Driving in India

According to Vasanth, my driver this trip, with a reverent nod to http://thisisindexed.com/, this is the key to driving in India.

Happy Diwali!!

Diwali is characterized as a festival with firecrackers popping, fireworks exploding all over the city (including the related fireworks injury reports in this morning's paper), Diyas and temples lit with lights.



Along with firecrackers, Diwali is marked by flowers. Here's one in the lobby designed in marigolds, roses and jasmine.

Another with just marigolds... The post has a Diya on top, the little lamps that are traditional for Diwali.

More proof that civilization is dead

BOOTILLICIOUS? That's all kinds of wrong.

MMMM, Yummy....

I went out to lunch at an Indian Family Restaurant today where they had both more typical meals and more Indian prices that you would get at a hotel. I thought there were a couple of intriguing names on the list of items.


MMMMMM, Brain Fry.... No, I didn't try it.

Pan

Pan is an interesting experience--it's made from betel leaves. I tried it and don't really get the appeal but it's popular here.

n North India, it is very common to see various small roadside-stalls, named Paan Bhandar or Paan Stall. These small shops sell Paan- the most eaten chewing material as mouth freshener. These shops are also centre point of meeting of many Paan lovers, who love to discuss over various local and national issues, while relishing the wonderful aromatic taste of Paan. These Paan lovers can easily be recognized by their mouth expressions and red colour lips.

Serious Paan lovers even have red teeth...

Ayurvedic Massages

Ayurvedic massages are really pretty cool--you can see my previous post from 2007. The Eco Village we visited offered them as well. The bowl with the strings below is designed to be filled with warm oil that drips over your forehead. I was really up for that, but it took too long... Instead I got the head and neck massage. The oil took 4 separate shampoos to finally wash out!


This table is a bit more upscale from the formica table top from the last time I got one of these.Full body Ayurvedic massages end with a steam treatment. In this case, you get in a steam box for 10 minutes. Next to the box is the pressure cooker that creates the steam...

Everyone can use a little help...

Everyone can use a little help sometimes. We watched this down the road repeatedly. The one in front must have been low on gas.

Food in India

(This post is for you, Peyush--I even updated it today!)
I love Indian food--I eat it all--bring it on. I also have a new camera that has a "cuisine" setting. These are some of the yummy meals I've had lately.

In the US, I don't eat breakfast much---I know, there's a whole mafia attitude about people who skip breakfast, but I haven't been much of a breakfast eater since I was a kid and I see no point in changing now. Except, of course, in India. Here a nice breakfast includes Masala Dosa (a large crisp pancake folded around spiced potatoes and served with coconut and tomato chutneys and sambar), a lassi and a pot of coffee. For that, I eat.

Masala Prawns with Parathi--amazingly good!

This was really so unique sounding I had to try it--Raspberry Chilli Sorbet. Wow, it was great--at first, you only get the cold and the raspberry and then it's followed by a mellow warm burn--I have to try this at home.



The Non-Veg Thali with the most amazing Tandoori Chicken... It was 85 INR, or about $1.67 and this lunch place. You can't get that at Taco Bell... Speaking of which, they aren't in India yet (seems funny since they have so many veg options on the menus), but Pepsico is. Here's the Pizza Hut we went by today, advertising Punjabi Pizzas. Check out the Pizza Hut logo above the poster.



Appams and chicken stews... (65 INR or about $1.28)


Appams with Veg stew (South Indian--with coconut milk--yummm)

Chili Potato --this is sort of like French Fries with Buffalo Chicken Wings sauce. Amelia wants me to bring some home for her.

Ahh, the Perfect Manhattan and Chaat.

Shifa

Shifa decided she wanted my bangles. Then she'd give me the bangles back and wanted my watch. Then she'd give me the watch back and wanted the bangles.

Things you don't see much in the US

Unless you are a skinhead, I guess. This is what we tend to think of, from today's news about the skinheads planning to assassinate Obama and kill 88 black children (swastika tattoo on his shoulder):




Swatiskas, as described by Wikipedia:

The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika स्वस्तिक ) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. The swastika can also be drawn as a traditional swastika, but with a second 90° bend in each arm.

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. An ancient symbol, it occurs mainly in the cultures that are in modern day India and the surrounding area, sometimes as a geometrical motif (as in the Roman Republic and Empire) and sometimes as a religious symbol. It was long widely used in major world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

and

Traditionally the swastika has been used as a symbol of good luck, welfare, prosperity or victory. One interpretation of the swastika is derived from the ancient mythological symbolism of Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, Shakti) (represented by the vertical line) dancing upon Shiva (Devanagari: शिव, Shiv) (represented by the horizontal line). Philosophically this may be understood as the two aspects of Brahma (Devanagari: ब्रह्म, Brahma): consciousness and energy interacting to give expression to the universe. The circular movement of this cross may be interpreted as the circular movement of the rising kundalini (Devanagari: कुण्डलिनी).

and

The motif seems to have first been used in Neolithic India. The symbol has an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. In antiquity, the swastika was used extensively by the Indo-Aryans, Persians, Hittites, Slavs, Celts and Greeks, among others. In particular, the swastika is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Mithraism, religions with a total of more than a billion adherents worldwide, making the swastika ubiquitous in both historical and contemporary society. The symbol was introduced to Southeast Asia by Hindu kings and remains an integral part of Balinese Hinduism to this day, and it is a common sight in Indonesia. It is also used by several Native American cultures.

In India, you still see it as a good luck symbol, but it's still a little startling for a westerner...

This one above was an "I'm sorry card" which seems even stranger with the Swastika. "Sorry we massacred your family!"


HAPPY DIWALI!

Before and After, the chicken edition

Street-side stands in town do really make you realize where that tasty chicken dinner came from...

Our Native Village Part 2

Our Native Village also includes a working farm. We got to milk a cow (I knew Anne would love that: "Oh goody, you flew all the way to India to milk a cow?"),






ride in a bull cart, and check out the chickens, ducks and turkeys(!). This adult turkey was trying to impress a hen who was totally ignoring him. I don't think I've ever been this close to my Thanksgiving dinner...

Our Native Village

We had an offsite meeting with the teams from Hyderabad and Bangalore this week, at a 100% Eco-Village outside of Bangalore. The whole concept is very green, with solar panels, windmill, water harvesting, even composting to produce bio-fuel and using a small fire to run boilers for the guest rooms.

They also have a cool "swimming pool" which uses an Austrian natural purification system (including frogs!). Not sure if I would want to swim in it--it's a bit more pond like than swimming pool like, but it's still pretty fun.

Sound OK Horn

It always strikes me as funny to see trucks and autorickshaws all over India with "Sound OK Horn" on the back. No one seems to need the reminder to beep their horns constantly. Recently Bangalore started putting lane markers down on major streets, but no one pays any attention to them. In Bangalore, traffic flows wherever it wants, people weave in and out, and the preferred method of letting someone know where you are is to beep your horn. Horns beeping are such a staple sound for India that I hear them on calls with folks on my teams all the time, regardless of how quiet a neighborhood they live in...