Flat 202 And The Neighborhood

Shrikant and Charanya have a flat in the Jubilee Hills neighborhood of Hyderabad. It is a 30-minute walk to the Eye Institute in a very nice district of the city. This will be our home for the first two weeks of our stay here. Hopefully this will give us enough time to get our bearings in the neighborhood, learn where to shop and eat and also what to avoid before we move to our own flat at the end of next week. Their flat is very cozy and has fabulous marble floors throughout. (see front porch photo) There is even a little shrine room in the house with its collection of holy figures, Ganesha (the elephant god- the remover of obstacles) and Vishnu (the most human of the gods and the redeemer of humanity). I will share lots more about the many gods in the Hindu trinity and gods from the Muslim and Buddhist faiths as we travel around India. These religious images are found everywhere.

Bedroom / Dining Room

Shrine Room

There are two toilets in the house. Guess witch one we are using :o)

There is a small neighborhood Hindu temple just across the alley from the flat so we are awakened at sunrise every morning with drum beats calling people to prayer. There is also the chanting call to prayer in the afternoon at sunset. We were able to watch a bit of a service on our walk the other night (see video).

The neighborhood bustles with activity first thing in the morning. The women come outside and wash the pavement and entryways to their houses with water and then draw elaborate Kolam on the sidewalks in front of the door. Kolams are a symbol of auspiciousness. It is Hindu belief that the geometrical patterns & designs applied with rice flour at the entrance to a home, invite Goddess lakshmi into the household, and drive away the evil spirits. Also, the reason for using rice flour is that they are providing food for the ants & other small insects. Here is a photo of Kolam in front of Shrikant & Charanya’s front door.

The other thing that happens is the cart vendors come down the streets selling fruits, vegetables, coconuts, household items, etc. You can tell when they are approaching because they sing very loud chants that echo down the lanes to announce their presence. Here is one movie. There will be more later.

At about noon every day, there is a power cut for 1 to 2 hours, similar to the brown outs we experience in the US in the heat of summer. The ones here happen year round and daily household activities are planned around these outages. There has been such an increase in the middle class that there are many more electronics, appliances, etc. being plugged in (remember the population here). The current grid just can’t deal with the demand and is in the process of being upgraded to deal with this increase. Solar energy will end up being a booming business here as the climate is perfect for it. In this region it is around 80 degrees here with soft breezes and minimal humidity.... just like California.

Here is a picture of the neighborhood from the porch of the house.

More Tomorrow............

Sleeping, Eating and Crossing the Street

February 4, 2010

One is never too old to learn new things, right? Here are a few 1^st day stories about how us two old dogs learned a few new tricks. After we passed out at 4am (sleep never felt so good) we awoke at 9:30am to Charanya ready to prepare our first Indian meal (you knew it wasn’t going to take me very long to get to food! :o). Our hosts are from southern India so this is the main type of food that is prepared in the house. Mostly vegetarian. I cannot tell you how excited I am to learn how to cook this food!

Our breakfast consisted of fresh homemade Indian crepes called Dosa that are made with two kinds of rice flour and are cooked in Gingley (sesame) Oil. The batter is prepared and they are cooked in a flat skillet. All sorts of things can be eaten with them. We chose ginger pickle (a mix of grated ginger and red chilies)

and Molaga Podi (a spice blend w/chilies and sesame and coriander seeds). The spices are mixed with gingley oil to make a paste. YUM! Did I say YUM?! Fresh homemade yogurt is also served to cool the heat of the dish. Did I say YUM yet!!!! We were so, so happy after our meal that filled our tired bellies. I was so overcome with food joy; I had to take a nap (love that jetlag). Rowan worked, of course.

As I awoke from my nap, there was Charanya again ready to prepare our next meal. :o) It is truly amazing what this woman prepares in her kitchen. Rowan and I stand around her asking questions and writing things down. This is where you might need google to figure out what some of the ingredients are.

Our meal consisted of Kara Potato Curry (cubed potato with a variety of Indian spices and red chilies), Sambar (toor dal, tamarind and radish plus Tadka - mustard seed, fenugreek, curry leaves) and Rasam (tamarind, peppercorn, coriander, chilies and toor). The last bit was the dry roasted spices that included cumin, coriander, red chilies, pepper corns, channa dal and toor dal - an absolute flavor explosion in the mouth. This was all eaten with rice an Indian wheat tortillas called Chappathi.

Kara Potato Curry

spices & herbs

Sambar

Dry Roasted Spices

Cooking Chappathi

Heaven! I fear there may be a digestive emergency about to happen :o) I will now resist more YUMS; you just have to know they are there. Now the funniest lesson of this meal…….Indians eat with their hands. No forks, spoons and knives here. Charanya began the instruction on using the right hand only (you know what the other one is used for :o) it was so hilarious watching Rowan absolutely cringe with fright that her proper British upbringing was being violated. She could barely use three fingers to pick up the food. Of course I was using my whole hand like a ladle. Just try eating soup with your hands! This is where the rice comes in handy as a vehicle for soaking up some of the liquid. Keeping it from running down your arm and dripping off of your elbow onto your pants and the floor is nearly impossible! Hilarious! What great fun we had. No eating out until we perfect these maneuvers.

