Every time I go to a country for any reason, I make sure to purchase or otherwise obtain that country’s national flag. So far, I’ve gotten every one, and sometimes I even get a good story to go with it. Like the Croatian flag mailed to my house in the U.S. by a hostel owner, or the Austrian flag that I used Spanish to purchase, or the Tibetan flag, which isn’t technically a separate country that I visited, but close enough to count. All flags were relatively simple to find. However, Indian’s flag proved difficult to obtain.
It’s been nearly six months since I arrived in India for the first time. In fact, by the time I fly out of India on Wednesday, 14 July, it will have been exactly one day short of a six month stay, because I have six month validity on my visa and purchased my plane ticket for the day before it expires. I remember on day two or three, when I was with Atul in the Jaipur market, I told him that I absolutely needed to find a flag before I left. He told me that it would be difficult to obtain, as Indians don’t usually display a large version of their national flag in their homes. It’s not exactly forbidden, as tiny versions of the flags are widely available, but the large ones (which are a must for my collection) are usually handmade and for government use only. That’s not to say that they’re completely unavailable, but it would definitely be tricky.
I even remember Atul said that it might not be possible, and that I should just go to a tailor and hire him to sew together green, white and saffron cloths. Not quite the same, don’t you agree?
Today, I finally got a flag from Mr. Rana, the foreman for KLB’s new building that’s still under construction. I guess he knew a guy who knew a guy who had some government contact, and I only was able to find this out last month. Even then, it took a month to get the flag. I was a little worried, but the delivery made up for it. So far, every flag that I’ve purchased cost me 20-30 USD, varying a few dollars either way depending on the currency. It was about 5000 forints in Hungary, 18 Euros in Austria, 15 pounds in the UK, 150 Kuna in Croatia… you get the idea. In addition, all of the flags have been roughly the same quality: nylon or some other synthetic material. Since these are the type of flags commonly available in each country, I had no problem with it.
My Indian flag surprisingly broke the mold. It was handmade cotton, very thick and durable, very heavy for its size. I could hang it outside for ten years without much change in quality. It was also 600 rupees, which translates to no more than 13 USD; half the price of my normal flags. Quite the deal, if I do say so.
I finally have my flag. And I leave India in five days. This is as much of a reflection as you get from this blog. I know I haven’t written in awhile, and I may have written something along the lines of me being less and less culturally surprised by India and therefore not having as much writing fodder for a cultural blog. Does that mean that I’m now, after six months, completely acclimated to the Indian culture?
Not. Even. Close.
I’ve written about a hundred posts on this blog, and while I will definitely relish the opportunity in later years to go back and read everything that I’ve written, now doesn’t quite seem a right time for it. Mostly because that’s a lot of writing that will take way too long. Besides, every day feels like a reflection to me. Every day I have to use the cultural and practical knowledge that I’ve learned here to survive in this dynamic environment. I can’t say how I’ve changed, but I have. I know that for sure.
Therefore, instead of me offering a reflection, I’d like to hear your side. You’ve read this blog. You’ve gotten to know me, if you haven’t already. I’ll be seeing some of you very soon when I get back from Europe next month. So you tell me, how have I changed? I’d like to hear it. I have my ideas, but I can’t be sure until I get back into a more familiar cultural environment for an accurate comparison.
My Indian adventure is wrapping up. I’m leaving soon. I got a flag today, and now I can leave happy. Thank you, India. It’s been a hell of a ride.
Namaste.
09 July 2010
15 June 2010
Jackpot!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. I hate math. I really really don’t like it at all. I carry around a calculator whenever possible. It’s not good. However, the one area in which I’m fairly competent in it is food, of course. Whether it’s converting a recipe from imperial to metric or figuring out how much of what ingredients to buy at whatever cost, it’s the one area where I actually enjoy a little bit of math. It makes the world feel a bit more orderly.
