XII - Indo-American-European cuisine

While I got used to Indian food and even grew to love parts of it, I still have not unveiled the secret of Indian cooking. It is tasty in most of the cases - and most of the time I have no idea what the ingredients are, much less how to prepare it. So, Lex and me adapted our own Indo-American-European cuisine, mostly consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, and Ragi.

 

Ragi is Lex' and my new favorite breakfast food. We started off with oats but those are pretty expensive here in Bangalore. One kilo of oats costs about 2.5 €. More than double the price in USA or Germany. So, we went looking for an Indian alternative and found Ragi. Ragi is the local name for finger millet, which is grown a lot in all of South India. One kilo of ragi flour, which is what we use to make our breakfast, costs only 30 Rupees, about 40 cents. It has a mildly earthy taste, which reminds me a bit of wheat or bean sprouts. Cooked in water and/or milk and blended with a mashed banana it is a yummy alternative to oats. And the locals say it is healthy, so I don't even feel too bad about eating only carbs.

 

Here is my personal, very simple recipe:

 

Ingredients  

- Ragi (finger millet) flour: about 2 table spoons

- water: 200 ml

- milk: 50 ml

- banana/papaya/apple sauce/sugar/peanut butter

 

Heat the water until it is lukewarm. Add the Ragi slowly, while stirring. Keep stirring on medium heat. After some time the mixture will become thicker. Don't stop stirring! It clumps up pretty quickly. After it started getting thicker keep stirring and keep it on medium heat for about one minute. Add mashed banana or papaya, apple sauce, sugar or peanut butter and a little bit of milk. Done!

This is super simple and super cheap.

 

Enjoy! :)

 

Typical breakfast: Ragi porridge (top), bananas, coconut, custard apple (or some other fresh fruit)

 

 

 

 

XI – Motorcycling

I have never been a big fan of motorcycles. Partly, because I did not have very many friends that rode the motorcycle, partly because I always perceived them as loud, intimidating show-off vehicles. Then I visited the US, where I met a really nice, not intimidating biker who took me on a ride on his huge Harley-Davidson. Lex’s bike is not nearly as big or as comfy as my first ride but it sure is fun to ride with him.

All ready for adventures!

Luckily for me, Lex is a very safe driver. Every day that I am in traffic I see cars, motorcycles and pedestrians do crazy things, cutting in front of people, accelerating in thick traffic when they are just being passed, passing in between two buses that are just about to stop at a bus stop, leaving a bus or crossing a street without looking left or right. Surprisingly, I have not seen a single accident so far. 

Especially when we go for rides outside the city, like we did on Sunday, it is quite a lot of fun to ride with him. Being able to see 200° (not quite 360 but a little more than 180° is what I can comfortably see), feeling the wind and fresh air in my face, and the velocity is what I enjoy most. And, of course, arriving places and seeing and doing things. On Sunday, we went to the biggest monolith in Asia, Savandurga, which is just 2 hours driving from Bangalore.

The way up is very steep and pretty exhausting but the view is simply breath taking. Enjoy the pictures!

Typical tourist picture :) Green coconut, temple, monkeys

Monkey drinking from a faucet in front of the temple at the foot of Savandurga

We collected as much garbage as we could carry and even inspired a second group of people to do the same

Riding the bike is tiring.

X - Garbage

India – at least judging from what I have seen so far – is beautiful. I saw jungles, lakes, wild animals, such as deer, forest cows and even an elephant. Huge flowering trees, fragrant eucalyptus trees, colorful butterflies, stunningly delicate dragonflies and simply beautiful landscape. And: Garbage. Next to all its beauty and natural richness there is not a single place that I have visited so far that had no garbage lying around. 

Even in the botanical garden where they put up lots of reminders not to thrown garbage, a place that is rich enough to employ people to pick up the trash and a place where there is a garbage can every 20 meters a lot of people do not seem to grasp the idea of walking 5 meters carrying their waste to  the next garbage disposal. I suspect that the attitude toward waste is one that I am never going to fully understand, especially coming from a country where we separate our garbage neatly and split it into 6, sometimes more, categories to make sure it all gets reused or recycled. 

