Friday, August 27, 2004
Monsoon stories
Keep the rythm of one blog a week is quite difficult. Time to collect and to restitute is not always there like for trekkers or hitch-hikers permanently moving and discovering new places. (In fact time to collect is there, but I won't bother you with company stories, even if some would be worth telling like a maintenance collegue coming at every production morning meeting with the notepad's colorfull cover : "flowers are the lover's true language"...)
Rather late than never I discovered the number and diversity of forts around Pune : most of them were built by Shivaji - 17th century - a real hero in this state. Why? Because he was the guide of the resitance against the Mogol control of whole india. Still used a national symbol for hindouism & especialy in Maharashtra since he was from there and this state always resisted (like a small village in French Britany at roman time - let's say to simplify, he is a kind of indian Asterix without cartoons...). Lots of stories about him, once he is supposed to have used a rope attached on a big lezard to climb a defense wall and to conquest a fort. I heared that a new religion was supposed to start by january 3rd 2005, excluding brahmanes (the ones who know and don't share, in hindouism) and devoted to Shivaji...probably a big success in this state, but it sounds a bit marketing-like : you throw a new religion like you bring a new product to the the market...how there is a strong business plan behind backed by good market studies...
Back to the forts : they all are on mountain tops (over 60 were built at that time), monsoon is the best time to visit them, people say. By the way there are 2 periods in the year : the summer, when you wait for monsoon, and the monsoon itself, when you can enjoy it!!! It is related to a feeling of happiness when rain is falling. Sounds a bit contradictory, but people here prefer to wander/climb under the rain or through the fog, because the temperature is low (25-30), the water drops are quite refreshing and the lanscape all around is green with waterfalls. Nobody cares about panorama. Once I realised how late I was in this fort discovery process, I visited my first even under the rain : Sinhagad (Sinha = lion / Gad = fort). After 10 minutes it was no more avoidable to go in deep water (running on the main road) with my shoes (I recommand boots now) in the middle of the rice fields. The ground and the plants were permanently changing in unexpected and unexperimented forms and colors. Half the time was done with open umbrella (very elegant...). I did part of the short way with two friendly students, crossed a indian couple in their fifties going twice up and down every thursday to train for a 18 days trek to Everest base camp in december... Once at the top the mood is very mysterious, you never know whether you reached the real summit (check the picture on iDenTiC !), but you can enjoy delicious curd, buttermilk, roasted ognions (cooked wit kerosene!) and special bread. Still Raigad (Shivaji's capital), Rajgad (nice looking fort with 20m vertical climbing at the end), etc, to visit...
Obvious drawback during monsoon is the status of the roads : the newspapers publish in average one page a day about potholes statistics and stupid statements from politicians about the road policy. Compared to it, the polish road network is excellent!
After 20 days without sun in Pune, I felt like living again as I travelled to Chennai last tuesday for a one-day trip to a corean car manufacturer. Sun, no cloud, lunch on a banana leaf (rice and curries to be mixed and eaten with the hand, without chapati, according the southern tradition), made me forget the high temperature. I checked...when I will move there, monsoon time will just start...but they promissed me it would be lighter and shorter than in the north. Let's keep fingers crossed.
august, 15th : independance day in India, but no big parties : it is a "dry day" (no alcool for sell - all pubs closed - strage way to celebrate). I was looking for an opportunity to share a Belvedere vodka bottle - brought back from holidays - with my kashmiri friends, so we just sat talking on the terrasse, eating chicken bariani (hmm...) and enjoying -20deg polish vodka in small glasses. I was proud to teach them how to drink unmixed alcool & then "na zdrowie". After some glasses they were quite successfull in pronoucing it. Long life to India!
Snake festival was on 20th (Nagpanchami) : snakes are worshiped because of their benefit to the agriculture (eat rats & other animal destroying crops). Suprisingly on that day a lot of women were dressed in silk saree with henan drawings in their hands. I wished happy nagpanchami to our secretary, she was pleased and told me to wish it to another woman working in the office, who was crazy about snake (Nag) and was specialy dressed and prepared for that event...I heared there was a hill where captured snakes were supposed to be freed on that evening. I did not insist to know where...
