Salar Jung Art Museum

We have been looking forward to exercising something besides our digestive systems for some time now, so Rowan and I decided to venture out on our own for a trip to the Salar Jung Museum (http://www.salarjungmuseum.in/home.asp), to exercise the right side of our brains. We had our driver take us across town through neighborhoods we haven’t seen yet including the ‘old town’, which is primarily a Muslim neighborhood and where the museum is located.

A short video of the street in old town leading to the museum.

When we arrived at the museum we got in line to purchase our tickets and then headed to the bag check to deposit our camera in a locker (there is no photography allowed inside the museum and the security scanner will find our camera in our bag). We then proceeded to the security checkpoint before entering the museum (again a reminder of the security threat in public places like this. The army was doing the checking, guns and everything). Women are led to one line and men to another. It was funny how Rowan and I were towering above every other woman in the line, sticking out like the big European white women that we are. When the guard saw us, he motioned for us to come forward to the front of the line, showing the cast system is still alive and well for certain things. It made us feel kind of awkward, as we have no problem standing in line and waiting our turn. We enjoy taking these opportunities to strike up conversation with the local people. Once inside we viewed displays of outstanding fabrics, ivory (scrimshaw), and paintings from India and other countries throughout this region. As we were viewing the art, we had many school age children come up to us and ask us where we were from. All of them spoke perfect English and seemed anxious for us to speak to them and hear about our world. I think we were as much on display as the art was. :o)

Here are some photos from outside of the museum:

Rowan with the elephant topiary

a portion of the gardens with a statue of Salar Jung

Lali

As we get ready to move to our own apartment, I can't forget to mention the resident dog here at Shrikant and Charanya's apartment complex. Lali is his name. It has taken him about a week to warm up to us but he is now wagging his tail and coming to greet us when we are outside. Do you think that might have anything to do with Charanya and I giving him a couple of beef patties the other night? Maybe :o) We think he belongs to the parking attendant who lives in the parking garage on the first level of the apartment complex (yes, that is where he lives with his family). There are many, many dogs on the streets that seem to just run about and have no homes. We have seen them at night in packs around garbage bins looking for food. It is nice to know that Lali is looked after and loved. We will miss him when we move out of here.

Here is a picture of Lali at night flashing his powers within at us through his eyes. This was right after we gave him the burgers. Must have been saying thank you.... or did Rowan say photorefraction???....

Food Coma

Our Food Adventures From The Last Few Days

More cooking with Shrikant & Shubha.

Cooking with Shrikant generally becomes a community event, as we all like to observe and pitch in. Charayna says it’s good everyone is in the kitchen, as he needs to be supervised. :o) Shrikants dish this evening is Vegetable Paneer. One of the very simple dishes consisting of just about any medley of veggies, he used carrots, bell pepper (capsicum) tomato, onion and Paneer (Indian cheese) all in a tasty spicy curry sauce. Shubha also joined us this evening and made the Chappathi. Apparently she is known throughout Andra Pradesh as the master of the Chappathi :o) Rowan is learning to make the Chappathi dough so she can do it for us when we move to our own apartment.

Rowan working the dough

Chappathi master Shubha rolling and cooking the dough

Indian snack food

Here is another Indian treat called Sago Vadam. They are made from these clear, hard sheets of dried tapioca. The tapioca pieces are thrown into a pot of hot vegetable oil and turn instantly into a light, fluffy tapioca chip. Charanya showed me how to fry some up. You can eat them with any kind of chutney, curry, sauce…...anything.

Valentines Day Mousse

Yes, the Indians do observe Valentines Day. It’s wacky how these western observances that are purely created for capitalist reasons have spread worldwide. The marketing created by these ‘special events’ is hopefully helping the economies of countries like India, however, St. Valentine was NOT a Hindu by any means………..so, there goes the true meaning of the holiday. Shrikant & Charanya secretly brought home a tasty little triple chocolate mousse cake for us to have to celebrate the day. YUM! A very nice treat!

The Great Kabob Factory

We should actually be titling this part of the post as ‘The Great Meat Orgy’! Shrikant and Sumit (Shubha’s husband) decided it was time to eat some serious meat (most of what we eat on a daily basis is vegetarian). I was jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of gorging on chicken, lamb and seafood. Thank you Shiva! This restaurant is very similar to the Brazilian meat & kabob restaurants Fogo de Chao found in big cities throughout the US.

The kabob master chefs are lined up in the kitchen sticking various forms of carnivorous delights onto big sword-like skewers and then throwing them into the fire pit. The various meats and seafood are spiced with different Indian spices. The waiters bring plate after plate after plate of kabob meat and fresh fruit to the table (they also have the vegetarian options as well). You can have as much as you would like. Repeatedly! They encourage you to take more. And THAT IS JUST THE FIRST COURSE! Then they bring various kinds of daal and paneer with different Indian breads. Then comes dessert, A YUMMY Indian ice cream on a stick called Kulfi. It was loaded with cashews and pistachios. When I got up from the table, I felt like I was about to give birth to a small lamb! Ugh! To top it off, we were headed to the Paan table to eat our organic toiletry digestive. :o) We have to thank our friends for treating us to such a fabulous evening.

chicken, lamb, lamb pate patty, chapathi. The first of many servings!

assorted chilie, mint and yogurt sauces

fruit and the daal and paneer being served

two kinds of daal with garlic naan bread

Shubha and Sumit

the whole gang

Jenni ready to give birth to a small hoofed animal

but, maybe after the Kulfi ice cream! :o)

Here is a picture of Rowan in her food coma after we got home.

