I got to work today to find that Principal Ramdev had unexpectedly gone to Chandigarh on business. It puts a hold on my work here because he is the only one besides Madame Utra who knows about my plans for cooking the extra meal at the hostel, which means that he is also in charge of making sure I have the ingredients that I need. Today I don’t, and he’s not here, so I have nothing to do. No ingredients means no cooking means not much busy work at KLB. Well, I could at least go to Madame Utra to make sure that there will be the necessary ingredients for tomorrow’s dish… except that she is also out of town. My VIP’s are MIA, so I am SOL, FYI.
But that’s just the way things go here, and I was surprised to find that I wasn’t at all frustrated about it. Honestly. Yes, it kind of sucks that I can’t do any more progress on my planned work, but stuff like that happens. It might not be the way life is supposed to work, but it’s the way Indian life works, at least. I have no idea when he’s supposed to get back, so I have no idea what to do next, but that’s alright. I can work some more on my lesson plans, catch up on writing emails, make calls, hang out with the teachers, read the newspapers a little more thoroughly, and fine-tune the menu. It’s all a part of the “independent working environment” about which I was told before I came here. This probably isn’t the way I want to spend the rest of my life and career, whatever that may be, but for right now, it’s just perfect.
08 March 2010
That's Amore
I have made another important observation of Indian cuisine: it is efficient in both time and fuel. It contrasts starkly with typical American cooking, some of which requires long hours spent obsessing over a single serving of food. Think about Southern pulled pork, which is often cooked overnight and requires constant heat maintenance. Sure, it’s delicious, but is a two-hour tomato sauce really worth two hours? Depends on what Indian you ask.
It all started with snacks last week. Mrs. Sing, Harmit’s mother, invited me over her house on Holi for a few Indian sweets that she made herself, which were so much better than the same things I had bought in a shop. She went to university in the states and has studied a lot about food science, so she has a vast knowledge of food from several different cultures in her 40+ years of cooking experience. Stuffing my face with her delectable treats and discussing food was like heaven to me, so I was more than happy when she suggested that we should make some pasta dish together the following week.
Mrs. Singh wanted spaghetti and meatballs. I informed her that meatballs were typically made from beef. We decided to find a substitute, and she happened to have a box of Nutri lying around. Nutri is dried soy granules that are rehydrated in warm water and cooked any way you want, so why not roll them into balls with spices and onions and call them meatballs? The reason she was asking me is because she didn’t know how to make tomato sauce, and I happen to have a fantastic recipe for it.
I’ll let readers know right now that this sauce takes a very long time, even though it is the best tomato sauce recipe I have ever tasted anywhere. First you have to cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds and juice. Strain the seeds out of the juice, reserving the liquid and throwing away the seeds (if you cook seeds too long, it turns the whole mixture bitter). To the tomato juice, add some vinegar, honey, a bit more water, red wine, dried herbs, spices, and some sugar. Cook the liquid over high heat until it has reduced by about half and has become syrupy and smells way too strong. Reserve the mixture for later.
Dice two parts onion and one part each carrot and celery. Sweat the mixture over low heat with olive oil and salt for about 15-20 minutes in a big, tall pot, until the carrots have become almost soft and the onions and celery are translucent. Throw in a few crushed/chopped cloves of garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the tomato flesh that you’ve seeded, strained, drained and chopped. Boost the heat to medium or medium-high and cook until the liquid left in the tomatoes has almost been cooked away and the flesh is soft and starting to stick to the sides of the pot.
Now you’re going to take all the vegetation that you’ve cooked for over a half hour and dump it into an oven-proof casserole dish or other wide, shallow container. Put it in the oven on the highest rack with the broiler on high, right under the heating coil. Leave it there, stirring it every few minutes. What you actually want to do is burn the tomatoes a bit. They’re done when there are bits of black edges throughout the mixture, but it’s not even close to being completely burnt yet. It will take 20-30 minutes.
When that’s finished, move the whole mess back into the big pot you’ve used to cook the onions/celery/carrots in the first place. Cook it on high until it’s very dry and the tomatoes are starting to really stick to the pot. Now it’s time to deglaze the browned bits on the bottom with some alcohol: red wine is best, white wine is good, rum is okay, and vodka will work in a pinch if that’s all you’ve got. Continue to mix it a bit until the bottom is no longer stuck with tomatoes. Kill the heat and add the syrup that you made from the reserved tomato juice, vinegar, wine, sugar and other stuff. Use a stick blender to puree the mixture to your liking and add salt and pepper to taste.
