signed up to volunteer for a week with AID INDIA. This only got set up a few days ago, so we are not totally sure of the nature of the work. It may be in Chennai proper or somewhere close by. If we are not on the Internet for a week then it is probably safe to assume that we got shipped off to some small village somewhere.
- The next big plan is to fly to Kolkata on the 16th and meet up with Dave and Susan.
- I just signed up for the Boston Marathon next year. I have been running enough over here that I am not totally out of shape. However, I do anticipate some hard work when I get back in order to break 3 hours this year. I am already looking forward to it (the hard work and the marathon itself). Hopefully the weather will be better this year, so far I am 2 for 2 when it comes to running marathons in less then ideal weather conditions. A nice 50 degree day with a good tailwind would help a lot.
- PBielagus is confirmed for the last 11 days of our trip, Vietnam and Hong Kong. We will try our best to keep him alive and out of trouble.
- Sox sweeping into the ALCS and the Pats a dominating 5-0. I picked a hell of a year to miss the fall sports nirvana in Boston. I loved hearing about the Yanks collapse in Cleveland because of a swarm of bugs. Maybe they did make a deal with the devil to get all those titles in the late 90s. Very biblical form of bad luck to get them down 2-0. I had also missed all the Joba Chamberlain buzz since he was called up after I left, but it does not seem like a very auspicious way for him to start his playoff career.
- Unfortunately we are only here for one night (last night) because tonight we are taking an overnight train to Chennai (aka Madras). Once there we are signed up to volunteer for a week with AID INDIA. This only got set up a few days ago, so we are not totally sure of the nature of the work. It may be in Chennai proper or somewhere close by. If we are not on the Internet for a week then it is probably safe to assume that we got shipped off to some small village somewhere.
- The next big plan is to fly to Kolkata on the 16th and meet up with Dave and Susan.
- I just signed up for the Boston Marathon next year. I have been running enough over here that I am not totally out of shape. However, I do anticipate some hard work when I get back in order to break 3 hours this year. I am already looking forward to it (the hard work and the marathon itself). Hopefully the weather will be better this year, so far I am 2 for 2 when it comes to running marathons in less then ideal weather conditions. A nice 50 degree day with a good tailwind would help a lot.
- PBielagus is confirmed for the last 11 days of our trip, Vietnam and Hong Kong. We will try our best to keep him alive and out of trouble.
- Sox sweeping into the ALCS and the Pats a dominating 5-0. I picked a hell of a year to miss the fall sports nirvana in Boston. I loved hearing about the Yanks collapse in Cleveland because of a swarm of bugs. Maybe they did make a deal with the devil to get all those titles in the late 90s. Very biblical form of bad luck to get them down 2-0. I had also missed all the Joba Chamberlain buzz since he was called up after I left, but it does not seem like a very auspicious way for him to start his playoff career.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Must Have Food in India, Part II
Anything at Dal Roti
Kochi was a wonderland of great food - both Indian and non. There were serene art cafes straight from uptown New Orleans, U-pick-we-cook seafood stands, and posh Kochi restaurants celebrating the Arabic, Syrian, Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Jewish influences of this strange town.
With all these wonderful cuisines represented in one town, I did not think we would find some of the best Indian food we have had on this trip here. Next to our charming guesthouse, we wondered into a small unassuming restaurant called Dal Roti for lunch. As soon as I saw that the menu had wraps on it, I know this was no tourist-North-Indian-and-American-Chop-Suey place. This was a menu designed by a fellow foodie. Not only did this place have wraps, they also had stuffed parathas, biranyni only made a few days of the week, succulent chicken curry... I get ahead of myself.
Soon after we realized we were in no usual Indian restaurant, the owner, Ramesh came over to introduce himself. Tall and stately, he reminded us of Naresh Sharma (Amisha's father). He revealed that this restaurant is his labor of love while he continues to work in the international shipping industry. Capturing the authentic and lost food of Bihar is his objective. Yes, Bihar. The avid ianandnisha blog reader will recognize this as the lawless backwards state in the north that is more known for lynching of innocent people than food. Nevertheless, Ramesh hired some native Bihari cooks to turn his idea into magic. Quick to laugh and a fascinating conversationalist, we spent many hours over the next two days in his restaurant. You can even check out his blog that includes recipes.
Apparently, Bihar does have some tasty long lost recipes. I ordered the Chicken stuffed Mughali Paratha. Succulent marinated chicken was wrapped in a paratha that could rival the best Greek phyllo dough. Ian ordered the Chicken Curry, whose plain name betrayed the work of art set before him. He did receive chicken curry, but also bowls filled with a variety of succulent vegetables. The highlight was the flaky, ghee filled paratha to sop it all up with. Desert was a small chilled bowl of a carrot pudding laced with cashews and cardamon.
Finding Indian food heaven, we came early the second day for a cooking lesson and more lunch. Look out all future Iron Chef contestants. Ian and I now know how to make the king of all Indian breads - the flaky paratha. We received our lesson from the cooks while they prepared our lunch of Chicken Kati Rolls. This was marinated chicken pieces topped with sauteed and fresh red onions and cilantro wrapped in the flaky paratha. In this land of enterprising restaurateurs and scrumptious food, why are there no convenient hand lunches? With the exception of the Frankie, I have never seen a wrap in India and worse, no Indian-American restaurateur has had the creativity to do it either.
Following this second fabulous meal, Ian and I lamented with Ramesh about the dearth of creativity in Indian food in the US. It's all North Indian food operated mainly prepared by non-Indians - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, or Nepalis. There is no Goan, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Keralan, or Bengali food. There is surely no Bihari food. Why O why do Indian-Americans deprive the American public of some of the best food in their home country, or even their own house?
For the next few days, Ian and I seriously discussed starting a lunch kati roll restaurant in Boston. Ramesh in on board. Anyone else?
- Nisha
Kochi was a wonderland of great food - both Indian and non. There were serene art cafes straight from uptown New Orleans, U-pick-we-cook seafood stands, and posh Kochi restaurants celebrating the Arabic, Syrian, Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Jewish influences of this strange town.
With all these wonderful cuisines represented in one town, I did not think we would find some of the best Indian food we have had on this trip here. Next to our charming guesthouse, we wondered into a small unassuming restaurant called Dal Roti for lunch. As soon as I saw that the menu had wraps on it, I know this was no tourist-North-Indian-and-American-Chop-Suey place. This was a menu designed by a fellow foodie. Not only did this place have wraps, they also had stuffed parathas, biranyni only made a few days of the week, succulent chicken curry... I get ahead of myself.
Soon after we realized we were in no usual Indian restaurant, the owner, Ramesh came over to introduce himself. Tall and stately, he reminded us of Naresh Sharma (Amisha's father). He revealed that this restaurant is his labor of love while he continues to work in the international shipping industry. Capturing the authentic and lost food of Bihar is his objective. Yes, Bihar. The avid ianandnisha blog reader will recognize this as the lawless backwards state in the north that is more known for lynching of innocent people than food. Nevertheless, Ramesh hired some native Bihari cooks to turn his idea into magic. Quick to laugh and a fascinating conversationalist, we spent many hours over the next two days in his restaurant. You can even check out his blog that includes recipes.
Apparently, Bihar does have some tasty long lost recipes. I ordered the Chicken stuffed Mughali Paratha. Succulent marinated chicken was wrapped in a paratha that could rival the best Greek phyllo dough. Ian ordered the Chicken Curry, whose plain name betrayed the work of art set before him. He did receive chicken curry, but also bowls filled with a variety of succulent vegetables. The highlight was the flaky, ghee filled paratha to sop it all up with. Desert was a small chilled bowl of a carrot pudding laced with cashews and cardamon.