I find it unbelievable that in a country so rich in nature and where so many people, especially farmers and villagers, are dependent on intact nature it is in places treated very disrespectful. How desperate do you have to be to think it is a good idea to just throw your trash onto the ground, which does not only make the place really ugly but could potentially hurt yourself.

In most cases, however, at least 90% of the garbage is collected – in piles next to the road, some of it is then burnt. Burnt as in a slowly burning, smoldering, smoky and horribly stinky fire. Just as though to make sure that none of the garbage gets properly burnt, leaving toxins that are washed into the ground water by the next rain, and making a big mess caused by cinders. Burning garbage is generally not the worst alternative. It is better than just leaving it on the ground, it is cheap and easy. Recycling, of course, would be even better, but proper recycling requires a lot of equipment and knowledge and good infrastructure. So, burning trash is not as bad as it sounds, but really, burning it in a smoldering fire is not the way to go.

How can people that live in a country that is rich in natural resources, where tourism is growing, and where there is such a stunning nature, not care more about nature and properly disposing of their garbage?

IX – Lalbagh

Lalbagh is a big park and botanical garden in Bangalore. The place where I am staying right now (Jayanagar) is really close to this park, so Lex and me decided to take a trip there.

Before you enter the park you have to pay an entrance fee of 10 Rupees per person, which is about 12 cents. Super cheap for us and many middle class Indians but too much for all the lower class people. I am pretty sure that the entrance fee is not only intended to keep the garden nice, but also to keep the poor people out. Unsurprisingly, the garden is really nice, very well maintained, pretty clean, and full of middle to upper class people showing off their nicest clothes.

The upper class showing off their pretty daughters and dresses.

Recycling Indian style: Metal spikes are not enough, these walls are armed with glass shards. 

Something that did in fact surprise me was the curiosity of a lot of people. The park was not very crowded, not very many people were there but Lex and me were still asked multiple times to have our picture taken with our new acquaintances. It was very surprising to see the joy in the people’s faces when we agreed to having our picture taken and it felt good to be welcomed that way. I just wish it was not for our hair and skin color.

Although Lalbagh is one of the cleanest places in Bangalore that I have seen so far, you can still find garbage lying around among the beautiful trees, bushes and plants, on plain rocks, and sadly, in the park lake. But I did not let this fact distract me from enjoying a little bit of silence and peace, diving into the atmosphere of an Indian jungle and trying to imagine what the city must look like if there were places like Lalbagh, more respect for nature and less respect for capitalist growth and building blocks.

Lex trying to win the trust of one of the many groups of dogs at Lalbagh.

Lots of beautiful trees at Lalbagh!

Real wild pelicans!

Entrance to the nursery

Inside the nursery: One 30 centimeter coconut palm for about 3 Euros (200 Rupees)

This former greenhouse is now a showroom for special occasions.

The above mentioned Silk Cotton Tree :) Just look at how tiny the people look next to it.



Do not urinate - ever, again!

VIII – Trekking weekend

My first time actually trekking in India! It felt so good just getting out of the noisy, dusty, busy city into the fresh, moist, quiet Indian wild. It felt so good to just reconnect with nature and seeing only very few persons after being constantly surrounded by people. It was even worth getting up at 4.30 in the morning.

My favorite part of this trip and the reason I came was that it just took two hours to get to the location, one hour to KR market, from where we caught another bus for another hour. I got picked up at KR market, which was really helpful, the bus drivers screaming in Kannada were a little intimidating, even more so at 6 am.

The location of the camp was secret in order to prevent people from simply going there on their own without taking any precautions to conserve the environment and support the local community. Next to a lot of fun activities we also cleaned up some garbage, made sure to get all of our additional food and water from the local store in the village nearby and to be respectful of the local farmers and herders.

After arriving at our camping spot we set the tent together, had sandwiches for breakfast, which made me extremely happy, and started setting up a little “kitchen” with a stove, a sink, and benches, as well as a “bathroom”, which basically consisted of a hole in the ground. The “sink” was one of my favorite parts: We first dug a hole in the ground that was designated for only waste water from washing our hands or rinsing the dishes. Then we built a table construction out of sticks over the hole. It took us quite a while to finish building our little house but after everything was ready we quickly made a great meal out of the vegetables that we brought and the fresh fish that we bought from the local fishermen.

