Broadening my Nutritional Palate

Indian adventure of the day: discovered maggots in my 2nd packet of oatmeal...after I already ate the first. I guess involuntary ingestion of protein is alive and well. So am I, for the time being...

Hiking

Me at the beginning of the hike around the mountain (not pictured: the copious amount of sweat soaking through my back). Imagine stepping inside a Bikram (hot) yoga studio. Now picture doing cardio for 6 continuous hours. That was my day today. Went on a 6 hour hike. Exhausted. Will write more soon.

Feeding 5000

(Highlight of my day) Today was Samadhi Day. It is a yearly event where all the local villagers wait for hours in the hot sun to come to the compound in which we live and visit the shrine of the german doctor that founded our charity. Normally it is not accessible to the public, but once a year, we open it up so the villagers can pay their respects, receive a gift and blessing, and leave with a hot meal.

I woke up at 4 am to start my first task of cutting hundreds of flowers that would be used to decorate the Samadhi. After that, I was put on food duty, serving some kind of curried rice out of giant cauldrons. This was definitely the highlight of my day. The simplicity of the action of giving really affected me, and it's something I won't forget.

After I was relieved of duty, I took some pictures of various other activities happening simultaneously-there was a water station, a gift station, the food of course, the blessing at the Samadhi, and the entrance. That was where it got scary.

There were so many people waiting outside the gate to get in (over 5000 people showed up--that's over a thousand more than we expected), and I got to witness the mob mentality first-hand. The crowd all wanted to be first, and those that couldn't were scared they would't have their chance to get inside. Panic set in, and they started getting destructive--they ripped down the tent we had set up to shade them, including all the decorations we had worked hard on.

We were letting people in in waves. Problem was, once we opened the gates it became nearly impossible to close them again. People rushed through in such a fast current that it was really difficult to control. Kids were getting trampled, women were falling, the ropes set up to guide people on the path were rendered useless, allowing people to trample all over the gardens--it was a nightmare. This sense of entitlement was really what angered me most, though. Many of the people, once inside, skipped paying respect and simply went to collect their free gift and food. I know they all really need those things, but the least you could do is say thanks when you're already there.

Luckily, I had already done my food service in the morning, before I saw all of this, so I had a really beautiful moment. I think it would have been hard to have the same experience after having witnessed the behaviour I did later in the day. Overall, it was a beautiful day, and I got the chance to really see how many people our work affects in the surrounding area, which was really incredible.

Dodged a Bullet (and a Rat)

(view from the hike)Last night, I was supposed to go on Pradakshina (walk around the mountain, its a Hindu ritual here), but I opted out after hiking up the mountain with a bunch of kids earlier in the evening. The group that did go, including two of my close friends, were attacked. They were robbed and they were beaten. I am so rattled right now, because I was supposed to be there, too. they've told us not to go at night anymore, or in small groups--larger groups only. Combine that with the recent bombings in Mumbai, and India is becoming a rather scary place to be for the next couple of months.

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Today we were treated to a traditional bhangra drumming session at Bhajan, which is an afternoon of music and dancing they have here weekly. The musician who was playing was totally blind, but he came up with the most incredible rhythms!

When we got back to the house, we were discussing dinner when (my roommate) screamed and jumped on the table. "RAT! There's a rat in the house!" Sure enough, I see the thing make a beeline for the bathroom. That rat was massive. No other way to put it. At least a foot long.

We locked it in the bathroom (we hope) and are now with our neighbors upstairs, figuring out what to do next. They offered for us to stay here tonight, which we gladly accepted--no chance I would be able to sleep knowing that thing was across the hall from me.

Gotta love India!

(Wild)Life in India

It feels like I'm living in an exhibit at the zoo here, I am surrounded by wildlife. A family of peacocks live in my garden, and i can hear them calling to each other. There are dogs wandering between houses, and lizards both inside and outside. (I can hear the geckos clicking at night, which means they're somewhere in my room but I don't know where. It takes some time before you trust that you're not going to wake up to one crawling on you.) We also have our share of less pleasant creatures, including spiders, scorpions, rats and ants (both of which I've had the pleasure of having inside my house already) and of course, monkeys. It really is a treat to walk through and have peacocks fanning their tails out every day. It almost feels normal at this point because it happens so much, but we all know this is not the case. In fact, I wanted to go look at the full moon on my roof last night (roofs here are flat so you can walk on them), and I went up the steps only to find a brood of peacocks sleeping there already! I wasn't about to disturb them--not yet sure how vicious they are compared to the monkeys.

Don't believe whatever Disney or Aladdin told you; monkeys in India are not cute. They're vicious, full of diseases, and will attack you. I walk everywhere with a slingshot so I can shoot them if need be. Seriously! You get a group of them blocking your way (like i did on my way down the mountain this week-I thought I was going to either die of rabies or be stranded up there) and you have to back away and hope they move along, unless you shoot them. Not to kill, but just to scare them off so they'll get out of your way.

It takes some getting used to, opening your curtains in the morning and seeing a face staring back at you through the screen, but monkeys are not shy.

Something that takes some real getting used to is the ants. They are everywhere. And they can smell food from a mile away, literally. So you have to keep all your food either in the fridge, in sealed glass containers (they'll chew through plastic) or in a dish with water underneath, since they can't swim--yet.

We left one grain of rice on the counter after dinner the first night, and there were THOUSANDS of ants the next morning. They made a steady stream through the kitchen counter and out the front door.

We had to return some groceries that our delivery man brought that we hadn't ordered, so we left them in a burlap bag on the porch. The next morning, the ants had bitten a hole through the bag, through the packaging on the cookies, and there were only crumbs left. They just swarmed the entire area. It is so disgusting, I really have to try to not lose it when this happens. I hate the way they move!

It happened again today when I left a bag of cashews in my backpack. I went to retrieve them for a snack and pulled out an ant-infested bag instead. My backpack is currently in the freezer until I can be sure they're all dead. At least they haven't come in the bedroom yet. Then I really wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I already have nightmares every time I come here of waking up to my entire body covered in ants...ahhhh I get the creeps just thinking about it!

Luckily my obsessive compulsive cleaning habits are paying off, and we've managed to minimize the infestations. It is a content battle, though, and it makes you paranoid--every time I have an itch somewhere my mind instantly assumes it's an ant and it's so much worse.

That's another thing about India-everything is bigger here. The bumblebees, the butterflies, and the insect bites (exhibit A): I have no idea what bit me but I'm still alive so it can't be that bad, right?