Finding Indian food heaven, we came early the second day for a cooking lesson and more lunch. Look out all future Iron Chef contestants. Ian and I now know how to make the king of all Indian breads - the flaky paratha. We received our lesson from the cooks while they prepared our lunch of Chicken Kati Rolls. This was marinated chicken pieces topped with sauteed and fresh red onions and cilantro wrapped in the flaky paratha. In this land of enterprising restaurateurs and scrumptious food, why are there no convenient hand lunches? With the exception of the Frankie, I have never seen a wrap in India and worse, no Indian-American restaurateur has had the creativity to do it either.
Following this second fabulous meal, Ian and I lamented with Ramesh about the dearth of creativity in Indian food in the US. It's all North Indian food operated mainly prepared by non-Indians - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, or Nepalis. There is no Goan, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Keralan, or Bengali food. There is surely no Bihari food. Why O why do Indian-Americans deprive the American public of some of the best food in their home country, or even their own house?
For the next few days, Ian and I seriously discussed starting a lunch kati roll restaurant in Boston. Ramesh in on board. Anyone else?
- Nisha
Drifting Away
We just got back from a night on a Keralan houseboat, a activity that was rather obscure a while ago that has turned into a "must do" stop on any Indian tour. At least that is what we were told. As usual we would find out for ourselves.
Basically these houseboats are built like a giant canoe, with a reed covered building on top that houses the bedrooms and the kitchen. There is generally also a covered sitting area on the front of the boat. My guess is that these boats probably started out as pretty humble setups, but have now evolved to where the majority are 50 foot behemoths with inboard engines, multiple bedrooms, A/C, second floor sitting areas and entertainment centers.
When we were in Cochi, there were plenty of hotels and tour operators who would set you up for the usual one night boat cruse. The going rate seemed to be around 5500 rupees for what looked like a nice boat in the pictures, as well as transportation for the 50 km to Alleppey, which is the main center for the boats. We did not do this because first of all our daily budget is only 4000 rupees. Besides that we wanted to get a look at some of these boats before booking and Lonely Planet wrote up Alleppey as a pleasant town to stay in.
So, we headed off to Alleppey on the train in the afternoon. The trip was an easy 1 hour, after the requisite 45 minute delay for the train to arrive. Open arrival we were a little disappointed to find that Alleppey was just your basic dusty Indian market and transportation junction town. Really no reason to stay here besides finding your houseboat. We did not want to look long for a hotel, so we ended up getting a cottage for 500 rupees at this place called the Gowari Residence. At this place we pretty much got what we paid for because the promised hot water did not work and we never got the sheets that we asked for (don't worry, we do carry our own bedding for occasions like this). There was also a ferocious mosquito problem, but that I cannot hold the hotel accountable for.
We did however find a houseboat for the next day. We ended up just going to the area around the tourist information office which has a lot of booking agents. The boats themselves are not really kept in the middle of town, so they try to sell you with just pictures. The guy who we did talk to finally agreed to show us one of the boats which was parked a short ride away, and it was only 3500 rupees, which is under our budget. I was pleasantly surprised with the boat, it was plenty big, with a decent bedroom and a fully equipped normal Indian bathroom (western toilet). It had a nice sitting area in the front as well as a bed up front you could use to lay outside if you liked. It also had the unique feature of a second sitting area on a roof level deck above the driver in the front. We also met the man in charge, and he seemed nice with very good English and a good recommendation book (most Indian businessmen keep a book that they keep recommendations from other tourists in), so we signed up.
The next morning we went out to the dock and got started. After navigating the boat junkyard near the dock we were out on the main canals that head out from town. The main canals are like boat highways, there are ferries that run up and down and quite a few boats, there are even roadsigns. The normal setup of the area is that there will be a canal, then on the side will be a narrow strip of land about 10m wide, then behind will be a giant rice field that is actually a meter or two lower then the water level in the canal. The narrow strip of land usually has a few houses and businesses on it that can only be reached by boat.
In the early afternoon we stopped to pick up fish for lunch and I also picked up a couple of fresh water mega shrimp that I had to pay for separately since they were not part of the regular food. They even had 25 rupee Diet Coke (the cheapest price you will ever see) at this little backwater shop, a very nice treat (I saw it being delivered by canoe as well). We later stopped on a spit of land in the middle of a lake and had a really good Keralan seafood lunch. After lunch we motored the canals for the afternoon, stopped at a town to pick up some chicken and stopped for the night at the edge of a town. The shore we tied up to was a nice little palm grove that a family uses to graze a couple of goats during the day, so it was nice and quiet place to stay.
It was fun watching the captain maneuver the boat to dock since they have a very unusual control system. The captain is at the front tip of the boat with a steering wheel, but the cook in back controls the throttle of the engine. They could dock perfectly like this without saying a word to each other. I was imagining my dad and I trying to do this with only disastrous results.
After dinner, the cook and captain made sure it was OK if they left for the night and headed out to sleep at the cook's house in the village. We did not mind as it was nice to have the boat to ourselves. There is not much nightlife in the backwaters however, so we pretty much just had a few beers and hit the bed. Sleeping was good even though we needed to use a mosquito net and there was no AC (we knew about this before we got on the boat).
In the morning we motored for about an hour and a half while eating breakfast and made it back to the dock by around 10. This is the normal amount of time the trips last, since it allows them to start another one night trip at 11. We ran into the couple that was taking over the boat from us and headed out to take the bus to Varkala.
I really liked the boat trip, I actually would not have minded doing two nights. Anything over that would probably get boring since you cannot swim and there are no bars or anything like that. One really nice thing about the trip was our captain, who was a really friendly and talkative guy. The food of course was excellent and was a highlight of the trip, the same as on the big cruise boats.
One piece of advice I would give for anyone reading the Lonely Planet is to forget about the suggestion that they make that you should try and find a boat powered by polling and not by a motor. First of all, I do not think any boats exist that don't have a motor any more. Second the motor on our boat was pretty quiet, it was a good quality outboard 10m away at the back of the boat. The big boats are all inboard, which may be quieter still. Third, you can cover a lot more ground. Fourth, I do not know why you would want a guy killing himself in the hot sun all day to drive the boat anymore then you would want to take a human rickshaw.
Also, if you have a little more money I would think about booking the all inclusive trip from Kochi. Allappey is not a town you need to see and every boat we saw on the water looked quite nice. If the pictures of the boat look good and it is a reputable place, I would be comfortable that your trip will be fine. Having the car transportation to and from Kochi would be really nice as well.
Basically these houseboats are built like a giant canoe, with a reed covered building on top that houses the bedrooms and the kitchen. There is generally also a covered sitting area on the front of the boat. My guess is that these boats probably started out as pretty humble setups, but have now evolved to where the majority are 50 foot behemoths with inboard engines, multiple bedrooms, A/C, second floor sitting areas and entertainment centers.
When we were in Cochi, there were plenty of hotels and tour operators who would set you up for the usual one night boat cruse. The going rate seemed to be around 5500 rupees for what looked like a nice boat in the pictures, as well as transportation for the 50 km to Alleppey, which is the main center for the boats. We did not do this because first of all our daily budget is only 4000 rupees. Besides that we wanted to get a look at some of these boats before booking and Lonely Planet wrote up Alleppey as a pleasant town to stay in.