Number one, this recipe is awesome. Number two, it’s a lot of work. Hell, it took longer to type it than it would have taken to open up a can of diced tomatoes, heat it up and puree it. It also uses up a lot of time, energy and sometimes unnecessary ingredients, like alcohol, vinegar and honey. It can take an hour and a half to cook. And it’s just a sauce! The whole time I was making it at Mrs. Harmit’s house, I felt really guilty for using so much of their cooking fuel and ingredients. Shammi makes a delicious meal at least twice a day in less than a half hour, and that’s normal for all families here. Today was a special occasion, and Mrs. Singh encouraged me to cook as much as I want in her house, but I won’t be doing that recipe many more times. It’s wasteful and extravagant compared to the rest of the food here. I love cooking, and there are few things I consider to be more fun than spending three hours making a side dish or small snack that get’s eaten in two bites, but that’s just not what people do here. I hope to learn to be more efficient and less wasteful in my time here.
On another note, meatless meatballs are pretty damn good. A little tough and chewy, but they go great with two-hour tomato sauce and imported spaghetti. Also, I made kidney bean burgers for the hostel yesterday, and they looked exactly like beef burgers. What does it mean when Indians, who wouldn’t even dream of eating cows, love cow-imitation products so much?
It all started with snacks last week. Mrs. Sing, Harmit’s mother, invited me over her house on Holi for a few Indian sweets that she made herself, which were so much better than the same things I had bought in a shop. She went to university in the states and has studied a lot about food science, so she has a vast knowledge of food from several different cultures in her 40+ years of cooking experience. Stuffing my face with her delectable treats and discussing food was like heaven to me, so I was more than happy when she suggested that we should make some pasta dish together the following week.
Mrs. Singh wanted spaghetti and meatballs. I informed her that meatballs were typically made from beef. We decided to find a substitute, and she happened to have a box of Nutri lying around. Nutri is dried soy granules that are rehydrated in warm water and cooked any way you want, so why not roll them into balls with spices and onions and call them meatballs? The reason she was asking me is because she didn’t know how to make tomato sauce, and I happen to have a fantastic recipe for it.
I’ll let readers know right now that this sauce takes a very long time, even though it is the best tomato sauce recipe I have ever tasted anywhere. First you have to cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds and juice. Strain the seeds out of the juice, reserving the liquid and throwing away the seeds (if you cook seeds too long, it turns the whole mixture bitter). To the tomato juice, add some vinegar, honey, a bit more water, red wine, dried herbs, spices, and some sugar. Cook the liquid over high heat until it has reduced by about half and has become syrupy and smells way too strong. Reserve the mixture for later.
Dice two parts onion and one part each carrot and celery. Sweat the mixture over low heat with olive oil and salt for about 15-20 minutes in a big, tall pot, until the carrots have become almost soft and the onions and celery are translucent. Throw in a few crushed/chopped cloves of garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the tomato flesh that you’ve seeded, strained, drained and chopped. Boost the heat to medium or medium-high and cook until the liquid left in the tomatoes has almost been cooked away and the flesh is soft and starting to stick to the sides of the pot.
Now you’re going to take all the vegetation that you’ve cooked for over a half hour and dump it into an oven-proof casserole dish or other wide, shallow container. Put it in the oven on the highest rack with the broiler on high, right under the heating coil. Leave it there, stirring it every few minutes. What you actually want to do is burn the tomatoes a bit. They’re done when there are bits of black edges throughout the mixture, but it’s not even close to being completely burnt yet. It will take 20-30 minutes.
When that’s finished, move the whole mess back into the big pot you’ve used to cook the onions/celery/carrots in the first place. Cook it on high until it’s very dry and the tomatoes are starting to really stick to the pot. Now it’s time to deglaze the browned bits on the bottom with some alcohol: red wine is best, white wine is good, rum is okay, and vodka will work in a pinch if that’s all you’ve got. Continue to mix it a bit until the bottom is no longer stuck with tomatoes. Kill the heat and add the syrup that you made from the reserved tomato juice, vinegar, wine, sugar and other stuff. Use a stick blender to puree the mixture to your liking and add salt and pepper to taste.