Which is why I was so excited with the little bit of spice pricing that I did this week. Did you know that 86% of the world’s spices are grown in India? That’s a lot. Because so many of them grow here, they’re very cheap. In the states, if you want good spices, you either have to go to a well-reputed spice shop and sift through the hundreds of pre-ground mixes or go online. With the first option, you’re likely to buy something you don’t need. With the second, it’s hard to tell what’s good, because you can’t see it. Penzey’s is one place you can go, and I like it, but still, I wish there was a better, cheaper way to get spices.
I thought that India might have the answer, so I made a list of spices that I would want to purchase and use back in the states. I went online to three different distributors to find the price for a half kilo of each of these spices. I also went to the website for the Indian post to see how much it would cost to mail a heavy package to the states. After converting my findings to rupees, I went to a good spice store here to see how the prices would compare. Before all of that, of course, I made sure to check out the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol regulations on mailing spices into the states, and they have no problem with it.
Here’s what I found. Make fun of the table if you want, but I’m okay with being a nerd.
Score! That’s a huge savings. At worst, spice here cost a third of what they do in the states. At best, a sixth. Some spices, like black cardamom and cloves, aren’t very common in Indian cuisine or are rare, so they’re more expensive than the rest, but that’s still all relative and much cheaper than their American prices. I wanted to get a lot of everything, which is okay in terms of freshness, because whole spices will last two years if kept dry, cool and away from light. I can even get whole turmeric, which is, impossible to find in the U.S., and Kashmiri saffron, which is incredibly hard to find even when you look online.
Now, for shipping. One can go to the Indian Post website and enter all the information about a hypothetical package they want to send, and they can find the cost of mailing it to whatever country. For a 5-6 kg package, which is how much this will weigh, it will cost about 2500 rupees to mail it to the states. Add that to about another 2500 rupees for the spices (rounding up), and it will still cost about 1500 less than the lowest estimate for buying in the states. If I go for the high estimate, it will cost 8000 less.
For those of you who want it in good ol’ American cash money, one dollar is 46.6 rupees as of today.
So, you tell me. Is it worth it?
Which is why I was so excited with the little bit of spice pricing that I did this week. Did you know that 86% of the world’s spices are grown in India? That’s a lot. Because so many of them grow here, they’re very cheap. In the states, if you want good spices, you either have to go to a well-reputed spice shop and sift through the hundreds of pre-ground mixes or go online. With the first option, you’re likely to buy something you don’t need. With the second, it’s hard to tell what’s good, because you can’t see it. Penzey’s is one place you can go, and I like it, but still, I wish there was a better, cheaper way to get spices.
I thought that India might have the answer, so I made a list of spices that I would want to purchase and use back in the states. I went online to three different distributors to find the price for a half kilo of each of these spices. I also went to the website for the Indian post to see how much it would cost to mail a heavy package to the states. After converting my findings to rupees, I went to a good spice store here to see how the prices would compare. Before all of that, of course, I made sure to check out the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol regulations on mailing spices into the states, and they have no problem with it.
Here’s what I found. Make fun of the table if you want, but I’m okay with being a nerd.
| Spice | Approx U.S. cost (rupees) | Approx India cost (rupees) |
| Cinnamon (Dalchini) – 500 g | 400-700 | 110 |
| Black Cardamom (Bari Elaichi) – 500 g | 800-1300 | 550 |
| Cumin (Jeera) – 500 g | 550 | 200 |
| Ajwain – 500 g | 360-850 | 140 |
| Fennel (Saunf)– 500 g | 360-550 | 95 |
| Coriander (Dhania) – 500 g | 360-400 | 65 |
| Turmeric (Haldi) – 500 g | 400-600 | 120 |
| Fenugreek seeds (Methi Daane) – 500 g | 275-550 | 38 |
| Cloves (Laung) – 500 g | 950-110 | 250 |
| Anise (Choti Saunf) – 500 g | 550-600 | 115 |
| Star Anise (Chakraphool) – 500 g | 750-1200 | 150 |
| Nutmeg (Jaifal) – 20 pods | 350-600 | 70 |
| Saffron (Kesar) – 1g | 500-800 | 225 |
| Total | 6605-12970 | 2128 |
Score! That’s a huge savings. At worst, spice here cost a third of what they do in the states. At best, a sixth. Some spices, like black cardamom and cloves, aren’t very common in Indian cuisine or are rare, so they’re more expensive than the rest, but that’s still all relative and much cheaper than their American prices. I wanted to get a lot of everything, which is okay in terms of freshness, because whole spices will last two years if kept dry, cool and away from light. I can even get whole turmeric, which is, impossible to find in the U.S., and Kashmiri saffron, which is incredibly hard to find even when you look online.
