whoops

so sorry it has taken me so long to update, but it has been a busy month and i have lots to report. since i am feeling particularly nerdy, i am going to do it in outline form! :)

1. I just spend a week traveling around Bangkok and Hong Kong. So fun! I officially LOVE LOVE LOVE Hong Kong. It's a perfect blend of NYC and San Francisco, but so much prettier than either! Bangkok was nice too- we drank lots of fresh orange juice laced with sugar and lime juice- quite tasty, and the Buddhist temples were quite nice too. But HK was just lovely.

This picture is from the Golden Temple (Golden Palace? I don't remember). So my forgetting the name is not reflective of the beauty of this place. Even though it was hot and humid, and my friend and I were grumpy after a certain incident with 2 Thai ladies, we still found it amazingly pretty and took about 100 pictures between the 2 of us. We actually bumped into a group of Korean tourists, and they insisted on taking lots of pictures with us! So somewhere in Korea, half a dozen families have framed pictures of themselves with an Indian girl and a Pakistani girl posing in front of the Golden Temple in Bangkok! I was super entertained by the whole situation, so I had a picture of us taken with one of the couples too. : )

Jumbos! We're everywhere. : )

2. I changed houses because my first landlady was horrible. My new living situation is 100000x better. My "landlady" takes amazing care of me- fresh juice every morning, fresh jalebi on sundays (jalebi is a deep fried sweet that Indians eat in the morning as a treat and it tastes so good right out of the frying pan), etc. So that's good news...

3. i was supposed to go to jaipur last week, but there have been major riots across rajasthan because the gujjars want to change their caste designation so they can have better educational and economic opportunities. the situation is getting a little out of hand- it is impossible to travel by rail or road in rajasthan and part of gujarat, so the only way out is by air. the riots are also spreading to delhi, and there are threats from the gujjar community in jammu and kashmir to join the riots if changes are not made. it is quite a volatile situation and I, naively, did not realize how much caste politics continues to shape India today until I began working in India this past January. the quotas, comparable to affirmative action policies in the US, are a huge issue in India, because overpopulation and lack of general goverment support make it very difficult for under-privileged people and groups to gain access to jobs and education. really fascinating stuff and really frustrating too because politicians blatantly use these caste politics to their advantage.

Ok off to deal with more corrupt UP government officials. Woohoo! I dont know if I can actually write that, b/c I feel like someone is going to arrest me for mocking them, but at the pace the UP gvt currently works, I feel pretty confident that it wont happen for at least 15 more years.


:)

relief!

Today is definitely a good blogging day, because I have lots of happy thoughts and general revelations on life! My friend, Gul, came to Lucknow, and due to her influence, I actually went around Lucknow to look at some of the sights. Up until now, all I knew were the markets and the restaurants and vegetable vendors (shock!), but now I've seen all the sights too!

My Day in Amritsar = The Day of Many Many Mixed Lime Sodas
After 2 days in Lucknow, we went to Delhi, spent the day running errands and eating Italian food and cake, and then took an overnight train to Amritsar, Punjab. It was so unbelievably hot, so we would go the sights, then take a break to drink lime sodas in any AC restaurant we could find! We went with 2 other friends, which was a good idea since Amritsar is not the most exciting city, but it has 2 main attractions that we really enjoyed. The first sight is the Golden Temple, built by Sikhs and considered to be one of their most sacred sights, symbolic of freedom and spiritual independence (thank you wikipedia). We actually went to see the Temple 3 times- at 7 Am, at 1 PM, and at 9 PM. It was so beautiful every time we saw it, but I thought it was stunning at night. The temple was lit just enough for the golden dome to shine, but it was dark enough that it reflected from the moonlight. Stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can get a vague idea of it's beauty and magnificence! Just a side note- I managed to get yelled at 3 times when I was at the temple by tall Punjabi men carrying really sharp spears. Scared the hell out of me! There was also a Hindu temple built as an exact, though substantially inferior, copy of the Golden Temple. It was really bizarre because Hindu temples don't usually look like the Golden Temple, so it's unclear who and why someone thought it was a good idea to make an exact replica of the Golden Temple with Hindu deities instead of the symbols of Sikhism.