So, we headed off to Alleppey on the train in the afternoon. The trip was an easy 1 hour, after the requisite 45 minute delay for the train to arrive. Open arrival we were a little disappointed to find that Alleppey was just your basic dusty Indian market and transportation junction town. Really no reason to stay here besides finding your houseboat. We did not want to look long for a hotel, so we ended up getting a cottage for 500 rupees at this place called the Gowari Residence. At this place we pretty much got what we paid for because the promised hot water did not work and we never got the sheets that we asked for (don't worry, we do carry our own bedding for occasions like this). There was also a ferocious mosquito problem, but that I cannot hold the hotel accountable for.
We did however find a houseboat for the next day. We ended up just going to the area around the tourist information office which has a lot of booking agents. The boats themselves are not really kept in the middle of town, so they try to sell you with just pictures. The guy who we did talk to finally agreed to show us one of the boats which was parked a short ride away, and it was only 3500 rupees, which is under our budget. I was pleasantly surprised with the boat, it was plenty big, with a decent bedroom and a fully equipped normal Indian bathroom (western toilet). It had a nice sitting area in the front as well as a bed up front you could use to lay outside if you liked. It also had the unique feature of a second sitting area on a roof level deck above the driver in the front. We also met the man in charge, and he seemed nice with very good English and a good recommendation book (most Indian businessmen keep a book that they keep recommendations from other tourists in), so we signed up.
The next morning we went out to the dock and got started. After navigating the boat junkyard near the dock we were out on the main canals that head out from town. The main canals are like boat highways, there are ferries that run up and down and quite a few boats, there are even roadsigns. The normal setup of the area is that there will be a canal, then on the side will be a narrow strip of land about 10m wide, then behind will be a giant rice field that is actually a meter or two lower then the water level in the canal. The narrow strip of land usually has a few houses and businesses on it that can only be reached by boat.
In the early afternoon we stopped to pick up fish for lunch and I also picked up a couple of fresh water mega shrimp that I had to pay for separately since they were not part of the regular food. They even had 25 rupee Diet Coke (the cheapest price you will ever see) at this little backwater shop, a very nice treat (I saw it being delivered by canoe as well). We later stopped on a spit of land in the middle of a lake and had a really good Keralan seafood lunch. After lunch we motored the canals for the afternoon, stopped at a town to pick up some chicken and stopped for the night at the edge of a town. The shore we tied up to was a nice little palm grove that a family uses to graze a couple of goats during the day, so it was nice and quiet place to stay.
It was fun watching the captain maneuver the boat to dock since they have a very unusual control system. The captain is at the front tip of the boat with a steering wheel, but the cook in back controls the throttle of the engine. They could dock perfectly like this without saying a word to each other. I was imagining my dad and I trying to do this with only disastrous results.
After dinner, the cook and captain made sure it was OK if they left for the night and headed out to sleep at the cook's house in the village. We did not mind as it was nice to have the boat to ourselves. There is not much nightlife in the backwaters however, so we pretty much just had a few beers and hit the bed. Sleeping was good even though we needed to use a mosquito net and there was no AC (we knew about this before we got on the boat).
In the morning we motored for about an hour and a half while eating breakfast and made it back to the dock by around 10. This is the normal amount of time the trips last, since it allows them to start another one night trip at 11. We ran into the couple that was taking over the boat from us and headed out to take the bus to Varkala.
I really liked the boat trip, I actually would not have minded doing two nights. Anything over that would probably get boring since you cannot swim and there are no bars or anything like that. One really nice thing about the trip was our captain, who was a really friendly and talkative guy. The food of course was excellent and was a highlight of the trip, the same as on the big cruise boats.
One piece of advice I would give for anyone reading the Lonely Planet is to forget about the suggestion that they make that you should try and find a boat powered by polling and not by a motor. First of all, I do not think any boats exist that don't have a motor any more. Second the motor on our boat was pretty quiet, it was a good quality outboard 10m away at the back of the boat. The big boats are all inboard, which may be quieter still. Third, you can cover a lot more ground. Fourth, I do not know why you would want a guy killing himself in the hot sun all day to drive the boat anymore then you would want to take a human rickshaw.
Also, if you have a little more money I would think about booking the all inclusive trip from Kochi. Allappey is not a town you need to see and every boat we saw on the water looked quite nice. If the pictures of the boat look good and it is a reputable place, I would be comfortable that your trip will be fine. Having the car transportation to and from Kochi would be really nice as well.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Must Have Food in India, Part I
We have had some amazing food and dining experiences here. Here is my attempt to share some with you:
Mutton momos - Momos are Tibetan dumpling with a thin nearly translucent dough and a spiral top. We had may momos our week in Leh. However these were the only ones we went back for twice. Tibetan Kitchen, Leh
Anything Handi - A few times on this trip, we have come across such sublime food, that rather than go to yet another different restaurant, we will frequent the same place. In Jaipur, we ate at the Handi Restaurant twice and would have gone a third night if we had stayed longer. We knew this place would be great when the menu said "we do not sell in bulk." This Mughali's restaurant's specialty was the Handi mutton - mutton cooked in a clay vessel over a fire all day. The mutton was a soft as butter and bathed in a deep yet fragrant mouth searing gravy. Paired with their freshly made parathas (similar to naan but flaky), this may rank as one of the best meals we have had in India. The second night we had their assorted kebab plate. Numerous chicken and mutton all marinated, minced, and cooked over coals various ways. Amazing anyone can be vegetarian. Handi Restaurant, Jaipur
Gujarathi Thali - We rolled into Junagath after a 12 hour overnight "sleeper" bus ride hungry and feeling like I just worked a 24 hour ED shift. The hotel owner pointed us to a local thali restaurant. The word thali refers to a whole meal or eating experience with several different dishes. This is best done at lunch in a busy locals-filled restaurant. We ordered the "special thali" and sat at the last empty booth. Soon we were assaulted by several sunglass wearing men pouring endless bowls of delectable vegetable curries into 7 small stainless steel cups on our thali plate. Another man came with freshly made chapthis. Another came with rice. Another came with a chilled selection of desserts, giving the special thali its name. Each bottomless steel cup was better than the last. Not realizing that these men would continue to pile our plates with food until we told them to stop, we ate ourselves sick. We returned the next day for a more restrained lunch experience. I could only be vegetarian in India. Geeta Lodge, Junagath in Gujarat
Panki chatni - As a general rule, I always order anything steamed in banana leaves. These thin divine savory rice pancakes were steamed in a banana leaf and folded in quarters. The soft cake was scraped from the leaf by the server table side and topped with a spicy green chutney. Swati Snacks, Mumbai
Rose-Pineapple Ice Cream - Also at Swarti Snacks in Mumbai, this ice cream was the pink shade of an English cabbage rose mixed with whole red petals, smelled like tropical perfume, and tasted light, airy with the perfect balance of fragrance and tartness. Swarti Snacks, Mumbai
Frankie - Also in Mumbai, this was Indian fast food at its best. New York has the hot dog vendors, Mumbai has its frankie vendors. Its a thin chapthi filled with raw onions and a choice of egg, veg, or marinated chicken or mutton. So simple, yet so delicious! CST train station, Mumbai
Bebinca - After several weeks of the sticky sweet Indian desserts, we were happy to find the bebinca. This traditional Goan dessert is made with 16 layers thin cake and then steeped in a coconut-almond mixture. It's hard to describe, but I have found several recipes with will just make for you when I get home. Cavala Resort, Goa
More to come! Next is all about Kerala.