Now, for shipping. One can go to the Indian Post website and enter all the information about a hypothetical package they want to send, and they can find the cost of mailing it to whatever country. For a 5-6 kg package, which is how much this will weigh, it will cost about 2500 rupees to mail it to the states. Add that to about another 2500 rupees for the spices (rounding up), and it will still cost about 1500 less than the lowest estimate for buying in the states. If I go for the high estimate, it will cost 8000 less.
For those of you who want it in good ol’ American cash money, one dollar is 46.6 rupees as of today.
So, you tell me. Is it worth it?
08 June 2010
Indra's Arrows
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know me. You probably also know that I’m not a very sentimental person. Furthermore, you’ll probably hate me a little for not taking a camera to India. Yeah, yeah, I know, it seems inconceivable that I would travel to a different country and not have a camera. Pictures just aren’t important to me. Memories, more so. I hope that my friends and family can understand that.
Today was one of those days where everybody I know wishes I had a camera here. It started by raining last night and continuing throughout the day. All day. No stopping. Monsoon is coming, everybody! Today, there wasn’t a lot of rain, but it just went on forever. It was impossible to get dry. By about 4 in the afternoon, the rain let up as the other Americans and I walked home from the college.
One of the MSU students, Liz, excitedly called us all up to the balcony. It was awesome. The sun was just beginning to peek out from behind the receding rain clouds. I wrote about a similar topic a few months ago, but today was different. Twelve hours of rain did wonders to Palampur’s panorama. The mountains displayed a fresh coat of perfectly white snow in the distance, and the nearby hills were an incredibly deep shade of green. The sun wasn’t too bright, but somehow that made the contrast even more visible. To compliment the colors on the environment, there were two – count ‘em, two – gorgeous rainbows opposite to the setting sun. The Hindi word for it is indradhanush. Indra is the rain god, and dhanush means “arrow.” Cool!
I’ve never seen rainbows so bright. I’ve never seen so much deep color. Wade was napping, but I went down and gently woke him up. In response to his grumbles, I said that the sky, hills and mountains were clearer than I’ve seen them in the 5 months that I’ve been here. That got him up, reluctantly. He wasn’t happy about me interrupting his beauty sleep, but at least he got to see the gorgeous landscape. Too bad he’s colorblind. Sorry, Wade!
I bet you’re wondering if I wish I had a camera now. Well… no. Sorry. I still like my memories. However, if you’re lucky, you might be able to see some later on Wade’s blog at wadeji.tumblr.com.
Today was one of those days where everybody I know wishes I had a camera here. It started by raining last night and continuing throughout the day. All day. No stopping. Monsoon is coming, everybody! Today, there wasn’t a lot of rain, but it just went on forever. It was impossible to get dry. By about 4 in the afternoon, the rain let up as the other Americans and I walked home from the college.
One of the MSU students, Liz, excitedly called us all up to the balcony. It was awesome. The sun was just beginning to peek out from behind the receding rain clouds. I wrote about a similar topic a few months ago, but today was different. Twelve hours of rain did wonders to Palampur’s panorama. The mountains displayed a fresh coat of perfectly white snow in the distance, and the nearby hills were an incredibly deep shade of green. The sun wasn’t too bright, but somehow that made the contrast even more visible. To compliment the colors on the environment, there were two – count ‘em, two – gorgeous rainbows opposite to the setting sun. The Hindi word for it is indradhanush. Indra is the rain god, and dhanush means “arrow.” Cool!
