Food

Naan, biryani, dahl, vegetable curry and paneer
Ten things I love about food here

1) When you order a small portion of something you actually get a small portion. A small ice cream is about a half a cup which is plenty for me. We need to take lessons from this in the U.S.
2) Naan bread in just about any flavor, but plain works with everything. I am hoping I can come up with a good way to cook this when we get home. It is usually cooked in tandoor ovens here.
3) Gulob jamun when it is done well. Think of a crispy donut hole drizzled with honey.
4) Dahl pretty much anywhere we have had it, but I prefer it spicy. It is a staple food around here and most everyone makes it. It is delicious with naan. It is a lentil based soup-like dish which can be eaten with naan.
5) Jalfrezi is a vegetable curry dish that is wonderful. I have had it at a few places and it has always been good. I think the fresh coriander is one reason I like it so much.
6) Kingfisher beer since it is pretty much the only alcohol I am consuming. Alcohol is sold only in wine shops which are not that numerous and the variety is not huge. Kingfisher is a decent beer; however, I am not sure I will be looking too hard for it when I get home.
7) I love the spiciness and smells of the food. Just about everything is spicy, aromatic and flavorful. Whether we are in the countryside or cities, there is a spicy aroma that is usually present. The spicy smell of this country is something that I will miss.
8) I like that I am getting a lot of vegetables in my diet, despite the fact that they are all cooked. I am losing weight slowly despite the fact that I am not dieting and that is also a plus.
9) I have liked all of the varieties of paneer that I have had. Paneer is a curd cheese in spicy sauces and it can be eaten with naan or roti. I generally prefer the red sauces over the green and I like it when there are a lot of vegetables in it. This is a dish I intend to serve at home.
10) Biryani is a wonderful rice dish and a specialty of Hyderabad. I love the vegetables and spicy flavors. Apparently it is very difficult and time consuming to make properly.

Gulob jamun (not done well)

Ten things I do not love about food here

1) I definitely do not like Sambar and doshas- I cannot even describe the taste except to say not for me.
2) Gulob jamun when it is not done well. Think of a soggy donut hole soaked in corn syrup. This can be so awful that I have not tried it again even though the first one I tried was quite delicious.
3) We cannot eat any fresh fruits and vegetables. To do so would be risky and, after Jon's experience, we won't chance it. The food we eat has to be thoroughly cooked and steaming hot.
4) Everywhere you go there is a buffet. That is our choice for dinner every night in the hotel and sometimes we just can't face it.
5) I have gone completely vegetarian here. I have seen a few too many sketchy butcher shops, and the doctor told Jon to stay away from meat after his illness so that works for me.
6) Idlys in any variety. This is a breakfast food that can be eaten with Sambar or another curry sauce. I have a hard time with curry at breakfast.
7) Western pastries and bread are not done well here. I have picked up what looks like it might be a delicious donut to find a dried and tasteless bread product.
8) I haven't found any deserts that I like. The presentation is always good, but the taste is not what I expect. I have picked up what was labeled as an apple strudel to find a dry, hard thing with dry paste in the middle. I am not a big desert person so this is not a big disappointment.
9) It is hard to get a good pizza here. We ordered one from Dominoes, which I would not do in the U.S., just because we wanted a pizza that was more familiar.
10) Lady fingers, or okra as it is called in the U.S., is a tasteless and hard to eat vegetable. I have a hard time cutting it and find it too chewy and stringy to eat. I am not sure what it adds, but it can usually be found in vegetable dishes in the buffets.

Indian Infrastructure or What infrastructure?

Here I am standing under some sketchy power lines in Jaipur

A couple of guys were working on this power line in Delhi. 

They did not look official and sometimes people just hook up to existing lines.

Power, water, sewer, roads, telecommunication and other conveniences we enjoy in the U.S. are not as easily enjoyed here. A big story this summer was about the power failure in the northern part of the country. I heard from many people back in the U.S. wondering if we had lost power in Hyderabad. We did not lose it for an extended time, but power loss is a daily occurrence. Everyday I can expect the power to fail several times for a few minutes each time. We might be at a restaurant or store and lose power, but everything keeps functioning because people here are so used to it. We were at the grocery store and experienced a 20 minute power loss and people used their phones for light to continue shopping. We lost it 3 times at dinner last night and they finally brought a candle over. Big businesses have back up generators to deal with the power shutdowns and failures.

Frozen food section at Hyderabad's largest grocery store

I went to the biggest store in Hyderabad, a city of over 6 million, thinking I could buy some frozen entrees to keep in the hotel room. I was surprised to find a very small frozen food section. Basically the only thing in it was ice cream, in very small containers. It makes sense though. There are scheduled power shutdowns for various areas of the city in Hyderabad everyday. The newspaper publishes the location and times of the shutdowns, which last for 3 hours. Of course access to oil is a huge problem and I have seen articles in the paper that indicate India is trying to work out a deal with Iran. I don't think this problem will be solved until this country is effectively able to harness wind and solar power. We have seen windmills in the south from the plane, and the Ellaa Hotel uses solar power to heat water; however, like the U.S., this country is a long way from using wind and solar power to capacity.