The other attraction was the Border Ceremony which takes place along the border of Pakistan and India. Somehow it managed to be really fun and interesting and eerily disturbing all at once. So we showed up at the border where there are 2 elaborates gates- 1 gate is the India side which is where we sat, and then there was a huge gate. On the other side of the gate was the Pakistani gate where there are Pakistani spectators. I included a picture of Pakistan's gate just because it was prettier than the Indian gate. The border ceremony was between the guards on both sides of the ceremony, they marched towards each other and opened gates between the countries as they took down the flags of their respective countries. The Indian side was super rowdy, with people chanting, "Jai Mata Di," "Hindustan Zindabad," and "Vande Mataram"; dancing to popular Bollywood songs, and overall national sentiments. There dozens of popcorn vendors and I heard some less than positive things being said about Pakistan and the Pakistan soldiers from my fellow Indian viewers. It was fun because the entire event was designed like a sporting event, but it was disturbing because when the gates were closed again, people on both sides rushed the gates and were calling out to people on the other country's side. Really disturbing to see people who formerly lived side by side separated by something arbitrary like a gate and clumsily drawn line in the dirt.

We returned to Delhi that same night, I spent the day in Delhi, and then returned to Lucknow that night. I went to the wrong train station in Delhi, and ended up having to run to the other side of the train station, hop on the metro, and then run through the other train station to make it to my train on time. It was crazy, but I somehow managed to make it to my train. Silly Anisha!

So, travels were great, and to top it off- I found a new place to live! I am so thrilled! I move today and tomorrow! I'm also going back to Delhi this week, and if tickets work out, I have lots of fun plans for the next 2 months... more details to come soon...

More rambling...
Other stuff- I am becoming increasingly convinced that I am not suited to work in the field of public health, or at least the way I am doing it right now. I am becoming very frustrated by the process of working with the Indian government and dealing with local NGOs. Everything comes down to money, and I feel like the idealism and desire to do good that many people have when they enter this field is constantly compromised and possibly destroyed at some point. I've met some amazing people who manage to do great things in spite of all the barriers, and I am trying to learn from their examples, but I wonder if I would be useful in another area of public health...

i am anisha, hear me roar!

I think India is trying to piss me off and force me to leave- I had sunstroke 2 weeks ago. That was annoying. This week I have prickly rash, which I found out is associated with sunstroke and basically means that I am developing little itchy red bumps all over my body. I'm allergic to India. The doctor's recommendation- avoid tropical, humid places. period. right. good. really good. We've also been losing power at my place at least twice a day, so not only is there no AC (I'm American, I need AC!), but the fan is completely useless if there's no electricity. oy! Oh, and as my Hindi gets better, I get picked on more and more for speaking with an accent. Sweet.


But, I am determined to stick it out.


Good stuff- my friend is coming to L from Delhi to hang, and then we're going to Amritsar! I've rediscovered gchat, so I'm getting updated on life back home, which is fantastic! I finally found a tailor I like- he calls me baby ji. I love him! AND- I have the entire upstairs fridge in my house to myself. My first personal fridge (that isn't like 1 cubic ft)! I've always wanted to have one!

half hearted post

i am writing this post because sarasa bugged me to update my blog- i can't say i have a lot of interesting news or things to say, but i will make a genuine attempt! so the past couple of weeks have been a little crazy and strange. i'm working on the project with a delhi-based ngo, which has been somewhat frustrating because the government of this state is so ridiculous, but i am hopeful that things will work out in the end. i will be less vague about that when stuff finally comes together!

india is getting super hot, which is good and bad. good, because the heat means that mangoes will soon be available in the markets, which is SO exciting. but, it's also hot, so that's not quite as exciting. i might be shifting houses, because my place doesn't have AC, and i actually managed to give myself sun stroke (aka heat stroke).

other good things- i've learned how to cook okra one way. i've discovered kesar pista milkshakes (saffron and pistachio flavors). i had my first webcam/skype conversation the other night with frank. i bought a pink sari. i'm going to amritsar next weekend to see the golden temple. i'm trying to plan a trip to the mountains in 2 weeks if i can convince some poor soul to accompany me.