Again the food induced the next nap.............Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Now, about our crash course on how to survive the streets of this city. About 5pm we hit the road for the 30 minute walk down to the LV Prasad Eye Institute where Shrikant has his research lab. Chaos is the only word I can come up with to describe what goes on out here. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night; the streets are active with people, motorbikes, cars, bicycles and small 3 wheeled taxis called ‘autos’ which swarm at high speed in every direction possible. Lanes don’t exist. No double yellow lines. When one walks, one walks in the street along with this chaos. There are few stoplights, even at major junctions. There are cows along the street. People just EVERYWHERE! Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Ever! Taxis and motorbikes nearly skim your pant leg as they whisk by you on the street. The small motorbikes often carry 3 people or more. The noise is constant as people constantly honk their horns so they don't run over each other. Charanya’s most difficult task was teaching us how to cross the street amongst all of this chaos. One really does take one’s life in their own hands when attempting this. No one stops. It’s like playing dodge car. We really wanted to take pictures of the street during our walk but the chaos was so intense we didn’t want to distract ourselves from learning how to survive out here (nothing worse than having your toes run over by an auto). It took us nearly 15 minutes to cross one street! Timing is everything, and it also helps to learn to stare a driver down so they at least slow down for you. When we got to the other side of the road, we had to go through an electronic security/search checkpoint before entering the mall where we were meeting Shrikant to get a snack. Security is very high here for reasons we do not have to explain. Pictures from the streets will come later once our street-smart confidence is in order and we feel OK about multitasking out there. Whew!

Our last lesson of the day was surviving the horror of getting in a car and pulling on to the street in all of this chaos. Not something for the weak of heart to do (Mom, I promise I will never bring you here!).

We passed one police security checkpoint on the road on our 7-minute drive back to the house. Shrikant then thought it would be fun to take us on a night walk (help!) down the street from their house to get some tonic for that gin we got in duty free at the airport (boy do we need one of those after today!) We came to the famous chaos junction as we walked. I'll let the video speak for itself.

We returned home and guess what? Time to eat again! The four of us prepared Chappathi (wheat tortillas) and Gobi Masala (cauliflower, peas, onion and chilies in curry). Sleep came to us without a problem. Call it sensory overload. What a wonderful, wonderful day!

Making Chappathi

TO INDIA

February 2, 2010

It is hard to believe this day is finally here! Going to a place so far away and so culturally different will present us with many challenges we are excited to experience; taking us outside of our own comfort zone and the many things we take for granted in the USA. Hopefully all of the preparations we have made are the right ones. We are so lucky to have had Shrikant and Charanya to help guide us.

We decided to travel light; taking only a roll-a-board suitcase and small backpack each. We figure the enhanced mobility this will give us will be an advantage in a country with 1.17 billion people (6,833,000 in Hyderabad). Leaving the snow in Bloomington behind, we flew east to Washington DC for our connection to Frankfurt, Germany. We had snow in DC and again when we arrived in Frankfurt at 7:30am Feb. 3. Luckily, we were on time with every flight (must have been that kiss for luck!). We spent 5 hours in Frankfurt between flights, and of course, had to have a bloody mary and check out the frankfurter menu. :o).

Golly, I sure LOVE sausages. (see photo) It was fun sitting in the café listening to people speak languages from all over the world and trying to figure out what the announcements over the PA system were trying to tell us in German. We know we will need to get used to not being able to understand most of what will be spoken around us for the next two months. We took Shrikant’s advice to ‘just follow all of the Indian’s’ to help us find our departure gate. Once in line, we were quick to realize that we were now entering a minority status for the rest of our trip. A humbling thought. We spent the next 8 hours in the air flying over Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Sea and into India and Hyderabad.

In all we spent about 18 hours in the air and a total of 24 hours to get here. Being delighted to get off of the airplane with our feet firmly on the ground is an understatement. It is now 1am Feb. 4 and the airport is full of people arriving from all over the world. We passed quickly through immigration and customs and proceeded to the arrivals exit to find Shrikant and Charanya. It was hilarious how we now had to pick out our Indian friends in a sea of other Indians. Not an easy task, especially when you are being surrounded by porters and taxi drivers trying to get your attention for some business. It took us less than 10 minutes to find our friends. Shrikant had a driver from the Eye Institute take us on our way. Whew! We made it!