- Nisha
Mutton momos - Momos are Tibetan dumpling with a thin nearly translucent dough and a spiral top. We had may momos our week in Leh. However these were the only ones we went back for twice. Tibetan Kitchen, Leh
Anything Handi - A few times on this trip, we have come across such sublime food, that rather than go to yet another different restaurant, we will frequent the same place. In Jaipur, we ate at the Handi Restaurant twice and would have gone a third night if we had stayed longer. We knew this place would be great when the menu said "we do not sell in bulk." This Mughali's restaurant's specialty was the Handi mutton - mutton cooked in a clay vessel over a fire all day. The mutton was a soft as butter and bathed in a deep yet fragrant mouth searing gravy. Paired with their freshly made parathas (similar to naan but flaky), this may rank as one of the best meals we have had in India. The second night we had their assorted kebab plate. Numerous chicken and mutton all marinated, minced, and cooked over coals various ways. Amazing anyone can be vegetarian. Handi Restaurant, Jaipur
Gujarathi Thali - We rolled into Junagath after a 12 hour overnight "sleeper" bus ride hungry and feeling like I just worked a 24 hour ED shift. The hotel owner pointed us to a local thali restaurant. The word thali refers to a whole meal or eating experience with several different dishes. This is best done at lunch in a busy locals-filled restaurant. We ordered the "special thali" and sat at the last empty booth. Soon we were assaulted by several sunglass wearing men pouring endless bowls of delectable vegetable curries into 7 small stainless steel cups on our thali plate. Another man came with freshly made chapthis. Another came with rice. Another came with a chilled selection of desserts, giving the special thali its name. Each bottomless steel cup was better than the last. Not realizing that these men would continue to pile our plates with food until we told them to stop, we ate ourselves sick. We returned the next day for a more restrained lunch experience. I could only be vegetarian in India. Geeta Lodge, Junagath in Gujarat
Panki chatni - As a general rule, I always order anything steamed in banana leaves. These thin divine savory rice pancakes were steamed in a banana leaf and folded in quarters. The soft cake was scraped from the leaf by the server table side and topped with a spicy green chutney. Swati Snacks, Mumbai
Rose-Pineapple Ice Cream - Also at Swarti Snacks in Mumbai, this ice cream was the pink shade of an English cabbage rose mixed with whole red petals, smelled like tropical perfume, and tasted light, airy with the perfect balance of fragrance and tartness. Swarti Snacks, Mumbai
Frankie - Also in Mumbai, this was Indian fast food at its best. New York has the hot dog vendors, Mumbai has its frankie vendors. Its a thin chapthi filled with raw onions and a choice of egg, veg, or marinated chicken or mutton. So simple, yet so delicious! CST train station, Mumbai
Bebinca - After several weeks of the sticky sweet Indian desserts, we were happy to find the bebinca. This traditional Goan dessert is made with 16 layers thin cake and then steeped in a coconut-almond mixture. It's hard to describe, but I have found several recipes with will just make for you when I get home. Cavala Resort, Goa
More to come! Next is all about Kerala.
- Nisha
Southern Comfort
Finally we found a place that we were truly sad to leave.
We spent the last several days in Kochi, a city in Kerala. The main part of the city is on the mainland shore of the harbor and is called Ernakulam. This looked to be a pretty standard downtown of an Indian city, from what we saw in the autorickshaw driving through. The real attraction of Kochi is the Fort Kochi area of town. This area is on a peninsula at the mouth of the harbor, about a 10km rickshaw ride or 20 minute ferry from the main part of town.
The Fort area is still a living, breathing Indian place, but is the quietest, most laid back area of India I have seen. It has a kind of New Orleans charm of rust and decay intertwined with quiet little cafes, big shade trees and open parks used for pick-up Cricket games. The whole atmosphere of the place is a really nice break from India. You can easily walk down the quiet streets, there are a few hawkers and rickshaw men but they are cute and not too annoying. There is a nice little walk along the water with some fish mongers and men working the giant Chinese fishing nets.
The first evening we got there we checked into a guest house called the Chiramel Residency in the middle of town. Our room in this place, for only 1200 rupees (30 dollars) was really great, big with high ceilings and a lot of varnished wood. We also had a semi-private seating area on the second floor sun porch. Really beautiful place.
The first night we had an expensive dinner at the Brunton Boatyard hotel, a swanky luxury place. The atmosphere and the hotel were very nice but I thought the food was a little expensive for what it was. Some of this is that there is a lot of really good food in India for very cheap, so when you pay 400 rupees for a dish you expect a lot. If this food is just good, then you are a little disappointed. Later we had a couple of beers, out of a teapot since no sidewalk cafes have a licence, from a little tourist restaurant on the street.
The next day for breakfast we stumbled upon a place called the Teapot, which was the nicest cafe we have encountered in India. The atmosphere was right out of uptown New Orleans and the tea, cold muslix (a rare treat in India) and chocolate cake (an even more rare treat) were all excellent. We ate breakfast here every day. I also got in a run after breakfast everyday which felt really good for my declining physique. Very little "crazy westerner" staring, which was also very nice.
For lunch that day we did the touristy thing and bought fresh prawns from the fish mongers near the ocean walk and brought them to a cheap restaurant to cook them. For 350 rupees, 200 for the raw material and 150 for the cooking, we ended up with 10 giant shrimp and 2 prawns the size of a small lobster. They were grilled with spices as they like to do down here and were excellent.
We later tried to go to the old Synagogue, which was closed for a Jewish holiday. It was fine however because there were a ton of really great shops near the Synagogue selling really cool old stuff. These shops had a lot of great carvings and other very uniquely Indian stuff. It was a little like being in Dave and Susan's shop, except more focused on Indian then British colonial.
That night we went to a short performance of a Kathakali play. A Kathakali play is a kind of traditional Keralan dance/play with continuous music and intricate make-up. This one was aimed at tourists so was only a 1 hour excerpt from a 8 hour play that they perform at temple ceremonies. One cool thing is that they put on the make-up on stage before the play, so you can see the crazy stuff that the make-up artists have to do to create these mythic figures. The show was good as well, the drums could be a little ear-piecing at times, but the energy shown by the dancers and musicians was very impressive.
The next couple of days we were quite a bit lazier, mainly just walking around and reading and relaxing. We did give some rupees to one of the Chinese fishing net guys to let us help drop the net and rise it, as well as look around the giant contraption. The real revelation of these two days was the little restaurant next to the hotel called "Dal Roti" that was not in any book, as it had only been opened for a few months. We ate there twice for lunch, and it was probably the best place we have eaten in India. It is the retirement project of this really nice shipping exec who we also talked to a lot. Nisha is going to cover it in its own post.
I realize that I rambled on a little bit about this place and nothing that I said may seem that impressive. However, this was really the first place that in India that I really liked in a no reservations, I would not mind living there kind of way. It does not really have that many impressive monuments or sights, but the place itself is the attraction. That is a nice change of pace sometimes when you often go to a drab city just to see the temple or palace.
We spent the last several days in Kochi, a city in Kerala. The main part of the city is on the mainland shore of the harbor and is called Ernakulam. This looked to be a pretty standard downtown of an Indian city, from what we saw in the autorickshaw driving through. The real attraction of Kochi is the Fort Kochi area of town. This area is on a peninsula at the mouth of the harbor, about a 10km rickshaw ride or 20 minute ferry from the main part of town.