A typical road, half paved and half dirt

Sidewalk in front of the hotel. It has looked like this since I arrived.

Roads and sidewalks are a disaster or just don't exist. This is not a country where one just goes out for a walk. To get from the hotel to Jon's office, about 2 miles, would mean near death experiences with traffic and traversing pipes sticking up in random places, sidewalks that disappear, climbing over piles of bricks, and avoiding the filth and trash along the path. Anytime we are in a city area with shops we encounter the same thing. I miss a lot when we are out walking because I am so concerned about what is on the ground and not tripping. Roads can go from pavement to dirt on the same stretch. There are many potholes and when it rains some places are totally impassable. The highway from the airport, Nehru Outer Ring Road, is a good one and probably the best road around here. Once the technology companies started coming in an investment was made to build a better road to the airport. It is a start.

Slum dwellings at the edge of the Ganges, one of the most polluted rivers in the world

Clean water here is a huge problem. Anytime we see a river or lake it is polluted and often smells like a sewer. Everyday in the paper I see an article about people getting sick because of contaminated water. I think most places have water brought in if they do not have a well, and I think the wells are only on the outskirts of the city. As far as I can tell, there is not a city wide water supply system or sewage treatment facility, but there is a water supply and sewage board (love Indian bureaucracy). The Ellaa Hotel has a septic system and they have had problems with it lately. Septic trucks have been here around the clock for a couple of days pumping out the tank. I don't even want to know where they will put it.

Catching a breeze

Another crowded train station

One area of infrastructure that seems solid is the train system. The Indian railway system is the largest employer in India and one of the world's largest employers. We met a very nice young man on the train who worked 6 days a week to assist the riders traveling from Khajuraho and Varanasi. We think he told us that he earns about 2000 rupees a week for this job which is about $35 U.S. dollars. The main problem with the train system is that to ride on it one has to make reservations months in advance. Most train stations were crowded and most people were camped out on the pavement. There were even some homeless people camping in the train station  We took the train 3 times and one trip was an overnight journey. We rode in second class with air conditioning which was comfortable.  The bunks were stacked 3 high in the sleeper train that we took; however, the bed was comfortable and the rocking motion of the train relaxing. Riding the train was a nice way to see the country side. 

Madurai and Kodaikanal

Because he realized we would need breaks from Hyderabad and the Ellaa Hotel, Jon set up a few weekend getaways for us. Our weekend trip to Madurai and Kodaikanal was one of these getaways and it was a refreshing change of pace. Our first stop was to Madurai to see the temples there. Madurai is at the southern tip of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. It was a busy and hot place, but the temple complex was well worth the stop. The Meenakshi Sudareswarar Temple was built in the 1600s and is a good example of temple art and architecture in this area of the country and we saw similar smaller temples during our travels in this area. The temple is dedicated to Parvati and her consort Shiva.

The outside of the temples were very colorful and interesting. There was a lot to take in and I found it hard to capture in pictures. The colors on some of the temples we saw outside of Madurai were more faded and not as colorful which made me wonder how they kept up the temples in this complex.

A colorful ceiling in the temple

 Jon next to a carved pillar

The inside had a lot to offer in color and design.

We saw a lot of worshipers and pilgrims in the complex while there. 

There were several lingam in the temple since Shiva is also worshiped here. 

Lingams represent the divine energy of Shiva, but they have been interpreted as a sexual symbol 

since they are phallic. 

 I am not sure why this elephant was in the temple complex.

 He hid behind a pillar when a noisy group of pilgrims came through.

There were a couple of different bazaar areas in the complex and they were as colorful as the temples. The sellers here were not as aggressive as others we have encountered.

Views on the way to Kodaikanal. It was a misty morning and quite lovely. We saw a lot of agriculture along the way too. There were terrace gardens everywhere.

My favorite part of this getaway was Kodaikanal which is a mountain resort area at 7000 feet. Kodaikanal was established as a hill station in the 1800s. The British (or Britishers as they are called here) created hill stations at high altitudes in order to get away from the heat and disease in the cities. American missionaries and European missionaries along with the British established Kodaikanal. We saw more Christian churches here than anywhere else in India and our drivers usually had crucifixes in the car instead of a Ganesha. The ride up and back was a big part of the pleasure because of the windy misty mountain road and beautiful views. I don't think I did a very good job capturing how spectacular the views were.

We rode in a small car and I don't think I would have wanted to ride in a bus since the road was so narrow in some places. There were monkeys all along the rode, especially at tourist stops. They were pretty bold and did not hesitate getting on cars. I caught one trying to look at himself in a mirror.

Monkeys were all along the road

A monkey trying to look at himself in the mirror.