Number one, this recipe is awesome. Number two, it’s a lot of work. Hell, it took longer to type it than it would have taken to open up a can of diced tomatoes, heat it up and puree it. It also uses up a lot of time, energy and sometimes unnecessary ingredients, like alcohol, vinegar and honey. It can take an hour and a half to cook. And it’s just a sauce! The whole time I was making it at Mrs. Harmit’s house, I felt really guilty for using so much of their cooking fuel and ingredients. Shammi makes a delicious meal at least twice a day in less than a half hour, and that’s normal for all families here. Today was a special occasion, and Mrs. Singh encouraged me to cook as much as I want in her house, but I won’t be doing that recipe many more times. It’s wasteful and extravagant compared to the rest of the food here. I love cooking, and there are few things I consider to be more fun than spending three hours making a side dish or small snack that get’s eaten in two bites, but that’s just not what people do here. I hope to learn to be more efficient and less wasteful in my time here.
On another note, meatless meatballs are pretty damn good. A little tough and chewy, but they go great with two-hour tomato sauce and imported spaghetti. Also, I made kidney bean burgers for the hostel yesterday, and they looked exactly like beef burgers. What does it mean when Indians, who wouldn’t even dream of eating cows, love cow-imitation products so much?
06 March 2010
The Good Pakistani
One day, a Himachali man was traveling from Shimla to Dharmshala for business. On the road, his scooter was stopped by a cow, and while he waited for the cow to pass, a gang of robbers came upon him. They beat him, took his clothes and money, and left him for dead on the side of the road.
A Brahmin priest walked by the half-dead man not 15 minutes later. He saw the poor soul suffering on the side of the road, but did not want to do anything to help. Karma was the cause of that situation; it was not the Brahmin’s fault that the man had found himself in such a bad situation. The Brahmin continued on his way doing nothing, content in the fact that he had such knowledge in spiritual matters.
A Punjabi shop owner walked by the man soon afterwards. He considered lending a hand, but he knew that Indian laws were suspicious of injured person brought into hospitals by strangers. If he helped, it would be much more trouble for him, and he would have to be in and out of courts and police stations for the next several months at least. Besides, he had his business to worry about. He stayed on his path, his mind focused on work, money and policy.
A Pakistani traveler was the third soul to pass. Pakistanis are not well accepted in India for many reasons too numerous to list. Yet this unwelcome foreigner decided to help the injured man. He brought him to the local hospital and left 10,000 rupees for the man’s bills, promising to return to the area if any more expenses were incurred.
Recognize the story? If you had a Western and/or Christian upbringing, you should. If you grew up in India, maybe it is a strange story to you, but you should definitely pay attention. I believe in helping other people if I see that they need help, and while this feeling may not be shared with every American, it is at least something that is recognized and valued in others. Yesterday I had an experience that showed me how this is not always valued in Indian culture.
I was sitting in Principal Ramdev’s office when another teacher came to the door, not in a hurry, and exchanged words with the principal in Hindi. Ramdev got up and started to walk out of the door. Before he left, he stopped, turned, and motioned for me to follow. “Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you why it is important for you to teach nutrition classes to our students.” We made our way to the second floor of the neighboring building and into Mr. Sood’s math class. In the front row, a girl (who was also a hostel resident) was completely passed out on her desk. Her body and head had to be held up by her fellow students, and while she was conscious, she was almost completely unresponsive.
It didn’t take a doctor to figure out what was likely wrong with her, thought fortunately Principal Ramdev was one. Dizziness, fainting, lack of cognition, intense weakness… either low blood pressure, low glucose or anemia. Probably a combination of all three. She had probably skipped breakfast and was possibly on her period. It was the result of the same problems that I have seen in the overall diet at the hostel, and now I could confirm it with solid experience. The diet is very low in iron and borderline low in fat and protein. In addition, it’s repetitive and gets very boring. The girl didn’t eat her paranthas that morning because she was sick of having them every morning.
The worst part of the whole experience was the walk from the second floor of one classroom building to the hostel, which was on the second floor of the next building. This girl didn’t even have the strength to keep her head up, let alone walk. Two girls were under her arms trying to support her, but she was dragging her feet the whole way and had to stop every two minutes to sit down and gather her strength. All the while, she was out in the middle of the day, in full view of everybody who did not have class and was just standing there watching. Nobody wanted to help. Nobody grabbed a chair, opened a door or brought some water. There was just me, Principal Ramdev, one teacher and the two girls holding her up.
