Why did the cow cross the road?

My Final Days in Delhi and My Return Home

2007-03-01T10:14:00.000+05:30

Since I last published, I returned to Delhi and then returned to New York. As I was preparing to leave, I was thinking about what my final impressions of India were. Interestingly having been there for three months, I had to really focus on what about Delhi I had found shocking upon arrival. I’ve been home for a few days (weeks by the time I’m publishing) now and more things are turning my head in NY than in my return to Delhi.

Upon arrival in NY, my first impression was that the streets looked clean enough to eat on, they seems quiet and calm, and the traffic orderly, even in rush hour. At the same time, while in many ways I was re-entering modernity, NY was grey compared to the rainbow of the India streets and coming back in February, I still feel like I walked from color TV into the black and white film era.

As you’d expect, wrapping up a big trip, the last few days were crazy busy, getting to see new friends and having to say goodbye, seeing a few final sights in Delhi I’d missed and picking up a some final souvenirs. I stopped by the school to see the girls and boys I’d been teaching and (as anyone who knows me would expect) was fighting back tears when they said they thought I should move to Delhi. I also stopped by the Cross Cultural Solutions office for a meal and a recap of my travels. Finally, although I was short on time, I was invited to one of the teachers’ houses for dinner and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Then on my last full day in Delhi, I was given a ticket to the Republic Day Parade (see separate post).

In no particular order, I wanted to talk about a few general observations from my trip. Some are serious and some are silly things that I realized I take for granted.

As I noted above, the streets in NY are incredibly clean compared to India. India is incredibly beautiful, but undeniably dirty. There is no street cleaning so everything is very dusty and littered, and there are very few garbage cans. Every night when I came home, I couldn’t wait to clean my face and I’d literally see the dirt coming off. The streets are chaotic with vehicles and people and animals all going at different paces in different directions. Very few streets have lines down the center and there are “highways” without dividers. Most areas don’t have sidewalks, so people walk in the street. Red lights, where they exist, are ‘optional’, especially after dark most don’t even stop before crossing, as long as you beep as you approach. Finally – you really have to beware of the cows.

Food

The food was excellent, although frequently was spicy enough to lead to a runny nose or tears. I became proficient at eating with my hands and frequently thought how hard my father worked when I was younger to avoid this skill. (There really is a skill and style involved in eating a rice-based dish with your fingers.) I took cooking classes for a few days in the south and although I’ve been slightly discouraged because I haven’t been able to find some basic ingredients, eventually I’ll try some Indian dishes here. The food, while it includes some ingredients like coconut oil which we would consider a bad oil, is relatively healthy because so little of it includes any ingredients that are processed and few things are preserved to be imported from far distances or while out of season. It’s a very natural way to eat.

Conservationism and Environmentalism

Another observation that I’ve been thinking about a lot since I returned is that environmentalism and conservationism are two completely different concepts, and at least in India are not typically shared by the same individuals, as they are in the US. Almost everyone, by economic necessity, is a conservationist, but very few are environmentalists. There is little discussion about what I’ll call ‘aesthetic’ pollution issues– pollution only gets discussed in terms of dangerous water and air, but not the paper in the street or use/abuse of plastic. Perhaps ‘aesthetic’ pollution issues are a luxury we take for granted and is too low a priority in India, but if you think about the effort made to clean American cities in the last 10-15 years, it does make a significant quality of life improvement.

The cost of a gallon of gasoline is roughly $4/gallon – very roughly based on my metric and rupee conversions. In a country where the average national income is less than $1000/year, the cost is prohibitive. (I occasionally hear statistics in the US and think that can’t be true – how could the surveyors reasonably collected that information – you can multiply the skepticism by 1000 in India because I can only imagine the assumptions which must be necessary to get the statistics in that environment. The incomes could be much lower.) Conservation for all practical purposes is the result of a lack of affordable supply, where affordability would have to be roughly 1-2% of current world prices to be on scale with incomes and American consumption. I don’t have statistics on electricity, but at least one person, who was self-described as middle class, was spending 10% of his income on electricity and that was without AC or refrigeration. I’m not sure of my point, except that it expanded how I think of energy consumption and conservation from an environmental or long-term scarcity issue, to also being an indulgence.

In coming back to the US, I hear people also considering geopolitical concerns in relation to conservationism – and in reality because we all know American’s won’t lower their standard of living except in dire circumstances - conservationism really means development of more efficient sources of energy. Maybe eventually, the geo-politicians, the environmentalists and those who need greater efficiency out of economic necessity will create the necessary demand to combine and to find a solution.

Women’s Issues

I mentioned in an earlier posting that I would briefly discuss women’s issues. While laws are gradually changing to give women rights, they start from a place the US has never been and have a long way to go in practice. Eighty percent of marriages are still arranged and women go to live in their husbands’ parents’ homes. Particularly amongst the poor, they are considered a drain on household resources unless they produce male heirs. In weathlier areas, there is a disturbing trend that baby girl fetuses are being aborted because tests are available to determine the sex prior to the birth. In other areas, baby girls are either abandoned at a higher rate than boys or are just neglected – getting less food, education or necessary medical care.

Amongst the poorest people, men frequently consider it their right to hit or abuse their wives. Women hold the majority of household responsibilities and because their husbands suffer unemployment, they are also suppose to support the household. On farms they do an equal share of the farmwork, particularly if sons are sent to school.
Dowry’s are technically illegal, but still more common than not. Upon marriage, all but the jewels become the property of the husband. There are not uncommon rumors of suspicious deaths, when a woman has failed to have a male child and/or the husband wants to remarry to receive a new dowry.

In the more modern sections of the country, women have been hired by western companies and for the first time are becoming financially independent, but it comes at a price. Education and fiscal independence is usually seen as a quality which makes someone less attractive for an arranged marriage. Although I think we have an element of that here, its been banished to the subconscious and is certainly not politically correct to say out loud.

The law has recently been changed that women are allowed to set the fire of a relative’s cremation. This is important because the person who sets the fire inherits the entire estate. Prior to this women were not allowed to inherit property and subject to the charity of distant relatives in the event there were no immediate-family males.

There was a not-intended-to-be funny article in the newspaper about a woman who decided to buy a car for herself. I’d estimate that less than 1% of drivers on the road are women – maybe closer to .1%. She worked for a western company and her parents appreciated the income she brought in for the family, but they were adamantly against her buying a car even if she could afford it. “Who will marry you?” her mother told her, but she decided to do it anyway. She tried out several cars and made a decision and was set to go to pick up the car herself, but her girlfriend said, don’t you want to take someone with you. She thought about it and brought an acquaintance from work. After she signed all the papers and gave the cashier’s check to the salesman, he handed the keys to her friend and congratulated him. She was shocked into silence. They proceeded into the showroom where every salesman congratulated him. She obviously owned the car, but it’s a demonstration of how far they have to go.

I also want to say that as horrible as some of the things I've described sound, they are not always the case and probably the extremes (except maybe the car example). I don't want to present a judgemental picture and ask you to recognize that in the case of women's treatment, and any other criticisms I may have made of India, that for every criticism there are also amazing things in the culture and people which I've hopefully portrayed in other parts of my blog. And although I was only there for a few months, and recognize I didn't see everything, India is a combination of some very good and some very bad things that developed together through a very intricate and complicated history. Its impossible to quickly separate and fix only the less agreeable aspects.

Other Observations

Finally a few other less significant, but still interesting observations.

Like the US, India has 100 TV stations and nothing to watch. However, 24-hours a day, 75% of the channels run Bollywood movies. They never had English subtitles, but you can tell the plot. They’re all musicals, sometimes they have bright-colored traditional India clothing, sometimes they have bright-colored 50’s style poodle skirts and sometimes they’re wearing bright-colored modern clothing (also there is an occasional Michael Jackson Thriller-era style version). They’re all romances in line with Romeo and Juliet, Grease or West Side Story. You’d think all the romanticism of the forbidden love in the movies would lead to a social revolution against the caste system which is still very much a factor in arranging marriages.

Something to get use to is the boys and men literally hanging on each other in a completely platonic way. It’s actually very sweet to see that the men are comfortable with intimacy.

Very few people wear glasses. I assume its because they are not tested and not that genetically, the Indians have better vision than American. Although maybe there is an element of darwinism. Imagine the handicap of going through life with uncorrected bad vision.

Finally the hospitality is amazing. Every Indian I met wanted to make sure that I was ok and enjoying myself, that I liked India and they would wish that I would tell my family and friends what a nice place it was. I hope you have enjoyed my blog and that I have successfully fulfilled their wish.

The Republic Day Parade

2007-02-13T03:58:00.000+05:30

On my last full day in Delhi, I was given a ticket to the Republic Day Parade by my cousin’s friend (the same one who took me to the fantastic wedding). The Republic Day Parade is a very big deal. When I mentioned to other people that I had a ticket and where I was sitting, I felt like I was telling them I had a front row seat to a Bruce Springsteen concert in NJ.

When I first arrived in India I was told that any generalization I wanted to make about India, the opposite could also be proven to be just as true. Acknowledging that there are no complete truths in my observations about the parade, it was extremely interesting and exciting to be there as an outsider looking in. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I had a fantastic seat in the press section, directly across from the dais – however security was so tight, I wasn’t allowed to bring anything – including my camera.

The parade can be divided into three distinct sections – demonstration of military prowess, the pride of each state characterized in a “parade of roses”-type float, and groups of dancing and singing children on the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony. In some ways, the parade was like a visual state-of-the-union, with all the pomp and circumstance you’d expect. It was an announcement of the state’s accomplishments to the citizens and the world.

I usually think of India as the home of ancient civilizations, but independent India is only about 60 years old and the nation’s youth affects how the government presents itself to its citizens. Although I don’t think of India as being militant – actually quite the opposite with the images of non-violent Gandhi led revolution—it actually had a prolonged rebellion against Britain prior to the resolution led by Gandhi in the mid-twentieth century, and has been, with varying intensity, battling Pakistan since the day of the British partition inn 1947 (sound familiar?).

The guest of honor was PM Putin of Russia which I think made the military section of the parade feel even more like a communist May day celebration than it seemed on its own. I’ve really never seen anything like it in the United States. On the one hand, I saw the military part of the parade as necessary for a young nation to establish its credibility. On the other, in a nation where most of the population is illiterate, the impact of TV images creates an inaccurate picture-perfect perception, in a country which has many basic infrastructure problems, corruption on all levels of government and the police and literally cannot feed all its citizens.

