Taste of India

Eager to show my enlarged cooking portfolio, I experimented my newly learned indian recipes on my girlfriend and a friend. Here’s the result (not bad at all being the first try).

Indian dinner!

Here’s also a list of what we prepared, linked to some well explained recipes:

• Chapati (no need for ghee, just go with flour, water and salt!)
• Curd (actually we haven’t prepared that one, I bought at the grocery dairy product most similar to it I could find!)
• Green cucumber salad
• Paneer (see ‘Curd’ note)
• Paneer Bhurj (simply the best)
• Lentils (I haven’t found a recipe on the internet but I learnt it at Ruchi, we used Paneer Bhurj base of onions, tomatoes and spices with lentils in place of paneer)
• Rice (just plain rice)
• Tandoori Chicken (we had a few setbacks in the preparation and we hadn’t properly followed the recipe)

A few notes on this trial:

• Don’t worry if you don’t have all the spices required; in my experience chilly and cumin are the fundamental ones to obtain the taste of India!
• We had a fresh white wine with the food, I don’t really know if it’s proper or not, I’ve never had alcoholic beverages while in India
• I believe this are mostly north indian recipes, there’s is a universe of different dishes extending more into meat and also into fish; check the websites I’ve reported for the previous recipes to see more of them.

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A consultant in India – The End

10/06/2009

I mainly dedicated my last 2 days in India to the activity that really defines a tourist: shopping!

We (Johnny and I) went to to Connaught Place, a huge area in new Delhi filled with bazaars, stores and restaurants.  Unlike many tourist spots, C.P. is a shopping place frequented also by indians and this is reassuring about the quality of the stuff you find.

We started by going into State Emporium shops; these are government run stores which have good quality goods but have also high prices. It’s useful a visit here before diving into the bazaars so you can have benchmarks of the goods’ prices you intend to buy.

I’ll include a bargaining scene which happened to me at Palika Bazaar (Connaught Place):

Me: (walking)

Vendor:  “Please sir, come here!”

M: (approaching the shop and looking around for few seconds) “Do you have pashmina shawls?”

V: “Yes sir, many textures, many colors!” (showing several shawls)

V: “There are shawls 100% pashmina, 50% pashmina and 50% silk and 100% silk!”

V: “Feel this fabric, you like it?” (giving me a 10o% silk shawl)

M: “Yeah, it’s really soft. But I prefer the 50% pashmina/50% silk. How much for that?”

V: “How many of them do you want?”

M: “Just one”

V: “1000 rupees, sir. High quality, sir!”

M: “Ah… ok. I’ll think about that…” (while leaving)

V: “Wait sir! Say a price!”

M: “I don’t know… I just have 200 rupees left for shopping…”

V: “No 200 rupees, this is high quality, see? 800 rupees, sir. Take it.”

M: “I’m sorry, I can’t afford that”

V: “Wait sir! You’re the first customer, 600 rupees.”

M: “Still too much for me”

V: “500 rupees!”

M: “No, thank you.”

V: “Morning time discount! 400 rupees”

M: “I can’t really spend more than 200 rupees, thank you for the discount anyway!” (while leaving)

V: “200 rupees! Take it!”

One thing you’ll notice while going around for Delhi is that shops, bazaars and public places in general have metal detectors and customers and their bags are searched by policemen stationing at the entrance. India has enforced security measures in all the crowded areas, a measure I think enacted after the recurrent terrorist attacks which have hit this country.

After the morning shopping we went to Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque of all India. This is a impressive and at the same time beatiful building, capable of containing 25′000 thousands people!

Jama Masjid mosque – Delhi

Jama Masjid is just one of the great structures built during Mughal Empire (muslim domination in India) that also built Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutb Minar, …

11/06/2009

My last day in India, I spent the day mostly wandering around  Pharganj Area; looking for t-shirts and fining my bargaining skills.

Main Bazaar, Pharganj – Delhi

Many thoughts came into my mind while walking around the stalls:

People: it’s for sure the most amazing aspect of this country. Every square, street, bus or restaurant is packed of noisy people and, unlike in many western countries, there’s an high sense of community here. As a foreigner I receive a lot of attention by locals, often they ask about me or my country and offer me chai; however this is also true for Indians. They don’t really consider other people “strangers” and are available to talk or help each other.

Poverty: I have never experienced that before. You may find half-naked children begging also in the most fancy streets of Delhi; it’s simply part of India (still). While I’ve found poorness more bearable in rural areas, where people tend to positive behaviours (e.g. farming) to improve their situation, in cities this translates into slums, beggars, thieves…

Taxi/Rickshaw meter: my biggest failure in India; they simply refuse to use it with tourists. I tried very hard but drivers prefer losing the ride that giving you the fair price!

Hand in hand: at the beginning I mistook this a sign of homosexuality (which is illegal in India, btw) but then I was explained that it’s just a custom; Indians (male) usually walk hand in hand with their friends (still male). I can’t help it, seeing a man spitting and/or burping (and they do!) while walking hand in hand with one friend will always look odd to me!