Indian Dumplings

Shrikant is the breakfast master on Sundays. This morning he made Idli (rice flower dumplings or pancakes) with various seed spices. He also made a yummy, yummy, yummy peanut-based chutney to go along with it (roasted onions, chilies, peanuts and spices). I have to tell you that the peanut chutney is a gift from heaven and I will be making this at home. YUM! The meal is topped off with fresh coconut water, a natural electrolyte drink right from the coconut.

Idli in steamer trays

pressure cooker is used for steaming dumplings

Idli ready to eat. Delicious!

roasting ingredients for the peanut chutney

before the puree

Yummy peanut chutney

the source for our delicious coconut water

Now, time to fast for 3 days! :o)

A Bindi For My Brother

Our first trip to a Hindu temple was a huge learning experience. With Charanya as our guide and teacher we learned all about the different Hindu gods and their powers, plus the customs of worship at each sanctum inside the temple.

We visited the local Film Nagar Daiva Sannidhanam Temple here in Jubilee Hills. Before entering the temple you must remove your shoes and wash your feet. No cameras are permitted inside the temple, so

there are only outside pictures in this posting. There are different sanctums placed throughout the temple, each housing a different god. A priest is stationed just outside each sanctum to give each worshiper some blessed water (he pours it into your cupped hands, you drink some and pass some over your head). The waters are flavored with camphor or tulsi (Indian basil). Then the priest recites a blessing for you and you bow as he puts a silver cup on your head. Sometimes they will throw rice or turmeric on your head as part of the blessing. Keep in mind that when I say ‘priests’ they look nothing like Christian priests. They look more like Gandhi in their simple wraps of fabric.

Here is a photograph of the entrance to the temple, of what we think is a statue depicting the many avatars of Shiva or Vishnu.

We visited the following sanctums within the temple:

Ganesha, the elephant god (the remover of obstacles)

Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage, and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm.

Saraswathi, the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

Shiva, seen as the supreme god in the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism. In the Smarta tradition, he is regarded as one of the five primary forms of god. Shiva is an adjective meaning “auspicious, kind, gracious”.

Vishnu, the supreme god in the Vishnuvite tradition of Hinduism. Vishnu is the all-pervading essence of all beings, the master of-and beyond-the past, present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existences, and one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within (thanks Wikipedia! :o) Vishnu has a number of avatars (yes, Hinduism is where avatars originated, not Nintendo and Hollywood).

Hanuman, the monkey god is believed to be an avatar of Lord Shiva. Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of strength, perseverance and devotion (reminds me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz).

Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. He is considered the Perfect Man or Lord of Self Control or Lord of Virtue.

Krishna, many Vishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu while others consider him to be the Supreme Being.

And there were still others………If you are interested to learn more about Hinduism and its gods, go to Google. Thank Shiva, Vishnu and Krishna for Google! :o)

Now, this next part is just for Jenni’s brother Ben.

My dear brother had been texting me asking me if ‘I’ve got the red dot on my forehead yet’. Well, Benny, as we were being blessed at one of the sanctums in the temple, a priest gave us our Bindi (or red dot as you call it). It is made from vermillion and turmeric powder and applied by the priest using his finger after he gives you the blessing. It is a symbol that we have worshiped today in the Hindu tradition. This photo is just for you! :o)

It was really fascinating to experience these Hindu traditions. There are volumes more to learn about this religion and its philosophies, gods and history. We can’t wait for our next temple visit.

Walkabout

Rowan, Charayna and I were out walking around the neighborhood the other day and came across this little park so we decided to check it out. It was a nice green space (there are few of those here) with lots of trees and nice landscaping. It seems that the men tend to take afternoon breaks when they come to read and take naps in the park. The women continue to work! As we walked around, we came across the cutest litter of puppies, probably 12-16 weeks old. I just couldn’t resist and had to go over and see them. We could have taken any one of them home with us. The mother was nowhere to be seen, so we hope someone looks after the poor little fleabags.

As we went on our way I had to stop and check out this construction project. I have been noticing that the scaffolding they use to put up around multistory construction is all made out of wood poles tied together. Yes, TIED TOGETHER! It just amazes me that the workers walk around up there on nothing but sticks tied together with rope. We have seen 10 story buildings completely wrapped in this kind of scaffold. Yikes!

Charanya took us on another outing so we could start looking for some kitchen utensils we would need for our own apartment that we move into on Monday. We had our driver take us to another part of town where our friend Shubha said there is supposed to be a good utensil shop. We arrived at this little street that was lined with all sorts of shops and vegetable carts. We came across this interesting chalk drawing on the street, of Jesus on the cross. We found it interesting since this is a primarily Hindu region.

As I was taking this photo I looked up and had a cow coming right for me! Toro! Toro! I said. The locals on the street were very amused by this.

We found our utensil shop and proceeded to get a big pile of assorted containers, cutting boards, chopping knives, frying pans, etc. All of these things we will leave with Charanya when we leave our apartment. The wheeling and dealing was so much fun. We walked out of there having only spent $26 US. It is amazing how cheap things are here. As we were getting ready to leave the shop and find our vegetables, another cow was at the bottom of the steps just hanging out. I love it! Here are some photos.

Thank goodness fresh food is so plentiful and inexpensive here. We were able to get this beautiful selection of fruits and vegetables for only $3.60 US. We are definitely in our food element! :o)