That said, I was thoroughly entertained and impressed by the parade from start to finish. The parade route went from India gate, which looks a lot like the Arch d’Triumph in Paris to the Parliament along a extra-wide, flat boulevard lined by bandstands.

Regardless of the politics, I’ve personally never been so close to tanks and artillery, and I have to admit it was exciting and imposing, as intended. (The frenetic excitement and squealing of the family with three little boys sitting behind me added to the experience.) The military did also have the look and feel of India. As representatives of each division went by in their uniforms, with left arms swinging 180 degrees and the strait-legged, high-stepped marching, I had a flash of a Bollywood movie. The uniforms were more like costumes than camouflage, in line with the dress of the entire nation. I wish I had pictures of the hats that were part turban, with bright colored fabric folded in a fan-like fashion (slightly reminiscent of a napkin in a Chinese restaurant) attached to the top that made them look a little like proud peacocks strutting down the boulevard. The soldiers were followed by a border division riding camels dressed in mirrored embroidery, and elephants carrying the day’s honoraries.

Interestingly the day’s critics said a lot of the same things we hear today in the US. Although I was impressed with the scale of the parade, apparently the excitement is toned down in recent years. Some blamed it on fear of terrorism and the associated hyper security, some on a lack of nationalism or general apathy of the younger generation, and some on the loss of hope and optimism because of corruption in the government and police. In an environment that is so completely different from the US, you could hear the same about what is wrong in the US today. Is it another form of globalization?

In contrast to the military parade, the floats were about the cultural and historical achievements of the different states. Two points of note, first, there is a strange almost love-hate relationship between the Indians and the British. While most of the Indian’s are appreciative of the British for bringing an international language, an education system and the train system, they are also very proud of their ‘defeat’ of the British. This was shown in the parade in floats of states where major successful rebellions against the British were acted out– sometimes in rather gruesome detail. I’m not sure what it means, but I was surprised at how prominent it was in the minds of citizens, and not distant history the way that I think of the American Revolution. Maybe its because there are people who are still alive who remember when India was under British rule.

The second common focal point was the emphasis on equality for women. Unfortunately, its more of a theoretical goal for the country than an achievement. I’ll write a little about women’s issues later because I haven’t touched on it at all in my blog, but its really not a pretty picture. At least the public presentation is going in the right direction and the goal seems to be equal rights even if the practice has not caught up, unlike some other countries that regulate women’s activities.

If you can manage to be in Delhi for the Republic Day Parade, I put it on my list of highlights and recommend it.

I love Delhi

2007-02-01T03:44:00.000+05:30

I love Delhi. It’s a combination of cosmopolitan city and still-developing country. Like New York, every neighborhood is a different experience – a different feel, smell, and look, but to greater extremes. The city is diverse in its culture, religions and the socio-economic conditions of the residents. The diversity exists within the context of the city’s multi-century (maybe millenium) history, and is still intertwined in everyone’s daily life.

There are sections of the city which date back to the British occupation, the Moguls and before that. As the capital, it is a center for cultural and historical artifacts. In some ways, it reminded me of Jerusalem because there are so many new and old things next to each other. The old city is full of temples from different religions - that even in ancient times Indians lived together - in relative harmony. The history professor that spoke to us said, the miracle of India was that it was still a democracy 60 years after British partition. The diversity is so great that the fact that people get along at all was amazing.

I focused a lot in earlier blogs on transportation and I’ll just say here – Delhi has the best roads that I’ve seen since I’ve been here and in many areas (although the locals refuse to believe it—they seem better than NYC). I also think the traffic moves better than in NY because most of the roads were designed in New Delhi after the car was invented. You can go from one side of the city to the other on roads that are more like highways with ramps instead of streets with traffic lights. From what I saw, the traffic moves better than NY (and I'm sure that the Delhi drivers don't believe me when I say that, but it never really stopped completely). That said, and remembering that cars tend to be less wide – the rickshaw are only about 4 feet wide and multitudes of motorcycles and scooters – it was not uncommon to see 4-5 vehicles across on two lanes of road, plus the shoulder.

While I consider myself an experienced jaywalker by NY standards, Delhi brings the contest to a whole new level. Outside the apartment complex the volunteers lived in there was a highway which was four painted lanes in each directions. This translates into 6-8 vehicles on each side. The light is about seven minutes and doesn't turn red on both sides at the same time. There is a small island partition you can stop on in the center. The first time I tried to cross, I watched for about five minutes and then offered a rickshaw driver 10R ($.25) to take me across. Following his natural instinct, he told me 30R (which was enough to go halfway across town). I refused and continued with our game of charades until he finally figured out what I wanted. When he finally stopped laughing, he called over a local guy and asked him to help me out. I thought I was being ridiculous, but more than one of the other volunteers had also considered it.

Shopping in Delhi is one of my favorite activities, although it’s exhausting because everything is negotiable. There are markets with different specialties all over the city and there are great deals to be had. It was also an excellent way to explore the limitless and varied neighborhoods in the city. In the old city of Delhi, the spice market is said to be the largest in Asia (and probably the world) and there is a gold street where bride’s family’s go to buy their dowry jewels. Along side the grand, old British hotels and houses there is a Tibetan market where Tibetans would think they were getting a good price, and short rickshaw ride away a market with stunning antiques and hand made fabrics of silk, wool, pashmina that are the best in the world. But shopping is not like it is in the US – where things have pricetags, instead it’s a game where you start with a huge disadvantage because the store owner has been bargaining since they were in a cradle, they know you probably don’t have time to comparison shop and you have no idea what the “real” price (or value) of something should be. Luckily for me, since I didn’t usually have the patience to wait out the owner, we’d be arguing over a relatively insignificant amount (and still paying a premium relative to the locals). Actually, I don’t ever think the tourist wins, no matter how good you are at negotiation. The negotiation is more or less a stamina test with the store owner not really having to go anywhere for the whole day. Walking away is necessary at least once, but you’re never allowed to go far. I think playing "no-rules" monopoly with my nephews was my best preparation. They'll be great at it someday.

Another example of the negotiation was the rickshaw drivers. If you’re not Indian, they tell you it’s 200R to go anywhere you ask about in Delhi whichis about 2x the price to go from the two furthest points in of the city—its about 4-5x the price for most rides. I kept thinking what it would be like to have the drivers in a micro-economic class and explaining supply demand theory. They would laugh because they live the practical applications of the theory on a minute by minute basis. Aside from the premium charged to tourists, the price adjusts for the same distance if there were other rickshaws around, but also realizing there was a certain amount of unspoken collusion. None of them were willing to undercut their fellow drivers unless you had clearly walked away.

The city residents also have a higher level of tolerance for noise than I do coming from New York. At our apartment complex, the security guard use to blow his whistle and bang the night stick on the walls as he walked around, all night. I asked one of the residents why they allowed this and they said, “I don’t notice it anymore, but it makes me feel safe because everyone will know the place is being guarded.” Having been awoken many times, I thought this was absolutely absurd. Also at about 6:30 in the morning, the vegetable man starts screaming that he is selling fresh vegetables. He rides around the complex calling out in a high-pitched voice which I was sure meant “help, I’m dying” the first time I heard it, until his vegetables are gone. That combined with the tendency of all drivers to beep whenever they pass another vehicle, animal or person adds to the noise level in a city with 15 million people. There is also the Muslim calls to prayer, five times a day blaring from the mosques and the Hindu temples blaring competing prayers. Finally, maybe because of all the other noise, Delhi residents listen to music and television at decibel levels that were uncomfortable for me when walking by on the street. But it does add to the feeling that the city is alive and always awake.

The city also has a lot of pollution and dirt. The first thing I did when I came home at night was wash my face and the dirt that came off was visible. I also felt like I was looking for a trash container for the entire month in Delhi (and every other city I visited). Everyday, when I returned to my apartment I had something in my bag that I'd carried because there was no place to put it. The locals sadly, but typically would throw it into the gutter. It’s accepted because there is no alternative. There is also a tragic shortage of other basic services. I did not see an ambulance or fire truck even once. Clean water and basic sanitation are problems all over the country. One of the things you have to get use to are the public urinals on the side of many streets, which aren’t as discreet as I, as a passerby, would have preferred – but they exist because most people don’t have bathrooms in their houses. There are several areas the city has room for improvement.

Finally, while it sounds like I have a lot of complaints, I had a great time both because of its history and because the people are amazingly friendly—especially the people who are not trying to see you something. They all wanted to make sure I liked and was enjoying Delhi and India -- and they didn't complain about any of things I noted, (except the traffic). The weather was sunny every day and I always woke up excited to be there.

Off the Grid in Hampi

2007-01-23T21:27:00.000+05:30

After cooking school (the blog for which I haven't published yet), I decided to go a bit further into the interior to a town called Hampi which is a bit difficult to get to. This involved a car to the airport with a stop at an elephant training camp, a plane, a taxi, a sleeper train and an auto rickshaw. It was a long day, but Hampi was worth it.

Hampi was once the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires from the 14th to 17th century. In the 16th century the population was over 500,000. It was over taken by the Muslim Moghuls in the 17th century when the country was united for the first time (the second time was under the British in the 18th century).

The city is home to one of India's largest area of ruins. There are active excavations going on in several locations and some day soon it will be a major tourist attraction. In the meantime, the city has a very charming air to it because the city doesn't have any really high end tourist accommodations or infrastructure -- instead there's an element of roughing it a bit. One of the airlines just started daily flights to a city about 30 km away (which I didn't find out until I was already on the train), so its probably only a matter of time until it changes.

Aside from several magnificent temples, Hampi's most unique feature is its setting amongst huge boulders. At one point, the area must have been underwater, because the boulders are 30 feet tall and I can't imagine how else they could have gotten there (unless there were glaciers in India?). My first reaction to seeing the area was that this is what Hanna-Barbara must have based the backdrop for the Flintstones on. I know it sounds strange, but the boulders were magnificent and I'm not joking when I say it was very easy to spend an entire afternoon "boulder watching".

The combination of the setting and the fact that people live amongst the ruins gives the city a bit of a time-warp feeling to it, like not much has changed in 500 years. The old city, or main bazaar area is largely unchanged from how it was when the city was inhabited. In the last 50ish years, the area has been re-inhabited by local squatters. They live in the ruins along what was the old market street, adding walls or thatch roofs to replace the originals as necessary. Their animals are either tied in the front of the houses or simply wander the streets. (More than once, a cow actually came into the restaurant I was eating in, but the owners usually shoo them away before they start eating.)