Now, this girl, like nearly every other girl here, was tiny, probably less than 100 pounds. I could pick her up easily. It would have taken me about a minute to carry her from the classroom to her bed in the hostel, yet I couldn’t do it. I just had to stand there and watch her struggle. Even when asking the principal if I could just carry her the rest of the way, he told me that would be a bad idea according to their culture. I know that part of it had to do with a male carrying a female, but come on, the girl is sick and needs help. Yet I could do nothing. That’s just the way the culture is here. If a stranger brought an injured man into the hospital, he would be under immediate suspicion of having caused harm in the first place. So to avoid future hassle, people here just avoid helping strangers. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
In addition to the culture shock I experienced today, I was also confronted with the problems I have to face with helping the nutrition here. I have generalized three phenomena that can be seen here. One, the highly vegetarian diet means that most people here do not get enough iron, especially the women. Two, the culture avoids a lot of fatty foods, even good fats like nuts, so their diet is low in fat and high in carbohydrates. Three, the young women here have immense social pressure to stay thin, so they don’t eat enough. I can’t compare it to the social stigmas attached with losing weight in the U.S., since I am not a woman, but it seems like the girls here are under even more pressure to stay thin. It must work, because nearly all of the young women here are much smaller and lighter than their Western counterparts. Even I am starting to feel the effects of the diet. I’m feeling a little bit weaker than I did in the states. I sleep longer and it’s harder for me to get out of bed in the morning. When I exercise, I can’t do nearly as much as I used to be able to do. It’s not like I am wasting away to nothing, but I am definitely not feeling as strong or energetic as I did in the states.
Today I learned that in many ways, the culture here frowns upon me lending a helping hand to those in need. I have to disguise my assistance in the form of nutrition lessons to educate people about what they are doing to their bodies and how they can take better care of themselves. I know that their views will not change overnight, and ultimately, the work I do here will make little difference in the big picture and way of life in Palampur. That doesn’t stop me from trying, though.
A Brahmin priest walked by the half-dead man not 15 minutes later. He saw the poor soul suffering on the side of the road, but did not want to do anything to help. Karma was the cause of that situation; it was not the Brahmin’s fault that the man had found himself in such a bad situation. The Brahmin continued on his way doing nothing, content in the fact that he had such knowledge in spiritual matters.
A Punjabi shop owner walked by the man soon afterwards. He considered lending a hand, but he knew that Indian laws were suspicious of injured person brought into hospitals by strangers. If he helped, it would be much more trouble for him, and he would have to be in and out of courts and police stations for the next several months at least. Besides, he had his business to worry about. He stayed on his path, his mind focused on work, money and policy.
A Pakistani traveler was the third soul to pass. Pakistanis are not well accepted in India for many reasons too numerous to list. Yet this unwelcome foreigner decided to help the injured man. He brought him to the local hospital and left 10,000 rupees for the man’s bills, promising to return to the area if any more expenses were incurred.
Recognize the story? If you had a Western and/or Christian upbringing, you should. If you grew up in India, maybe it is a strange story to you, but you should definitely pay attention. I believe in helping other people if I see that they need help, and while this feeling may not be shared with every American, it is at least something that is recognized and valued in others. Yesterday I had an experience that showed me how this is not always valued in Indian culture.
I was sitting in Principal Ramdev’s office when another teacher came to the door, not in a hurry, and exchanged words with the principal in Hindi. Ramdev got up and started to walk out of the door. Before he left, he stopped, turned, and motioned for me to follow. “Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you why it is important for you to teach nutrition classes to our students.” We made our way to the second floor of the neighboring building and into Mr. Sood’s math class. In the front row, a girl (who was also a hostel resident) was completely passed out on her desk. Her body and head had to be held up by her fellow students, and while she was conscious, she was almost completely unresponsive.
It didn’t take a doctor to figure out what was likely wrong with her, thought fortunately Principal Ramdev was one. Dizziness, fainting, lack of cognition, intense weakness… either low blood pressure, low glucose or anemia. Probably a combination of all three. She had probably skipped breakfast and was possibly on her period. It was the result of the same problems that I have seen in the overall diet at the hostel, and now I could confirm it with solid experience. The diet is very low in iron and borderline low in fat and protein. In addition, it’s repetitive and gets very boring. The girl didn’t eat her paranthas that morning because she was sick of having them every morning.
The worst part of the whole experience was the walk from the second floor of one classroom building to the hostel, which was on the second floor of the next building. This girl didn’t even have the strength to keep her head up, let alone walk. Two girls were under her arms trying to support her, but she was dragging her feet the whole way and had to stop every two minutes to sit down and gather her strength. All the while, she was out in the middle of the day, in full view of everybody who did not have class and was just standing there watching. Nobody wanted to help. Nobody grabbed a chair, opened a door or brought some water. There was just me, Principal Ramdev, one teacher and the two girls holding her up.