Limca: a real discovery! This is a great lemon drink, bottled by Coca Cola, which I’ve never seen before; why it’s not available also in Italy?

To sum up I have to say that I couldn’t anticipate a bit of how India it’s like: crazy, assaulting and with its pace to which you have to adapt, not the opposite. All its aspects, those bad as much as those good, have been really instructive and I hope I’ll have the chance to travel thoroughly across this incredible country in the future.

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A consultant in India – Part 7

6/6/2009

The overnight travel on the bus was really long but I managed to sleep for few hours and, also, I met Johnny, a funny Irish guy who share my same travel itinerary. Arrived in Haridwar we moved towards Rishikesh, the yoga world capital (also the Beatles stayed there), and finally seeing the Gange!

So we arrived in a nice hotel and got a cheap room (300Rs, less than 5€) but with view on the river. After leaving my stuff I went for a walk around the town.

Gange beaches - Rishikesh

Rishikesh it’s a small city, with few centers on both side of the Gange united by two pedestrian bridges. Beside the Gange, there are a lot of temples and Ashrams (places where people stays for days/ weeks/ months to learn yoga or meditation by a master), but the atmosphere is not so different from less “spiritual” cities; there are always a lot of people trying to sell you something, being it a yoga course, a temple tour or some handcraft.

Temple and pedestrian bridge - Rishikesh

I believe that the huge tourist passage here (really lots of westerns) completely changed the attitude of this place so while it’s still a place for religion and meditation, it has become also full of vendors, beggars and “enlightened” foreigners here for yoga and smoke (it reminded me of Baghsu village somehow).

7/6/2009

I began my day with a yoga lesson. It was Hatha Yoga (don’t ask me more about it) and the master was really committed, at the question “How long since you practice Yoga?” he replied “Since my previous life”!

The lesson was good in my opinion although I expected it to be less demanding from a physical viewpoint. We had to execute many exercises (very similar to stretching ones) and it was difficult to stay focused and to control your breathing at the same time.

After the lesson I had a bad surprise. Trying to book the train tickets to get to Varanasi (my last destination here in India), I’ve found that there were no seats available in any class or time for the next week! Every viable train had, at least, 30-40 people in waiting list (i.e. overbooked seats) and there was no chance for me to get in those trains. I was stuck in Rishikesh!

This was unexpected and, having still available 7 full days in India, there were few places alternative to Varanasi I could visit before my return. After studying the guide and the map I excluded getting back to the hill stations (too far) and going to Rajastan (not enough time and too hot in this season); my only 2 options were basically spending one week in Rishikesh, the touristy, western crowded, “cool” yoga capital or going to Delhi, the crazy, hot, assaulting India capital.

I then decided to move my flight back a couple of days earlier. Rishikesh is a nice place to stay, but I’m not really the kind of traveler who stays one week in the same place, without seeing anything new and dividing his time among reading, yoga and chats (strictly about yoga).

During the afternoon Johnny and I went for a little trek to a waterfall (3km + 2 of steep path) in a park near Rishikesh. My fellow traveler is really fun, I never get tired of hearing him say, in his typical Irish accent: “Ahh Francisco, it’s brilliant! You should see that!”

Johnny and me - Rishikesh

The place was beautiful, a forest, far from the streets filled by car horns where the waterfalls forming several pool where people could bath and refresh.

Waterfalls - Rishikesh

8/6/2009

I spent my last day in Rishikesh going around the temples and trying to get into the spirituality of the place. I wasn’t very successful. In the temples I wasn’t taken much seriously, I received rushed explanations about gods, customs and traditions and after one minute temple’s men tried to sell me sacred water, amulets, … and asked for a donation!

Hindu temple - Rishikesh

It’s not all commercial however, by the Gange you can find people really into religion, praying or bathing in the river holy water. The problem is that before getting there you have to pass through a wall of vendors, beggars, …

Religious man - Rishikesh

Gange - Rishikesh

9/6/2009

We (Johnny and I) left Rishikesh in the morning to take the bus for Delhi; actually, we should have taken the overnight bus the following evening but the man at the travel agency told us, a couple of days ago, that these buses are canceled 75% of the times (?!?!). In fact also ours was canceled and so we left during the day to avoid delays and issues in getting to Delhi.

In 7 hours of a semi-deluxe bus (Rishikesh-Delhi 220Km) we arrived in Delhi. I believed that after one month in India the chaos, the crowd and the traffic of this city wouldn’t impress me anymore; I was wrong! Delhi is always impressive when you get there.

The difference I could notice was my approach to bargaining, at the taxi stand I laughed when a driver asked us for 350Rs (about 5€) and then I bargained badly until 120Rs (less than 2€). I would have gone to 100Rs but the driver was then looking for another customer to come with us and so Johnny stopped me: “Man, when the driver looks for another customer to share the ride it means you’ve hit the rock bottom!”

We took then a room in Pharganj, the same area where my travel began. In main bazaar street I met an Indian guy I met for the earlier in Mcleod Ganj and who was there to buy some clothes for his shop there. Then it’s true that all Indian stuff starts from here!