The best accommodations I could find cost 280 R or about $6.50. Needless to say, while adequate, it was no frills (and hot water is a "frill"). The whole old city only has dial up connections and no cell service. The touristy places have a hippie feel to them and play reggae music and the number of tourists who have decided to sport dreadlocks is astounding. I did not.

The meals at the restaurants along the main bazaar cost about 35R or $.80. I had a meal with someone who was complaining about how they over charge the tourists by about 10x what the locals would pay for the same food. Of course, most of the locals don't eat out and if they do, they eat "street food," sold by equivalent of a NY city hotdog vendor, which would make any tourist sick. I can't imagine what she'll think when she makes it to Delhi.

Assuming you don't mind the "tourist prices," the people were great. The locals, especially the kids, have no problem coming up to you and (trying to) have a conversation. For the most part they ask your name, where you are from and giggle a lot. I did have a really nice conversation about India with a few freshmen college students. However, since the only industry in the town is tourism, they is also a lot of presumption that you are rich and will give them things, especially from the poorest children. At one point, a young girl came up to me and said hello. She saw my water bottle and said "water bottle". I said, "yes". Before I knew it she had taken it and emptied the water, so she could take the bottle. It hadn't occurred to her, I had it so I could drink it. Another boy came up to me and pointed to my watch. He said, "you give me?" And he looked disappointed when I said, "no".

In order to get to some sites, or more accurately, the shortest option to get to some sites, is to take a boat. The boats are coracles, or a large baskets, similar to those my mom had when I was growing up, except big enough to sit in and waterproofed, rowed by a local who seems to be sitting in a very uncomfortable position. The boat ride through the canyon of boulders was one of the highlights. I went with one other person in the boat and we were lounging as we went along. When we came back to the dock we saw 10 Indians getting into the same boat, but it didn't look as comfortable. In general, whether its a scooter, car or boat, the Indians put more people into vehicles than we would ever consider was possible.

The whole place was very relaxed and I wouldn't have minded spending a few weeks there, reading some books and just hanging out.

Instead I decided to take a seven-hour drive to a town called Badami. The town is famous for its cave temples which are cut into the sides of some large mountains. They date back to the 13th century. I'm still considering whether I'd recommend the drive, but overall I liked the caves.

I continued with my driver to a city called Hubli which sees very few tourists, but is a major crossroads for the train system. I arrived 6 hours before my overnight train so I had a lot of time to kill. My very sweet driver helped me bring my bag to the trainstation, luggage lockers and then made sure I was happily seated at an internet cafe before he left. I thought I was set to fill my evening. Unfortunately, the cafe was only open until 6:30 and I had another 5 hours to wait.

When I left, I noticed there were no other westerners wandering about and that literally, everyone was stopping and staring at me. Although people have been staring at me for about three months now, I still look down to check my fly instinctively. I went into a restaurant, sat down and ordered something to drink. Nobody spoke English, but with some pointing I managed to get some tea. I eventually realized I had sat in the all male section and that the "family" section was upstairs. This probably didn't help with the staring.

The best available car on this particular train was a third class AC sleeper. I was a little worried about what this would mean. I'd been on first and second class sleepers and slept relatively well, but wasn't sure this would be a good thing. In the end, the only difference seemed to be that there were three tiers of beds. Naturally, since I don't understand how the reservation system works, I got the upper bunk. Somehow, all the Indians knew that I had that seat even before everyone had arrived to our cabin. When I've talked to other tourists, they've said the same thing, that the train reservation system is the impossible to understand unless you were born here. Luckily one person in my cabin spoke good English and the others were getting off at my stop so I didn't have to worry about over sleeping.

I arrived in Goa, beach capital of India, and was suppose to only have 6 hours before my flight. Sadly, my flight was cancelled so I had to spend another day at the beach. The chaise, the umbrella and the cocktails were just like any other paradise resort -- the waterbuffalo was an added bonus. Tonight I arrived back in Delhi to wrap up the end up my adventure.

Recipes from Keralan Cooking School

2007-01-15T17:27:00.000+05:30

Gobi Masala

Preparation:
250 grams cauliflower florets
6 T chick pea powder*
4T water, approximately

Mix by hand until cauliflower is coated with a light batter.

Heat a pan. Add about 1/2 cm of coconut oil in the pan and heat.
Fry cauliflower until golden brown.
Remove cauliflower and put in a strainer on top of a paper towel.

Sieve the oil to remove the bits of batter. Replace 2T of oil in pan.
Add 2 red onions and 5-7 fresh curry leaves.
Stir until lightly cooked and slightly browned.

Add 1t of garlic-ginger paste (equal parts of both mixed in a food processor)

Temper the garlic-ginger paste until it loses its raw flavor, but is not browning or burnt. (To temper, push the other ingredients to the side of the pan and quickly mix the g-g paste, breaking it up with the wooden spoon.)

Add spices and stir rapidly:
<1/2>
1/2 t gumar masala (equal parts lightly toasted and ground cinnamon, cardamon and cloves, it can be kept in a jar for up to 10 days)
<3/4>

Stir rapidly (for longer than you think necessary) until the spices lose their pungent aroma and the vegetables begin to release their oil.
Add 4 tomatoes, blanched, skinned and diced.
Stir until the water begins to evaporate.

Add cauliflower and stir until mixed with spices/onions.
Cover and leave for up to 1 hour before serving.

Okra Turorn

Heat a thick bottomed skillet on the fire
Pour 2-3 T of coconut oil in the pan.
When oil is hot, add 1 t mustard seeds, 2 T of urad dal (white lentils) plus 1 sprig of fresh curry leaves (about 5-7 leaves)

Heat until the mustard seeds pop, the urad dal is brown and the curry leaves are lightly fried.

Add 1 chopped red onion and saute.

Add one broken kashmiri (spiral) red chili pepper
1 pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 c grated coconut (coconut must be tempered)

Add 150-200 g. okra (thinly sliced on a diagonal) and stir into dish. Keep stirring until the okra is pliable. Pile in the middle and let sit and then stir again after a few minutes.

Remove when pliable and add 1/4 c. grated coconut as garnish.

Palak Rieta
Heat pan.
Add 2T coconut oil.
Add 2t ural dal (white lentils halves)
Add 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
Add 1/2 inch ginger chopped

Stir for some time until well done.

Add 1 chopped red onion
Add 1 green chili pepper (maybe remove seeds)
Saute.
Once sauteed, add 2c finely chopped spinach
Allow to cool and add 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt curd.

Vegetable Pilar
Mix spices:
star anise
pepper
cloves
cardamon
*nutmeg mace
cinnamon
*(allspice leaf, if available fresh)

Heat pan
Add 1 T ghee
Add spices, cover with colander upside down so popping seeds don't spatter.
Add 1 red chopped onion and saute.
Add 1 t garlic-ginger paste
Add allspice leaf and nutmeg mace and stir rapidly
Add tomatoes until liquid evaporates a little
Add 250 g. steamed carrots, beans and peas
Add 1 1/2 c. uncooked basmati rice (cook before adding, but measure dry)
Add 1 t salt

Fold together.

Rice Noodles:
Put 2 1/2 cups rice flour in a large bowl
Slowly, while mixing, add boiling water and a pinch of salt
the amount of water should be roughly 2x the amount of rice, but the dough should not be sticky
Stop adding water when the dough is the consistency of play dough.

Let cool. After 20 minutes, kneed until texture is consistent.

Use a rice mill to make noodles in small piles. Add 1t of grated coconut and then mill another larger pile of noodles on top.

Place in a steamer and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Egg Masala
Heat 3-4 T coconut oil in a pan
Add 750 g. chopped red onion
Add a sprig of curry leaves
Continue stirring

Add 1 t ginger-garlic paste and keep stirring

Add 1/8 c. sugar and a pinch of salt to balance the acidity of the tomatoes

Continue stirring until the onions are lightly browned

Add spices:
3/4 t turmeric
1 t gumar masala
2 t coriander
1 t chili powder

Stir rapidly

Add 650 g. chopped tomatoes and stir gently
Continue on heat until it is slightly meshed together.

Serve with either hard boiled eggs on the side or lightly fried potatoes with turmeric and pepper in coconut oil. The potatoes may be mixed in before serving.

Vegetable Stew to be served on top of the rice noodles

Spices:
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Cloves
Pepper
Star Anise

Sliced ginger and garlic
1-2 sliced red onion
all spice leaves if available
2 green chilis (remove seeds)
700 g. steamed potatoes, carrots, string beans, all diced.

Heat pan.
Heat oil.
Add spice mixture and stir.
Add onions and stir.
Add garlic and ginger, very soon after onions.
Add chilis
Stir all ingredients until lightly brown.

Add steamed vegetables.
Add 1 t salt (maybe 1/2 t)
Add 2 1/2 c coconut milk (coconut cream with water added, about 30-40%)
Simmer for 5-10 minutes
Close fire.
Slowly add thick coconut milk (add water to coconut cream until its the consistency of milk) and stir (don't do this over a flame or the milk with curdle.)

Snake Gourd Saute
(alternatively use cabbage, courgette, zucchini, chopped beans)

1 T coconut oil
1 t mustard seeds
150 g coconut chips
1 big onion sliced.
1 1/2 t pepper powder
pinch of turmeric
400 g snake gourd, chopped.
salt to taste

Pan on fire
Add oil and allow to heat
Add mustard seeds and allow to pop
Fry out the coconut chips. Stir quickly until brown and starting to release oil. (add additional oil if necessary).
Make a well in the middle and add the onion and stir the onion within the well.
Mix the onion and the coconut quickly until translucent and slightly brown.
This takes a long time.
Add the pepper and turmeric -- stir rapidly for about 3-5 minutes.
Add chopped snake gourd.
Pile in the center of the pan and allow to sit, stir every few minutes and re-pile.
Salt to taste.
** Fully mature coconut releases more oil. Less mature coconut requires extra oil.

Carrot-Cabbage Thoran

1 T coconut oil
2 t short grain brownish rice (parboiled)
1/2 t mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
pinch of turmeric
Make a paste out of:
*1 green chili - chopped
*3 shallots chopped
*1/3 c. grated coconut
300 g. chopped and shredded carrots and cabbage with salt

Pan on fire.
Heat oil.
Add rice, mustard seed and curry leaves. Puff rice, pop mustard seeds and fry curry leaves.
Add turmeric and mix.
Immediately, add ground paste. Reduce heat, and fast stir until spices are tempered (not as pungent).
Add carrots and cabbage and cook until reduced stirring frequently.
Salt to taste.