Now, this girl, like nearly every other girl here, was tiny, probably less than 100 pounds. I could pick her up easily. It would have taken me about a minute to carry her from the classroom to her bed in the hostel, yet I couldn’t do it. I just had to stand there and watch her struggle. Even when asking the principal if I could just carry her the rest of the way, he told me that would be a bad idea according to their culture. I know that part of it had to do with a male carrying a female, but come on, the girl is sick and needs help. Yet I could do nothing. That’s just the way the culture is here. If a stranger brought an injured man into the hospital, he would be under immediate suspicion of having caused harm in the first place. So to avoid future hassle, people here just avoid helping strangers. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
In addition to the culture shock I experienced today, I was also confronted with the problems I have to face with helping the nutrition here. I have generalized three phenomena that can be seen here. One, the highly vegetarian diet means that most people here do not get enough iron, especially the women. Two, the culture avoids a lot of fatty foods, even good fats like nuts, so their diet is low in fat and high in carbohydrates. Three, the young women here have immense social pressure to stay thin, so they don’t eat enough. I can’t compare it to the social stigmas attached with losing weight in the U.S., since I am not a woman, but it seems like the girls here are under even more pressure to stay thin. It must work, because nearly all of the young women here are much smaller and lighter than their Western counterparts. Even I am starting to feel the effects of the diet. I’m feeling a little bit weaker than I did in the states. I sleep longer and it’s harder for me to get out of bed in the morning. When I exercise, I can’t do nearly as much as I used to be able to do. It’s not like I am wasting away to nothing, but I am definitely not feeling as strong or energetic as I did in the states.
Today I learned that in many ways, the culture here frowns upon me lending a helping hand to those in need. I have to disguise my assistance in the form of nutrition lessons to educate people about what they are doing to their bodies and how they can take better care of themselves. I know that their views will not change overnight, and ultimately, the work I do here will make little difference in the big picture and way of life in Palampur. That doesn’t stop me from trying, though.
04 March 2010
Looking Back, and to the Future
After three days of delaying the original extra meal plan for various reasons (not all of which I felt were necessary), we are finally going to start today. Honestly, I’m thrilled. With the way things usually go in India, I fully expected to start this sometime next week, but I was wrong. Today we’re starting with peanut butter sandwiches. I figured I would take a typical American packed lunch with an Indian twist: chili peppers. They want spicy, I’ll give them spicy. Not to mention delicious. If you’ve never had spicy peanut butter before, I highly recommend it.
Here’s the plan for the extra meal in a week:
Monday: Whole-wheat nachos
Tuesday: PBC
Wednesday: Fresh seasonal fruit
Thursday: Spicy peanut butter sandwich
Friday: Bean burger with bun
Saturday: Pancakes with syrup
Sunday: Fresh fruit
Total Cost = 1665
That’s 1665 rupees for 30 girls for an entire week, converting to roughly 36 USD. It’s hard to feed one American on 36 dollars per week, let alone 30 girls. Also, I wanted to add more fruit, but I doubt it will be received well. People here just don’t eat enough fruit, and even having it two times a week may be even too much. We’ll see if I can’t make some impact here in the next month.
In other news, I finally put together some nutrition lesson plans for next week. I have learned by now that the majority of people here have no idea what they’re eating on a daily basis. Yet that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As mentioned before, the common diet is so healthy that it doesn’t require much tweaking. What do need improvement are the dietary and fitness changes that have been brought on by Western influence.
This phenomenon has been seen all over the world over the past 50 years or so. There’s a peaceful group of native people living in harmony with their environment, like Inuits or indigenous Africans, until Americans or Europeans come in with cars, computers and candy bars. Suddenly people are working less and eating more. In America, this happened gradually, over about 200 years or so, and while we are far from well-adapted to our diet and fitness (being the most obese country in the world), we’re not way off either. Rapidly developing societies like India are prone to accept all of these technological and diet advancements all at once without adapting their culture along with it. The result is people eating more food and more unhealthy food while driving their motorbikes and cars everywhere. Less work, more food… you do the math.
To help combat this, I will be teaching them about exactly the kind of nutrition is in the food they eat every day: whole-wheat products, dairy, lentils, beans, potatoes, rice, tea, spices and refined cooking oil. I will also teach them how to read a nutrition label so that they can be more aware about processed products in their diet. We’ll see how much of this gets through to them, and how worthwhile it can be.
While waiting to make the peanut butter sandwiches today (I’ll be teaching the hostel’s cook all of these dishes, which are very easy anyway, so that she can make them on her own after I leave), I thought I would go back and reread the blog of the MSU student who was here last semester. It’s funny how much you learn and adapt in just a few months. I read these words and sentences that meant nothing to me last semester, and now I feel so attached to his experiences. He has pictures on his blog of KLB and the students here, and I can see them and say, “I know who that is!” He uses some Hindi words and talks about places with which I am now completely familiar. But even though I can recognize that I’ve come a long way in such a short time, I also know that I have much farther to go.