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A consultant in India – Part 6

3/6/2009

I get up in the early morning to catch the first bus to Shimla; I’m surprised and pleased to see that everyone was already up to say goodbye. Life there, though isolated and completely different from what I’m used, was good and I enjoyed all the people I’ve been living with in this short but intense period.

I jumped then on the bus and immersed myself in the typical atmosphere of an Indian bus trip: the Sikh driver, the overcrowded seats, the car horns and the images of gurus bordered by blinking leds like a christmas tree.

Indian bus

In a bus stop I’m offered, through the window, a very sweet drink. The drink is free and is offered by a group of people for a religious custom. I’ve drank it and hoped not to regret it later! (note: luckily everything went fine)
To get to Shimla I was suggested to take a train from Dharmpur. When I got in the station I saw that the timetable wouldn’t help me very much.

Train timetable - Dharmpur

I asked informations at the ticket counter and I bought a ticket for Shimla. Just 10 Rs for getting into this traditional toy train (although not anymore steam powered) which would bring me to the hill station Shimla. I was told that the train was really slow but I didn’t expect that much; it took 4 hours to cover 70km! I should have imagined that when a volunteer in Ruchi told me: “If you’re in the toy train and you have to pee, you can get off and then jump again onboard!”. It’s true.
By the way the route was really nice, the railway it’s famous for its 103 galleries and its hillviews.

Toy train to Shimla

Toy Train to Shimla

I then got to Shimla, which revealed to be a pleasant town, with a fancy street full of shops and restaurants and an architecture clearly imprinted during the British domination.

The Ridge - Shimla

I got a room in an hostel and then I had a little walk around the city. Beside the main road (“The Mall”) there is also a cluster of small streets forming the typical bazaar structure typical of Indian towns.

Shimla

I was really tired but before going to bed I tried a restaurant just near Scandal Point (the center of Shimla). Loveena restaurant is cited also in the Lonely Planet which, however, wasn’t fair toward this place which is a real pick in my opinion. I had a great non veg. thali menu, including also a Gulabjamun as dessert, for about 160 Rs (about 2.5€). You can get a similar dinner for less, but the service was optimal and there is a nice hill view by the restaurant’s windows.

4/6/2009

This morning I planned to go to the Jakhu Temple. The path it’s not to long (2.5km) but very steep and there is a sign which tells you if you’re in shape considering the climbing time (and I was! )

Jakhu Temple

As you can see from the picture above I have a walking stick (which you can get on the way to Jakhu temple for 50Rs); however this is not for the walk but for the monkeys (really!). In fact this site is famous more for the monkeys living there than for the temple itself. However the reviews of my friends (“they check your pockets for food”) and of the Lonely (“frankly a menace”) were, in my opinion, a little exaggerated. Monkeys actually try to approach you but there’s not really need to beat them , the mere presence of the stick scary most of them and for the boldest ones it’s enough to wave the stick or hitting the ground to make noise.

Jakhu Temple

The Jakhu temple itself is a small structure, not much different to other Hindu temples I visited so far but it’s surrounded by a nice garden where you can take a rest after your walk (always keeping an eye on the monkeys!).

After leaving the temple I passed through the town to have a quick lunch. There I have been stopped by an Indian student who asked me few minutes to practice English. I met a lot of young Indians like him that try to improve their English by talking with tourists as much as they can.

In the afternoon I went for a walk towards The Glen, a former british playground. Bad idea. Getting to this place is about 5Km of hill paths and when I got there I didn’t even realize that this place was the park! So I looked around for a while before surrending to the idea that the little piece of terraced terrain with patched grass was the park.
At the end of the day I calculated I walked more than 15Km through the hills!

The Glen - Shimla

5/6/2009
Last day in Shimla, time to pack my stuff and go towards Rishikesh, the yoga capital, before my last stop in Varanasi, the most sacred hindu city.
I spent the last day there wandering in the bazaars but without doing shopping. I was given all the tricks by the Ruchi volunteers for my shopping in Delhi, where all goods sold in tourist places come from.

The Mall - Shimla

In the evening I went to the bus station, always crowded, noisy and lively as in every town. I went there one hour in advance to ask multiple times directions about my bus and I have been consistently answered platform 3. One hour later I managed to get my bus on platform 1.
The bus is a deluxe, this means nothing more that is the same bus all of us used to go for school trips. To me, after more than 3 weeks of Tata daily buses, this AC vehicle branded Volvo seemed like the enterprise!
I sat in the comfortable seats and prepared for this 10-hour overnight trip. When the bus left I could admire Shimla valley, filled of lights, while the TV on board was playing classical Bollywood music videos.

Shimla by night

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A consultant in India – Part 5

28/05/2009
Wake up call at 5am to get the first bus in the morning and go to Ruchi main office, in Solan district (still in Himachal Pradesh state). The trip has lasted 10 long hours, encompassing: bus changes, salesmen, beggars, a hot unbearable and the last 2 hours in a bumpy mountain track.