Aloo Gobi
6 T coconut oil
1 1/2 t fennel
1 1/2 onions
3/4 t turmeric
3/4 t chili powder
6 T tomato paste, but more liquidy (maybe 3 T tomato paste and 3T water)
300 g. cauliflower, uncooked florets
300 g. potato, cooked and diced
6 tomatos, quartered
150 ml milk
150 ml water

Pan on fire.
Heat oil.
Add fennel, until seeds stop popping and browning.
When almost finished popping add onions.
Cook onions until translucent and slight browning.
Add turmeric and chili powder.
Stir quickly until spices are tempered (less pungnet smell)
Add tomato paste and stir until the water reduces a little bit.
Add cauliflower and stir until it is coated in the mixture.
Add potato, stir until coated.
Add salt to taste.
Raise the heat.
Add tomatoes and stir until the tomato skins softens and the mixture is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Lower the heat and add the milk and the water at the same time.
Stir intermittantly. Put a lid on and slow cook until the mixture is creamy/thickened and the cauliflower is cooked.
Salt again and garnish with mint and coriander.

Jerra Rice
3 T coconut oil
2 t urad dal
1 t cumin
1 onion sliced
2 kashmiri chilis, broken (spiral)
2 c. uncooked rice, cooked
pinch of turmeric
pinch of salt

Heat oil in pan, medium to low heat
Add dal, no stirring, cook until brown.
Add cumin, allow to pop.
Add chili and stir rapidly.
Add onions and stir rapidly.
Add turmeric and salt and stir rapidly.
Add rice, spreading it evently over the top of the mixture.
Don't stir until you've added it all.
From start to finish its all very quick.
For garnish, fry raisins and cashews in coconut oil.

Sambar Dal

3/4 c urad dal (soft dal)
Water
Salt

3 T coconut oil
250 g. chopped onions
1 1/2 t mustard seeds
1/2 t fennelgrek
sprig of curry leaves
1 t chili powder
2 t coriander
1/2 t turmeric
tamrin (just smaller than a golf ball, soaked in water for 10 minutes)
four dashes of asafoetida powder
300 g. fresh tomatoes diced
salt to taste

First cook dal in water and salt for 15 minutes

Pan on fire.
Heat oil
Pop mustard seeds and fennelgrek and fry curry leaves.
Add onions, stir rapidly until translucent and lightly browned.
Add chili powder, coriander, & tumeric. Stir until tempered.
Add the water from the tamerin, but not the flesh.
Add a few dashes of the asafoetida powder, stir quickly.
Add tomatos and stir until soft.
Salt to taste.
Add the dal and the water and simmer for 20 minutes to boil off some of the liquid.

Coconut chutney

1 1/2 c. fresh grated coconut
sprig of curry leaves
1 green chili pepper with seeds removed
1 1/2 in of ginger peeled
6-8 shallots
1 t salt (real teaspoon, not heaping)

Place shallots and ginger and salt in the food processor
Add 1/2 coconut and a few T of water
Empty from food processor into bowl
Add the remaining 1/2 coconut with the green chili and the curry leaf and mix.
Empty into the same bowl and mix together.

Periyar Tigerless Tiger Trail

2007-01-13T21:54:00.000+05:30

I had been trying since mid November to sign up for a camping trip through one of the national tiger reserves. When I first called, the guy said there was no way since they only allowed 5 tourists at a time and 20 tourists per week to camp over night in the park. I decided this was something I wanted to do and persisted calling every week and eventually, last week, there was a cancellation.

I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into. I can't think of a time since I was 17 that I had camped outside. It didn't occur to me that most people actually go on safaris go to look at the animals in jeeps, not on foot. I'd never seen an unchained elephant before. And that the concept of liability which generally lowers the level of risk in any activity run by an American company doesn't exist in India. But why not?

Periyar is a 770 sq. km. park. with approximately 40 tigers. The reserve is based on a man-made lake formed by a dam built by the British in 1895. (The lake still has trees sticking up from the forest which was flooded over 100 years ago.) Until partition in 1947, the area was a British game park. The reserve was formed in the 1970s, but a federation to stop the poaching of the tigers, elephants and other endangered species was not formed until 1998. Since then they have had considerable success in eliminating the poaching and beginning to rebuild the populations of wildlife and plant life. The camping program is run by ex-poachers who split their job responsibilities between leading tourists and providing security against poachers. At least two of our six guides were former poachers.

I met up with the group I would be trekking with at the park ranger station. As with most things in India, things were a bit chaotic and got off to a late start -- or on time if you are going by "Indian time". The group consisted of three other Australian women and the six Indian guides. We started walking with Varkey, our park ranger, leading the group carrying a rifle that looked like it was a hold over from British days, and Agee, one of our trackers carrying a machete. We were all excited as we headed off.

The first part of the trek was through a part of the park where they allow many tourists to go on boats through the outer sections of the park. It's loud, and we didn't see many animals. We took a (barely floating) raft across the river and began to hike toward our first campsite. We, the tourists, were carrying our own clothes and a bottle of water. The guides were carrying food for 10 for three days, mineral water for us, tents for us, and pots, pans, plates and cutlery for the gourmet meals they were going to prepare. (Actually the food was outstanding and pretty amazing that it could be made with limited equipment and a campfire.)

By the middle of the first day, I began to think of our Indian guides as our our personal troupe of "Tiger Dundees". They could pretty much do anything, very effortlessly. Before arriving at our campsite, we had to cross the river again, but the boat was tied to an underwater tree about 20 meters from the bank. After a loud discussion (one which I believe could have been avoided if they were familiar with "rock, paper, scissor."), Sunod, one of the cooks, took the cloth he had been using to balance the 20L case of water on his head, put it on as a sarong and swam out to get the boat. (Later the sarong, became a pot holder.) When he arrived back, they realized there were no oars, so another of the guys went into the forest, cut down a branch and carved it into an oar in about 5 minutes. They scare away wild animals in the middle of the night. They light campfires in 30 seconds. One of them helped me tailor some clothes to make them jungle friendly. They remain calm when elephants are chasing them. I really felt like there was no situation they couldn't handle - either in the jungle or out. They were both very macho and very charming at the same time. And they all know how to cook like great chefs.

After a lite lunch we headed out on our first afternoon trek with our park ranger and our two trackers. The other three guides stayed back to prepare the campsite and dinner. We walked along the river edge and then up a hill with the guides pointing out various animals. Then we saw our first elephants. We were watching them, and gradually moving up the hill to get a better view. Then, the next thing I knew, our ranger had his rifle pointed above our heads and was motioning for us to get behind him. I don't think he actually said run. I think it was his expression, but we all took off up the hill, with the guides behind us, but also running. Although we were far away, the elephants had seen us and had begun charging. When we were over the crest of the hill, maybe 150 meters, we stopped to catch our breath and then continued to walk rapidly until we were upwind from the elephants. At first, although my adrenaline was pumping, I thought maybe this was something they pulled on all the trekkers since it all happened very fast and I didn't actually see the charging elephants. When we got back to our campsite for dinner, our guides were telling the story to the other guides in Malayalam so we couldn't understand, but the wild hand gestures made it pretty evident that this was not the norm. That said, despite the wild hand gestures, their expressions were excitement, not fear.

We were served an amazing dinner with soup, a main course of six different southern Indian dishes and freshly made flat bread. The guides set up two big fires along both sides of our tents and told us not to worry because they'd be up all night in shifts. They also said that we would periodically hear them scaring animals away, but not to worry. The only thing they would wake us up for was if there were elephants. I never really thought of elephants as unfriendly, but apparently since the poaching stopped, when they use to run when they saw men, they have become comfortable and even aggressive toward man. The guides have an incredibly healthy respect for the elephant's power. Anyway, the other three girls went to sleep after dinner, but since it was only 8 pm, I stayed up and learned how to play a new card game with the guides. Coincidentally, it was a variation of the game the guides in Nepal taught us when we were trekking, Nepali 29, so they were impressed when I picked up the game in the first round.

The jungle makes a lot of noise at night. It sounds exactly like one of the soundtrack options at one of my favorite spas (but they must filter out the monkeys). We were all sitting around and the jungle was making its noises and then after a noise which was totally indistinguishable to me, all six of them sat up straight. Four of them jumped to their feet with their flashlights and darted toward the water. The guy sitting next to me said "the elephants are swimming in the river." Seven words I never expected to hear, especially since I didn't know elephants could swim. He told me to wake up the other women, so I walked over to the tents and said, "wake up, the elephants are swimming in the river." We all got our shoes on and looked at each other wondering what was coming next. The guides set a few small fires and after a lot of again loud discussion, they said we could go back to sleep.

Sleep on a 30 degree angle bed of rocks is a relative term. We woke, if you can say we slept, in the morning and went in search of the elephants. Hoping to have more time looking at the elephants than running from them, the ranger decided this morning we would stay in our raft. Although we had no direct drama on the second day, we did rescue a group of day hikers from coming around a bend toward a family of nine elephants. Our raft was a little bit more underwater than I was comfortable with, but all worked out in the end. After the excitement we rowed back to our camp and had breakfast, packed up camp (which basically meant the guides packed up camp and we watched), and then headed off to our second campsite.

Our second campsite was within a large, deep, dry moat, called an elephant trench, because they can't cross them. We dropped our stuff, went for a swim in the river or bath depending on how you look at it, and then rested up for our afternoon trek.

The afternoon trek was through different terrain, further from the river. At different points, the guides were more or less guarded. When we were walking through the grassy flatland, they kept us close together and more or less formed a triangle around us. You could tell they were highly alert. At other times, they were were more relaxed. It was amazing what they could see. We'd be walking along and they'd motion for us to stop and be quiet. Then they'd walk, completely soundlessly until they found a better view of whatever it was they found. They'd motion for us to come forward. We were never as quiet, but usually didn't scare away the animal. We did have a few more instances of the rifle being cocked and walking quickly away from something, until we made sure nothing was following us -- and thankfully, nothing else started charging toward us.

In the end, we saw tiger paw prints and tiger poo, but no tigers. We did see the following: Black monkeys, common brown monkeys, malbar squirrel, flying ants, bats, sambhar deer, common deer, wild boars, sloth bears, bison, barking deer, porcupines, leeches, honey bees, termites, dragonflies, butterflies, fireflies, kingfisher birds, long tailed drongo, cormorant, egret, kite birds, grey horn bill birds, red ants, black spiders, eagles, woodpeckers, goldfish, turtle, frogs, tadpoles, otters and lots of tribal people.