I’ve never seen rainbows so bright. I’ve never seen so much deep color. Wade was napping, but I went down and gently woke him up. In response to his grumbles, I said that the sky, hills and mountains were clearer than I’ve seen them in the 5 months that I’ve been here. That got him up, reluctantly. He wasn’t happy about me interrupting his beauty sleep, but at least he got to see the gorgeous landscape. Too bad he’s colorblind. Sorry, Wade!
I bet you’re wondering if I wish I had a camera now. Well… no. Sorry. I still like my memories. However, if you’re lucky, you might be able to see some later on Wade’s blog at wadeji.tumblr.com.
01 June 2010
The Great Wall of Rice
Today, I won’t be writing about just India. This post is about food and culture, so it’s still sticking to the main theme somewhat. It just happens to be about food and culture in a different country, inspired by a morning article in the Times of India. It also has to do with rice, which is a huge staple not only in India, but in the rest of the world.
Consider the Great Wall of China. It has been around for about 1500 years, and it doesn’t look a day older than 500. Other monuments built in that era in different parts of the world have long since been turned to dust and ash, yet the Great Wall still stands. Now, scientists from Zhejiang University in China have completed a study that explains one of the main factors contributing to the wall’s longevity. Turns out, it’s food. Rice, to be exact.
(Warning: Nerdy scientific explanation about food that you’ll never really need to know alert!)
There are three main kinds of rice: short, medium and long grain. In addition to describing the shape of rice relative to other grains, the distinctions also describe the presence and ratio of the two main starches that make up a grain of rice. These are amylose and amylopectin, which do different jobs. Amylose is a relatively short, simple molecule that can cause gelling, but is soluble in liquid. Amylopectin is long and highly branched, does not dissolve in liquids, and makes grains of rice stick to each other and liquids to gel more efficiently than amylose.
Long-grain rice, like basmati nd jasmine, contains much more amylose than amylopectin, and when cooked, the amylose available dissolves into the cooking liquid and is drained off. Also, amylose has chemical properties that keep too much water from soaking into the rice and causing the little amylopectin available to stay inside the grains. This causes the rice to separate; individual grains don’t stick together. Long-grain rice is good for making rice as a side dish to soak up a gravy or sauce. It’s the number one kind of rice used in this area of India.
Short-grain rice, like Arborio, contains a lot of amylopectin and very little amylose. Since the amylopectin is not water-soluble, it remains in the solution and causes liquids to gel up and become very sticky. This kind of rice is used to make paella or risotto, dishes where the rice is cooked in a flavorful liquid to create a sticky, creamy and delicious broth.
Medium grain rice contains roughly equal proportions of amylose and amylopectin, and thus has roughly equal characteristics of short- and long-grain rice. It’s sticky when cooked, but not as much as short-grain rice, and it holds its structure in a dish, but not as much as long-grain rice. This kind of rice is commonly used in sushi or rice soup.
What does all of that have to do with the Great Wall? Turns out that sticky rice soup made from short- to medium-grain rice grown in China was used in the mortar to piece together the wall. This isn’t exactly new information, as historians and archaeologists have known this for years. However, Zhejiang’s recent study has determined why exactly rice was important in the mortar. The amylopectin in the soup helped make the mortar nice and thick, the same way a good risotto dish is thick and creamy. This soup was then mixed with limestone to form the mortar for the bricks. Amylopectin and calcium carbonate from the limestone formed a unique, strong inorganic-organic compounded that was much better than other mortar materials of the day.