Trek to South India and back

My sister was nice enough to come all the way to India to hang out with me for 2 weeks, so I took it as a chance to travel a bit. We went from Delhi to Goa to Kerala to Delhi to Lucknow and then back to Delhi again. It was so fun! I thought I would include some pics and stories for my loyal fans! jk jk!

So, Goa... not as pretty as we had expected. It's a super popular tourist spot, and I imagine it's really fun on New Year's Eve or during spring break, but it's just not that pretty! The water was pretty dirty in north and south Goa, and the food wasn't that good since it wasn't veggie friendly. on a positive note, I got to drink lots of lime sodas, which is my favorite drink in India! It's like carbonated water with fresh lime juice, salt and pepper. Sounds gross, but it's really good! The other great thing about Goa is that we went to this really fancy hotel to eat, and I got to eat Thai food for the first time in months, and we got brownie sundaes for dessert! I was in heaven!

Ok, moving along in the journey, we took a train to Kerala which was so annoying because the travel agent who had booked our tickets had mistakenly written my sister's gender as male. now, normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but seeing as this is india, and everything ends up being a pain in the ass when you really just want to take a nap, i had to fight with the train conductor, buy the ticket again and pay a fine. either way, we made it to kochi in one piece. then we met our driver. he spoke no english. no hindi. only malayalam. oy. that was a HUGE problem. anyway, we went to munnar first, which has all these lovely tea plantations and spice plantations. it smelled like tea and cardamom for 2 days, which i was so happy about!

So this is a snapshot of a part of the tea plantation. I was pretty amazed by how extensive the fields were, and I believe they are primarily owned by the TATA company. We also had the most incredible dosa, uttapam, and chutneys in munnar. if anyone has recipes for that amazing mint chutney, coconut chutney, and tomato chutney that is used in south indian cooking, please send them my way! The other entertaining thing we realized while we were in Munnar is the cult of Lonely Planet. Now, I've never realized this before, because I haven't traveled abroad prior to this, expect for family vacations to India when I was a kid. But now that I've been traveling a bit, I'm starting to realize that this book has such a cult following- it's crazy! We kept seeing/meeting all these non-Indians in Goa and Kerala who were carrying these huge backpacks and holding their LP book grasped to their chest like their travel Bible. And though I understand that the book gives a good rough description of lots of different places and gives people ideas on where to go which can be a difficult task for foreigners to a country, it is still super entertaining to see these people who only stay in LP recommended places and only eat at LP mentioned restaurants. In honor of the LPers, I've included the picture of a birkenstock footprint, which we saw everywhere! Does anyone else remember that NYTimes article about birkenstock company and how much they enjoyed and appreciated that hippie-dippie, tree-hugging association with their shoes? These LPers are never ending free advertisements for them!

After Munnar, we drove to Thekkedy, which was, well, kinda lame to be honest. We wanted to see a spice plantation, but we ended up in this place which we thought looked like someone's personal garden, and then they tried to sell us massage oil. Very strange...