1. I would like to make this extra meal plan a permanent part of the hostel menu.
2. I haven’t done a lot of work in the canteen, and Malkeet expressed to me today that he is not interested at all in making anything else besides samosas.
3. While I have finished the first part of the nutritional analysis, I need to follow up with another one detailing the effects of the changes I have made.
4. I need to figure out exactly what I am doing for the end-of-semester project that will get me the credit I need to graduate. This could be anything from a standard research paper to a portfolio of my writings about cultural observations to an extended version of my nutrition analysis. It’s expected at the end of April.
5. Together with Global Student Consultants, we have to prepare more accommodations for the 5 or more students who will be joining me in the summer. We also have to work on placements for all of them so that they will have something to do when they get here.
6. I really need to learn more Hindi. My trip to Mussorie got postponed, which is fine, but it looks like I will be getting my scheduled Hindi lessons with the other MSU students in May. Again, that’s fine, but it’s really hard to learn a new language when there’s nothing to study. It’s all by ear, and my memory sucks.
Well, that’s my to-do list for the immediate future. Again, wish me luck.
Here’s the plan for the extra meal in a week:
Monday: Whole-wheat nachos
Tuesday: PBC
Wednesday: Fresh seasonal fruit
Thursday: Spicy peanut butter sandwich
Friday: Bean burger with bun
Saturday: Pancakes with syrup
Sunday: Fresh fruit
Total Cost = 1665
That’s 1665 rupees for 30 girls for an entire week, converting to roughly 36 USD. It’s hard to feed one American on 36 dollars per week, let alone 30 girls. Also, I wanted to add more fruit, but I doubt it will be received well. People here just don’t eat enough fruit, and even having it two times a week may be even too much. We’ll see if I can’t make some impact here in the next month.
In other news, I finally put together some nutrition lesson plans for next week. I have learned by now that the majority of people here have no idea what they’re eating on a daily basis. Yet that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As mentioned before, the common diet is so healthy that it doesn’t require much tweaking. What do need improvement are the dietary and fitness changes that have been brought on by Western influence.
This phenomenon has been seen all over the world over the past 50 years or so. There’s a peaceful group of native people living in harmony with their environment, like Inuits or indigenous Africans, until Americans or Europeans come in with cars, computers and candy bars. Suddenly people are working less and eating more. In America, this happened gradually, over about 200 years or so, and while we are far from well-adapted to our diet and fitness (being the most obese country in the world), we’re not way off either. Rapidly developing societies like India are prone to accept all of these technological and diet advancements all at once without adapting their culture along with it. The result is people eating more food and more unhealthy food while driving their motorbikes and cars everywhere. Less work, more food… you do the math.
To help combat this, I will be teaching them about exactly the kind of nutrition is in the food they eat every day: whole-wheat products, dairy, lentils, beans, potatoes, rice, tea, spices and refined cooking oil. I will also teach them how to read a nutrition label so that they can be more aware about processed products in their diet. We’ll see how much of this gets through to them, and how worthwhile it can be.
While waiting to make the peanut butter sandwiches today (I’ll be teaching the hostel’s cook all of these dishes, which are very easy anyway, so that she can make them on her own after I leave), I thought I would go back and reread the blog of the MSU student who was here last semester. It’s funny how much you learn and adapt in just a few months. I read these words and sentences that meant nothing to me last semester, and now I feel so attached to his experiences. He has pictures on his blog of KLB and the students here, and I can see them and say, “I know who that is!” He uses some Hindi words and talks about places with which I am now completely familiar. But even though I can recognize that I’ve come a long way in such a short time, I also know that I have much farther to go.
1. I would like to make this extra meal plan a permanent part of the hostel menu.
2. I haven’t done a lot of work in the canteen, and Malkeet expressed to me today that he is not interested at all in making anything else besides samosas.
3. While I have finished the first part of the nutritional analysis, I need to follow up with another one detailing the effects of the changes I have made.
4. I need to figure out exactly what I am doing for the end-of-semester project that will get me the credit I need to graduate. This could be anything from a standard research paper to a portfolio of my writings about cultural observations to an extended version of my nutrition analysis. It’s expected at the end of April.
5. Together with Global Student Consultants, we have to prepare more accommodations for the 5 or more students who will be joining me in the summer. We also have to work on placements for all of them so that they will have something to do when they get here.