The monkeys did not hesitate getting on vehicles and even tried to 

get inside if they saw something.

Our resort was lovely with views and a lot of beautiful gardens, although the room left a lot to be desired. We saw poinsettia bushes or trees which surprised me since I did not know they grew this way. Most of the flowers were varieties that we are familiar with. I saw hydrangeas, which seemed to be a lot bigger here than in Maine, azaleas, flowering maples (a lot bigger than the one I have), and roses.

Hill Country Resort

This resort area is a popular honeymoon spot and we saw a few young couples here.

I did not know that there could possibly be such a cool place in this country. We were actually cold enough for jackets and a hat while in Kodaikanal. Jon was trying to stay warm in bed with the thin blankets provided.

A big attraction was the Pine Forest which Jon and I found odd. A lot of people got out to look at the trees I guess. There were a couple of stuffed tigers there oddly enough, despite the fact that they don't live in this region.

There were plenty of bazaars and sellers along the mountain road and at major stops.

We even stopped at a wax museum. Most of the displays were religious.

Gandhi with his spinning wheel - Could not have a wax museum without him 

 This figure had a needle, crack pipe 

and hookah going all at once. No wonder he looks so bad.

The Last Supper - their faces seemed too cheerful

This trip was a refreshing break from the city. It was a place that seemed more like home to us than anywhere else we have been. We needed this break because we are both getting very homesick.

On Being a Westerner/White in India or Almost Famous

A group of guys at the Taj Mahal who wanted a photo for their social networking site

I have never experienced what it is like to be a minority until travelling here. Being a Westerner in this country is almost like being famous. I am amazed at how often people come up to us and ask to have their picture taken with us. A lot of people even try to take our picture surreptitiously. We get more than our fair share of stares as well. I have been riding in a cab or car and seen people in vehicles next to me pratically getting whiplash so they can look. I generally like to remain anonymous or unnoticed so this is hard sometimes.

A rather large group of guys and me. Where's Waldo?

Sometimes I am surprised at how quickly I am surrounded. In the photo above, Jon had walked in the opposite direction and I turned around to take a photo of a shrine and was quickly surrounded by all of these guys asking for a photo. They were a little overwhelming, but they liked that I asked to have them take a picture for me too. It is pretty forward for them to ask to take a photo with an unknown woman, but I will deal with that in a post on being a woman here. I always laugh when they take turns to have a photo with me and take turns using the sunglasses. Young men are more likely to ask us for a photo, but we have had families with kids who want to take pictures with us too.

A nice family that wanted to take a photo with us. The boy was a little unsure though.

Another random group of guys wanting a photo.

Kids taking a picture of me.

I have been trying to understand why we are so interesting to the people of this country. This country of more than a billion people does not have a big tourist industry. Only 2.5 million people come here every year to tour and a lot of the tourists are from other Asian countries. We are probably the first Westerners encountered by people from some of the smaller villages. I even notice other Westerners and we usually exchange a smile and nod.

Jon being surrounded by guys who want to take a photo with him.

I was surrounded by this group of guys who wanted a photo in this market in KodaiKanal.
It was one of those times when I felt overwhelmed so I called for Jon, who came and took a photo.

I think that money also has something to do with the curiosity people have about us. Most Westerners are perceived as having a lot of money. Whenever we go to buy something or take a tuk-tuk ride, the price quadruples. Most items in tourist markets are not marked which makes it easy for the seller to raise the price on Westerners. I have learned to walk away if I think the price is outrageous; it is amazing how quickly it comes down then. All of the paying museums and sites charge higher prices for foreigners. We generally do not have a problem with this since we can afford to pay more than the locals.

Another aspect is that Indians desire fair skin. There are numerous commercials advertising products to make one's skin fairer. Indians are such a handsome people that I find this hard to comprehend. Most of the famous actors, Amitabh Bachchan being the most famous, are lighter skinned. I am not sure that they are impressed with the paleness of our skin since we are probably too white and maybe even a little sickly looking to some.

A cute boy Jon met in a village who wanted a photo

While I think Indians may admire the wealth of Westerners and are curious about us, I do not think they admire us. When we strike up a conversation they most often ask if we speak Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or the local dialect. When we say no you can see them thinking, "poor fool." Also, I think they think Western women dress like peasants, which is true compared to the way Indian women dress.

A group of women who wanted a photo, a rarer event

Generally, Jon and I are accommodating and take pictures with people when they ask. If I see someone taking a photo on the sly, I will sometimes give an exaggerated smile or a thumbs up. We feel that since we are visitors and observers in this country, it is a fair exchange; however, sometimes it is overwhelming and I find myself looking for a quiet out of the way spot. When I go to the store there are thousands of people there, but I rarely see another Westerner. We stick out wherever we go and I have to accept that I will probably be attracting attention if I strike out. In this country of over a billion people, it is hard for a Westerner to be inconspicuous.