More Tucson

Tuesday, Jan. 26 -

Oh, how we enjoy visiting our friends Velma & Paddy. The days are easy when we are here. Rowan and Velma spend the first part of the day working on their research collaborations, writing papers, and having lively conversation about their common research interests. Jenni spends this time working on the blog and watching the many birds that come to the yard to feed (see photo of goldfinches). Paddy loves to watch soccer on TV(he is Irish, so he can't help it!). He has the sports channels so Jenni is happy too. :o) We also have very spirited conversations about anything political from here and abroad. It is VERY fun! We decided to spend our last afternoon in Tuscon on another hike in the Sabino Canyon. This time we hiked a loop that took us up the Sabino Canyon Trail and then across and down the Phoneline Trail in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. Who cares if the signs warned us of mountain lion activity! Heck, we are two SCARY women! Plus, I had beef jerky to protect us :o) It was so spectacular. The heavy rain that came a couple of days before we got here has swollen the creeks so the water is running high and fast and over all of the bridges along the way. Removing our shoes became a habit before crossing the high water. When we got up to the mid ridge trail, the views were fantastic. We hiked roughly 6 miles through the canyon. Here are some photos of our adventure:

So, you can imagine how hungry we were when we finished our hike :0) On our way back to the house we stopped at the store and picked up the ingredients for fish tacos. We prepared a feast to enjoy with some very cold cervesa. YUM!!!! What a fabulous visit we have had here in Tucson. We are now headed back to B-town for a very short repacking session. Stay tuned for February 2, when we start the next leg of our sabbatical journey. Our next stop is INDIA.

Tucson, Arizona

Sunday, Jan. 24.

We hopped in the car early to get to the Burbank airport for our flight to Tucson. There was zero traffic for our drive (if only every day were a Sunday for driving in this town!) so we got to the airport in less than an hour. It was killing me to travel today since my Indianapolis Colts were having a playoff game while we were going to be in the air. So, when they told us our flight was going to be delayed, I was actually excited, since I would now be able to go to the bar and watch the game. :o) The Colts ROCKED! We got to Phoenix and picked up our car for the short drive down to Tucson.

Luckily, we had missed the commute traffic due to our flight delay. We arrived at Paddy & Velma's place just about 9pm. Velma is another of Rowan's colleagues who works in the infant vision field. They have a fabulous home just at the foot of the Coronado National Forest and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. (see photo)

Monday, Jan. 25

The desert is so amazing. The plant life looks like it's from outer space and the earth looks like Mars. It's hard to imagine that anything could grow here. But, oh, how much life there is. It's the middle of winter and it is 65 degrees and sunny today. Looking out into Velma & Paddy's backyard, we see Quail and many other birds feeding at the bird feeders and making their way around various forms of cactus.

After visiting all morning, Paddy decided to take us on a walk up in the Sabino Canyon. For those of you reading this whom has never been to Arizona, you just cannot believe how blue the sky is. Of all the places I have been in the world, I have never seen sky as blue as this. It is just breathtaking against the landscape. As the sun moves through the sky during the day, the colors the mountains turn are unbelievable. No wonder so many artists come here to paint and photograph and create things from the earth. Here is a selection of photos from our hike in the canyon.

Red Tail Hawk

Rowan & Paddy

LaLa Land

It is SO GREAT to wake up today (Sat., Jan. 23) to sunshine and blue skies. Being back together with Rowan makes it an extra special sunny day too. She has been staying here with our friend Sue Cotter for the last week doing some science collaboration. There will be no work today! It is such a beautiful day, we decided to head off to Laguna Beach to get some lunch and enjoy the sun, sand and surf. The day could not have been more perfect. We enjoyed delicious fish tacos and mojitos sitting in a cafe overlooking the surf. Here are some photos:

Jenni & Sue

We had a few little visitors to the abundant flora right next to our table while we were having our lunch. It was very entertaining to watch these little hummers doing their work.

We finished our lunch and went for a long stroll along the walking path that follows the beach through Laguna. The views of the surf were just fantastic. We enjoyed the perfect elements of the day and watching the surfers do their thing out on the waves. We also took a stroll down on the beach to have a look at the many seashells brought up from the strong surf during storms from the last week.

Jenni & Rowan

Surfer Joe

Having days like these, one is reminded why people DO want to live in Southern California, traffic and all. :o) We reluctantly got in the car for our 30 minute drive back to Fullerton to get ready for our dinner party with Kristina (one of Rowan's colleagues) and her hubby JP.

Rowan and I threw together some yummy fare. First course: ratatouille, roasted taters, bbq sirloin and baked cod and green salad. Second course: cheese and port. Third course: sgroppino (vanilla ice cream, lemon sorbet, fresh squeezed lemon juice, vodka & prosecco all blended together. YUM!) I brought with me 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of port left over from my Napa/Sonoma trip to enjoy with dinner. This was just a wonderful way to end our stay here in Southern California. Good friends, good food, good wine and perfect weather. We are off to Tucson, Arizona in the morning.