Crowded indian buses

We then arrived to Ruchi headquarter; the complex is divided in 2 main buildings, one with offices and bedrooms, and the other one with the kitchen, dining/TV hall. The structure is very simple, a sort of camping. I have been assigned a double room (with a Delhi student); toilets are detached but both western and Indian (squat) ones are available. I was surprised by seeing no showers but Indian technique to take a bath is different (not bad at all btw): you fill a bucket with hot water and you wash yourself using a bowl. Reasonable and water efficient.

Bandh village - Ruchi

The location is very isolated; we are at 2 km from Bandh village (which is a bunch of houses) and 5 km from the first town with some shops. One of the volunteers told me that to catch the first bus in the morning to go working in the slums he has to:

• Go out at 7am
• Walk 5km towards the main village
• Catch the bus, having a 2 hours trip in the bumpy mountain tracks
• If everything went ok he arrives at 10am (what a commuting time!)

I’ve also meet 3 students of Delhi School of Social Work that are here for an internship, they seem cool and I’m glad to spend this next week in a more crowded context.
The work plan for the next days is:

• Friday 29 – visit to the slums and to the free school nearby set-up by Ruchi
• Saturday 30 – visit to a village which is running some projects of water management and participation to the Self Help Group meeting (SHG) held by the village’s women
• Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 – Distribution of food and a money to elderly and disadvantaged people scattered in several villages of the area

29/05/2009
My first day in Ruchi starts with a visit to the slums (in Baddi area). I join the Delhi students and after 3 hours, 2 buses (+1 lost) and 1 rickshaw ride we are in the slums.

Little note: often, when you go to a rickshaw and you agree for the price of the ride (never get on before agreeing on the price!) some other people (uninvited) join you in the vehicle (which is an Ape Piaggio!) for a lift (more or less free). When we went to the slums we were 10 (me + the 3 Delhi students + the driver + 5 people which came out of nowhere for a ride)!

Slums are more or less as I imagined them; a mess of poor shelters with dirty water canals, flies everywhere and children wondering around.

Baddi - Slums

What surprised me is how this slum are formed and the players around it. I summarize here the main points I got from the students with me and from slums inhabitants:

• Slum dwellers are not unemployed (as I thought). The people here in Baddi’s slum are immigrants from different states (hence cultural integration problems) which came here to work in the factories.
• The landowners of the slums area make a lot of money by charging something like 200Rs (about 3Є) to every “house”, maintaining the right of sending them away whenever they want. Sometimes landowners are also paid by factories which need a place for their workers. This practice is not legal but landowners’ good relations with local police allow them to continue this lucrative activity.
• The government forces factories, contributors to the creation of the problem, to adopt poor communities through development programs which, however, do not address the root causes of slums formation.
• The turnover of slums dwellers, due to jobs availability, is very high. In this way there is no community sense among inhabitants (“if 2 people fight no one stop them” we were said) and no long term view regarding, for instance, sanitation and education programs. This instability of this particular slums (I’ve been told that there are also stable, community centric slums) makes difficult to obtain people involvement in projects which could improve their condition.
• Alcoholism and domestic violence are widely spread problems within the slums.
• Education value is not perceived and only a minor part of the children go to the school set up by Ruchi for them. Parents are also afraid that their children could be kidnapped on the way to schools (there have been some cases recently).

When we left the slums to go to the schools I noticed a small child who didn’t bother anymore pushing away flies. How long does it take to get used to this?

The school set up for the slums is a small building where about 40 children receive informal basic education (no degree assigned) and some healthy food (mainly fruits and vegetables) to integrate their diet.

The trip back to Ruchi required: a free ride from a truck driver, a 10-people rickshaw drive and 1 hour and half of bus.

30/05/2009

The plan for the weekend is to go to Kasauli, a little hill station, with Vivek, Ananya and Nida: the 3 Delhi students with which I work daily.

Before leaving for Kasauli however, we have to go to a small village, Shayamaghat, to participate to a Self Help Group (SHG) meeting held by village women. A SHG is a group of people which form a sort of board to discuss about village (one or more) problems, evaluate the progress of the projects and also collect money which form a fund accessible to members and that is an alternative options to bank loans.

Several projects are now being carried out: one is the construction of septic tanks (for the treatment of wastewater) and the other the construction of tanks for the rainwater collection.

Shayamaghat - Rainwater tank

Shayamaghat - Septic tank construction

At the meeting not all the members were present; some women took advantage of the rain to go working the fields. The main topic of the meeting regarded the construction of septic tanks for all the 9 houses of the village, every house already has one but it’s small and it fills up too quickly, while the new ones last about 20 years.

Also the women raised the issue of pollution; there is a stone crushing activity nearby and the villagers complain about the increased number of asthma cases. They also filed a petition to the local government but they had no answer in more than 2 years.

By the way SHG meetings are pretty fun; women are cheerful, make jokes and offer the classic Chai. One of these women then hosted us in her home; we had lunch, we played Carrom with her child and then we left to catch the bus for Kaseuli.

