Catch-up Time!

     Well, it’s been a very long and packed couple of days, so there’s tons to catch up on. I’ll start with food… we’ve been going a bit crazy getting lots of different things. A few days ago we were craving whole wheat bread (all they have at the hotel and in the grocery stores is white), so our driver pulled up outside a bakery called FoodEx. We were skeptical based on the name, but quite excited when we walked inside. Wheat bread was of course wonderful to get, but given that we went there when we were hungry, we were also hugely tempted by everything else and got a paneer dish, veggie puffs (kind of like spanikopita but with potatoes, peas, cauliflower, and spices inside), a palak paneer bun, and an Indian veggie burrito sort of thing. Topped that off with a slice of pineapple cake for dessert later, and then went next door to get a butterscotch milkshake, which like many sweets here, was way too sweet but tasty in small doses. Then on to the fruit market where we loaded up on guavas, mangos, seedless pomegranate, and melon. And because we hadn’t gotten enough food yet, we stopped at a fried food stand and got these fried lentil dough rings and chilis stuffed with tamarind and caraway seeds and fried in a garbanzo dough. Moral of the story: don’t go near food stores when hungry. I’ve continued my trials of Indian fruits in the last couple days. We got a bag of sapotas, which I initially thought were little round Russett-colored potatoes. You split them in half and inside is a jelly-textured fruit with a flavor I can most closely describe as honey-like. I ate some tamarind leaves off a tree; the actual fruit isn’t in season. Got some palm fruit on the train – also jelly-like with some juice inside, and tastes like you would think a palm tree would. Jackfruit was quite delicious but is a crazy task to extract from the big pokey green fruit; I’m not sure how to describe its flavor – wiki claims it tastes like a mix of apple, pineapple, and banana. We got some dried mango, which is juicy and so much more flavorful than what you’d get in the US, made specially in the region that we are staying. And then of course we sometimes get coconuts from the side of the road, where they machete off the top give us straws to drink the water. My last coconut had a bit of coconut meat inside, so they chopped it open afterwards so that I could eat it using a part of the shell as a spoon. Okay, that’s probably enough about food for now. 

      We took Friday off from working at the shelter and went to visit Kindness Farm, which is the shelter’s newer facility. It took us an hour and a half to get there, through the trafficky parts of the city, past countless small towns, down bumpy winding roads, out into the middle of nowhere. We toured around the facility, visiting the calves and cows, the water buffalo (their tongues are strangely dotted), and some horses. It’s still under construction, but it’s a gorgeous environment, with flowers planted around and fruit trees growing so that they can use the land well and provide shade. It’s lots cooler there, away from the concrete of the city and near the hills. We are going to spend our last week based out of Kindness Farm to do a week of rabies work, going into the surrounding villages to vaccinate dogs and educate the community. Super excited that this part of our project is actually going to work out. It’s way too long a drive from the city, so rural living it will be. The shelter has a little room that we’ll put a mattress into, electricity (very intermittent, but it’s something), and a fan, so we should be good. We walked a few minutes from the shelter and soon arrived at a tiny village. Some houses were simply thatch-roofed huts, others were more solid structures, and they circled around a grassy green field, the center of the village. We spoke to the local veterinarian – we certainly didn’t expect there would be a vet in the region. She is newly appointed and does large animal work for the surrounding 15 regions. She and the shelter director were really helpful with our project and are going to help call a meeting of all the village leaders (where I won’t understand a word besides dog and rabies) to explain what we are doing and set up a schedule for going from village to village. It’ll be a very different experience to live in such a rural area, but we will hopefully befriend the villagers (bringing candy for the kids usually does the trick) and be able to make an impact there as well as enjoy being away from the bustle of the city. No pictures yet, I’ll take them when I’m there for longer, but it was absolutely gorgeous.

     Then it was on to the railway ticket station to purchase tickets for the following day. It’s quite the hectic place, people everywhere, constant announcements overhead in a robotic voice. We had to fill out a form, get a number, and then wait and wait. Two numbers before our turn, all of the lights at the ticket counters went out and the announcement that was to plague us came on: “Shift change. Counters closed for fifteen minutes Shift change. Counters closed for fifteen minutes.” Repeated over and over in a mechanical, rhythmic tone until it got stuck in my head. Eight minutes in, it started up again, still saying fifteen minutes, but thankfully they stuck fairly closely to the original estimate and we eventually bought out tickets and went on our way. As we walked out of the station, we passed a dog with a really nasty leg wound open to the bone. She wouldn’t let us approach her, but some of the workers said that she lived there, so we called the shelter and they said they would send someone to pick her up the next day. We’ll hopefully see her tomorrow morning and see what can be done for her, it wasn’t pretty…