Again, this probably isn’t new information, but it was also recently discovered that amylopectin also seems to inhibit the natural crystallization of lime. In normal mortar, the inorganic compound (basically some sort of rock) continues to crystallize and change over hundreds of years, weakening the structure of the building in which it is used. Instead of the mortar eventually forming a big, messy, unstable chunk of calcium carbonate crystal after 1500 years, the microstructure that was originally created held up against weathering and further crystal growth. It’s a much more efficient and long-lasting way to build something, and rice (specifically the amylopectin in rice starches) makes it possible.
Moral of the story: rice is a culturally important food for nearly the whole worlds, so much so that it has several functions outside of its nutritional value. Oh and if you eat rice and limestone every day, you’ll live for 1500 years.
Wait, that’s not right. Kids, don't eat rocks. Unless it's salt, which is technically a rock. But that's another post.
Consider the Great Wall of China. It has been around for about 1500 years, and it doesn’t look a day older than 500. Other monuments built in that era in different parts of the world have long since been turned to dust and ash, yet the Great Wall still stands. Now, scientists from Zhejiang University in China have completed a study that explains one of the main factors contributing to the wall’s longevity. Turns out, it’s food. Rice, to be exact.
(Warning: Nerdy scientific explanation about food that you’ll never really need to know alert!)
There are three main kinds of rice: short, medium and long grain. In addition to describing the shape of rice relative to other grains, the distinctions also describe the presence and ratio of the two main starches that make up a grain of rice. These are amylose and amylopectin, which do different jobs. Amylose is a relatively short, simple molecule that can cause gelling, but is soluble in liquid. Amylopectin is long and highly branched, does not dissolve in liquids, and makes grains of rice stick to each other and liquids to gel more efficiently than amylose.
Long-grain rice, like basmati nd jasmine, contains much more amylose than amylopectin, and when cooked, the amylose available dissolves into the cooking liquid and is drained off. Also, amylose has chemical properties that keep too much water from soaking into the rice and causing the little amylopectin available to stay inside the grains. This causes the rice to separate; individual grains don’t stick together. Long-grain rice is good for making rice as a side dish to soak up a gravy or sauce. It’s the number one kind of rice used in this area of India.
Short-grain rice, like Arborio, contains a lot of amylopectin and very little amylose. Since the amylopectin is not water-soluble, it remains in the solution and causes liquids to gel up and become very sticky. This kind of rice is used to make paella or risotto, dishes where the rice is cooked in a flavorful liquid to create a sticky, creamy and delicious broth.
Medium grain rice contains roughly equal proportions of amylose and amylopectin, and thus has roughly equal characteristics of short- and long-grain rice. It’s sticky when cooked, but not as much as short-grain rice, and it holds its structure in a dish, but not as much as long-grain rice. This kind of rice is commonly used in sushi or rice soup.
What does all of that have to do with the Great Wall? Turns out that sticky rice soup made from short- to medium-grain rice grown in China was used in the mortar to piece together the wall. This isn’t exactly new information, as historians and archaeologists have known this for years. However, Zhejiang’s recent study has determined why exactly rice was important in the mortar. The amylopectin in the soup helped make the mortar nice and thick, the same way a good risotto dish is thick and creamy. This soup was then mixed with limestone to form the mortar for the bricks. Amylopectin and calcium carbonate from the limestone formed a unique, strong inorganic-organic compounded that was much better than other mortar materials of the day.
Again, this probably isn’t new information, but it was also recently discovered that amylopectin also seems to inhibit the natural crystallization of lime. In normal mortar, the inorganic compound (basically some sort of rock) continues to crystallize and change over hundreds of years, weakening the structure of the building in which it is used. Instead of the mortar eventually forming a big, messy, unstable chunk of calcium carbonate crystal after 1500 years, the microstructure that was originally created held up against weathering and further crystal growth. It’s a much more efficient and long-lasting way to build something, and rice (specifically the amylopectin in rice starches) makes it possible.
Moral of the story: rice is a culturally important food for nearly the whole worlds, so much so that it has several functions outside of its nutritional value. Oh and if you eat rice and limestone every day, you’ll live for 1500 years.
