Monday, June 29, 2009

Life in India. . . continued



I have now been in India for about 200L of waters. I have not been measuring my stay in the country as hours or days but rather as liters of water. I think 200L puts me right around 4 days. For easy reading I will break this entry into groups with titles as I did before.

Food:

My first experience ever with Indian food was the fine dine served on my Jet Airways flight. It was simply horrible and turned me off on Indian food for about the first 100L of water I was here. My second taste of Indian food came at a crowded restaurant here in Karaikudi. Austen, another Projects Abroad desk officer, and our cab driver made our way through the busy restaurant past the kitchen through the patio and to a less crowded back dining room. Austin ordered us rice and vegetable curry. Right away a waiter comes out and sets the table with four rectangle leaves,which are used as plates and pours threeglasses of tap water. (Austin got me bottled water) Immediately after the leaf was down another waiter showed up with four large pales. The first contained rice which each of us got several heaping scoops of. Then from a second bucket the rice is covered in curry. The other too buckets contained a gourd type food and some other mushy vegetable dish I didn't care much for. The way you eat this is that you mash the curry and rice combo together with your fingers and then grab a ball of this mixture with the tips of your fingers and scrape the food in to your mouth using your thumb. This was not a bad meal and warmed me up a little bit to Indian food. Every meal since then has been about the same. It is a large helping of rice mashed together with curry served with vegetable sides (today's lunch included mashed potatoes!) Breakfast now is on a new level. It is as if the doctor cook (more to come on that) knew me before I showed up. My first breakfast I was greeted by a large plate of toast and a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jam! heaven.She also makes a very delicious coffee based drink that tastes like a sweet cappuccino I alternate between that and very good chai tea. The fruit here is out of this world. So far I've only had a couple bananas and some mango. The bananas here are like nothing you've had (unless you've had an Indian banana) They are short and stubby and so much sweeter then any other banana Ive had. The mango's here simply melt in your mouth and have the most vivid flavor, yet are unfortunately about to go out off season (thought they grew all the time here.)

Stores:

Karaikudi is littered with, amongst other things, stores. Unlike in the west the stores are packed shoulder to shoulder and you rarely ever go in to the store. Rather is as if the store is built into a garage stall. In the morning the store owner rolls up the door and behind it immediately is a stall width counter and the products being behind the counter. You simply walk up to the owner and tell him what you want and he simply gets it for you. All stores are this way including pharmacies, tile stores, electrician stores, electronic stores, bike shops, everything. Only the larger cell phone stores, bike shops, clothing stores, and super market are stores you enter. The super market is a similar system but you go inside and the center is all fresh fruits with a counter running the perimeter with the more normal items located behind the counter. I went there one time so far to buy a Fanta and a tube of tooth paste. My total was Rs124 (Rs120 for the Fanta and Rs4 for the tooth paste, Rs124 is about $2.00.)









The people:

For the first 50-75L of water of my trip I thought the Indian people were somewhat cold shouldered and rude. I have since then realized that they are very nice people. Last evening I spent sometime outside with my camera trying to capture some of the families zooming by on their motorcycles. I was greeted by almost everyone that walked by. They all want to know your name and where you're from. Just walking the streets people will stop you and shake your hand. The people are more then friendly and live getting their picture taken. If you have a camera out, you will surely here the yell of children(6yrs-15yrs) yelling photo photo photo. Once such photo is the one of the one posted of the store owner and his son standing proudly outside of their clothing store.

My source of travel:

William and I are blessed by Shiva (or what ever Hindu would bless us westerners) to have two size small female bikes. The Jupiter and the ironically named Goliath. They are all steel single speeds with a fat ass seat (spring seat) fenders an interested kickstand device and built in lock. The kick stand with a bracket that attaches to the rear of the bike by the drop outs (rear axle area) it is hinged and sprung so that it flips up for riding that you kick it down to park the bike on. The built in lock is located right next to the brake and is simply a circle that stops before entering the spokes. To lock the bike you flip a switch and a bar completes the circle through the spokes and you can then remove the key. These are a real pain in the ass, legs, and back. However, they are how we make the -2L H2O (~10min) bike ride to the doctor's house.

Kairakudi by the numbers:

98 degrees, temperature outside
63% humidity outside
0 number of wrecks and needle sticks witnessed (very oddly enough)
0 number of sharps containers and bio hazard disposal bins in the hospital
8L amount of water drunk per day


That's all for now. I have so much more to write and so many more stories to tell already. However I want to give everyone a chance to read this with out getting overwelmed as I know I am being long winded.

I appreciated the comments keep em coming. Still feel free to ask any questions

Rick "your friend sweating like a pig in India"

3 comments:

Kelsey said...

Hey babe. India looks like such an interesting place. I can't believe the pic. with the baby riding on the front of the scooter. That's nuts-- in the US you would only see Britney Spears or Michael Jackson (RIP) care for their child like that.

You should post more pictures of the clinic and food (if you can and it isn't considered rude). I liked the part in your blog about you and breakfast and the peanut butter and jam. Turns out you didn't need to bring a jar of peanut butter after all Mr. Peanut Butter Man :). Will you post a picture of yourself and your roomie, or you with the doc? It'd be good to see your smiling face again babe. Well, it's tough without seeing you, but it sure seems like you're having quite the adventure. Miss you! Kelsey

Trudi said...

Ricky,
Quick note from one of your mother's friends. I love to read your blogs. It is fascinating to hear about your adventures. Gives one a great opportunity to learn about another country. You write really well and I love your sense of humor. Have a great week and I'll be excited to read more. Thanks for letting us enjoy with you, your new expierences.
Sincerely,
Trudi Pierce

Marilyn said...

What a great posting, love your descriptions. The fruit sounds wonderful. Ok, Kelsey what a great description of the innocent child on the scooter. Ricky we need pictures of you on the scooter; we want lots of pictures of everything, even pictures of with you in them. You could just hear me screaming in the taxi ride or on the scooter if I was there. How’s the bug net working, keeping the pesky little bugs out for the night? So have you had any kind of desserts? If so what were they? What are your days off and any plans for them? Anyways life is good here, I’m doing ok, just counting on reading your blogs every day, so keep them coming. Give me a call one day this week, your voice is music to my ears. Love, Mom