Next week, I'm heading off to Keralan cooking school and looking forward to the soft bed and lack of adventure.

Tamil Nadu - southeast India

2007-01-07T19:07:00.000+05:30

I met a British couple in the Backwaters who were heading to Ponticherry. I didn’t have any particular plans and they asked me if I wanted to come. So I went.

They had lived in Delhi several years ago and had traveled extensively in India and were much more experienced than me on getting around. We took an overnight train on New Year’s Eve to a town called Trichy. New Years was more or less a non-event other than people saying “Happy New Years”. No raucous parties on the train to write home about. I’d never been on a sleeper train before. It wasn’t bad, but not the best night’s sleep either. I was lying in my bunk and could feel the train going up and down the hills and around the bends and stopping at each of the 19 stations. The interesting thing about traveling through the interior southern part of

India

was that there were really no westerners. There were many, many Indian pilgrims going to the various temples, but not a lot of tourists.

We only stayed in Trichy for a few hours to see two of the landmark temples - it was 473 steps up at the top of a rock. It was one of the festivals we managed to hit, which was an accident as far as I know. The temples in southern India, in Trichy and Chidambaram, are different from any I’ve seen in other places. The architechture is called Dravidian, but they were built under several different dynasties. They are like pyramids with colorful, almost comical figures of gods carved on the outside. I assume they are repainted fairly frequently because they are very vibrant. The temples complexes are surrounded by walls and courtyards where people assembly. In Trichy, the temple had seven surrounding walls and courtyards, but non-Hindus were only allowed into the first six. We also managed to hit a festival – the chariot festival, at Chidambaram. There were literally tens of thousands of Indians visiting the temple while we were there.

At the entrance to the temple complex in each city, there is a temple elephant - of course. If you hold out a rupee, the elephant will take it out of your hand with its trunk and then will bless you by tapping your head with its trunk. I decided to pass for now because the elephants, even when painted for decoration, are still really big and a little scary. Also, although its silly, I felt like I didn’t want to get to close to it with bare feet (you have to walk around all the temples barefoot), as if my shoes would have helped if the elephant stepped on me.

After Trichy, we took a one-hour trip to Tangore. Tangore was another town which had virtually no other tourists. We saw a few in our hotel, but when you went to the sites, there were masses of Indians visiting, coming to pray, but very few westerners. The temple at Tangore is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was different from the earlier ones because it was not painted, but the carvings were stunning and something about the shape of the temple made it a little mesmerizing.

There seemed to be less poverty in the southern parts of India. Although I guess it should have been obvious, there is more water and regardless of all other circumstances, they can grow food. The cities were still dirty, and lacked basic sanitation, but I didn’t see anything which seemed as desperate as in the north.

On day four, we drove to Pondicherry. Until 1954, Pondy was a French colony – and it shows. The second language (or first) of many of the residents is still French and there are more French tourists than from any other country. It has more (western) culture than any other city I’ve been in in the south. Maybe its even a little chic -- they serve coissants instead of wonder-like bread and they use plates and silverware instead of banana leaves. It’s also the cleanest city I’ve been in. Pondy is located on the Bay of Bengal so it has a beautiful view of the water, but the beach is not really for swimming because it has big boulders you have to climb over to get to the sea. The boulders were said to have protected it from significant damage during the tsunami. I did actually climb down one day and put my feet in just so I could say I'd touched the Indian Ocean (then I found out it was the Bay of Bengal). It feels like a combination of a beach town, a hippy hang out, a very proper colony, and a touch of the architecture of New Orleans (although not the jazz music or craziness).

While here, we visited the Sri Aurobindo ashram. When I say visited, I mean, had a tour, but did not stay at the ashram. The couple I was traveling with had a friend involved in the ashram and one of the directors gave us a tour. The founder and his second in command, known as “The Mother” wanted to create a place to facilitate all people of all religious beliefs to meditate and find inner harmony. There are 1200 members who live in the city and exist for the most part on a barter system, offering whatever services they can, whether it be dishwasher or professor. I’m a little bit of a skeptic though. The group owns a tremendous amount of property and has an associated society with members from around the globe, but I think they tend to target big donors. One interesting tidbit of information -- I always assumed "sitting Indian-style" came from American Indians, but after visiting the ashram, and someone asking me where I learned to sit like that, I'm pretty sure its from India. I answered "kindergarden."

The Mother also started a Utopian community called Auroville about 15 km outside of Pondy. Its purpose is to broaden the ashram's goal to help a community find universal harmony. I visited it for a day. Unlike the ashram, they were more open about their challenges. Their goal is to create a society which does not use money and appreciates all members of society. Its especially interesting to try to create this in a country where castes are still an important social status issue. They admit they have not succeeded and that to live there you need to have support from outside family or other funds. However, the tour was very sanitized and there was little opportunity to interact with people from the community except as shopkeepers selling the community members crafts. I wanted to know why they felt were the biggest issues. Did people get along? Was it really a model for the world if you start with people who self select themselves in the community? Why couldn't they do away with money? Would people not do the work they needed to? Did they attract loafers? Regardless, for the people living there, I'm sure it was a very nice way of life. I couldn't help comparing it to a kibbutz, but the community was diverse and seemed to have a lot of communal process, rather than focusing on survival. The picture is of the groups meditation center.

We also went on a tour given by a group called INTEC which has branches in 15 Indian cities which tries to preserve and restore the buildings and historical character of the cities. However, unlike zoning laws or historical sites in the US, there is little-to-no interest or legislative support to aid in their efforts. This is understandable in a country with 30% of the people living below the poverty line. And what little government focus there is goes to preserving and restoring temples and monuments. That said, there are still amazing architectures which are not being preserved.

The group in Pondy seems to be having an impact. They have identified roughly a thousand buildings they want to preserve and although they have no authority have pushed themselves into the building permit process, where they at least now get to try to influence the owner before an old building is knocked down or renovated. And their efforts are having an impact on tourism, so building owners are beginning to take notice.

They are also responsible for starting trash collection in Pondy which I view as perhaps their greatest contribution. I was thinking about one of my urban studies professors who was involved in a project called "the center city district" in Philly. The group was a non-governmental organization which collected money from businesses to privately clean the streets. The philosophy was that people would litter less if the streets were clean. When I asked the director of INTEC about it, he said he thought the Indians just assumed that now someone would clean up after them. It would be interesting to see if it would work in other Indian cities, but again, in a country without a lot of very basic services and a lot of needs, its not a high priority.

The final event of note in Pondy was the International Yoga Convention which had very few non-Indian participants. The main event was a yoga competition, scored in a similar manner to gymnastics. I saw the 10-12 year old category. It was pretty amazing what they could do, but just the same, "competitive yoga" seems to defeat the purpose. Next they'll want to make it an olympic sport.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to the west coast to go hiking in one of the national parks. I'll write more when I get back. Happy New Year and I'll see you when I return (now scheduled for January 27th.

Kerala - southwest India

2007-01-07T19:04:00.000+05:30

After Delhi, I decided I needed to relax from my vacation and headed to the south western coast of India – the state of Kerala. Frequently, the writings call the state “G-d’s own country” because of the natural beauty. (Although it’s funny that “G-d” is capitalized and singular given the population. Although the name probably came from one of the various groups which colonized.)

Life in the south is much slower and more relaxed than the north, and probably because they don’t speak Hindi as their native language, much of the population speaks very reasonable English. The temperature in December and January has been in the mid-80s to mid-90s, so I'm amused that the vendors are all trying to sell wool shawls. There’s a siesta in the hottest part of the afternoon where lots of things close for a few hours, although they don’t call it ‘siesta’ – in English they just say to the tourists "lunch". Although it’s said to be one of the more developed states, there is less traffic, but the horn blowing persists. The men walk around in “longhi’s” or above-the-knee, wrap-around skirts. It takes some getting use to.

Kerala is, today, the only state in India which consistently votes for the communist party. There tends not to be as much poverty, or economic extremes in either direction. The literacy rate is said to be above 90%. They don’t speak Hindi, instead they speak Malayam. It’s this very smooth, rolling language where its difficult to tell where one word ends and the next starts, but it sounds a lot like poetry.

One interesting thing in Kerala is that Coca-cola is banned from being sold in state stores and generally isn’t widely available. I thought this was kind of symbolic of it being anti-free market. There were accusations that Coke was tested by a state facility and found to have 14x higher levels of fertilizer than in Coke in other parts of the world and that they weren’t using the same high standards they would elsewhere because it was too expensive. Depending on who you talk to you get different stories. The side I tend to believe is that the product was probably safe, but that if other developed countries have no fertilizer in the water, then 14x can still be a safe amount and probably was significantly less than was in the drinking water. Really the story is that Coke was accused of using too much water and the farmers didn’t like it and they didn’t pay off the officials they were suppose to, resulting in an unresolved suit and counter-suit between the state and the company which will be in the India court system for years. It was an interesting bit of trivia for a diet coke addict.

Cochin

Cochin was an attraction for me because one of my many jobs when I was in Israel, was to copy-edit a book at the Israel Museum called “The Jews of India.” Cochin was one of three Jewish communities. The oldest community was the B’nai Israel community who are thought to have left Israel after the destruction of the 2^nd Temple. They were lost to the Jewish community for many years until some members of the Cochini Jewish community identified them by some of their eating customs – not to eat meat and cheese and maybe also candle lighting. The second group are the Bagdadi Jews who came from Persia several centuries later and settled on the east coast of India in Kolkata. Finally, although there may have been some Jews in the region as traders earlier, the community at Cochin came directly and indirectly from Spain after the Inquisition.

Only one synagogue remains active, although there were at one time as many as 16. This synagogue was built in the late 1500s. At its peak there were as many as 50K Jews in Cochin, but in the 1970’s the majority of them moved to Israel. Today there are a handful of older Jews who still live in the area of town called “Jewtown” and the rest of the minyon drives in from surrounding towns on Shabbat. I attended services on Shabbat and was fortunate enough to be invited for Kiddish at one of the member’s homes and talk to him about the history of the community. As it happens, his daughter lives on 71^st street and goes to the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue. It was Chanukah, so we had tradition fried Indian snacks. There aren’t any traditional Jewish-Indian Chanukah foods, I was told. In some ways it feels sad that the community is probably not going to be there in 20 years, but at the same time, they were never persecuted, but they left because they thought life would be better in Israel. Also while I was there I met someone returning for a visit from

Israel

who had left when she was twelve in the 1970’s and another whose grandmother had grown up there.