Next festival : on sunday 29th : raksha bandhan to celebrate this so special link between brothers and sisters : sisters give beautifull red bracelets (lots of men have it today in the plant, sometimes with svastika on it) and brothers offer presents like sarees with tender wishes (I forgot august 1st as official "friendship day"...). But no traditonal father's or mother's day...
Just finished a nice book called "the french in India from 17th to 20th century". Quite interesting after France gave up any ambition in 1763, lots of them stood there and served Maharadjas, Rajputs, Mogols - even England (Estern India Company) for some of them. Motivation ranged from making peacefull but profitable business, "mercenaire"-job (using their military skills gained on european battlefields to support local kings, organize their army against each other or England), pure adventure, to preparing France's hypothetic come-back...The big cities basic history is quite easy : all the names ending with "-bad" are from Mogol (persian muslims) time : Hyderabad, Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, all inside the country (Mogols came through land, no sea culture). Then you have the main old british "comptoir"-harbours along the coast : Bombay-Madras-Calcuta. Add Dehli in the middle and you have 90% of the top 10 indian cities. Simple.
Olympics : India won it's first silver medal since independance in '47 (no gold either) in ... shooting. The happy shooter is a major from indian army. I made some jokes on the next day with my office collegues about optimum training in Kashmir...(black humor)...but it turned out to be true : some days later I read an article at the limit of the polical correctness presenting proudly the records of this champion's army section : more that 300 "terrorists" killed in Jammu & Kashmir within a few years ...Where is the olympic spirit? Fore sure not yet landed here! Everyday a new article blaming India for it's poor results in the Games : 1/5th of the world's population and only one silver...
Culinary tip of the week : in bombay brasserie (terrasse) : excellent grilled mutton and "muzaffar" desert : sweet nut creme with crispy vermicelle on the top...
Vocabulary : "to live from hand to mouth" : to work with minimum stock or ressources
Rather late than never I discovered the number and diversity of forts around Pune : most of them were built by Shivaji - 17th century - a real hero in this state. Why? Because he was the guide of the resitance against the Mogol control of whole india. Still used a national symbol for hindouism & especialy in Maharashtra since he was from there and this state always resisted (like a small village in French Britany at roman time - let's say to simplify, he is a kind of indian Asterix without cartoons...). Lots of stories about him, once he is supposed to have used a rope attached on a big lezard to climb a defense wall and to conquest a fort. I heared that a new religion was supposed to start by january 3rd 2005, excluding brahmanes (the ones who know and don't share, in hindouism) and devoted to Shivaji...probably a big success in this state, but it sounds a bit marketing-like : you throw a new religion like you bring a new product to the the market...how there is a strong business plan behind backed by good market studies...
Back to the forts : they all are on mountain tops (over 60 were built at that time), monsoon is the best time to visit them, people say. By the way there are 2 periods in the year : the summer, when you wait for monsoon, and the monsoon itself, when you can enjoy it!!! It is related to a feeling of happiness when rain is falling. Sounds a bit contradictory, but people here prefer to wander/climb under the rain or through the fog, because the temperature is low (25-30), the water drops are quite refreshing and the lanscape all around is green with waterfalls. Nobody cares about panorama. Once I realised how late I was in this fort discovery process, I visited my first even under the rain : Sinhagad (Sinha = lion / Gad = fort). After 10 minutes it was no more avoidable to go in deep water (running on the main road) with my shoes (I recommand boots now) in the middle of the rice fields. The ground and the plants were permanently changing in unexpected and unexperimented forms and colors. Half the time was done with open umbrella (very elegant...). I did part of the short way with two friendly students, crossed a indian couple in their fifties going twice up and down every thursday to train for a 18 days trek to Everest base camp in december... Once at the top the mood is very mysterious, you never know whether you reached the real summit (check the picture on iDenTiC !), but you can enjoy delicious curd, buttermilk, roasted ognions (cooked wit kerosene!) and special bread. Still Raigad (Shivaji's capital), Rajgad (nice looking fort with 20m vertical climbing at the end), etc, to visit...
Obvious drawback during monsoon is the status of the roads : the newspapers publish in average one page a day about potholes statistics and stupid statements from politicians about the road policy. Compared to it, the polish road network is excellent!