Shayamaghat - Self Help Group meeting

Kaseuli is a small but pleasant hills station; there is a bazaar, some nice walks and even a Christian church (left by the English). There are many Indian tourists but I did not meet any western traveler.

Kasauli - Me, Ananya, Vivek and Nida at the Kasauli church

Being with Indians I was guided through many typical dishes and snacks; in the afternoon we had fresh-made Jalebi (great!), Samosa and Chai while for dinner we had Masala and Butter chicken and Gulabjamun for dessert (good also this one).

Kasauli - Bazaar

Interestingly, after a dinner in a restaurant, you’re served with a box divided in two parts containing fennel and sugar respectively. You have to put both in you’re hand and chew this mix; the fennel is for your breath while sugar is just because of the Indians’ love for sweet tastes. Keep in mind that this custom is necessary for human interaction for in a standard Indian dinner you eat 3/4 onions (both raw and cooked) plus a generous amount of garlic!

31/05/2009

After a light breakfast we went for a 4Km walk towards the highest peak of Kaseuli, Manki Point. This location has a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Manki and some nice views over the valley. Unluckily this area is in a military base and cameras were not allowed; no pictures then!

Kasauli - Towards the Manki point

We had then lunch in a restaurant where I received another good lesson from my Indian friends. They complained for the bill 580Rs (about 9Є), too high, and especially for the mineral water; I learnt there that 50Rs (about 0.8Є for one bottle it’s crazy. Good to know for when I’ll be on my own!

Not much else for the rest of the day, just a 1 hour bumpy and curvy bus ride to get back at Ruchi, in which I regretted of having had too much food for lunch!

1/06/2009

Since here everyone is awake (and noisy!) at 6 in the morning you can’t think of sleeping much more. By 7 am I was climbing a path to see the check dam built by Ruchi, which provides water to the near Bandh village and to the organization’s complex itself.

Check dam – Ruchi

After breakfast we went to the meeting hall where elderly and disadvantaged people had come here for the “Adopt a Granny” scheme, part of the “HelpAge” program. This scheme provides to elderly and other people in need with a money grant (100Rs) and food (10Kg flour, 5Kg rice, 1Kg sugar. 1Kg lentils) on a monthly basis.

HelpAge - Money grant

While in the morning we distributed the packages to the people from the surroundings, which came in Ruchi main office, in the afternoon we loaded all the stuff for the first round of deliveries (the 2nd will be tomorrow).

We jumped in the back of the jeep and visited several villages to deliver our first 37 packages. People in the villages where waiting for us, they always welcomed us and often offered Chai and several kind of sweets. Often we would stop by and talk with them to see if they had particular problems.

Helpage - So few signatures and so many fingerprints...

2/06/2009

2nd day of delivery for the HelpAge program. As yesterday we loaded our jeep and we went delivering the last 64 packages left.

HelpAge - Jeep deliveries! (Ananya, Nida, Joseph, me)

Sometimes we offered a ride to several people we encountered. Indians are very open in this sense; they don’t mind giving a ride to strangers, also, more than once I’ve been invited to someone one for a Chai or for lunch. This is really great characteristic of this people; they are very tolerant and well disposed towards others.

HelpAge - Jeep deliveries!

When we got back to Ruchi we had dinner all together: this is my last day there and I’m sad at the idea of leaving the routine I had there: the people, the work, the cooking lessons, …

In the view of my return to Delhi before the departure, Vivek, Annie and Nida gave me precise instructions about place to visit, bazaar for the shopping (and bargaining tricks!) and restaurants to go. I have a list of 10 restaurants for 2 days only; it’s going to be tough!

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A consultant in India – Part 4

25/05/2009

I passed these days mainly working in the camp. There has been a significant change in the plan; we will stay at the school in Sanora village until Wednesday 27th and then we will leave for Ruchi main office (the NGO I’m working with) and spend the days left visiting and supporting other projects. This is good news because it will allow me to have a hands-on experience in projects regarding water, education, slums…

In order to complete our job by this new deadline we extended the working ours also into the afternoon. This gave also us the chance to know a little more the children and to try the good lunches prepared for us by the teachers.

Lunch time (Sanora school)

A little anecdote: when we were moving some bamboos kept inside the school, several animals run away to find a new shelter. In order:

• Several big spiders, to whom we removed their webs
• A medium sized lizard
• 3 mice, which quickly hidden themselves in a hole in the wall

At this scene the teachers (notice: women teachers) laughed, amused by the view of these schools inhabitants.

Sanora school from the inside (repainted)

26/05/2009

In the end, we were able to complete the internal and external painting by Tuesday (May 26th); you can see from the pictures that the school is still not a mansion, but it’s significantly better looking than before the make up.

Sanora school (before works)

Sanora school (after works)

We spent the last day at the camp just playing with the children. They were used to my presence and it was fun; I didn’t have time to teach them “Brother John” so we just played. As you can guess by the school pictures, toys available are few; the best one was a small wooden train of which we found its fourth wheel at the end of the day.

I also left to the school an illustrated book about Italy (to spread the word!), that I bought for the cultural exchange with other international volunteers which, in the end, were none!