The Fort area is still a living, breathing Indian place, but is the quietest, most laid back area of India I have seen. It has a kind of New Orleans charm of rust and decay intertwined with quiet little cafes, big shade trees and open parks used for pick-up Cricket games. The whole atmosphere of the place is a really nice break from India. You can easily walk down the quiet streets, there are a few hawkers and rickshaw men but they are cute and not too annoying. There is a nice little walk along the water with some fish mongers and men working the giant Chinese fishing nets.
The first evening we got there we checked into a guest house called the Chiramel Residency in the middle of town. Our room in this place, for only 1200 rupees (30 dollars) was really great, big with high ceilings and a lot of varnished wood. We also had a semi-private seating area on the second floor sun porch. Really beautiful place.
The first night we had an expensive dinner at the Brunton Boatyard hotel, a swanky luxury place. The atmosphere and the hotel were very nice but I thought the food was a little expensive for what it was. Some of this is that there is a lot of really good food in India for very cheap, so when you pay 400 rupees for a dish you expect a lot. If this food is just good, then you are a little disappointed. Later we had a couple of beers, out of a teapot since no sidewalk cafes have a licence, from a little tourist restaurant on the street.
The next day for breakfast we stumbled upon a place called the Teapot, which was the nicest cafe we have encountered in India. The atmosphere was right out of uptown New Orleans and the tea, cold muslix (a rare treat in India) and chocolate cake (an even more rare treat) were all excellent. We ate breakfast here every day. I also got in a run after breakfast everyday which felt really good for my declining physique. Very little "crazy westerner" staring, which was also very nice.
For lunch that day we did the touristy thing and bought fresh prawns from the fish mongers near the ocean walk and brought them to a cheap restaurant to cook them. For 350 rupees, 200 for the raw material and 150 for the cooking, we ended up with 10 giant shrimp and 2 prawns the size of a small lobster. They were grilled with spices as they like to do down here and were excellent.
We later tried to go to the old Synagogue, which was closed for a Jewish holiday. It was fine however because there were a ton of really great shops near the Synagogue selling really cool old stuff. These shops had a lot of great carvings and other very uniquely Indian stuff. It was a little like being in Dave and Susan's shop, except more focused on Indian then British colonial.
That night we went to a short performance of a Kathakali play. A Kathakali play is a kind of traditional Keralan dance/play with continuous music and intricate make-up. This one was aimed at tourists so was only a 1 hour excerpt from a 8 hour play that they perform at temple ceremonies. One cool thing is that they put on the make-up on stage before the play, so you can see the crazy stuff that the make-up artists have to do to create these mythic figures. The show was good as well, the drums could be a little ear-piecing at times, but the energy shown by the dancers and musicians was very impressive.
The next couple of days we were quite a bit lazier, mainly just walking around and reading and relaxing. We did give some rupees to one of the Chinese fishing net guys to let us help drop the net and rise it, as well as look around the giant contraption. The real revelation of these two days was the little restaurant next to the hotel called "Dal Roti" that was not in any book, as it had only been opened for a few months. We ate there twice for lunch, and it was probably the best place we have eaten in India. It is the retirement project of this really nice shipping exec who we also talked to a lot. Nisha is going to cover it in its own post.
I realize that I rambled on a little bit about this place and nothing that I said may seem that impressive. However, this was really the first place that in India that I really liked in a no reservations, I would not mind living there kind of way. It does not really have that many impressive monuments or sights, but the place itself is the attraction. That is a nice change of pace sometimes when you often go to a drab city just to see the temple or palace.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Book Corner
After a long hiatus I am back into reading (this is Ian by the way). Long train rides and a couple of English channels on TV tend to do that to you. Anyway, without further adieu, I just figured I would write a little on what I have read.
Obviously I am reading a lot about Asia right now, as it kind of seems appropriate.
Shadow of the Moon - M.M. Kaye
This was Nisha's favorite book she read growing up so she insisted that I read it at some point. I am glad I did because it is both a very good story, and gives you some good background about the British Raj, especially the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a love story book, so there is a fair amount of sappiness, but it is good none the less.
It is the love story of a officer in the British East India company and an Anglo-Spanish woman who was born in India then grows up in England before returning to her homeland. It is set around the 1857 rebellion, where the Indian regiments of the company rose up and killed their British leaders, before being suppressed eventually by loyal British troops. The rebellion ended the East India company and resulted in the direct crown control of India that lasted until 1947.
I was actually not a huge fan of the author's writing style, but the love story was well crafted. This book also gives you a lot of good history of the rebellion, as well as the atmosphere of India at the time. The shortcomings and attitudes that were the downfall of the British Raj are also probed in depth. R ecommended, unless you think the romance angle is not for you.
Shogun - James Clavell
I read this book many years ago and remembered it very fondly as one of the best books I ever read. Having now been to Japan, I re-read this behemoth. It was as satisfying now as it was back then.
Japan is obviously totally different, but one of the most interesting things about Shogun still applies when you go there in the 21st century. That is the question of who is really more civilized. In the book, the Englishman who lands in Japan first considers the locals to be primitive barbarians, but the thing is that the Japanese feel the same way about him. After a while, and many Onsen dips later, he looks at the dirt and grime of Europe at that time with total disdain. He remains an outsider, but the order and cleanliness or Japan make him question who is really all that civilized.
When you go there now, many of the same things still apply. You realize that their culture is so complex and their language so daunting that you will always be the outsider. However, all the positive things of Japan and the culture of order and cleanliness also make you question why we do some of the things we do at home. After a while you do start to get a little disgusted about wearing shoes inside and feel a little gross without your evening Onsen dip.
However, you also realize that the unpredictability of westerners, our non-conformity and our willingness to break out of tradition are rare qualities in Japan. They are for the main character of the book, and they still are today.
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Nisha read this first and then recommended it to me. It is a biography of Gandhi written in 1951, a few years after his assassination. The author is a journalist that knew and spent some time with Gandhi, giving him some interesting anecdotes to add to the biography.
Before I read this book my only impression of Gandhi was the same as most younger people. He was just some guy who walked around in a Dothi and somehow got the British to leave India. This book was really great to get a lot more knowledge about Indian independence and Gandhi's role. It is written by a fan of Gandhi, so it may not be completely balanced, but that love of Gandhi's vision brings a good passion to the book and the writing.
One of the main things that you take from the book is that the most amazing aspect of Gandhi is how he captured the soul of a nation without being a politician. He was involved in politics, but helping individuals and trying to fix the flaws that he saw in Indian society was his real passion. This passion was even more important to him then independence. He also did not openly pursue this role as moral authority for a people, he simply did what he thought was right and the authority came to him.
The other main thing for me is that although Gandhi succeeded in gaining independence, he ended his life distraught that he failed in letting the Partition of India occur. The idea that Hindus and Muslims could live together in peace was one of his most important missions. The partition and the 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died were the marks of his failure.
It is also interesting to hear about a lot of the crackpot ideas that he had about medicine, food and health. I say crackpot because even he admitted that his ideas were as such. You realize that although he was a great man, it would not necessarily be a good thing for everyone to follow exactly in his footsteps. Even a great man can be wrong about many things, as Gandhi would be happy to admit.
Obviously I am reading a lot about Asia right now, as it kind of seems appropriate.
Shadow of the Moon - M.M. Kaye
This was Nisha's favorite book she read growing up so she insisted that I read it at some point. I am glad I did because it is both a very good story, and gives you some good background about the British Raj, especially the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a love story book, so there is a fair amount of sappiness, but it is good none the less.