After 20 days without sun in Pune, I felt like living again as I travelled to Chennai last tuesday for a one-day trip to a corean car manufacturer. Sun, no cloud, lunch on a banana leaf (rice and curries to be mixed and eaten with the hand, without chapati, according the southern tradition), made me forget the high temperature. I checked...when I will move there, monsoon time will just start...but they promissed me it would be lighter and shorter than in the north. Let's keep fingers crossed.
august, 15th : independance day in India, but no big parties : it is a "dry day" (no alcool for sell - all pubs closed - strage way to celebrate). I was looking for an opportunity to share a Belvedere vodka bottle - brought back from holidays - with my kashmiri friends, so we just sat talking on the terrasse, eating chicken bariani (hmm...) and enjoying -20deg polish vodka in small glasses. I was proud to teach them how to drink unmixed alcool & then "na zdrowie". After some glasses they were quite successfull in pronoucing it. Long life to India!
Snake festival was on 20th (Nagpanchami) : snakes are worshiped because of their benefit to the agriculture (eat rats & other animal destroying crops). Suprisingly on that day a lot of women were dressed in silk saree with henan drawings in their hands. I wished happy nagpanchami to our secretary, she was pleased and told me to wish it to another woman working in the office, who was crazy about snake (Nag) and was specialy dressed and prepared for that event...I heared there was a hill where captured snakes were supposed to be freed on that evening. I did not insist to know where...
Next festival : on sunday 29th : raksha bandhan to celebrate this so special link between brothers and sisters : sisters give beautifull red bracelets (lots of men have it today in the plant, sometimes with svastika on it) and brothers offer presents like sarees with tender wishes (I forgot august 1st as official "friendship day"...). But no traditonal father's or mother's day...
Just finished a nice book called "the french in India from 17th to 20th century". Quite interesting after France gave up any ambition in 1763, lots of them stood there and served Maharadjas, Rajputs, Mogols - even England (Estern India Company) for some of them. Motivation ranged from making peacefull but profitable business, "mercenaire"-job (using their military skills gained on european battlefields to support local kings, organize their army against each other or England), pure adventure, to preparing France's hypothetic come-back...The big cities basic history is quite easy : all the names ending with "-bad" are from Mogol (persian muslims) time : Hyderabad, Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, all inside the country (Mogols came through land, no sea culture). Then you have the main old british "comptoir"-harbours along the coast : Bombay-Madras-Calcuta. Add Dehli in the middle and you have 90% of the top 10 indian cities. Simple.
Olympics : India won it's first silver medal since independance in '47 (no gold either) in ... shooting. The happy shooter is a major from indian army. I made some jokes on the next day with my office collegues about optimum training in Kashmir...(black humor)...but it turned out to be true : some days later I read an article at the limit of the polical correctness presenting proudly the records of this champion's army section : more that 300 "terrorists" killed in Jammu & Kashmir within a few years ...Where is the olympic spirit? Fore sure not yet landed here! Everyday a new article blaming India for it's poor results in the Games : 1/5th of the world's population and only one silver...
Culinary tip of the week : in bombay brasserie (terrasse) : excellent grilled mutton and "muzaffar" desert : sweet nut creme with crispy vermicelle on the top...
Vocabulary : "to live from hand to mouth" : to work with minimum stock or ressources
Saturday, August 07, 2004
Back to India...
At last the monsoon is there, the low level of rain was almost alarming before I left for some days in Europe, now it is too much.
95% of humidity and 28deg C in Bombay. 2/3 of Bengladesh under water and big parts of indian states like Gujarat in serious trouble...
During the flight (placed in front of emergency exit so with not-movable seat) I met Abhay from Bombay, nothing difficult he was my neighbour. He was on his way back from Austin, Texas, after one year of study there, for one month of holiday in his home town. He knew surprisingly a lot about Europe, cinema, politics, indian touristic places (even about Saint-Gobain - not as touristic place - that he used to rate for a previous company). Discussions made the journey much more pleasant & will go on. His challenge is now to find (for me) a cello-maker in Bombay...
Arriving in the office this afternoon, I frightened the secretary as I told her that I spent some holidays in Poland. The country became extremely unsafe for Indians since a recent kidnapping of a 37-y.o. indian businessman (probably as dangereous as Irak if not more...). She was horrifyed as she mentionned the cut-off fingers reappearing one-by-one in bottles in every corner of Warsaw to urge the family for money. I hope that foreign residents in India are not concerned...