Completely unrelated to her visit to the synagogue in Cochin, the woman whose grandmother had lived there, told me one of my favorite “travels in India” stories. She and her boyfriend had bought a camel at an auction and walked through the desert from Puskar to Jodpur on foot (the camel carried their bags) for 16 days steering by the sun. Although they couldn’t speak to them, the people in the villages helped them buy food for their camel and invited them for meals. But they aren’t taking the camel home to Jerusalem. They sold it at a huge loss because they wanted to find it a good home with someone who would love him. They called it Puskar because sometimes he needed a little push. I decided not to follow their trek this time, because it’s important to leave a reason to return.

I thought I’d stay for three days in Cochin, but ended up there for about 5 days and had to remind myself there were other things to see.

The Backwaters

About 70 km south of Cochin is an area called the Backwaters, known for its canals, rice paddies and spa treatments.

I spent one day on a houseboat with two other Americans that I had met in Cochin. About twenty years ago, someone decided the riceboats which were used in the canals could be converted into houseboats and take tourists along the canals. While it was beautiful and peaceful, it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. At present, there are about 400 houseboats out on the canals. Its not that we saw too many of them, but the experience has become to touristy. Although I will say, that our chef was amazing.

Instead of continuing on the houseboat, we found a homestay, actually kind of by accident, but it was really amazing. The house was 150 years old and was located along one of the less traveled canals. The homestay had four rooms, communal meals and was run by the great grand son of the original owner. I read in the guidebook that you have to go by boat to the island where the place is, but I couldn’t believe when it our boat was pole powered, a la the Venetians. The food was outstanding. It was true southern Indian food, served on banana leaves. When we arrived there was a couple there from Sri Lanka, who taught us all how to eat properly with our fingers (although I never realized you needed lessons, there is some technique to being efficient).

Over the next few days, I went on walks along the canals and rode around in small pole-powered boats through the neighborhood. It felt a little voyeristic, but it was interesting and the people were friendly. Two things I noticed. Even though we were out in the middle of the country, there was still a lot of noise. The temples and mosques compete with prayers over the PA systems. Another source of noise, and this will sound a little strange, is the women doing their laundry, standing at the edge of the river, beating the clothing against the rocks. I don't understand how exactly this cleans the clothes, but they all seem to do it and it seems to be a major daily activity. I know I've written a lot about the dirtiness in India, but it only really applies to the public domain. Personally, the Indians seem to take great pride in their hygiene and appearance.

Most of the people who live along the canals work in the paddy fields. Its hard work and most of it is still done by hand. At the time of the British partition the land was divided up and distributed so I think that most people own something, but there were grumblings about it not being done totally equitably, etc. The large field behind the house was farmed communally with the owners dividing the profits proportionately to their ownership.

For the most part, it was another place to relax. The Americans left me there after the first night because they were on a shorter trip than me, but I met my next travel partners there before I left and headed to the east coast with them.

Monsoon Wedding

2006-12-21T14:36:00.000+05:30

The weekend of December 15th, was an auspicious time to get married according to the alignment of the planets and stars. By some accounts there were 36,000 weddings happening that weekend in Delhi, but the more realistic number is 4,000, which was still pretty incredible. Regardless, you could feel it in the air. Everyone was talking about the traffic and everyone was leaving their shops to go to parties. And the weddings consist of three to five parties traditionally taking place over multiple days. My favorite part was that the grooms traditionally ride a white horse or elephant to the brides’ families’ houses, so all over the city you'd see uncomfortable grooms riding through the street. The horses and the bands that accompany the groom as they leave and arrive were suppose to be booked 20 times a day and the you frequently saw them in the streets. As one of my friends said, "who knew, in India, Prince Charming really does ride up on a white horse."

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a wedding by my cousin's close friend, whose has made me feel both welcome and at home in Delhi. She brought me to three of five parties of her cousin's wedding -- which was an incredible experience and a good excuse to buy some fancy Indian clothes. The entrances to the house were drapped in strings of marigolds. The actual wedding party took place in a gigatic tent in the backyard of the family's house. The tent was white and periwinkle on the first night for the groom's school, house colors and then changed to more traditional reds and yellows for the next party. Each party had a full meal of Indian fare and was some of the best food that I've had here -- buffets with about 30 choices. I never thought I'd say that the smorg at a Jewish wedding could be outdone.

The dancing was a mix of modern and traditional Indian/Punjabi, which has the great arm and wrist movements and up and down sholders you see in Bollywood dancing. I'm sure I looked like a fool trying to fit in, but it was a blast. The best part of the decor was the women's dresses... sparkling sarees in every color and sequened dress suits and jewels that looked like they belonged in a museum. Also, the Singh family has more cousins than the Levine's (my mom's, mom's family), which is hard to believe. And they live literally all over the world, but still maintain their connection to family and India.

My favorite day was the third party -- still before the ceremony, and still separate from the bride's side (who were having their own parties!). This party had the most traditions. The groom's older, female relatives -- sisters, aunts, and cousins hold a large scarf over the groom for shade and sing as each one takes a turn dabbing him with oils and sandlewood paste to clean him and prepare him for his wedding day. Afterward they wave some money above his head to ward off the evil spirts which will obviously be attracted to beautified bride groom and then donate the money to charity. Today, it is a ceremonial cleaning and the women were having fun, while the groom sat, and if not enjoying the slathering, then enjoying the loving attention.

The other activities of the party included the women getting mendi , or henna painted on their hands and arms and a table where the women received bangle bracelets as a party gift. I missed the actual ceremony when I got a bad case of Delhi belly (from a swanky, western coffee house, of all places), but I'm sure it was as beautiful and I send my best wishes and prayers to the newlyweds.

Beyond the festivities, I'll say that my hosts, and I include the entire family, were very gracious to let me join in their festivities and I wish that they know how much I appreciated kindness.

A great volunteer experience

2006-12-20T14:45:00.000+05:30

As many of you know, I decided before I left to volunteer for a few weeks during my stay in India. I worked with a group called Cross Cultural Solutions which organizes volunteer placements all over the world and arranges room and board in the country. I wanted to do this not because I was necessarily being altruistic, but because I thought volunteering would allow me to not be a tourist and to be settled for a few weeks in one place.

Program was excellent and really exceeded my expectations. There were about 10 volunteers at the same time as me, working in all different types of placements -- old age homes, nurseries, other schools or at health professionals. We arrived in Delhi and received a brief tour and our organizers took us shopping for kurta’s and dupetta’s, appropriately long and modest shirts and scarfs to where at our placements. Anything which could make us seem more familiar to the host organization makes it easier to be accepted and to be able to become part of the culture more easily -- so although I don't think I'd wear the clothes at home, it was the right decision.

The program organizers also gave us a great introduction on places to go and how not to get ripped off by the auto rickshaw drivers, although all the volunteers still were charged a premium, but it was more like 25% instead of the 3-4x that the drivers usually ask from the tourists. They also organized speakers for us – professors in economics, history, a women’s studies expert and a tour of the national art museum by the ex-director. Collectively, the education gave me an amazing perspective and many of the facts and opinions I mention come from them. The housing was as promised -- upper middle class apartments with hot water and electricity most of the time.

My Placement

I worked at the Hope Project School. Two days before I arrived the business development project fell through because the women in the program received a big Christmas order for their crafts and had to postpone the training until January. Instead, I was assigned to the school to teach English in the same Basti, or slum, which turned out to be a great experience for me.

The school is not public, but it is financed by a charity – the Hope Project, so its not the same as a private school. It is located in a basti, or a slum area, and provides school, medical services, education, life improving/self-sustaining skills activities, such as business development. (more about the situation of women later).

I’m not sure exactly how to describe the school because by western standards the school would fall short. While better than many schools my co-volunteers were working, with classrooms, blackboards and old, un-networked computers in almost every room, supplies are still very limited. Students don’t have text books. They use one notebook for all subjects. There are no worksheets or any printed material to work from, aside from what they copy from the blackboard or a few picture books. The school had no copier, scanner, even, paper, tape or staplers -- things we all take for granted, but really are important learning aids, were scarce or rationed. Even chalk was kept locked away. That said, and despite the physical shortfalls, there was an incredible amount of dignity and sense of opportunity held by the students and the teachers. At the same time it was blended with a sense of realism about the challenges and potential economic and social boundaries of their lives.

The girls and young women I worked with are wonderful and warm. I think I benefited far more from our experiences together than they from me. I worked with four classes, roughly 7-8 yrs, 9-10 yrs, 11-13 yrs, and 14-18 yrs, with overlap depending on the level. They were all girls except for the youngest class which were mixed boys and girls, before the girls were in "seclusion". Also, the boys were typically sent to school because their parents thought it was a priority. The population I worked with was majority Muslim. More than anything they crave attention. It was a welcome change from the kids on the street who see tourists and beg for money. They called me "Didi" which mean’s "older sister." It is not respectful to call an elder by their name. One of my favorite things, for reasons I don’t understand, the same class didn’t take place in the same room everyday. So frequently, I’d be in the wrong place and one of the students would find me and take my hand and protectively say, "come, Didi."

With the younger kids I worked on their ABC's and even taught a few songs -- their favorite was "head, shoulders, knees and toes" -- which by the end of my three weeks, they would begin singing and doing the hand motions for when they saw me in the hallways. The older girls asked me questions about NY and my family. Mostly, I worked on verbal skills with them because they know more grammar than they practice speaking. Their English is fairly basic, so we were a little limited in what we could cover. Big topics included movies, cricket players, that my building really had 20 floors and it wasn't considered a tall building, why my parents hadn't arranged my marriage yet, my education and work, etc. I was surprised and impressed when I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and they answered, teachers, doctors, lawyers, pilots, nurses, reporters, and one girl wanted to be Miss India.

I considered whether I wanted to tell them I was Jewish, but decided it would be ok (and I wouldn't have to talk about Christmas all month). They had heard of Jews, but knew nothing about the religion and they knew nothing of the tensions between the Muslims and Jews in the Middle East. Like other Indians I met, they were very accepting of other religions. I’ve thought a lot about why religious differences are such a big problem in other parts of the world and seem to be a non-issue here. My theory is that because the Hindu’s have 6 million gods and they are not threatened by the god(s) of other religions. This carries over to the other religions since they are such minorities. Also the Seiks are very welcoming to all other religions. For the most part none of the religions proselytize except for the missionaries. That was the only group about which I heard anything negative. The tension is because some say the Christians missionaries have sometimes paid people to convert by buying them land or giving money to the most poor to convert. But they are as open to Christianity as a religion as to the other religions.