It is the love story of a officer in the British East India company and an Anglo-Spanish woman who was born in India then grows up in England before returning to her homeland. It is set around the 1857 rebellion, where the Indian regiments of the company rose up and killed their British leaders, before being suppressed eventually by loyal British troops. The rebellion ended the East India company and resulted in the direct crown control of India that lasted until 1947.
I was actually not a huge fan of the author's writing style, but the love story was well crafted. This book also gives you a lot of good history of the rebellion, as well as the atmosphere of India at the time. The shortcomings and attitudes that were the downfall of the British Raj are also probed in depth. R ecommended, unless you think the romance angle is not for you.
Shogun - James Clavell
I read this book many years ago and remembered it very fondly as one of the best books I ever read. Having now been to Japan, I re-read this behemoth. It was as satisfying now as it was back then.
Japan is obviously totally different, but one of the most interesting things about Shogun still applies when you go there in the 21st century. That is the question of who is really more civilized. In the book, the Englishman who lands in Japan first considers the locals to be primitive barbarians, but the thing is that the Japanese feel the same way about him. After a while, and many Onsen dips later, he looks at the dirt and grime of Europe at that time with total disdain. He remains an outsider, but the order and cleanliness or Japan make him question who is really all that civilized.
When you go there now, many of the same things still apply. You realize that their culture is so complex and their language so daunting that you will always be the outsider. However, all the positive things of Japan and the culture of order and cleanliness also make you question why we do some of the things we do at home. After a while you do start to get a little disgusted about wearing shoes inside and feel a little gross without your evening Onsen dip.
However, you also realize that the unpredictability of westerners, our non-conformity and our willingness to break out of tradition are rare qualities in Japan. They are for the main character of the book, and they still are today.
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Nisha read this first and then recommended it to me. It is a biography of Gandhi written in 1951, a few years after his assassination. The author is a journalist that knew and spent some time with Gandhi, giving him some interesting anecdotes to add to the biography.
Before I read this book my only impression of Gandhi was the same as most younger people. He was just some guy who walked around in a Dothi and somehow got the British to leave India. This book was really great to get a lot more knowledge about Indian independence and Gandhi's role. It is written by a fan of Gandhi, so it may not be completely balanced, but that love of Gandhi's vision brings a good passion to the book and the writing.
One of the main things that you take from the book is that the most amazing aspect of Gandhi is how he captured the soul of a nation without being a politician. He was involved in politics, but helping individuals and trying to fix the flaws that he saw in Indian society was his real passion. This passion was even more important to him then independence. He also did not openly pursue this role as moral authority for a people, he simply did what he thought was right and the authority came to him.
The other main thing for me is that although Gandhi succeeded in gaining independence, he ended his life distraught that he failed in letting the Partition of India occur. The idea that Hindus and Muslims could live together in peace was one of his most important missions. The partition and the 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died were the marks of his failure.
It is also interesting to hear about a lot of the crackpot ideas that he had about medicine, food and health. I say crackpot because even he admitted that his ideas were as such. You realize that although he was a great man, it would not necessarily be a good thing for everyone to follow exactly in his footsteps. Even a great man can be wrong about many things, as Gandhi would be happy to admit.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Quick Update
Just some quick things from the last couple of days:
- After our visit to the national park that Nisha is writing up, we headed up to a hill town in Tamil Nadu called Ooty. After a harrowing drive with a madman jeep driver up a road with 34 marked hairpin turns we arrived in this Indian tourist town. We had a fun day in Ooty seeing the great British botanical gardens and checking out the cheesy Indian carnival atmosphere around the boathouse. We hit the bumper cars, the mechanical bull and the world's largest handmade tread flower garden. Needless to say a fun time was had by all.
- We are now in Kochi, a city in Kerala. We are staying out in the historic fort area, which has quite a few tourists, but is one of the quietest and most charming little neighborhoods we have seen in India. We are staying at a great little B&B kind of place. We are going to be here for a few days, it should be very nice and relaxing.
- I still am getting used to the stunning popularity of the Lungi in south India. It is basically a man-skirt that is worn by a lot of guys down here. I never saw one until south of Goa, but probably about 30% of the guys down here wear them. In north and central India 99% of men wear pants. Only a few old and holy men wear the Dothi.
- Kochi has the best Internet connections and computers in all of India.
- South India so far has been really nice. People here seem to smile more, are generally more friendly and are a lot less annoying when tyring to sell you something. Even the autorikshaw guys have a little humor when they are pestering you. There is a guy around here who always tries to get us in his Ferrari, which is actually just a rikshaw with Ferrari stickers on it. There are also just a lot less hawkers and beggars in general, almost none in fact. The climate is nice as well, a lot less dusty and more tropical. Very much what we had expected from the South.
- The longer we are here, the cheaper we get. Since we were only going to be in Ooty for one night, we settled on the well run old camp atmosphere of the YWCA. A decent room for 450 rupees (11 dollars). "Its fun to stay at the..."
- One the flip side, we spent over 30 dollars on dinner the last two nights. Is it any surprise what our priorities are? That trend will end soon however.
- This one is for my Mom (who grows bananas in Key Largo)... Ever since we got to Kerala every convenience stall has at least 2 or 3, and sometimes up to 10, fresh banana stalks hanging out front. You just ask and they rip off as many fresh bananas as you want. The best convenience store food ever, except for maybe the steamed buns they sell at the Lawson Stations in Japan.
- After our visit to the national park that Nisha is writing up, we headed up to a hill town in Tamil Nadu called Ooty. After a harrowing drive with a madman jeep driver up a road with 34 marked hairpin turns we arrived in this Indian tourist town. We had a fun day in Ooty seeing the great British botanical gardens and checking out the cheesy Indian carnival atmosphere around the boathouse. We hit the bumper cars, the mechanical bull and the world's largest handmade tread flower garden. Needless to say a fun time was had by all.
- We are now in Kochi, a city in Kerala. We are staying out in the historic fort area, which has quite a few tourists, but is one of the quietest and most charming little neighborhoods we have seen in India. We are staying at a great little B&B kind of place. We are going to be here for a few days, it should be very nice and relaxing.
- I still am getting used to the stunning popularity of the Lungi in south India. It is basically a man-skirt that is worn by a lot of guys down here. I never saw one until south of Goa, but probably about 30% of the guys down here wear them. In north and central India 99% of men wear pants. Only a few old and holy men wear the Dothi.
- Kochi has the best Internet connections and computers in all of India.
- South India so far has been really nice. People here seem to smile more, are generally more friendly and are a lot less annoying when tyring to sell you something. Even the autorikshaw guys have a little humor when they are pestering you. There is a guy around here who always tries to get us in his Ferrari, which is actually just a rikshaw with Ferrari stickers on it. There are also just a lot less hawkers and beggars in general, almost none in fact. The climate is nice as well, a lot less dusty and more tropical. Very much what we had expected from the South.
- The longer we are here, the cheaper we get. Since we were only going to be in Ooty for one night, we settled on the well run old camp atmosphere of the YWCA. A decent room for 450 rupees (11 dollars). "Its fun to stay at the..."
- One the flip side, we spent over 30 dollars on dinner the last two nights. Is it any surprise what our priorities are? That trend will end soon however.
