India_2015- Village Life

Two weeks at my grandparents house flied (I forgot to mention, the town is named Porayar). What did we do? We traveled to other nearby towns to visit my relatives. We stayed home and helped my Grandmother with her saree business. We went to a near waterfall one day. We went to three different beaches. We went to several big, old, and historically  famous temples. We went to a market at night that is only held once a week. We spent time at our neighbors' homes. We spent quality time on the terrace. We played soccer on the roads. We heard the sad news of Dr. Abdul Kalam's death. We learned about the numerous fruit trees in the backyard. We took walks on the dirt roads. I learned how to ride an motorbike for the first time. I listened to my Grandma's stories at night before going to sleep. I learned to cook a few Indian recipes from my Grandmother. We got bit by mosquitos. We got hooked onto Indian tv shows for the time being (which aren't the best). We got bored at home (the kids had school). We did homework. We relaxed. We went shopping. We ate. We slept...etc.

We also went to a temple owned by our family, next to the beach. First off, it's a bumpy ride to get there. Real bumpy. They're in the process of putting roads around the temple. So when you jump out of the car barefoot (no shoes allowed in temples), you make a run to the temple floor. Why? Because the grass is super prickly and you have to watch out for goat leftovers... Once you successfully make it to the outside of the temple, you're next challenge is to bare the burning marble steps. These floors have been baked in the sun, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, etc. They are hot, period. You must challenge your feet to some pain for like 30 seconds, just until you get past the stairs. Once you're inside, it's super humid and hot. You make an agreement with your sweat glands to keep you cool, but not sweat like a pool. You take the unbearable heat for, let's say 15-20 minutes. While you're inside, you also witness a family of bats flying in and out. Yes. Small bats. They're a small nuisance, but you focus on prayers and finally get out. Phew. On a more serious note, I earned a ton of money while I was at my grandparent's place. We decided to give that money to the temple and put in 4 ceiling fans. So if you were looking forward to experiencing the ways of this temple, it's too late now because ceiling fans are on they're way!

I took this picture right outside the temple. (Yes, I had to stand in the prickly grass... ) They're putting a new road down for the local people. And by the way, the well in this picture is completely empty. It's a huge well but it's only filled with trash. And our temple is in a very rural area, very rural compared to our town. 

I tell you, this picture displays the simplest lifestyle you can find. You see women and men working on the road, manually. No tractors or bulldozers. (There's not enough money for big vehicles.) You can see the house in the back. Straw roof, clay/cement walls, dirt floor. It's very simple, and I have to say, and very easy to live in. Maybe they have simple electricity, the simplest ways of getting water. They live right next to the beach, so maybe they're fishers, and they get their money and food from fishing. Or they might work for someone else and get paid. They might have one motorbike per family, and send their kids to school by walking. 

This is how people get their water. They pump it and pump it and pump it.  They pump it into this water jug and the woman carries that on her waist. I don't know why, but a woman carrying a water jug on her waist is a pretty staple picture. By the way, the shadows are too much in this picture because there's too much direct sunlight. 

Another story to tag along is... we went to a different beach that's about an hour away called, Velankanni beach. This town is a very nice Christian area, with a lot of history and churches and tourism, but the beach itself is something completely different. The beach is gross. Once you come out of the car, you step on the sand and it's littered. Then you keep your hopes up for the water, and it all goes down the drain. The water isn't even blue. It's like a brown, gross color. The sand is littered with peanut shells and trash. (Why peanuts? Because they sell peanuts w/shells on the beach and people just throw away the shells on the sand.) There's probably more peanut shells than sand grains. Like, you can't even feel the sand anymore, you just feel peanut shells when you step down. Also the number of people at the beach is overflowing. I was speechless when I saw just how many people came to the beach. I seriously mean overflowing. The whole experience was honestly, so different. 

Another thing is that the network is pretty limited. The power went out often. Plus.. it's hot. So when the power went out, it was like being in the oven times two. Then the mosquito frenzy would get to you and you'd start to itch and panic. Other than those things, the food is great, and the village life is gooood.  

India_2015- The beginning

The beginning of our India trip. We landed in the Bangalore airport and the first problem was... a suitcase missing... of course. We had a rest stop in Qatar for 12 hours and in those 12 hours, the airlines lost one of our suitcases! They had 12 hours to get it right (12 hours is a long time). Come on Qatar Airways!..Oh well.. we got the suitcase a day and a half later. We stayed at a cousins house for the day, and left for my dad's place (only my grandparents live there now) the next morning. He's from the state Tamil Nadu, and it's a 10 hour drive from Bangalore. My sister and I stayed at my dad's place for two weeks.  No matter how much time I spend there, it just doesn't feel enough.