6. I really need to learn more Hindi. My trip to Mussorie got postponed, which is fine, but it looks like I will be getting my scheduled Hindi lessons with the other MSU students in May. Again, that’s fine, but it’s really hard to learn a new language when there’s nothing to study. It’s all by ear, and my memory sucks.
Well, that’s my to-do list for the immediate future. Again, wish me luck.
03 March 2010
Spice Respite
Today I had my first full meal in India that wasn’t spicy. Shammi asked me to show him how to make American-style scrambled eggs, so I did. Unlike when he makes eggs, I didn’t feel compelled to add cumin, cayenne or dried chili powder to the mix. I just made regular, savory scrambled eggs with toast, and that was it.
Unfortunately, today I also ran into a huge writer’s block, the first one I’ve had in India since I started writing. Maybe the two are connected. Maybe when you come to India, your palate gets torched and you mind is opened. It is not only hard to write for the blog, but it’s difficult to come up with lesson plans as well. Starting maybe next week (TII), I will be giving short nutritional lessons to some of the students here. In addition to nutrition basics, like counting calories and learning about protein, fat and carbs, I will be talking about some nutrition related diseases common to the area: anemia, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is what I like to call the G.I. Joe approach to fighting disease, because knowing is half the battle.
And that’s all folks. It’s just not much of a writing day today. I’ll eat a tablespoon of turmeric with my dinner tonight, maybe that will help.
Unfortunately, today I also ran into a huge writer’s block, the first one I’ve had in India since I started writing. Maybe the two are connected. Maybe when you come to India, your palate gets torched and you mind is opened. It is not only hard to write for the blog, but it’s difficult to come up with lesson plans as well. Starting maybe next week (TII), I will be giving short nutritional lessons to some of the students here. In addition to nutrition basics, like counting calories and learning about protein, fat and carbs, I will be talking about some nutrition related diseases common to the area: anemia, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is what I like to call the G.I. Joe approach to fighting disease, because knowing is half the battle.
And that’s all folks. It’s just not much of a writing day today. I’ll eat a tablespoon of turmeric with my dinner tonight, maybe that will help.
02 March 2010
A Real Crap Situation
Forgive me for a little bit of potty humor here, but Indians really like to play with poop. It’s almost literally everywhere here. Pass by any place in India where cows are being raised, and you will likely see large patties of cow dung and hay stacked up on walls outside in the sun. They’re cow cakes, and when you dry them out with a bit of grass, they make great fuel. No, they don’t smell bad when you burn them. It’s a very clean and efficient alternative to burning wood, and why not use it if you’ve got it?
Here’s another example, and please don’t get too grossed out. This is fair warning for anybody who wants to come to India, and that includes the MSU students who are thinking about joining me on the Palampur program this summer. Indians don’t use toilet paper.
Please don’t freak out. It’s okay, it’s fine, and here, it’s perfectly normal. So what’s the big deal? Next to every toilet is a faucet with a small cup attached to it. You use the water and your left hand to clean yourself and you wash your hands well after you’re done. That’s why part of the food culture here that one must learn is to not eat with your left hand. It’s frowned upon. You can touch your food with it occasionally, but as little as possible, and you never bring the food to your mouth with your left hand.
I know there’s a lot of Westerners thinking right now that this must be so unclean and unsanitary, and they should learn to be more civilized and germ-free. Well, think about this for a second. What makes you so sure that using wadded-up pieces of paper is a better way? If you say because it’s cleaner, then why? The only reason you think it’s cleaner is because since before you could talk, your parents or whoever has taught you one particular way of using the toilet and said that it’s hygienic. You were too young to think otherwise, and now you just go along with it. It’s the same with people here. That’s the way they grew up, and to them, it’s safe. Honestly, as long as you wash your hands, it is. And it’s much better on the environment than throwing away paper.
Why bring this up now? Because today I leaned that the floor of my house is made from cow dung. When it’s dried and mixed with some natural chemicals and mud, it’s soft, long-lasting and a great bug repellant. So basically I’ve been walking on poop for 6 weeks in my bare feet without realizing it. The most surprising thing about the realization was that I wasn’t too shocked at all. Everybody poops, you know?
So next time you think you got a crap life, remember that at least you’re not walking around in it.
Here’s another example, and please don’t get too grossed out. This is fair warning for anybody who wants to come to India, and that includes the MSU students who are thinking about joining me on the Palampur program this summer. Indians don’t use toilet paper.