Last day of the camp (Sanora school)

In my last day at Sanora village I can say I got used to lifestyle there:

• the workers paving a path towards the main road
• the women at the natural spring source, getting water and hand washing clothes
• the children walking around with barefoot

Village life (Sanora)

Finally, after 12 days here I feel I can write some points about India:

• Foreigners: no matter how touristic is the area you are never ignored. Some people will be curious about you, asking where are you from etc… maybe offering you Chai Tea, some will want to take a picture with you and other will try to deceive you into giving them money; in any case you’ll almost always have a reaction from the Indians around you.
• Garbage: I was surprised by following for about 1 km my fellow (Indian) volunteer for “throwing garbage”, which means going to a ditch, exactly the same as the one in front of your door, and leaving the garbage there.
  Also, when I was in Mcleod Ganj, I was refused a plastic bag for my shopping.  “For pollution sir”, yeah I agree that plastic bags pollute but I would start first by placing around the city at least some garbage bins…
• Cleaning: I hate the Indian broom, it forces you to curve down and collect a fourth of the dirty you can get with a real broom (see below for the “deluxe” model we have at the guest house)
  

  Indian broom

• Cooking: I enjoy the Indian cooking, it’s a little spicy but I want to learn some of my favorite plates. I’m practicing at every dinner and I hope I’ll be able to offer a typical Indian dinner when back in Italy. Also I’ve definitely excluded a business for the Piadina in India: the Chapati is pillar, and it is a simpler and cheaper alternative that covers the same market.
• English: the fact that every Indian speaks English is a myth. This may be true in educated, urban areas but it doesn’t apply in rural areas or with uneducated people, where Hindi and local languages are used.

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A consultant in India – Part 3

21/05/2009

1st day of work; we (the Indian guy worker, Mukesh, the camp coordinator, Dharamvir, and me) went to the camp location. The place is a small village 15 minutes of bus from our guest house.

The “client” is a pre-primary school for children from 3 to 6 yo. The goal of our job is to:

• repair the building (basically a single room house 4×4mt): filling the holes/scratches, whitewashing the walls, ….
• supporting the teachers and spend some time with the children, introducing them to  English by pictures and songs (I have ready “Brother John” in my song portfolio, I hope I’ll have the chance to teach them!)

School of the workcamp (before works)

The school work take place only during morning as the school close at 1pm. The first day passed really fast, we filled the holes in the walls and we prepared a list of the needed equipment for the following day. I had little contact with children: they’re not used to western people and they were a little bit afraid of me.

I spent the afternoon in Dharamsala, the town below Mcleod (which hosts the Dalai Lama), planning my future visits in these towns for the next days. While going back to the house I noticed how many monkeys live in this area, these are the first monkeys I spot!

Dharamsala's monkey

22/05/2009

After a sweet-noodles based breakfast (way too sweet!) we went to the camp for the first whitewashing day. We had to use simple brushes and couldn’t use the roller brush because the paint we use is too sticky!

Whitewashing at the workcamp

We painted  all the morning and we were able to paint the first coat on half of indoor walls. At this pace the whitewashing should be done in 4 mornings + 1 for the outside walls. Not bad, in this way we could spare some days from the last week and go checking other work camps now involved in water management, education and others topics.

Today the children were already bolder than the first day. Some were looking at me the through the window, smiling and waving when I looked back to them. I took them a picture and shown it to them; they enjoyed it and continued smiling at me.

Children at the workcamp

After the camp and a lazy Friday afternoon, Mukesh and I went to an Indian restaurant. I tried the “Dosa” a sort of omelet with various toppings; I choose the mutton, just to break for one meal the vegetarian diet.

Being the house were I stay on a steep slope I could observe a funny behavior of Indian motorcycle drivers: they keep their motorcycle off while going downwards! Some of them, during the nights, keep the lights on (besides the always present horns, clearly) but they turn the engine on only for when it’s strictly needed.

Mountains behind Dharamsala

23/05/2009

I spent the first day off from the work camp to go to Mcleod, Dalai Lama’s host city, and to Baghsu, a small funny (you’ll see why) village near Mcleod.

This area is really touristic; I have never seen so many western people since I’m in India.

I went first to Baghsu waterfalls; after a 30 minutes walk through the hills I got to a nice (and cool) spot with a little waterfall and the monks doing their laundry close below.

Baghsu waterfalls

Then I went to the Buddhist temple Tsuglagkhang, where the Dalai Lama lives. Coming from a long serie of visits to Hindu temples, I was expecting this one to be less crowded of figures, representations and gods. I was wrong. The temple style was surely different (you could see the Chinese influence in the paintings) but also in this one there were a lot of figures, gods and so on.

I understand this style in an Hindu temple, whose religion has thousands of gods (maybe more) but for a Buddhist one, I was expecting something cleaner, less decorated, self-focused rather than focused on some outside entity

Tsuglagkhang temple

I also tried to apply for a blessing of the Dalai Lama (he was in Mcleod at the moment), which is a single or group audience with him where he blesses visitors. I went to the reception to ask but I found a monk smiling at me and giving me a yellow envelope with Tibetan writings on it and inside some grains which seem to be tea; he also gave me a red string with a knot which, I’ve been told, is blessed by the Dalai Lama and you should wear it to get good luck.