The "sink" we built out of sticks over a hole in the ground.

 

Fresh fish...

 

... and yummy vegetables is all it takes to make me happy after a long day of hiking and trekking.

At night came the mandatory part of every trekking and camping trip: a campfire. Although I already knew quite a bit about making and sustaining a fire I could learn a few more things, such as the importance of setting aside lots and lots of dry firewood in the right size. It is pretty impressive how quickly the wood burns down and how fast the fire devours meters and kilos of wood.

Camp leaders Karan and Lex the campfire.

 

I really felt like this trek was not only developing my own skills and supporting my mental health, but it also contributed toward the health of the local ecosystem and community. And I also had the chance to take lots of pictures J Enjoy!

 

This caterpillar built a cocoon out of sticks.

 

Trek leader Lex with our gear.

 

 

 

 

Another insect that built its house out of wood pieces.

 

 

There were lots of dragonflies at camp. Beautiful!

 

Among millions of dragonflies  I found this particular beauty: it has black wings that almost look like velvet.

 

 

Fearless leaders: Karan and Lex

 

 

A spider nest or house

 

 

One of the butterflies was particularly interested in the tea bag from our green tea. 

 

 

 

 

Two predatory birds watching out for fish.

 

 

 

 

The obligatory panorama picture :)

 

 

 

VII – Taking the bus in Bangalore

As I live about 5km away from the place I work at I usually take the bus there and back. When you take the bus in Bangalore you have three options: A/C, non-A/C and private. As you can probably imagine, the A/C bus is the most expensive. It costs about twice as much as the non-A/C bus. What you get is air conditioning, which is especially nice on hot days. And due to their price the A/C buses are much less crowded. Considering that it takes the bus an entire hour to make the five kilometers I take the A/C bus every day. You might call me a spoiled, wimpy western girl but I am telling you: It’s worth it not having to stand crammed into a bus with far too many people, not being able to see anything, much less move.

Also, strangely, there are many more A/C buses running than non-A/C buses, although a lot of people cannot afford paying extra for the bus. I guess you could call this capitalism at its finest…

As for the private buses: They are not run by an official entity, they are colorful, they do not have air conditioning and their whole business is centered around cramming as many people as possible into their old vehicles, offering them a fare that is cheaper by about 5 Euro-cents per ride. I have taken a private bus once and decided that my safety is well worth ten cents per day. 

Two private buses parked at a bus stand. The left one is a “Rolls Royce” ;)

The private buses are very colorful, nicely decorated, there is cheerful Bollywood music playing and sometimes they even show movies. The drivers are crazy, there are no safety precautions. 

VI – Being sick in India

Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later… I got sick. Real sick. Not just a common cold or the flu, the worst thing is that I do not even really know what got me. Or how, or when I got it. There are approximately a bazillion opportunities where I could have caught it.  

Sorry for the drama, guys but I never ever get sick. I have travelled through Europe and USA, eaten street food in Moldova, even fell down a manhole there but I have never ever been as sick as here in India. Even when I fell down a 15 meter cliff in Germany was I not as scared for my life as I was for the last week.

I really do not want to whine to you guys or explain all of the uninteresting and unpleasant details but I do want to let you know some of my insights into what to do and what to avoid when you are sick in India.

First of all, everyone is going to give you advice. Serious, heart-felt advice from people that care about you. It might me that I am just a spoiled wimpy western girl when it comes to being sick. But I am entirely sure that it will not lower a fever if you just get up and go about your day as if everything was fine or drink the juice of green papaya leaves. Luckily, there are also real doctors in India.

And here is my second piece of advice if you ever have to see a doctor in India: Take someone with you who can stand up for you or at least make careful notes on a piece of paper, so that you do not forget to ask anything. Because you literally do not get any time at the doctor for careful consideration of your options. After being briefly asked for symptoms, there were no further questions about symptoms or my medical history. The physical examination consisted of a very quick blood pressure and body temperature measurement, as well as a 30 second manual scanning of my belly.