Wait, that’s not right. Kids, don't eat rocks. Unless it's salt, which is technically a rock. But that's another post.
30 May 2010
How'd That Get on My Plate?
I’ve often marveled at the ability of Indians in this area to reuse anything and everything. They’ll reuse tea dregs, save plastic bread bags, and conserve aluminum foil by using it more than twice. In fact, their conservation efforts cross international borders. When you go to the market to purchase something, the grocer or shopkeeper will put your items in a paper bag for easy carrying. This paper bag is always recycled. Sometimes it’s newspaper, sometimes it’s just a plain paper bag, but often times it will be in a bag from another country. The most common ones that I’ve seen are Bud Light Canadian McDonald’s bags. But one bag that made it’s way to our kitchen yesterday really blew my mind.
John, Lakin, Emma and I were playing cards in the evening after dinner when Rajinder came by to drop off some groceries. I waved him in and just told him to drop them off on the counter for me to deal with later, so I didn’t see the packages at first. Rajinder left, and after the game I went into the kitchen to sort out the groceries. One of the purchases was a kilo of yellow split lentils, or moong dal. It was in a sealed, unused plastic bag of Meijer brand pretzels from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
How the hell did that happen? I think the strangest part of this international exchange was that it was a sealed package. As far as I can tell, Meijer had a lot of leftover, unused bags that they had to get rid of. Somehow they made their way to India and Palampur, were used to store fixed amounts of dals, and made it to our house just in time for seven Michigan students to marvel at their presence.
It’s like Palampur was expecting us to come, and sent us a “Welcome to India” message. Cool!
John, Lakin, Emma and I were playing cards in the evening after dinner when Rajinder came by to drop off some groceries. I waved him in and just told him to drop them off on the counter for me to deal with later, so I didn’t see the packages at first. Rajinder left, and after the game I went into the kitchen to sort out the groceries. One of the purchases was a kilo of yellow split lentils, or moong dal. It was in a sealed, unused plastic bag of Meijer brand pretzels from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
How the hell did that happen? I think the strangest part of this international exchange was that it was a sealed package. As far as I can tell, Meijer had a lot of leftover, unused bags that they had to get rid of. Somehow they made their way to India and Palampur, were used to store fixed amounts of dals, and made it to our house just in time for seven Michigan students to marvel at their presence.
It’s like Palampur was expecting us to come, and sent us a “Welcome to India” message. Cool!
28 May 2010
Friends, Americans, Countrymen
I’ve been by myself for so long that I had almost forgotten what other college-age Americans are like. Thankfully, the group of MSU students that has just arrived here reminded me how much fun they can be. They also have revealed to me something about the Hindi that I had been learning, and the seven of us together are learning how to make do with some necessities. It’s been an eventful first few days.
It started with everybody arriving at the house at 6 A.M. on Wednesday, thirsty for chai and desperately needing some hardcore rest after an all-night journey on a train and a bus, as well as a minor ER visit. Lakin apparently got rather sick on the first train ride from Mussoori to Pathankot, and they took him to a local hospital in Pathankot for a little bit of IV rejuvenation. It took a lot out of everybody, and after they had finished their chai, they all took to their respective beds and passed out for at least three hours. Shammi asked me if they would want breakfast at 8:30. Not a chance. Sleep first; food later.
The rest of the day consisted of unpacking and relaxing, with some lunch and dinner involved. This is when I found out that my Hindi learning over the past several months has been a little bit… how shall we say? Biased? Yeah, that’s a good PC word for it. I never took any Hindi classes, so all of the Hindi that I’ve learned has been by ear, from the people around me. I got really good at communicating with them and figuring out their pronunciation, how they use vowels and some common catchphrases.