As I told to some of you I had the pleasure to meet in the last days, India requires a lot of energy and is quite exciting-tiring. If you add the climatic conditions with the various pollutions (noises, dirt, smokes,...), the attention you have to pay to prevent potential dangers (no, I am not paranoid android...) and events & pictures you gather from your close environment that are as many challenges when you try to build-up a intelligible world around you (not an absolute need, but comfortable from time to time). I miss sometimes pedestrian areas like market places. Here there are no streets forbidden to 2, 3 and 4 wheelers. As long as they are not too wide, vehicles just go. Finally "your" appropriated space is very much reduced (even more at the beginning), almost only your home. Sometimes in the city I feel like in a golden prison, fortunatly not impossible to escape...soon time to go to country-side, I heared there are a lot of military forts (17th cent.) & hill stations all around...to come.
How to illustrate how easy the contacts with all kinds of people are here : one day in a Barista coffee shop (best indian expresso so far), I read in the magasin "Outlook" some ranking of good restaurants and pubs in the 10 biggest cities of India. Absolutly to have at home in a discovery period! I was very pleased to see that Pune belonged that top 10 (even at the end of the list...). Some unknown names were mentionned there so I had to get that magasin. I jumped in a rickshaw, asked for a shop and landed on the square in front of the railway station. No "Outlook" there. They had only the new edition even if dated with the following day. I didn't gave up and went to the next shop. Nothing...but a nice shopkeeper who proposed me to come on the next day, same time/same place. One day later I came back, full of confidence. As I saw him I understood that he had forgoten. He looked really confused and asked me to wait 10 more minutes (short before 9p.m., he was just about to close his shop).
-during this time I could study the entire list of small packages available in thousands of tiny shops you can get for 1Rs (2 eurocents) : supari (small pieces of wood with chemical impregnation - tastes like some toilet-products smell - "injurious for health", bad for teeth, etc, but extremly popular), coconut oil for your hair (shine + "parachute" effect), washing powder, shampoo, sweets, mouth-tobacco (you will see what I mean, what's the right word for it?) and the list is not complete. Those 1Rs products are absolutly necessary in a country where the population earn today what will make them not starvate tomorrow-
10 minutes later the guy closed his shop, and invited me to follow him. He went to his scooter in a court behind and we rode to his home. Magic drive, I could experiment the nice feeling of (moderate) speed without helmet through the indian night...surrounded by heavy traffic. (I want my Enfield*!...). We stopped in a narrow street and entered in a small 2 room flat on ground floor. I was introduced to the son & the wife, sat on the sofa and the discussion started about forecast for european football championship, mathematics & son's computer-engineering study. I had unfortunatly to refuse politely the non-filtered water that was kindly offered. After a while the son brought from another room the magazine I was looking for (the family had an abonnement), offered to pay for it but the father refused, saying that once read it had no more value. I could have stayed much longer but left after 30 minutes of intense exchange, not without having given my e-mail to the son, in case he would require some help. Wait & see...
On of my favorite place to have diner here is located 200m from my home & called "Teri Rajput" (probably the name of the owner). It looks like (and it is) a very popular & cheap place, but with a large range of customers, some coming to get some sauce in a small bag for a few rupees, others sitting and spending up to 50Rs for a complete diner. It is open to the street (kind of "street canteen"), with some tables & a lot of agitation. An old crazy guy sometimes is "controlling" the traffic in front of the house, trying in vain to prevent the bikes & cars to park directly in front of the open-air canteen (no idea whether he is appointed by "Teri Rajput" to do that, I guess not...) In fact the food preparation takes place along the street, in the middle of the customers tables. In the very middle, 4 containers with various sauces, one with rice. On the right side the pancake workshop (I am not yet comfortable with the various names used for it : paneer, chapati, roti, paapat, etc), 4 men working with a rare intensity (yesterday I discovered the simplest way to make potato-puree : take a boiled potato in your hand and squeeze it!). They make cheese pancake, potato pancake, califlor (nie pamietam, is that "choux-fleur" in english or in polish?) pancake...When you have one, you tear it (only with your right hand of course!) put it in the sauce cup and enjoy it! The service & cleaning of the tables is done by children runing in all directions. One of them looks to be over 18 : Shina gets the orders and is a key person in the business. He has an incredible memory (as I came back after some weeks on august 8th, he told me : "you sayed august 5th", what is really the rough date I told him before leaving), says everytime with a big smile "why you didn't come yesterday?" (it's true I was coming almost every day at the beginning so he took the habit...) when I arrive, and "you will come tomorrow?" when I leave (I probably give relatively high tips, but I believe that it doesn't explain everything...). At his level, this guy is very strong. When I come, I just sit, most of the time he brings mechanicaly the same drink like last time and proposes a main course. For the dessert (I acknowledge there are delicious bengali sweets, made with milk, sugar, almonds, pistache, sometimes covered by an eatable silver sheet / the fresh mango cake is simply excellent) he tries to push as much as possible in my plate. I often have to refuse some in spite of an unavoidable gourmandise. And it works, my bill is growing & a I always comeback, like fascinated by the way this house is working...
