Greg Nadu

I'm leaving Tamil Nadu for two weeks back home in Maryland/DC today and am very excited. Tamil Nadu means 'Land of the Tamils' or 'Country of the Tamils' depending to you ask, so I like to think I'm going from Tamil Nadu to Greg Nadu, at least for two weeks! Looking forward to seeing everyone I love while I'm back but I'm also excited to get back for more India- I am far from done over here, I have a lot more to do and see and learn!

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Yesterday marked the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi, a 10 day festival dedicated to Lord Ganesh, the son of Shiva. He is one of the most recognizable Indian gods because he has the head of an elephant. I also think he is one of the most accessible, with his potbelly and lots of humorous folklore about his wit. He is also the god of wisdom and good fortune and is said to be the remover of obstacles. Because of this, you find Ganesh idols in many cars and rickshaws in India (traffic and obstacles are birds of a feather) and I was given two Ganesh idols before I left for India to clear obstacles for me and bring me good luck on my new journey. Ganesh Chaturthi is supposed to mark his birthday and is also seen as a good time to start a new venture, as you will have fortune and luck from Ganesh himself. I was fortunate enough to go to three temples yesterday for the start of the festival, including the biggest Ganesh temple in Coimbatore. The line to get into the temple was longer than just about any I’d ever seen (it put roller coaster lines to shame) but it moved pretty quick and was surprisingly well organized, something that one doesn’t usually see in India. The actual idol was beautiful and his head was covered in turmeric to mark the day and after leaving the temple everyone is given sweets to celebrate the day. There was also live music and it was just a celebratory atmosphere in general- another side of India I feel lucky to have seen.

Coimbatore’s biggest Ganesh Idol, crowds and all.

You can see his head is covered in turmeric and he is adorned with many flowers. You’re not allowed to take pics inside the temple so that’s why these pics are from far away.

Today was just the beginning of the festival. People all over India build their own idols of Ganesh (many several stories high) and on the last day of the festival they march these idols to the sea/river/lake and submerge them, symbolizing the cycle of life. I will be back in the US for this part of the festival (thus I didn’t take the two above pics) and while I’m very excited to go home, I wish I was here to see this other part of the festival, I hear it is really worth experiencing!

South Indian Breakfast

Breakfast here is another delight. I usually get idly, vada and a dosa. They all come with three sauces to dip em in and it is a delicious way to start your day. It is a very heavy breakfast- heavier than I’m used to back home but it’s kinda nice having breakfast be your biggest meal, you tend to eat less for the rest of your day.

This is a vada, a deep fried doughnut type thing, except it’s not sweet, it’s made of flour. It, like most breakfast dishes come with three sauces for dipping, since they don’t have much taste by themselves: coconut chutney (mashed coconut with dal, chilies, black pepper and cilantro), tomato chutney (same as the coconut chutney just replacing tomato for coconut), and sambar, which is a yellowy stew-type thing made of dal (chickpeas) and vegetables.

These are idlys, they are round cake-type things made of rice and lentils. They are rather tateless by themselves but they soak up the flavor great of your sauces, especially the sambar.

Dosas are crepe type things made from rice and lentils. You can have them plain and dip them in the sauces but I like to get the masala dosa, a dosa filled spices, onion and potato. I ripped this masala dosa open (see left) so you can see the potatoes and onion inside. This is probably my favorite.


I have an idea of bringing together western and Indian breakfast traditions and having a breakfast of dosas and mimosas- it only makes sense since they rhyme so nicely!

'Meals'

The traditional south Indian lunch is called ‘meals’ and is basically all you can eat. It comes on a banana leaf and consists of a heaping bowl of rice, three vegetable dishes (that change daily), four sauces for your rice (usually a thick vegetable one, a soupy one, a spicy one and a milky one), kurd and a crunch patty. They will keep scooping more of each dish until you tell them to stop, it’s great, really fills you up and it’s only 35 Rupees, or 70 cents USD!

The three vegetable dishes, the little cup of kurd and the rice and vegetable sauce. You mix up the sauce with the rice till the rice isn't white anymore but I couldn't take a pic after I did this cause my hand got all sacuey and ricey.

The three other kinds of sauce- spicy on the left, kurd on the right and soup on the top.

Mark Twain on India

Mark Twain is one of my favorite writers and I count Huck Finn as one of my favorite books. What I didn’t know was that he spent some time traveling in India! Here are a few of my favorite quotes from his time in India. I also have a new appreciation for his mustache now- it is really sweet!!!

"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."

"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."

"India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire."

I love all three of these for different reasons- let me know what you think! Here’s one more of his, talking of travel in general that I love:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

Last Weekend in Ooty

I spent last weekend in Ooty, about 3 hours by car northwest of Coimbatore in the Western Ghats. I had a great time and needed a break from work. It was really relaxing and absolutely beautiful- I ate great food and drank fresh tea, saw some beautiful mountains and wildlife and got to check out some gardens around town. Ooty is a ‘hill station’ (resort-y towns built at high elevations) created by the British in the 1800’s as the summer headquarters for the Madras (now Tamil Nadu) government. I can see why, the weather was great there, it was hard to come back to the heat of the Tamil Nadu plains!

The town of Ooty- almost at 8,000 feet, it didn’t feel like India. It was really cool, I actually had a fire in my room at night to stay warm. It was also really nice to be able to walk around and not sweat my ass off!

Adorable.

Tea Plantations- they look ripe for a good frolic but I hear there are three reasons why you might not want to: fertilizer, snakes and leaches. You’ve been warned.


They still are beautiful though, some of the most striking scenery I’ve ever seen!

I took the toy train down from Ooty, it's called a toy train because it rides on a very narrow gauge track. It was built in the 1800's by the Brits and it was a really charming way to leave Ooty. It still runs on a steam engine too, which is pretty cool and totally old-school!

There were great views from the train the entire ride down

This monkey was hanging out on the roof of a train station waiting for handouts- I saw a lot but didn’t get very many good pics.

Sunset in the Western Ghats.

Moustache is the Beauty of Men.

Well, then I just made my upper lip beautiful. I've been getting props all day from locals that have seen me around bearded the last couple weeks too!

How I'm Livin'

I just wanted to share a couple pics of where I’m staying for this month, outside Coimbatore. I am on call 24/7 so I’m pretty much stuck here all the time unless I’m responding to a crash or eating at the local place down the street (the food there is excellent). I do have lots of good reading material, plenty of work to do, and I really enjoy the company of my five co-workers/roommates. We have been enjoying the cooler and drier weather and I’ve been having fun talking over tea and a cricket game. Still, I can’t wait to visit home in about 2 weeks where I can talk over coffee and football!

Cricket! I’m an awful batsman but a worse bowler.

The tall building is an under construction temple and those thatched huts surround three sides of my building.

Tea time with my coworkers/roomies

Sunset from the roof

The mountains from the roof