Tsuglagkhang temple

I reached then a friend I met in Amritsar and I spent the rest of the day with her and her friends, among which a cool Indian guy with a look middle way between a 50cents and a Bollywood star!

There was also a dutch girl who has been traveling 2 months and half on her own around India and she plans a total of 6 months of traveling between India and Nepal.

Since I’m here I’ve met so many foreign travelers on a gap year traveling on their own around the world. At the beginning I was surprise but I start to think that we Italians make the exception in this case (this use I believe is very spread in northern europe and US countries).

Mcleod Ganj

I spent the evening in Baghsu village, near Mcleod. This place is even more turistic then Mcleod itself. A lot (really a lot!) of western people of all age come here and is capable of spending 3 months (!!!) here; they usually hang-out in small bars, smoke (in a wider sense), play drums and sketch dragons (really!).

By the way, this place is really enjoyable, the air is cool (more than 1700mts above sea level) and there are a lot of small great restaurants where you can have dinner and chat (even if you’re not into the drums or the dragons!). I recommend this place for a few days, you can add a couple more if you also like trekking.

24/05/2009

Lazy Sunday. I had a cheese toast breakfast in a nice Baghsu bar with hills view (due to the chronic lack of night buses, I preferred to spent the night there and getting back the following day)

Bar at Baghsu

I then packed my stuff (I got some very cool Indian clothes for changing last evening!) and then I came back to the guest house.

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A consultant in India – Part 2

19/05/2009

I got up at 6am and after the check out I go towards the New Delhi train station. „At least at 6.30 in the morning there won’t be all the crowd and the traffic” I thought… funny western guy!

New Delhi Train Station

I managed anyway to get into the train for Amritsar, which was really good. Air conditioned, I was served a breakfast, a bottle of water and an english newspaper. On the train I met a salesman (from Goa, as I could guess from his portuguese name) working for a chain of retail stores started by Wal-Mart in India; I think they couldn’t afford to ignore a market such as this country can offer.

The train was on time and six hours later I got to Amritsar. Less crowded than Delhi (what a baptism for my first time in India!) I dodged all the rickshaw drivers and went downtown looking for a room.

Amritsar

In my new hotel I joined 2 travellers (one woman from Brazil and a man from France) going to Attari. Attari is a place 1 hour from Amritsar, on the border with Pakistan where everyday there is a sort of „cerimony” where the soldiers from both countries engages in a sort of challenge, showing off their strength and singings hymns of their country. I was surprised to see how the tense relation between these two countries could be expressed through such a peaceful and amusing show.

As foreigners we were allowed in the VIP area (once again, thanks Lonely!) and we could watch the show from a perfect viewpoint. I have to say that audience on the indian side was much more colorful. Before the soldiers started they performance the indian women were dancing on a very loud (dance!) music. I believe it’s difficult to understand the involvement and the fun of this show by loooking at videos and pictures but I’ll post something anyway.

Ceremony (video)

Attari ceremony

Attari ceremony

We we got back to Amritsar I went to the Golden Temple, the most sacred Sikh temple. The lake around the temple and the people praying contribute to make you appreciate the importance of this place even if you’re not a follower of this religion.

Golden Temple (Amritsar)

20/05/2009

Another early morning wake up for the travel to Gaggal, near Dharamsala, to finally start the work camp. Even the tourist office was able to give me the wrong schedule for the buses but, thanks to a connection in Pathankot, I finally got there.

Not very much to say about this day. It was my first long trip (6 hours) on an Indian bus. This is a privileged position to look at the salesmans jumping on the bus to sell medicines, jewels and beverages (all at the same time) and at the crazy, horn-based, indian driving style.

On the bus (towards Gaggal)

When I got to Gaggal I was picked up by one of the organization managers which brough me to the guest house where I’m going to stay (well above indian standards). The only drawback so far is that I am the only volunteer (!?!?!?), so I will be working with just another indian guy (full time employee of the organization) on this project.

At the guest house there was also a dutch couple which is traveling around Asia. We cooked an indian dinner under the instructions of my new indian colleague and we talked a little. I loved the expression of the dutch guy „Walking wallets”, referring to how some people consider foreign travellers in poor countries. Luckily, I have to say I see more and more indians genuinely curious about foreigners (they often stop you just to take pictures) than those money-driven (which I’m slowly learning to manage, by the way).

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A consultant in India – Part 1

I start now, in this Pharganj area hotel of Delhi, to collect glimpses of my Indian adventure.

16/05/2009

Getting to Delhi has been great, I had a Qatar air flight connecting through Doha (Qatar) which surpassed all my expectations.

I spent my cumulative 9 hours of flight by browsing around the (on demand!) multimedia content and I ended up watching Gran Torino, The Simpsons and reading my travel guide while listening to some great classical albums (by Led Zeppelin, Clash, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, …).