The other MSU students, on the other hand, spent their first Indian week at a renown language school in Mussoori, learning “standard” Hindi. When they got here, I was using some of the Hindi that I knew to communicate with GSC staff, and also to see how their Hindi was progressing. Apparently, people in this region speak Hindi a little bit differently than in central India, or as compared to “standard” Hindi. Some phrases that I used were completely unintelligible to the other students. I guess that I learned a sort of a “country” dialect of Hindi. It would be like somebody from India travelling to northern U.S. states and saying “How y’all doin’ today, folks?” Yes, my friends, I learned how to speak hick Hindi. But hey, at least the people around here understand me pretty easily. That’s good enough for me.
Their first day here got even more interesting when the water stopped coming into the house around dinnertime. I guess that’s what happens when 7 people try to start living in one place. So no water to clean dishes at dinner (we had to use a bucket), and most of the new arrivals, fresh off a 12-hour journey, were not able to take a shower. Drinking water was limited as well, and all of those restrictions on an unusually hot and muggy day were not really fun. After breakfast, there really was no water at all, so the kitchen’s a mess and can’t be cleaned. I hate a dirty kitchen. Oh, and the main line is out, and it’s a holiday, so the city plumber won’t be coming anytime soon.
The upside of that is that we can’t take showers in the bathroom. Yes, it’s an upside, at least for males, because it only takes five minutes to walk to a gorgeous little set of pools fed by a river coming from the mountains. The water is clear and cool, and it’s a much more relaxing bathing experience than taking a bucket bath in your bathroom. Wade, Atul and I went today, and we certainly will be going back. That is, of course, as long as you’re not afraid of snakes. I saw one running away from us in that pool, but we went upstream just in case.
But of course, the best part of the day was dinner. Sitting down with a bunch of other Americans who have similar backgrounds as me was a truly great experience. After over four months of being alone in many respects, it was great to have some more people to talk to. The fact that I was able to use American English is just a bonus.
It started with everybody arriving at the house at 6 A.M. on Wednesday, thirsty for chai and desperately needing some hardcore rest after an all-night journey on a train and a bus, as well as a minor ER visit. Lakin apparently got rather sick on the first train ride from Mussoori to Pathankot, and they took him to a local hospital in Pathankot for a little bit of IV rejuvenation. It took a lot out of everybody, and after they had finished their chai, they all took to their respective beds and passed out for at least three hours. Shammi asked me if they would want breakfast at 8:30. Not a chance. Sleep first; food later.
The rest of the day consisted of unpacking and relaxing, with some lunch and dinner involved. This is when I found out that my Hindi learning over the past several months has been a little bit… how shall we say? Biased? Yeah, that’s a good PC word for it. I never took any Hindi classes, so all of the Hindi that I’ve learned has been by ear, from the people around me. I got really good at communicating with them and figuring out their pronunciation, how they use vowels and some common catchphrases.
The other MSU students, on the other hand, spent their first Indian week at a renown language school in Mussoori, learning “standard” Hindi. When they got here, I was using some of the Hindi that I knew to communicate with GSC staff, and also to see how their Hindi was progressing. Apparently, people in this region speak Hindi a little bit differently than in central India, or as compared to “standard” Hindi. Some phrases that I used were completely unintelligible to the other students. I guess that I learned a sort of a “country” dialect of Hindi. It would be like somebody from India travelling to northern U.S. states and saying “How y’all doin’ today, folks?” Yes, my friends, I learned how to speak hick Hindi. But hey, at least the people around here understand me pretty easily. That’s good enough for me.
Their first day here got even more interesting when the water stopped coming into the house around dinnertime. I guess that’s what happens when 7 people try to start living in one place. So no water to clean dishes at dinner (we had to use a bucket), and most of the new arrivals, fresh off a 12-hour journey, were not able to take a shower. Drinking water was limited as well, and all of those restrictions on an unusually hot and muggy day were not really fun. After breakfast, there really was no water at all, so the kitchen’s a mess and can’t be cleaned. I hate a dirty kitchen. Oh, and the main line is out, and it’s a holiday, so the city plumber won’t be coming anytime soon.