After that, we went to Alleppy, which was soooooooo pretty and lovely. Alleppy is known for its backwaters, which is basically a series of canals and waterways that are lined with coconut trees and lotus flowers and villages. amazingly beautiful. we were lucky enough to take a boat ride around sunset, and there was a brief thunderstorm while we were on the water which made the scene even more picturesque! Not to sound super touristy and like one of those damn lonely planet types that my sister and i despise, but it is pretty amazing to see people using canoes as their mode of transportation and the canal water as their bathing water. there was just something about our being on a motorized boat watching people canoe past us with wood and leaves to build their houses that made the whole experience seem very unreal. We also stayed at this cute little place in the middle of a lake. We went paddle boating one morning, and ate lovely keralan cuisine, which I loved. I should have been born in kerala.


After Alleppy, we went to Kovalam, which had such pretty beaches. Now, I know people say these beaches are commercial and touristy, but I say, ignore them, because they were so beautiful. clear water, white sand, so pretty. It was such a relief to see this pretty beach area after seeing the ugliness of Goa! The waves were also super big and kinda scary because they had such a strong pull. Needless to say, my sister and I were super wimpy and stayed along the coast since neither of us is a super great swimmer (sarasa i need more swimming lessons!) I included a picture of the beach and a shot of the outdoor restaurant where we had dinner the night we were in Kovalam. I got to eat bok choy in India on the beach on a full moon night with my sister! Does life get any better than that?

After our touristy trek through Kerala, we returned to Delhi, a place which my sister and I both love! We ate lots of food at Haldiram's, shopped, and went to see my sister's first Bollywood film in India this trip. We saw Namastey London, which I had already seen, and was dying to see again. It is such a terrible movie that it is actually good. SO good. It's got all these Indian patriotism undertones which would have annoyed me had I been in the states, but since I'm in India and the crowd was cheering and hooting- it just seemed so right and so fabulous!

Now that I'm back from my lovely vacation through Western South India, I am ready to work on my project and hopefully find a way to make myself useful- more work related posts to come soon (i hope!)

Parwal Sabzi

At the risk of being accused of turning this into another food blog, I'm posting pictures of the dinner I made tonight because I'm so proud of the dish! I cooked stuffed parwal- parwal is a green vegetable known as pointed gourd in English. Parwal is a very healthy vegetable, and I've always thought it tasted pretty healthy too! They look like a cross between squash and baby cucumber. I've never really liked this vegetable, but they looked so pretty and fresh at the vegetable market that I had to buy some. I came home and found a recipe for stuffed parwal, which, much to my surprise, turned out really well!!

Stuffed Parwal

1. Cut off the ends of the parwal and make a slit through the middle of the parwal without slicing the vegetable in half. Scoop out the insides and save. Boil these shells in salted water until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork.

2. While the parwal shells boil, make the stuffing. Saute the insides with chopped onions, garam masala, ground cumin, chopped green peppers, chili powder, salt, and amchoor (mango powder).

3. Strain the shells. Stuff. Shallow fry in mustard oil in a frying pan until the outsides are slightly browned.

4. EAT!!

The cool thing about stuffing parwal is that there are tons of options for what you can put inside. I think the parwal would taste fantastic with tomatoes, or paneer. The cook in my house suggested using a toothpick or white thread to hold the parwal together while sauteeing in the final step, so they don't fall apart. Good idea!

Now that my camera is back...

I finally got my camera back, so I want to post some pictures that I took today of... food!

Here's the chocolate pie one of my housemates made, which was sooooooo good... I included the recipe too, which she hopefully won't mind my sharing!

1. Blend together the following ingredients:
1 package silken extra firm tofu (light, 12.3 oz)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp instant coffee (or cinnamon)
soymilk, if need to blend the ingredients

2. Make the crust by crushing cookies (graham crackers) with oil and margarine (butter can be used too, but my housemate is vegan, so she didn't use butter). Press into pie pan.

3. Melt chocolate and pour over the crust.

4. Add mixture from step 1. Refrigerate.

I've also become obsessed with papaya in the last 2 days, so I thought I would share a picture of my favorite fruit with everyone (the little pink specks are kala namak, black salt). Following that is a picture of my newest friend in Lucknow...