At one point, I mentioned to the head of the school that I knew Excel well. I ended up training the head of the school, the office administrator and had some good conversations about Excel with the computer skills teacher. Also, (and the Schick people will get a kick out of this), I ended up restructuring the database that they keep in Excel to make it easier to use.

One of the hardest points for me was when there was a fire in the basti and many, many homes were burned to the ground. The school became a central point for distribution of blankets, used clothing, and utensils so they could cook -- because people had lost literally everything except the clothes they were wearing. Very few, if any have bank accounts, insurance is non-existent and frequently the entire extended family lives under one roof, so they couldn't necessarily move in with another family member. In the days after the fire, women and children were coming to the school in soot covered clothes. They looked exhausted and shocked, but at the same time not as paralyzed as I would be. Maybe groups who face total loss together are more resilient. Maybe they've seen other people lose everything in their lives and consider it as a greater possibility than I do. I don’t know how or why, but some of the students whose families lost houses were in school and somewhat functioning. So at the same time when I look at the school and see that they don't have many of things that are so familiar I don't even notice them at home, they are stronger and more capable in ways I hope never to have to experience.

On a positive note, the director of the school who was super –high powered woman and a motivational force for the girls, used the opportunity to bring more students to the school, by telling their parents that if their kids couldn’t be at home, they could come to the school and receive free lunch. It was not uncommon for families to resist sending their daughters to school. An education was thought by some to make the daughters less marriagable.

A highlights of the program for me was being adopted by one of the older girls doing an independent study in English. We worked on her conversational English and she answered some basic questions for me about her life and the basti. She wants to be a nurse, but is not sure how to pay the tuition or if her father will allow it. Lunch time was another of my favorite times too. During the first week, I was more or less out of place and didn't know where to go, but eventually, both the students and the teachers began to invite me to sit with them. I was told by my program organizers not to take any food they offered because "my American stomach is sensitive", but it looked good and it was important for me that they knew I accepted their hospitality. The girls especially liked giggling at me, when they gave me something spicy to eat. Also, I told one of the girls I liked her henna painted on her hands and the next lunch, they stopped me and told me they had all the materials to paint henna on my hands. They did a great job and I got compliments on it from everyone -- especially the Indians, who asked where I got it done.

Finally, I'd like to say a word about the teachers. At first they didn't know exactly who I was or why I was there, but eventually they opened up. They work really hard in conditions that can be challenging. Most had been there for several years and were committed to the school and the children. Depending on their level of English, I was able to and enjoyed speaking with them. They also had lots of questions for me, sometimes through a translator, but I think even though they were educated and lived outside the slum, life in NY is about as foreign to them as Delhi was to me before I saw it. Unlike the girls, they know not everything they see on TV is not true, but there are definitely images they have about wealth, big cars and skyscrapers that they assume are true for the entire US. The differences aside, we had much in common too and I really appreciate the time they took to share with me and hope I was able to add to their classes and knowledge about the US.

The contradictions of India

2006-12-04T22:16:00.000+05:30

I’ve been in India now for just about three weeks and have been struggling with how to describe it, except as enormous - with 1.2 billion people. The most accurate thing I can say is that for any generalization I want to make, the opposite can also be proven. A few truisms -- many things do not make sense, a lot of patience is required, getting things done is complicated, and the food is excellent. My apologies in advance for not being able to summarize my experiences better and rambling on and on.

I spent the first two weeks traveling to several of the major cities in northern India in two states – Rajistan, the land of princes, and Uttar Pardesh, home of the Taj Mahal. In Rajistan, the cities are all former princely states. We visited Udaipur and Jaipur. They have beautiful castles and forts, and princes who still reside there, albeit without any authority. The princes reigned through the British rule in 1947. Rather than dismantle the feudal system, the British ruled by reaching mutually beneficial agreements with those in power. The land which use to belong to the princes has theoretically been divided up since the British partition, but by some accounts it wasn’t done completely equitably.

Then we went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Pictures do not do it justice, so you’ll all just have to take my word for it and come to India to check it out. Twenty-thousand people worked on building it for 22 years. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by the Mughul ruler, Shah Jahan for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, his “Jewel of the Palace”. Since 80% of India's population has arranged marriages, they love telling its a love story. It's interesting also, that despite the fact that the Taj was built by the Mughal, Muslim invaders, that the Hindu's embrace it as their own national treasure. It's part of the complicated "get along, but don't always get along" relationship and interdepence between the different religions in the country.

We continued on what was supposed to be a smooth trip from Agra to Khajuraho, but I’ll talk more about transportation later on. Khajuraho is home to a sect of Hindu’s who are famed for developing the Kama Sutra. Many of the Hindu temples in the country have explicit sculptures carved on the outside in order to allow the worshippers to free their minds of earthly pleasures before they went to pray. I'll just say that the temples leave little for the people to imagine once they go inside. If there is an opposite to a synagogue – this is it.

We finished up in Veranasi – the holy city. If you are Hindu, you want to be cremated and have your ashes thrown into the Ganges River at Veranasi. It is one of India’s oldest cities and a place where many Indians make pilgrimages. We went to see the sunset pray at the Ganges. It was so out there that you’d think it was just being done for the tourists, but the majority of people who were watching were Indians. They go through several rituals with fire and smoke and chanting every night and then put the fire out and put floating candles on the river to put the river to sleep. In the morning, people go to the steps by the river’s edge and take a bath in this water. I had a hard time fully appreciating the ritual beauty because I couldn’t really get past the bacteria count, but for the truly spiritual Hindu’s, their aspiration is to be able to take the plunge. (I wanted a hazmat suit.)

In addition to the site seeing, learning about India from the people we met and driving through the countryside was eye-opening. Every day was an assault on my senses, exhausting, exaserbating and wonderful. The sarees are like a rainbow walking down the street, even when you were in the poorest areas the streets are bright. The aromas of spices in the open air market, mixing with the cow dung patties which were being dried for fuel (although hopefully not mixing in the physical sense). The cheerful Bollywood music and the blaring horns. The crowded, bustling streets and the layer of dirt which coats you every night no matter what you did that day. Finally, the spicy, spicy food -- Yum!

Aside from the common thread of everyday sensor overload, I sometimes felt like I woke up in a different place – ok, I was waking up in a different place almost every day – but I mean that the things I saw and talked about didn't seem like they could be one country.

When I read about India in the newspaper at home, it was either about economic growth or poverty -or the traditional spiritual yoggies avoiding materialism (I still haven't really seen any of the later, but I'm still searching). Only 20% of India’s population lives in the city – and there’s really no suburb – the other 80% live in villages. If you think about the economic growth India has achieved and realize that 80% of the population has more or less not yet participated in the effort or achievement, and that an increasing number of them will continue to become educated and participate in the future, the potential is tremendous, but the challenges are also immense.

I have gained an appreciation for infrastructure that we take for granted in a western country – transportation, clean water, education, and electricity, garbage collection, etc. To me the country has the feel of a start up company – where everything seems urgent, but you have to prioritize and put resources in the few important things which will enable long term growth -- but here the scale is tremendous and the things which don't get resources can literally affect whether a person lives. For all of its problems though, I heard people talk about the efforts in one or all of those things mentioned above.

I traveled between six different cities – if you count Delhi. We flew between several of the cities, but then drove from Jaipur to Agra and Agra to Khajuraho. The drives were an experience. Most of the highways were only two lanes, with no divider and only sometimes with a painted line. The speed limit on the highway was about 60-70 km/hr for cars and slower for trucks, motorcycles and scooters. There were also bicycles, people walking on the side and lots of animals – especially cows. (The picture is from the window of our car as we passed.)

Cows are sacred – so they are only used for milk and not eaten. People milk their cows in the morning and then let them out to graze until they come home at night to be milked again. The result is that there are literally cows wondering in fields, on highways and in the city streets. If you hit a cow on the road, you’re liable to pay the owner, the police are called – and it’s not good for your karma or your car if you kill a sacred animal, so traffic generally slows down when there are cows around. For anyone else crossing the street can be a life threatening experience -- not that being in the car is so much safer. (I've also seen camels, horses and elephants on the roads, but usually have have riders.)

There was one point where we drove for 3.5 hours after dark on a one-lane, bi-directional highway with no street lights. Right of way seems to go to the bigger vehicle. We were in a car, so we pulled over for trucks and buses, and motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, and walking people got out of our way. Most animals respond to the horn, which is used incessantly – and encouraged by “Please Use Horn” painted on the back of trucks. Remember there are different speed limits for different types of vehicles so even on the two lane roads there is a constant need to pass. On the one-lane, bi-directional road it was insane. The cars regularly come so close to each other that at least 50% of cars are sold without a passenger side, side-view mirror – and most of the others keep it folded in. One of my co-travellers kept unfolding the mirror and the driver would put it back in whenever we stopped. Surprisingly there is no road rage and not too many accidents.

The good news was that at several points we were on roads that were being widened to 4 or 6 lane highways – with dividers or at least painted lanes between the two directions. When we asked our driver if they would allow cows on the new highways, he said, “of course”, but in the more developed areas, they seem to keep the cows off the road. Whenever we were on one of these soon to be completed highways, it was a cause for excitement and pride by our drivers and guides.

Driving through the country side, it was mostly driving through farmland, but it didn’t look like Arkansas or Oklahoma. Most of the land seems to be small, animal plowed, plots separated by stone fences and we were told, owned by individual families. There was no mechanical irrigation at all. In a few cases we saw wells which had buckets of water being pulled up by animal labor, but in general it seemed like any watering that was done was done manually with hand held – or more likely “head-balanced” pots of water. It was an impressive to see, but I kept thinking that a little technology could go a long way to improve the lives of these people. (I was subsequently told that up north and in the south that there was more irrigation.)

Even with the primative farming technology, India has also become a food exporter in the last decade or so. I was told the country produces enough food for all its citizens, but that not all the citizens can afford to buy it. The government buys some of the surplus and sells it at a loss through a food stamps/welfare type program. Its another example of having to prioritize how resources are used, but its very hard to see people living in tent cities and looking under nourished, and know that the food is available, but too costly or not able to be transported.