The upside of that is that we can’t take showers in the bathroom. Yes, it’s an upside, at least for males, because it only takes five minutes to walk to a gorgeous little set of pools fed by a river coming from the mountains. The water is clear and cool, and it’s a much more relaxing bathing experience than taking a bucket bath in your bathroom. Wade, Atul and I went today, and we certainly will be going back. That is, of course, as long as you’re not afraid of snakes. I saw one running away from us in that pool, but we went upstream just in case.
But of course, the best part of the day was dinner. Sitting down with a bunch of other Americans who have similar backgrounds as me was a truly great experience. After over four months of being alone in many respects, it was great to have some more people to talk to. The fact that I was able to use American English is just a bonus.
25 May 2010
Keys to the Kingdom
The biggest problem that we have faced with living and working in the new house is that we only had one key. I needed a key to get in because I live there. Shammi needs a key because he needs to come in to cook when I’m at KLB. Rajinder, another GSC employee, and Atul need a key so that they can let in the plumber, electrician and telephone guy to do work when I’m out. Since I’ve moved in, it’s been a barrage of telephone calls back and forth between four or five people trying to get the key for their own purposes. We needed more keys.
That’s easier said than done. Principal Ramdev has been trying to help me out by finding a guy who can copy keys, but we keep running into roadblocks. For example, one guy that we went to said that he only will copy keys if we can also bring him the lock, so he knows that he’s not making a key so that somebody can steal something. We didn’t want to remove the locking mechanism from the door and drive it across town, so that was not really a good option. Also, since other people keep using the key, I can’t take it to get copied.
On Saturday, I finally got a day when no people were coming in to do work on the house. Principal Ramdev and I drove to a locksmith that his friend knew. We met a small Sikh man whose name I never got that agreed to make some copies of the key. He gathered his equipment and we drove him to the house.
That’s when the magic happened. All this guy had with him was a small toolbox with several rough-edged files and blank keys. He took a look at my key, then proceeded to make four copies of it while we watched. By hand. This guy was good. For one copy, he didn’t even use a blank. He just happened to have several spare keys that weren’t being used anymore, and he used one that was similar to mine and filed it down until it fit the lock. Again, by hand. The most impressive part was that the copies actually worked better and turned the lock more smoothly than the original. I was extremely impressed.
Yet not all home improvement projects work that way in India. Just take the example of the electrician who came in on Sunday to do a 10-minute fix of one of the outlets. As soon as he got here, the power went out and stayed that way. Kudos to him for staying as long as he did, nearly three hours, just waiting for the power to come back on. In a different way, I was again extremely impressed.
That’s easier said than done. Principal Ramdev has been trying to help me out by finding a guy who can copy keys, but we keep running into roadblocks. For example, one guy that we went to said that he only will copy keys if we can also bring him the lock, so he knows that he’s not making a key so that somebody can steal something. We didn’t want to remove the locking mechanism from the door and drive it across town, so that was not really a good option. Also, since other people keep using the key, I can’t take it to get copied.
On Saturday, I finally got a day when no people were coming in to do work on the house. Principal Ramdev and I drove to a locksmith that his friend knew. We met a small Sikh man whose name I never got that agreed to make some copies of the key. He gathered his equipment and we drove him to the house.
That’s when the magic happened. All this guy had with him was a small toolbox with several rough-edged files and blank keys. He took a look at my key, then proceeded to make four copies of it while we watched. By hand. This guy was good. For one copy, he didn’t even use a blank. He just happened to have several spare keys that weren’t being used anymore, and he used one that was similar to mine and filed it down until it fit the lock. Again, by hand. The most impressive part was that the copies actually worked better and turned the lock more smoothly than the original. I was extremely impressed.
Yet not all home improvement projects work that way in India. Just take the example of the electrician who came in on Sunday to do a 10-minute fix of one of the outlets. As soon as he got here, the power went out and stayed that way. Kudos to him for staying as long as he did, nearly three hours, just waiting for the power to come back on. In a different way, I was again extremely impressed.
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