Oh, I forgot : the quiet one behind the cash-machine is... a Sikh. It seems to be a tradition from top (Manmohan Singh, premier ministre, ex-finance minister) to bottom.
One more use here. Burping is accepted at any time (not only after eating like in arabic countries). So never be surprised! I was twice, now no more (doesn't mean I took the habit) : once in a plane, sitting beside a respectable 55 y.o. man wearing a traditional & elegant kurta. Hudge & deep burp... He didn't even move the head. Second time during a meeting with the plant manager & his team (about 10 people). As someone else was giving an explaination, the boss burped. Nothing happened then. Life went on...
India is really great!
*see www.royalenfield.com
95% of humidity and 28deg C in Bombay. 2/3 of Bengladesh under water and big parts of indian states like Gujarat in serious trouble...
During the flight (placed in front of emergency exit so with not-movable seat) I met Abhay from Bombay, nothing difficult he was my neighbour. He was on his way back from Austin, Texas, after one year of study there, for one month of holiday in his home town. He knew surprisingly a lot about Europe, cinema, politics, indian touristic places (even about Saint-Gobain - not as touristic place - that he used to rate for a previous company). Discussions made the journey much more pleasant & will go on. His challenge is now to find (for me) a cello-maker in Bombay...
Arriving in the office this afternoon, I frightened the secretary as I told her that I spent some holidays in Poland. The country became extremely unsafe for Indians since a recent kidnapping of a 37-y.o. indian businessman (probably as dangereous as Irak if not more...). She was horrifyed as she mentionned the cut-off fingers reappearing one-by-one in bottles in every corner of Warsaw to urge the family for money. I hope that foreign residents in India are not concerned...
As I told to some of you I had the pleasure to meet in the last days, India requires a lot of energy and is quite exciting-tiring. If you add the climatic conditions with the various pollutions (noises, dirt, smokes,...), the attention you have to pay to prevent potential dangers (no, I am not paranoid android...) and events & pictures you gather from your close environment that are as many challenges when you try to build-up a intelligible world around you (not an absolute need, but comfortable from time to time). I miss sometimes pedestrian areas like market places. Here there are no streets forbidden to 2, 3 and 4 wheelers. As long as they are not too wide, vehicles just go. Finally "your" appropriated space is very much reduced (even more at the beginning), almost only your home. Sometimes in the city I feel like in a golden prison, fortunatly not impossible to escape...soon time to go to country-side, I heared there are a lot of military forts (17th cent.) & hill stations all around...to come.
How to illustrate how easy the contacts with all kinds of people are here : one day in a Barista coffee shop (best indian expresso so far), I read in the magasin "Outlook" some ranking of good restaurants and pubs in the 10 biggest cities of India. Absolutly to have at home in a discovery period! I was very pleased to see that Pune belonged that top 10 (even at the end of the list...). Some unknown names were mentionned there so I had to get that magasin. I jumped in a rickshaw, asked for a shop and landed on the square in front of the railway station. No "Outlook" there. They had only the new edition even if dated with the following day. I didn't gave up and went to the next shop. Nothing...but a nice shopkeeper who proposed me to come on the next day, same time/same place. One day later I came back, full of confidence. As I saw him I understood that he had forgoten. He looked really confused and asked me to wait 10 more minutes (short before 9p.m., he was just about to close his shop).
