snaps from the field- Diamond Harbour, West Bengal

welcome to three hours south of Kolkatta to one of the many port cities near the Bay of Bengal.  Drishti's partner organization, Child In Need Institute has a lively office here in Diamond Harbour (because this place is famous for its brand of girl child trafficking) and we have developed a Community Video Unit here that is only 6 months old. Kavita and I have come here for some advanced training and my exposure visit. 

After a 42 hour train ride from the very west to the very east of India we made it to Kolkatta.  After 2 days of slight sickness mixed with minimal sight seeing we made a move to this wonderful place. Our hotel is right on the water, but you cant sit near it for more than 10 minutes without being blown away. Think of a dog with his face out the window as the car is moving at 100 miles per hour...that was me last night...desperate to "do something" instead of just watching tv.  

I will write more when my mind isnt melting from the 125 degrees and 70% humidity (although the people reading over my shoulder at this moment claim it is far hotter and far more humid than that), but for now just enjoy these snaps:

Kolkata = Calcutta

You knew that, right?
I am boarding an 11:55 train from A'bad to Calcutta/Kolkata tonight, Thursday, April 15th (my niece's 9th birthday!!!).  I will arrive in Kolkata/Calcutta some time on the 17th. That means I have 2 full days and nights on a train with 8 people in my compartment, one vent shooting out cold air and a fan that, as experience has taught me, will occasionally cease to work.  I will be staying 3 hours south of Cal/Kol on the banks of some amazing river in 109 degree weather and 90% humidity.  I am a bit scared of literally melting away, but I am choosing to think of this as a detox program...with delicious fish curries and occasional dips in the water.

My friend Hannan sent this photo of us (me, Hannan, Lily, and Marni) near the Gateway of India in Mumbai and I think it does a great job capturing my excitement for my upcoming trip to Kol/Cal:

(please note the unimpressed stares coming from behind)

here kitty kitty

After 6 visits to the Foreign Registry Office and endless hours sitting in their office, I am finally registered (which means I can legally stay in Ahmedabad...even though its already been 6 months)!  Every time I am there, I plot ways to snap  photos of the sheer chaos that is Indian government offices.
Luckily this stray cat strolled in and gave me the perfect reason to start taking photos.  An amazed foreigner...

Here  is the filing cabinet- you try and find something in here! These pictures show you the "filing system" but they dont reflect the abundance of such stacks. So take my word for it, there are many.

water

15 gallons of water used during a shower

5 gallons (or just 10-15 cups!) used during a bucket shower.

0 gallons used by me today because there is NO WATER.

There is a thin chalkboard posted outside of my apartment complex which features important announcements.  Well, actually, I am not sure if the announcements are important since they are all in Gujarati.  But! The other day, I finally cracked the code and realized that one of the lines on the board tells me when water is available. The news was bleak: from 7:30 pm- 6:00 am there is no water. Today I stayed home to find out that it is actually far more complicated than that! Water ended at 11:00 am- its 3:30 now - and still no water...
so there is water from 6 am - 11 am and I imagine it will come back around 5...or at least I hope to have at least 2 more hours with water today.


To all of you reading this: turn off your damn water so I can get some! (please)

"Russian" to beat the heat

I got a fridge! and with temperatures hitting 110 this week, its about time. After 6 months of begging I finally found someone who knew someone who knew someone selling a fridge!

First purchase? Olives. Mustard. Pickles. Now thats a fridge my parents can be proud of!

On Saturday I will be hosting 10 friends from the office for a Shabbat dinner. Feeling a bit anxious about what to cook, I thought I would experiment with some recipes ahead of time.
Most Indian joints (both nice and not so nice) have Russian salad on the menu (russian salad sandwich, russian salad salad, russian salad sizzler, etc etc). It always makes me smile, but whenever I order it- I am left disappointed.  Some stuff  (cant figure out what they put in there!) chopped and thrown around in an eggless mayo 'wanna be' sauce. So I thought I should give my Indian friends an introduction to real russian cooking and satisfy my cravings for mom's home cooked meals.
Russian Olivye. First created in 1860s by a cook in one of Moscow's high class eateries is now enjoyed by hungry people all over the world. As I know it, Salad Olivye has one meat (most commonly the delicacy known as Bologna), a few boiled veggies, egg, pickle, dill and tossed in mayo (because russians love anything in mayo). Being in a vegetarian state and having a strong aversion to mayo- my version is a tad bit different, but no less russian!

Alana's Culturally Sensitive Salad Olivye
1- big onion
2- eggs

2- pickles

3- carrots
4- tiny tiny pieces of garlic
5- potatoes

7- olives

freshly made yogurt (or any plain yogurt)

handful of peas

handful of parsley

a touch of fresh ginger

a touch of mustard

a pinch of red chili powder

a pinch of salt and pepper

And then....

Throw all the potatoes and carrots into the pressure cooker.  Bring another pot of water to boil and cook the peas until their shells began to split. After the p'cooker lets out a whistle,  remove the carrots and let the potatoes cook for another 4-5 whistles (or until you can stick a fork in 'em).  The carrots go in the *new fridge* for cooling! 

Peas are done? Into the fridge they go! I kept the water, from the peas, boiling and gently put in 2 eggs. I wasn't gentle enough and one slightly cracked, oh well.

Potatoes are done! Welcome to the fridge.

While the eggs cook, mix the yogurt, mustard, chopped ginger and garlic, salt, pepper, and chili powder together. Taste it? Modify it as you like, but when you are content, just stick it in the fridge.

Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, and Eggs are cooked and cooled? Great.

Cut 'em up. I like to keep them the same shape, but who really cares. just dice them into bite size pieces. do the same with the olives, onion and pickles. now toss in the chopped parsley and toss it together. 

Dont mix the faux mayo with the veggies until you are ready to serve. If you keep them separate, the salad can stay in your fridge for a few days. If you have some of the sauce leftover you could make an egg salad for lunch! Oh the endless possibilities when one has a fridge to call one's own.

My Indian roommate loved it! I loved it! and so it is decided...I will be making another bigger, badder batch on Friday to serve to my guests on Saturday. 

Toss Toss Pass

This morning I woke up at 6 in order to make it to Law Garden- a park half way between me and the old city- for frisbee practice and a match.  I was expecting to be greeted by empty streets, but instead saw bustling chai stands, brisk walkers, and a laughing meditation group making laps around the man made "lake" (it pains me to call this polluted puddle a lake) near my house.

I walked into Law Garden and met one dude holding one frisbee. what does one person do with a frisbee? you guessed it, stand around looking helpless.  He wasn't excited to know that I was coming to join him, but after a few tosses he warmed up to me.  I still got it folks, although not nearly as good as I was in my college days.

-What followed-
7:00- the sun was HOT and one more boy joined us.
7:05- another boy joined us- and it is still HOT
7:15- we finally had enough people to play 3 on 3
7:30- "sweet frisbee!" "wow its hot!"
7:45- "what have i gotten myself into??"
8:00- "is this over yet? I think i am melting!"
8:15- "thank god its over!" and "I cant wait to do this again on saturday"

They wanted to sit around and chit chat, but i wanted to get out of the oven and into a cold shower.  So, as they began to attack me with the usual round of questions: who are you and why are you in Ahmedabad (good question!) i slipped away to find refuge in a rickshaw.

It feels great to 1. do something outside of work 2. be outside 3. run around 4. make new friends 5. toss a frisbee like I am back in the USA

a penny for your thoughts?

There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.


--Annie Dillard