At the same time, I’ve been discouraged by every guide and Indian local from giving money to anyone begging in the street. First of all, it’s illegal to give a beggar money. Second, especially in the cities, its been described to me as “organized crime”. The people begging basically have pimps that they beg for and owe a large portion of their earnings. I'm told, if you watch carefully, you’ll see different people using the same undernourished baby as a prop – and that the baby is deliberately not fed enough. One guide told how a tourist handed a 500R note (app. $12) to a man on crutches, whose legs were wrapped in bandages. The guide opened the door to take the money back and the man dropped the crutches and ran away. We’ve also been told that the government has offered housing and job training to get these people off the street but to no avail. Scams aside, 30% of the people – mostly in the countryside - live in poverty, with poverty described as unable to afford to eat 2200 calories a day. That’s more than the population of the US.

Electricity is used very sparingly. I think the country simply cannot produce enough. I don’t know how expensive it is, or if there are controlled limits that buildings can have. Often when driving through villages at night we’d see dark houses or one light on in the entire house. And even in the cities, the electricity flickers more or less every day. When I think about my apartment in NY and how often I leave my computer or AC on or forget to turn out the lights when I leave my apartment – or use lights during the day, because I prefer it. I haven’t found any statistics about it yet, but I am sure a large percentage of the people living in the country live with out any refrigeration. Only 30% of the population has "sanitation" (toilets), which is incredible to imagine. The temperture tops 40 C and next to nobody has AC. Its hard to imagine the growth of energy demand that will happen as the country develops further.

Education is one of the largest areas of progress, but there is still a long way to go. Whenever we met someone along the way and asked about there education, it seemed like the younger they were the more years of education they had. I think that the basic, public education in most areas is 8 years now, but may depend on which state someone lived it. Fifteen years ago, it was about 5 and these people's father's only had three years of school. However, although it’s improving, everyone also said the only way to learn English and get a good job was to go to a private school. My favorite driver (the one from Agra) was teaching himself English – and was pretty good – but at 22, he thought it was too late for him to go university and get a good job. He was hoping to save enough money for his daughter to go to a private school.

One last thought which I know is a complete digression from what I've already written. I've been thinking about the comparison between China and India and their respective development of infrastructure and the difference caused by big-state-owned communist infrastructure verse democratically influenced prioritization. Does the decision to address or not address overpopulation affect their long-term development? India has a legal structure which may provide better intellectual property protection, but both face corruption as their economies grow. Is there a difference in the level to which you can prioritize transportation/all infrastructure over eradicating poverty in a dictatorship verse an open economy with different lobbying groups. At some point, do the challenges of privatizing state owned businesses, the challenge of introducing capitalism, and the potential for corruption slow development relative to a country which has democracy and capitalism, but lacks basic infrastructure. How will these factors influence their pace of development -- and what impact will it have as they become the world economic giants.

I'm now in the midst of my three week volunteer program in Delhi and loving being in the city. I hope you are doing well and am looking forward to hearing from you all.

Trekking in Nepal - (new pixs!)

2006-11-14T15:41:00.000+05:30

I'm back in Kathmandu after an incredible 8 days trekking in the Himalayans. It was unlike anything I've ever imagined. The mountains are stunning and breathtaking and humbling. I don't have words to describe how amazing the view was.

We flew into a town called Lukla at about 9,000 ft, which is the primary starting point for anyone trekking to Everest base camp. The entire mountain region of the country (about 1/3 of the land and 10% of 23M population) does not have roads or cars. From Lukla all people walk and supplies are carried by foot or by animal, but mostly by foot. And most of the people live more than one days walk from Lukla and don't think anything of making the trip several times a year or even month. On the one hand the travel by foot means that the people live without a lot of things which we consider basic necessilities, on the other, they are self-sufficient or local community-sufficient when it comes to growing food or helping each other out. I think when I imagined trekking before, I imagined being completely alone out in the wilderness, but it wasn't like that for most of the time. The paths we were on were busy with commerce, but it was bustling and peaceful at the same time. And even though it was a common trekking/tourist path, most of the supplies didn't seem to be for the trekkers. Some things, like the bottled water were for the trekkers (we drank about 3 1-liter bottles a day), but a lot of the supplies were for the locals. But as in the rest of Nepal, tourism is the main industry and we could see that the trekkers were the major economic influence in the region.

The first day was a short hike - only about 3 hours - to a town called Phakding, while we aclimated. At 9,000 ft I was pretty much ok. The path is not straight up hill. Our highest point was about 13K+ feet, which seems like we only hiked up 4K feet. But no paths are straight lines. On the first day we probably went up and down between 9K and 8K about three times. Sometimes the path is flat, some times it's loose rocks, sometimes it was good climbing rocks, sometimes it is really steep and it's really dusty. Nothing is measured in miles or km - it is measured in hours and altitude (we were usually about 20% behind the estimated time). The path ranged between 2 and 8 feet wide. There were (very shakey) steel, cable bridges and wood bridges which we crossed back and forth across the river. On our itinerary, on two consecutive days we were hiking between two towns at 13K and 13K. It seemed like it was going to be a great day, until we realized that we had to go down to 10K feet to cross the river and then back up again.

Athletically, I won't say this was the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was hard aerobically because it was very hard to breathe. The first day we were at 13K feet, we stopped almost every 50-75ft to catch our breath. Also, I undertrained for this little adventure. Walking 6-8 miles a day at sealevel, and considering Columbus Avenue a hill doesn't count.

The trekkers we met were great people. Some were doing the same path as us, most were going up to the Everest base camp, some were a little nuts and were spending months in the mountains. We were told we did 2 of the 4 hardest days on the way to Everest base camp, which is at 19K feet, which was good enough for me. I didn't meet a single person from NY. Most trekkers were either European or Japanese. Of those from the US, the majority lived in the Rockies. Altitude definitely makes a difference. We generally started early and trekked until about 3, about 6-7 hours. It was warm during most of the days, at least when you were moving, but at night it was really cold. I think it was about freezing, but that's really cold when there's no heat.

We stayed in lodges and tea houses along the way. When we arrived we'd have hot cocoa and wait until the lodge owner started a fire at about 5:30. Nobody wastes firewood, so there was only a wood burning stove from 5:30 when the sun went down until 9:30 - and we went to sleep as soon as the fire went out. Sometimes earlier, if it was a rough day. Everyone hangs out around the fire, so it was a chance to hear everyone's adventures. I was travelling with two other women, so we'd pick up a fourth for cards after dinner. The Nepali guides were the best card players I've met. They'd watch one round and pick up a new game, and beat us the second time through. The lodge owners were very warm and took pride in their places and the home cooking. Some spoke English and others relied on the guides to translate. The lodges were very basic. I can't think of anything I'd compare them to in the US - nothing is that "basic". Most of them had an indoor toilet, but not in your room. One of them had an outhouse which is not very exciting if you wake up in the middle of the night and its freezing outside. Most of the lodges had hot showers you could pay for, but they weren't always appealing. Imagine hiking for 7 hours and deciding that you could skip a shower either because it involved having to walk outside afterward to get back to a non-heated room or had a high grossness factor. In eight days, I showered twice and that was more frequently than most of the people. I cannot describe the level of dirt I experienced. I thought I brought enough clothes to be reasonably clean, but its not possible when you're sleeping in 3-4 layers every night. Just trying to get your hands clean in order to eat was a challenge. The food options included a surprising amount of western options like pizza and french fries. I stuck mostly to daal bhat - rice and lentils, because it seemed safe. Anything with cheese seemed a bit risky. The other two women with me, started out thinking they'd eat meat, but after seen the meat being carried up the hill, unrefridgerated, they decided to become vegetarians for the trip too.

We traveled with a guide and a porter. Today, most of the porters, aren't sherpas. The sherpas were a specific cultural group who migrated from Tibet 600 years ago into the mountain region. Today they live all around the country. The porters are amazing. Our porter was probably about 50 years old, 110 lbs, a foot shorter than me and carried all three of our bags, about 50 kg. And he generally reached every lodge an hour or two before us. But Jeti, was only a trekking season porter for 2 months a year. The rest of the time he was a farmer. The regular, non-trekking season, porters carried a lot more supplies. They were paid by the kg and someone told me they carried about 250 lbs, but I don't believe its possible, but it was a lot. One day, we felt like we saw an entire house being carried up the mountain - treated wood, ply wood, some alumium. It was pretty incredible to watch, and sometimes a little scary if they were passing you when the path was only 2 feet wide.

Supplies were also carried by Gopse (a cross between cows and Yaks) and at higher altitudes yaks. I assume it was a combination of economics and logistics that the animals weren't used to carry more of the supplies, but I would guess they only handled about 20% of what we saw going up the mountains. Our mantra, whenever we heard the cow bells ahead was - "get to the mountain side". Usually they stayed away from us or could be shoved away with a nudge of a trekking pole.

As you would expect, the further we got from the mechanical transportation, the more expensive things got. Our liter bottles of water that cost 20R (about $.30 US) in Kathmandu, cost about up to 150R ($2.10 US) on the mountain. Since I've paid that much for water in NY, I thought it was a bargain given the transport involved. Internet service which costs about $.50/hour in Kathmandu cost about $.30/minute when it was available in the "big" city, Namche Bazar, we stopped in along the way. And the bank charged 19% service fee for a cash advance. I asked our guide at one point how much a house cost in a village we were going through - maybe four rooms (not bedrooms). It was maybe about $60K because of the cost to build, rather than the cost of land. Statistics are not easy to come by in Nepal and there is no NYT real estate section to compare to so I don't know how realistic it is, but it seemed pretty expensive if the average salary was $130/month.

Just a few more comments. I have a much better appreciation when you hear about avian flu and people talking about diseases transferring from animals to people because the people here live with their animals. I've been within a foot of chickens, roosters, monkeys, yaks, cows, dogs, - even when trying to avoid it. These people live with their animals.

I haven't touched on the political situation which is part of the reason there are so few americans traveling to Nepal. For the last 15 years, and especially the last three years, the Maoists have been a presence in the country. Fortunately, they seem to respect the tourist industry. Just after the entrance to the national park, we had to pay a "contribution/extortion" (depending on who you talk to) to the Maoists. But they give you a receipt and if you are stopped by anyone else, you can show them your receipt. While I was here, there was apparently some agreement between the Maoist leader and the government which was going to lead to them stopping from collecting extortions, but they were still collecting from people as we left. It was hard to get a translation of what the agreement was. Also, everyone we talked to had a different perspective on the maoists - from supportive - because they were a counterbalance to the king and military, to they were rebels, to support of them, but would prefer peace because it was better for business. It was interesting to hear such different opinions from people who were living in the middle of the situation.

Hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the rambling on a bit. Look forward to hearing from you. I've arrived in India and am looking forward to my time here.