- This one is for my Mom (who grows bananas in Key Largo)... Ever since we got to Kerala every convenience stall has at least 2 or 3, and sometimes up to 10, fresh banana stalks hanging out front. You just ask and they rip off as many fresh bananas as you want. The best convenience store food ever, except for maybe the steamed buns they sell at the Lawson Stations in Japan.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Indian Junk News
One thing about being out of the country for so long is that you realize how so much of the news that you obsess about on a daily basis is actually quite irrelevant on a grand scale. I assume there is still a war going on, but besides that I do not know much else. However, my interest in US irrelevant news has been supplanted for my interest in Indian junk news, which is actually a lot more dramatic, in my opinion. The fact that an angry mob is usually on call at any moment is probably the biggest reason for the drama. Noting spices up a news story like an angry mob.
Here are 2 of the best that are currently going on:
Note - I am not a journalist and am giving my crude synopsis of the following stories. If I get anything wrong leave a comment and I will correct.
Indian Idol
So here they just finished up the 3rd season of Indian Idol. It is as popular here as it is in the US, if not more. Nisha and I watched the final, but we did not make it to the end since there were just too many performances of people who are probably grand old men of Indian singing, however unknown to us.
The winner as expected was Prashant Tamang. His story is heartwarming because he is an Nepalese-Indian Kolkata police officer who was not the judges favorite, but captured the hearts of the people. His father was also a cop killed in an accident, forcing him to join the force to support his family. Nisha and I also had interest in him because he is originally from Darjeeling, a charming mountain town we visited 3 years ago.
He was such a big deal in the hills that they banned alcohol sales for a week surrounding the final in Darjeeling. When he won people took to the street in joy all night. Also, people in Nepal donated 50,000 rupees to cops in India so that they could make numerous SMS votes on his behalf without bankrupting themselves.
So for a few days all was well, but this being India, all stories must end with a riot. A few days after Prashant's win some Delhi DJ made disparaging comments about him and the Nepalese-Indian community. In Siliguri, also in the West Bengal hills, a mob of Presant supporters was marching in protest of this, and was accused by some other local residents of assaulting a woman. Another mob of angry residents was formed and as Michael Buffer would say "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!". Several hours and burned cars and bikes later police restored order in what was described as a war zone. So far since then the Indian Idol peace has held.
Ram Setu
Hindus believe in the story of Rama, a god/king who lived in ancient times (I believe around 2500-1500 BC), as the story goes. One of the things that he was supposed to have done is build a bridge called Ram Setu from the southern part of India to Sri Lanka. There is in fact a strip of very shallow water between the two, but scientists say that it is a naturally occurring geologic formation.
I gather for some time, the Indian government, spurred primarily by the DMK party that rules Tamil Nadu (big state in south India) has wanted to dredge the channel between Sri Lanka and India. This project would be a boon to Tamil Nadu, but would also destroy the Ram Setu. Thus Hindu fundamentalists and their party the BJP are very against the idea.
This flared up recently because of a new court filing that spurred the DMK leader to call Ram a myth and challenge anyone who thinks the bridge exists to show him Ram's engineering degree. Verbal potshots have gone back and forth and a DMK mob sacked the BJP office in Tamil Nadu. The DMK leader refuses to backtrack on his comments, so the story trucks on.
At first I thought most in the US would think, as I did, that it would be pretty crazy in a secular country to halt a key public works project in order to not destroy a legendary bridge which science has declared natural. However, since then I realized that we are just lucky that our dominant religion does not have any myths that would get in the way of such a project. I do not think that it is any more of a unprovable myth that Ram built his bridge as opposed to a guy building a ship that saved all the animals on earth from a world-wide flood.
In fact, I think in the US we would actually be less likely to do the project, if it destroyed some biblical myth, then they are in India (where the project is moving forward). Also, if a major politician in the US made similar belligerent comments towards Jesus, I would speculate that he/she would be forced to leave office immediately, and probably have to do into hiding. Actually, this might be just what it would take for us to get an angry mob together, and have some more spicy news for ourselves.
Here are 2 of the best that are currently going on:
Note - I am not a journalist and am giving my crude synopsis of the following stories. If I get anything wrong leave a comment and I will correct.
Indian Idol
So here they just finished up the 3rd season of Indian Idol. It is as popular here as it is in the US, if not more. Nisha and I watched the final, but we did not make it to the end since there were just too many performances of people who are probably grand old men of Indian singing, however unknown to us.
The winner as expected was Prashant Tamang. His story is heartwarming because he is an Nepalese-Indian Kolkata police officer who was not the judges favorite, but captured the hearts of the people. His father was also a cop killed in an accident, forcing him to join the force to support his family. Nisha and I also had interest in him because he is originally from Darjeeling, a charming mountain town we visited 3 years ago.
He was such a big deal in the hills that they banned alcohol sales for a week surrounding the final in Darjeeling. When he won people took to the street in joy all night. Also, people in Nepal donated 50,000 rupees to cops in India so that they could make numerous SMS votes on his behalf without bankrupting themselves.
So for a few days all was well, but this being India, all stories must end with a riot. A few days after Prashant's win some Delhi DJ made disparaging comments about him and the Nepalese-Indian community. In Siliguri, also in the West Bengal hills, a mob of Presant supporters was marching in protest of this, and was accused by some other local residents of assaulting a woman. Another mob of angry residents was formed and as Michael Buffer would say "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!". Several hours and burned cars and bikes later police restored order in what was described as a war zone. So far since then the Indian Idol peace has held.
Ram Setu
Hindus believe in the story of Rama, a god/king who lived in ancient times (I believe around 2500-1500 BC), as the story goes. One of the things that he was supposed to have done is build a bridge called Ram Setu from the southern part of India to Sri Lanka. There is in fact a strip of very shallow water between the two, but scientists say that it is a naturally occurring geologic formation.
I gather for some time, the Indian government, spurred primarily by the DMK party that rules Tamil Nadu (big state in south India) has wanted to dredge the channel between Sri Lanka and India. This project would be a boon to Tamil Nadu, but would also destroy the Ram Setu. Thus Hindu fundamentalists and their party the BJP are very against the idea.
This flared up recently because of a new court filing that spurred the DMK leader to call Ram a myth and challenge anyone who thinks the bridge exists to show him Ram's engineering degree. Verbal potshots have gone back and forth and a DMK mob sacked the BJP office in Tamil Nadu. The DMK leader refuses to backtrack on his comments, so the story trucks on.
At first I thought most in the US would think, as I did, that it would be pretty crazy in a secular country to halt a key public works project in order to not destroy a legendary bridge which science has declared natural. However, since then I realized that we are just lucky that our dominant religion does not have any myths that would get in the way of such a project. I do not think that it is any more of a unprovable myth that Ram built his bridge as opposed to a guy building a ship that saved all the animals on earth from a world-wide flood.
In fact, I think in the US we would actually be less likely to do the project, if it destroyed some biblical myth, then they are in India (where the project is moving forward). Also, if a major politician in the US made similar belligerent comments towards Jesus, I would speculate that he/she would be forced to leave office immediately, and probably have to do into hiding. Actually, this might be just what it would take for us to get an angry mob together, and have some more spicy news for ourselves.
Adventures of the Elephant Kind
We desperately wanted to visit a nature preserve in India. Up until now, our plans had been thwarted by closed parks for non-existent monsoons or no reason at all. Last week, we decided to undertake the 20 hour journey from Goa to the Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu. It did not disappoint.
Formed in 1940, the Mudumalai National Park is part of 3 parks spanning 6000 square kilometers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karanataka. The park is home to wild elephants, tiger, monkeys, leopards, spotted deer, sloth bear, Indian giant squirrel, wild boar, guar, bison, and peacocks among other animals. These animals share the park with several indigenous tribes.