-during this time I could study the entire list of small packages available in thousands of tiny shops you can get for 1Rs (2 eurocents) : supari (small pieces of wood with chemical impregnation - tastes like some toilet-products smell - "injurious for health", bad for teeth, etc, but extremly popular), coconut oil for your hair (shine + "parachute" effect), washing powder, shampoo, sweets, mouth-tobacco (you will see what I mean, what's the right word for it?) and the list is not complete. Those 1Rs products are absolutly necessary in a country where the population earn today what will make them not starvate tomorrow-
10 minutes later the guy closed his shop, and invited me to follow him. He went to his scooter in a court behind and we rode to his home. Magic drive, I could experiment the nice feeling of (moderate) speed without helmet through the indian night...surrounded by heavy traffic. (I want my Enfield*!...). We stopped in a narrow street and entered in a small 2 room flat on ground floor. I was introduced to the son & the wife, sat on the sofa and the discussion started about forecast for european football championship, mathematics & son's computer-engineering study. I had unfortunatly to refuse politely the non-filtered water that was kindly offered. After a while the son brought from another room the magazine I was looking for (the family had an abonnement), offered to pay for it but the father refused, saying that once read it had no more value. I could have stayed much longer but left after 30 minutes of intense exchange, not without having given my e-mail to the son, in case he would require some help. Wait & see...
On of my favorite place to have diner here is located 200m from my home & called "Teri Rajput" (probably the name of the owner). It looks like (and it is) a very popular & cheap place, but with a large range of customers, some coming to get some sauce in a small bag for a few rupees, others sitting and spending up to 50Rs for a complete diner. It is open to the street (kind of "street canteen"), with some tables & a lot of agitation. An old crazy guy sometimes is "controlling" the traffic in front of the house, trying in vain to prevent the bikes & cars to park directly in front of the open-air canteen (no idea whether he is appointed by "Teri Rajput" to do that, I guess not...) In fact the food preparation takes place along the street, in the middle of the customers tables. In the very middle, 4 containers with various sauces, one with rice. On the right side the pancake workshop (I am not yet comfortable with the various names used for it : paneer, chapati, roti, paapat, etc), 4 men working with a rare intensity (yesterday I discovered the simplest way to make potato-puree : take a boiled potato in your hand and squeeze it!). They make cheese pancake, potato pancake, califlor (nie pamietam, is that "choux-fleur" in english or in polish?) pancake...When you have one, you tear it (only with your right hand of course!) put it in the sauce cup and enjoy it! The service & cleaning of the tables is done by children runing in all directions. One of them looks to be over 18 : Shina gets the orders and is a key person in the business. He has an incredible memory (as I came back after some weeks on august 8th, he told me : "you sayed august 5th", what is really the rough date I told him before leaving), says everytime with a big smile "why you didn't come yesterday?" (it's true I was coming almost every day at the beginning so he took the habit...) when I arrive, and "you will come tomorrow?" when I leave (I probably give relatively high tips, but I believe that it doesn't explain everything...). At his level, this guy is very strong. When I come, I just sit, most of the time he brings mechanicaly the same drink like last time and proposes a main course. For the dessert (I acknowledge there are delicious bengali sweets, made with milk, sugar, almonds, pistache, sometimes covered by an eatable silver sheet / the fresh mango cake is simply excellent) he tries to push as much as possible in my plate. I often have to refuse some in spite of an unavoidable gourmandise. And it works, my bill is growing & a I always comeback, like fascinated by the way this house is working...
Oh, I forgot : the quiet one behind the cash-machine is... a Sikh. It seems to be a tradition from top (Manmohan Singh, premier ministre, ex-finance minister) to bottom.
One more use here. Burping is accepted at any time (not only after eating like in arabic countries). So never be surprised! I was twice, now no more (doesn't mean I took the habit) : once in a plane, sitting beside a respectable 55 y.o. man wearing a traditional & elegant kurta. Hudge & deep burp... He didn't even move the head. Second time during a meeting with the plant manager & his team (about 10 people). As someone else was giving an explaination, the boss burped. Nothing happened then. Life went on...
India is really great!
*see www.royalenfield.com