Animals in India are a big thing. You don't even have to go to the zoo to see all the animals. Why? Because it's like all the animals in the zoo rebelled, escaped, and now living on the streets! The mommy-cat on the left picture paid a visit every day. It even had two kitties, but the mom took it elsewhere after sometime. On the right is a picture of a crow. Crows are a nuisance in India because there are way too many, they are too loud, they feed on trash, and steal food in kitchens. The lazy goats are on the bottom left picture. They just roam the streets and have nothing better to do than finding food. Lastly, the bottom right picture is of a cow. These cows trot the streets searching for food, just like the goats. And one of the ways it gets fed is by standing in front of a house. The people in the house will feed the cow and the cow will move on to the next house. (They're pretty smart ;)) For three days in a row, that cow in the picture came up to our house as soon as I stepped outside, and I fed it a banana once :).

Back in the old days, people universally use to collect their water from wells. But now, at least in India, wells are mostly dried up (there's just a little water left). My grandparents still use the water left in the well for various purposes. Although, the water is slightly salty since they are so close to the ocean. The funny thing is that every time I look into a well, my brain automatically goes into a think session. How would I get out if I accidentally fell in? 

Our grandparents house is reallly nice, inside and out. They have a huge backyard with so many different fruit trees. They have mango trees, eucalyptuses, lemon trees, banana trees, guava trees, coconut trees, etc... It's hard to maintain the whole garden, but it's worth it once all the fruits are ripe. Anyway, the point of this picture is to show just how many lemons can grow on a lemon tree. Literally bags full. My Grandmother gave them away to relatives because there were too many. What is she going to with all of them?

 This is the awesome view I enjoyed on top of the terrace. Our house, in my opinion, has the best view on the street because it's the tallest. You can see everything that's happening down on the road, in the backyard, around other houses... and this is the best spot at night too. You can see tooo many stars, like more than your brain can comprehend. And guess what?? There's a beautiful beach 2-3 kilometers away. We went to the beach many, many times throughout our stay. Oh and you can actually see where the beach is in this picture. It's a little past those tiny palm trees on the left side of the picture. The beach is actually really become popular to foreigners because of a New Jerusalem Church next to the beach and a Danish fort right next to that. This Danish fort is called Fort Dansborg and actually has a ton of history piled into it. First off, this was the first Danish settlement ever in India. This was also the first place newspaper was printed in India. And the fort is now an active museum. I walked inside for the first time and it's pretty neat. They have a ton of old artifacts in good condition, tours of the jail, kitchen, artillery, etc, and a great ocean view. Wikipedia states that "the fort is one of the most visited tourist landmarks in the region". Which is very cool since our grandparents live like two kilometers away. 

Coconut trees are like cars in america. They're everywhere. And what comes with coconut trees? Coconuts! Lots and lots and lots of them. There are venders who sell tender coconut water on the streets, which is very convenient. If you're driving, just take a pit stop on the side of the road,  and ask for some through the window. They use their huge knives to cut the top of the coconut, stick the straw in, and give it to you. Once you're done drinking, you give it back and they will cut the coconut in half to get the raw coconut inside. Plus, coconut water is super healthy and feels nice for the hot weather. Aren't there companies who package coconut water into disposable bottles? Well, fresh is definitely better. 

Big events in India are a common thing. What does that mean? You have to mass produce food for everyone. When we hosted a big event, my grandmother hired some cooks to mass cook the food in the backyard. They used these huge pots to cook everything. In this picture, the cook is frying chicken. Speaking of chicken, non-vegetarian food, especially seafood is pretty popular in the coastal areas. You can get the freshest seafood with the best spices! On some days, there are vendors who walk the streets selling fresh shrimp, crab, or fish. A big fish market also exists close by, and i'll tell you,  it's something very interesting... they sell huge fish, small fish, sliced fish, jumbo shrimp, tiny shrimp, crabs, and even octopus. All fresh.. it's pretty crazy.

A common way of eating meals are on banana leaves, and a lot of restaurants serve food on banana leaves too.  I've seen some banana farms and the farms are huge. I assume that's where they chop the banana leaves for these meals. When you sit down to eat, the servers go around in a line and serve one dish/side-dish at a time. It's much different than the way Americans serve food.

This is just the beginning, there are plenty more pictures coming up (from our trip) soon! :)