One minute later I had a prescription for 4 different pills, my mind, which had already been in a desolate state, whirling, the nurse rushing me out of the room and the next patient in. The fact that he, too came back out after three minutes made me a feel a little better. At least I did not get an extra short special foreigner treatment. So, here is a note to myself: Next time you have to go to the doctor in India and are unable to think, get yourself a friend or a paper that can do the thinking for you.

Oh, and another thing. Indian doctors are not necessarily cheap. Just for registration and one consultation I had to pay about 10€, which is about half the price for a consultation at a German doctor. It is, of course, entirely possible, that I went to one of the more expensive doctors. But at least I paid the regular price, not a rip-off price for foreigners.

Luckily, the place was pretty busy, so I think I avoided paying a big foreigner premium.

On the bright side: Medication is really cheap here. I got 15 pills of paracetamol for about 70 cents, the more fancy and more specific medication was only slightly more expensive.

After this really rough week I hope to be able to share some more positive news next time :)

V - Indian bathrooms

All Indian bathrooms that I have seen so far did not have special compartments for showering. The whole room is tiled, so you just stand in the middle of the room, either pouring water out of a bucket or using a European shower head to clean yourself. The water of course splashes all over the room, which does not only help rinse some of the dirt off the toilet and sink, but also means that you do not have to deal with sticky shower curtains or malfunctioning shower cabins. All in all a really practical setup – if you want to wash your bathroom, you just hose the whole room down, the Indian heat will then dry it in no time.

The toilets are something that I was very afraid to use at first but quickly became accustomed to and even learned liking it. So, here is a quick instruction on how to use an Indian toilet: 1. Wash your hands. You are later going to touch your genitals with your left hand. 2. Sit down and do whatever needs to be done. Most Indian toilets are similar to the European toilets: it is a big bowl with a seat. Until the recent past the usual Indian toilet used to be only a hole in the ground. Fortunately for me, this changed. 3. Every Indian bathroom has a small shower head right next to the toilet. You take it, use the little lever to get water shooting out, and you rinse yourself off. 4a. So now, you are clean, probably cleaner than if you had used toilet paper. But how do you avoid looking like you peed your pants? Easy - you take your left hand and wipe the water of your genitals. This will not get you dry completely but at least you will not be dripping wet anymore. And in the Indian heat, the rest of the moisture will dry off pretty quickly. 4b. In some more modern and western places there is a role of toilet paper next to the toilet - just like in Europe. If you don’t want to use your hand to dry yourself off, you use toilet paper instead. But be aware! Do not EVER throw any tissue, not even the thinnest of toilet papers into the toilet! Indian toilets and their water pipes are not made for paper tissues. They will literally clog up from just a few thin paper tissues. 5. Wash your hands! If you wash your hands thoroughly it should not matter if you use your left or right hand to dry yourself off. But per Indian custom you use the left hand to wipe yourself off and the right hand for everything else.

So, next time you hear horror stories about Indian toilets – it is true, you do use your hand for cleaning yourself but only after you have thoroughly rinsed your genitals with water.

Next time a cleaner story – I promise :D

IV – Navratri

Navratri is a 9-day celebration to welcome fall. It is a very colorful celebration with drummers and beautiful sarees and dresses. On the last two days everybody cleans their cars and their homes, most cars, buses, rikshaws and homes are beautifully decorated with flowers and paint in ochre, yellow and red and for a lot of people it is a day off.

At work I had the honor to attend a typical Puja, a short religious ceremony. At first two religious figures of two gods were decorated with flowers and paint, then bananas, betel leaves, a coconut and a sweet similar to halva were put in front of the decorated statues. For the main part of the ceremony one man lit camphor on a metal plate, incents were lit and he opened a melon. After going around the group to offer the fire and red paint (Kukuma) to paint the Bindi on their foreheads to everyone, one person after the other took off their shoes and prayed in front of the statues.

Here are the pictures I promised J

A staff member performing the Puja

The women wear beautiful sarees

The statues are beautifully decorated with flowers and food  and food is put in front of them. 

No matter if the sight of the driver is hindered, a lot of the cars and tucks are decorated. 

Even police cars are decorated with flowers and banana leaves

One group of drummers waling through the steets of Banglore