I was also surprised by being presented a menu for choosing what to have for dinner. With its unsurpassed service Qatar Airways just surpassed my previously favourite British!

I love Qatar Airways!

17/05/2009

3 AM India time (GMT+4.5) Indian burocracy regarding visa passed smoothly (I’m already worrying for the US…) and I am finally on Indian ground.

The operator from the International Turist Office makes a gesture towards me to have me approach by the counter. He spotted my potential “chicken” profile and warned my against all possible scams, touts, … (BTW, the Lonely guide already included all these warnings).

I then go to a prepaid taxi booth and get a receipt for my hotel. The driver, after going the wrong way in the highway to do gas, tries to redirect me to another (better, in his opinion) hotel. I resisted and, after several stops by driver’s friends with travel agencies (4 am in the morning!!!), which tried to sell me trip packages, I get to the hotel.

The area was not really shiny at 4am (not even at 4pm, I have to say), I enter in the hotel while a chewing cow stares at me. The hotel is a positive surprise. Very simple, clean and with a rooftop restaurant where you have breakfast. The roof hosts also a pool with foggy water which didn’t permit guesses about its depth (I checked then this afternoon and it’s 1mt).

Pharganj area (Delhi)

At 9am after a shower, a quick nap and a (good) breakfast I’m on the street trying to purchase train tickets for Agra (Taj Mahal) and Amritsar (Golden Temple) for the next 2 days before starting sightseeing around Delhi. I invariably end with a travel package which bonds me to a barely english-speaking driver which will take me around in Delhi and Agra.

So I spent my first day getting around Delhi’s main attractions as: Qutb Minar, Humayun’s tomb, and Red Fort.

Qutb Minar (Delhi)

Humayun's Tomb (Delhi)

Red Fort (Delhi)

These are really beautiful places but I was too busy dodging people offering help (never free) to plenty appreciate them. The traffic is also something I wasn’t prepared to: I heard more car horns today than in the rest of my life!

Jama Masjid mosque and bazaar (Delhi)

I ended my day at Main Bazaar street. I had a simple dinner at a bar (“Thali” I believe it’s the name of this rice based dish) and then I wondered a bit around shops. This time the walk was decisevely more relaxing, I’m not sure if I’m building a Bazaar oriented attitude or people were just tired by the long day!

P.S. A french couple at the hotel just told me there is an Indian train ticket reservation website which allows me to bypass agencies… damn…

18/05/2009
7 AM: After a quick (always good) indian breakfast on hotel rooftop i get in the driver’s car and we head to Agra (Taj Mahal’s city). I try to sleep a little but I cannot avoid to focus on driver’s zig zag style, always accelerating and decelerating. I noticed, however, that he drove as all the other drivers we encountered today.
I was just wondering how could they keep this style without having accidents and then I spotted the first one: nothing serious, a truck just lost his watermelon’s load on the street but the cows standing there were more than happy to help cleaning.

During the trip I noticed how many ads signs were dedicated to education; primary schools, english/computer courses or even MBAs. My takeaway of this is that indians value education as a precious good, still unaccessible to many, which could ensure them a better lifestyle. I don’t know what’s the India’s policy about education but I hope they’s doing their best to help its spreading as fast as possible.

At around 11 Am we get to Agra.

Agra

The city is about a tenth of Delhi but its vendors do all the possible to not let you feel alone. Taj Mahal, THE attraction of Agra, makes obviously no exception. Useless to say that Taj is beautiful and it really deserves a visit.

Taj Mahal (Agra)

Taj Mahal (Agra)

While leaving Agra, I went to Mehtab Bagh, a park on the Yamuni’s riverside. Besides this park you can access (freely) to the riverside across Taj Mahal. From here you get splendid view of the palace in a completely quiet environment. Hassling vendors and guides are replace by peaceful cows and few children, that you can make easily happy with few rupees or a pen.

Children on the riverbank (Agra)

Taj Mahal from across the river

I got back to the car and travel to Delhi. After four hours and a fine to the driver (he he eh!) I’m at the hotel. I check on the just discovered indian railway website my reservation and I go to bed. Tomorrow I have an early departure for Amritsar (hosting the Golden Temple).

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Travel’s lectures

Tomorrow I’ll fly to India, where I plan to spend a month volunteering near Dharamsala and backpacking a little around north India.

Image via Wikipedia

I wanted to have with me a suitable book for the coming month,  I then rushed to finish Sophie’s World, which is a suggested lecture if you don’t commit my mistakes:

1. Read this book after 15 (let’s say 20 if you didn’t study Philosophy at secondary school) years old
2. Read this book after having read  ”History of Western Philosophy” of Bertrand Russell

So I ended up with Tiziano Terzani’s “In Asia”, it’s my first book by Terzani; I hope it’s well written and it will do something for my ignorance about Asia’s history. Quite a challenge…

I’m not sure I’ll be able to update this blog during the next 30 days but sooner or later I’ll post pics and anecdotes of this travel.

I’ll see you soon!

Francesco

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