Our drive in from Calicut on the coast to the park was the beginning of the excitement. In the 5 hour drive, we traveled in a fairly new Ambassador through tropical forests, rain forests, banana and coconut plantations. Father up in the hills, the air began to have a New England chill and the forest turned to more tropical dry deciduous. On the road to the report in Masiniguri, we experienced our first elephant sightings. This was only the beginning.
The Green Park Resort is a small middle-budget resport with a garden, restaurant, rooms and cottages. Aimed mainly at Indian tourists from Banglaore, it was full on this holiday weekend as 10/2/07 was Gandhi's birthday and a national holiday. The rooms were a little stuffy but clean. The remarkable aspect of this hotel is so simple and brilliant. As soon as we walked into the place, a man named Raju was assigned to us. He awoke us in the morning, arranged all our jeep excursions, cooked and served our breakfast, lunch, and dinners, and generally took care of all our needs. His brother Vishnu was our jeep driver and wildlife spotter. His other brother Ramesh arranged our trek. before knowing they were related, we thought all people in Tamil Nadu were particularly friendly with large round faces with pink cheeks and a head of dark curly hair.
The first morning, Raju woke us at 4:45AM for a jeep excursion into the park. The animals often move around looking for water ass-early in the morning. We didn't see any until the sun came up. Off in the distance Vishu spotted several elephants - a mother and her two calves were feeding. The other animals that weren't scared away by our roaring jeep were bison, peacocks, and deer.
Later in the day, Raju arranged a short trek to a famous waterfall. During the jeep ride there, we had our most thrilling wild elephant spotting - the mother with her 2 calves ran down the hill, and crossed the road 10 feet from our jeep.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to the domestic elephant park. The elephant park is home to some 25 elephants either found or rescued from danger randing in age from 1 year 2 months to 73 years old (the average lifespan is 60). One of their duties in the park is to guide wild elephants away from villages. Daily, they are worked, bathed for a 1/2 hour, and fed. The exception are the 2 geriatric elephants, 73 and 60 years of age, who are on pension. Each has an individual diet based on their age and level of work consisting of rice, 2 types of lentils, salt, coconut, sugar cane, and minerals. The mahouts pound the prescribed amount of food into 1 kg molds and stack them all on the table for presentation, complete with a place card for each elephant. When all the places are set, the mahouts mash up the carefully measured food and stick it into the elephants' mouths!
At 6AM the next morning, we leave for a trek with friendly Ramesh and a second man with a machete who barely acknowledges our presence. We arrive at the trail head as we are still waking up, the second man is sharpening a machete on a rock. Ramesh tells us to be silent and walk in a single file. We proceed to walk at a snails pace through thick jungles and grassy fields. The man with a machete moved like a wild animal, every now and then freezing in his tracks as he looks into what appears like a weed patch to me. Ramesh tells us later that this man is a tribal villager who can smell tiger, leopards, and elephants. Furthermore, in the area we were walking, there were 3 separate tiger spottings in the last month. A tiger trek! This was news to me. I thought we were going on a nice walk through the jungle to see waterfalls or something. I also could not belive he could smell anything since while walking behind him all I could smell was tobacco. After 4 hours of walking in complete silence, we were only lucky enough to see some wild monkeys. This was refreshing since monkeys in India are fairly scruffy city-dwelling ones that people throw rocks at. We saw scores of evidence of large animals - elephant mud tracks, stripped tree bark, warm football sized elephant dung, and agitated watering holes. The hunt for a tiger, pretty thrilling. Face to face with one, best left for the zoo.
- Nisha
Formed in 1940, the Mudumalai National Park is part of 3 parks spanning 6000 square kilometers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karanataka. The park is home to wild elephants, tiger, monkeys, leopards, spotted deer, sloth bear, Indian giant squirrel, wild boar, guar, bison, and peacocks among other animals. These animals share the park with several indigenous tribes.
Our drive in from Calicut on the coast to the park was the beginning of the excitement. In the 5 hour drive, we traveled in a fairly new Ambassador through tropical forests, rain forests, banana and coconut plantations. Father up in the hills, the air began to have a New England chill and the forest turned to more tropical dry deciduous. On the road to the report in Masiniguri, we experienced our first elephant sightings. This was only the beginning.
The Green Park Resort is a small middle-budget resport with a garden, restaurant, rooms and cottages. Aimed mainly at Indian tourists from Banglaore, it was full on this holiday weekend as 10/2/07 was Gandhi's birthday and a national holiday. The rooms were a little stuffy but clean. The remarkable aspect of this hotel is so simple and brilliant. As soon as we walked into the place, a man named Raju was assigned to us. He awoke us in the morning, arranged all our jeep excursions, cooked and served our breakfast, lunch, and dinners, and generally took care of all our needs. His brother Vishnu was our jeep driver and wildlife spotter. His other brother Ramesh arranged our trek. before knowing they were related, we thought all people in Tamil Nadu were particularly friendly with large round faces with pink cheeks and a head of dark curly hair.
The first morning, Raju woke us at 4:45AM for a jeep excursion into the park. The animals often move around looking for water ass-early in the morning. We didn't see any until the sun came up. Off in the distance Vishu spotted several elephants - a mother and her two calves were feeding. The other animals that weren't scared away by our roaring jeep were bison, peacocks, and deer.
Later in the day, Raju arranged a short trek to a famous waterfall. During the jeep ride there, we had our most thrilling wild elephant spotting - the mother with her 2 calves ran down the hill, and crossed the road 10 feet from our jeep.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to the domestic elephant park. The elephant park is home to some 25 elephants either found or rescued from danger randing in age from 1 year 2 months to 73 years old (the average lifespan is 60). One of their duties in the park is to guide wild elephants away from villages. Daily, they are worked, bathed for a 1/2 hour, and fed. The exception are the 2 geriatric elephants, 73 and 60 years of age, who are on pension. Each has an individual diet based on their age and level of work consisting of rice, 2 types of lentils, salt, coconut, sugar cane, and minerals. The mahouts pound the prescribed amount of food into 1 kg molds and stack them all on the table for presentation, complete with a place card for each elephant. When all the places are set, the mahouts mash up the carefully measured food and stick it into the elephants' mouths!
At 6AM the next morning, we leave for a trek with friendly Ramesh and a second man with a machete who barely acknowledges our presence. We arrive at the trail head as we are still waking up, the second man is sharpening a machete on a rock. Ramesh tells us to be silent and walk in a single file. We proceed to walk at a snails pace through thick jungles and grassy fields. The man with a machete moved like a wild animal, every now and then freezing in his tracks as he looks into what appears like a weed patch to me. Ramesh tells us later that this man is a tribal villager who can smell tiger, leopards, and elephants. Furthermore, in the area we were walking, there were 3 separate tiger spottings in the last month. A tiger trek! This was news to me. I thought we were going on a nice walk through the jungle to see waterfalls or something. I also could not belive he could smell anything since while walking behind him all I could smell was tobacco. After 4 hours of walking in complete silence, we were only lucky enough to see some wild monkeys. This was refreshing since monkeys in India are fairly scruffy city-dwelling ones that people throw rocks at. We saw scores of evidence of large animals - elephant mud tracks, stripped tree bark, warm football sized elephant dung, and agitated watering holes. The hunt for a tiger, pretty thrilling. Face to face with one, best left for the zoo.
- Nisha
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