Please don’t freak out. It’s okay, it’s fine, and here, it’s perfectly normal. So what’s the big deal? Next to every toilet is a faucet with a small cup attached to it. You use the water and your left hand to clean yourself and you wash your hands well after you’re done. That’s why part of the food culture here that one must learn is to not eat with your left hand. It’s frowned upon. You can touch your food with it occasionally, but as little as possible, and you never bring the food to your mouth with your left hand.
I know there’s a lot of Westerners thinking right now that this must be so unclean and unsanitary, and they should learn to be more civilized and germ-free. Well, think about this for a second. What makes you so sure that using wadded-up pieces of paper is a better way? If you say because it’s cleaner, then why? The only reason you think it’s cleaner is because since before you could talk, your parents or whoever has taught you one particular way of using the toilet and said that it’s hygienic. You were too young to think otherwise, and now you just go along with it. It’s the same with people here. That’s the way they grew up, and to them, it’s safe. Honestly, as long as you wash your hands, it is. And it’s much better on the environment than throwing away paper.
Why bring this up now? Because today I leaned that the floor of my house is made from cow dung. When it’s dried and mixed with some natural chemicals and mud, it’s soft, long-lasting and a great bug repellant. So basically I’ve been walking on poop for 6 weeks in my bare feet without realizing it. The most surprising thing about the realization was that I wasn’t too shocked at all. Everybody poops, you know?
So next time you think you got a crap life, remember that at least you’re not walking around in it.
01 March 2010
Whistle While You Don't Work
Sometimes I wonder what the heck people do around here for fun. I’ve already talked about how there is an abundance of free time around here, and it’s starting to get harder and harder to fill it. It’s Monday, and normally I go into school, but today is still technically a holiday (Happy Holi!), so I can’t do that. There’s a small fair-type-thing going on in town, and I’ll probably check that out later, but it’s raining again. Hard. It’s actually really cool to watch the sky right now. The mountains and valleys, in combination with the thin air and strange temperature variations, cause some pretty freaky cloud formations that I’ve never seen before. The sky looks like a black-and-white Salvador Dali painting, without the melted clocks.
Speaking of clocks, my watch broke last week. The digital screen froze and won’t change, and the buttons don’t do anything. There’s still an analog face, so it still tells time, but I can’t use any of the digital functions, but the alarm is still working. It goes off at 8 every day, and since I am unable to change it, it will still go off at 21:30 every day when I return to the states.
And the wireless receiver on my computer stopped working. I have to use an Ethernet cable when I go to KLB.
And my Zune mp3 player broke. India is killing my electronics.
Several times since I arrived, I’ve asked many people what they like to do in their free time. They always say, “Nothing,” and I protest and say that there must be something they do for fun. Now, I’m starting to see that there’s not a whole lot to do. So when the girls tell me that after class they just go home and do nothing, I now believe them.
I’m typing this at home, and the power just went out again. India and electricity just don’t get along very well.
I guess today I’ll make some pancakes, read a bit more (I’m running out of reading material), exercise, maybe make some more food, and go to town if the weather clears up a bit. The house is clean and the laundry is already done, which is sad, because I’m considering doing monotonous chores to keep myself occupied. Please let me clarify by saying that I am rarely bored here, and I usually have something to do all the time. Today is an exception. This just is ample warning for anybody planning to travel to rural India in the future. Make sure that you can keep yourself entertained. You’ll need it.
Speaking of clocks, my watch broke last week. The digital screen froze and won’t change, and the buttons don’t do anything. There’s still an analog face, so it still tells time, but I can’t use any of the digital functions, but the alarm is still working. It goes off at 8 every day, and since I am unable to change it, it will still go off at 21:30 every day when I return to the states.
And the wireless receiver on my computer stopped working. I have to use an Ethernet cable when I go to KLB.
And my Zune mp3 player broke. India is killing my electronics.
Several times since I arrived, I’ve asked many people what they like to do in their free time. They always say, “Nothing,” and I protest and say that there must be something they do for fun. Now, I’m starting to see that there’s not a whole lot to do. So when the girls tell me that after class they just go home and do nothing, I now believe them.
I’m typing this at home, and the power just went out again. India and electricity just don’t get along very well.
I guess today I’ll make some pancakes, read a bit more (I’m running out of reading material), exercise, maybe make some more food, and go to town if the weather clears up a bit. The house is clean and the laundry is already done, which is sad, because I’m considering doing monotonous chores to keep myself occupied. Please let me clarify by saying that I am rarely bored here, and I usually have something to do all the time. Today is an exception. This just is ample warning for anybody planning to travel to rural India in the future. Make sure that you can keep yourself entertained. You’ll need it.
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