     In the evening, we headed out to Simhachalam Temple way up on a hill and met the family of one of Viru’s friends there. The nine-year-old daughter quickly took an interest in us and was chatting away, telling me of her goals to move to the US and become a singer, actress, and fashion designer. We walked through the temple, looking at all of the carvings of animals and gods on the pillars and walls, so expertly carved out so many years ago just using hammers and chisels. The family had some inside connections so instead of just passing by the main altar at a distance like most temple visitors did, we were allowed to approach and circle around it. There we participated in a puja, which is a Hindu religious ritual. It was a Vishnuite temple, so the altar had a big statue of Vishnu with his wife next to him. The priest chanted in Sanskrit and made offerings of fruits and plants. He lit some plant material on a plate on fire and walked around to the group – maybe fifteen of us – which people waved into their faces. He asked each of our names and blessed us, and at the end, gave us personalized blessings. Mine was apparently to get married soon, and Viru’s was that she would have kids. Drank some water flavored with camphor and ate some holy basil, and had a crown tapped on my head several times as well as a bhindi applied using a red powder. I didn’t understand most of what was happening, but it was still a really interesting and p owerful experience. Cameras weren’t allowed, so I didn’t get any pictures of the inside of the temple, but we had one taken of the group outside. As we drove away from the temple, the sun was setting between the hills in the distance and the towns lay sprawled beneath it. As we got lower down, the sun disappeared behind the hills. There were no turnouts on the windy road, so it’s just an image I’ll have to hold to memory. 

      We then headed to their house, the nine year old riding along with us happily in our car and chatting away. The architecture was very interesting with the covered semi-outdoor entry area with a large wooden swing, the high ceilings and large rooms, the balconies and terrace overlooking the sea. After lounging around a bit (and seeing how inundudated with technology kids here are), we headed to a nearby hotel restaurant for dinner. It was on the top floor, so we ate inside because of the weather but went to stand out on the roof overlooking the water while we waited for our food. Very tasty and got a break from spicy food with polenta and mushroom ragout, but extremely slow service and I silently agreed with the whining of the kids. 

     Saturday morning, we left the hotel at 6:15 and headed to the nearby railway station. We had booked first class to avoid the crowds, so were in a compartment with two other people. They unfortunately had the window seats, so we just looking out from a distance at first. The woman lay down, taking up 75% plus of the row that was intended for two people, and they did not respond to us when we asked for the window if she was just going to sleep. As the ride went on, it was clear that they were quite unhappy about something, and we spent the bulk of our time outside of the compartment. We walked down the corridor to the end of the car, where there was a door on either end. With the door held open, we could hang on to the bar and stick our heads out. The train is electric, so the fresh air and breeze was a wonderful and refreshing change. We climbed up into the mountainside, watching astounding views pass us by. There was no way to capture the depth of the hills on camera, grooves in each set of hills and then countless layers in the distance. Hills of this type are apparently unique to this region of India. We watched as the foliage changed as we climbed higher from sea level into the Eastern Ghats, moving away from cities and towns into farmlands and untouched land. It drizzling on and off, bringing in the fresh smell of wet red earth. We found this quite amusing given that the night before, we were informed by our little friend that older sisters (which all three of us are) could wish or dream for anything and get it, and she had wished for drizzle for us for our journey to cool things down. The train went through countless tunnels, during which many of the passengers screamed as if they were on a rollercoaster, again and again, never seeming to get tired of their thrill. The train grew dark except for the light from the corridors, and it was fun to stand at the door and look into the blackness as it rushed by. Looking out the door, you could see people’s heads and arms and legs sticking out of the doors in all of the cars in the distance, as well as the front of the train as it rounded the curves. As the train ride progressed, more and more people came out to stand at the doors and take in the views. One woman with her family decided that since I was only here once, I should get to stand from the door (though she was very protective and made sure that I was holding on properly and only got off very briefly when the train stopped for a while). I couldn’t really talk to her because she only knew a few words of English, but she was extremely nice. Like many others, she wanted to take a picture with me, after which a random guy on the train asked for the same. Definitely not in a region where tourists are a common sighting. After three and a half hours of buying goodies from vendors and taking in the views as we stuck our heads out the door, we arrived at the Borra Caves station.

     Our car there was trapped between quite a few jeeps, so it took a long time to track down who owned the jeeps blocking us in – it didn’t really seem to bug them at all that they were blocking us, so they took their time loading up passengers. Eventually we were on our way, driving down the hill with all the other new arrivals to the entrance of the caves. There were countless people at the entrance so we were relieved when we walked through to a much more serene environment. After a short walk, we entered the biggest cave that I have ever seen. It was lit inside with orange-tinted overhead lights which definitely made it less natural, but it was still an amazing site. Many stalagmites and stalagites on the walls, bats flying above, water dripping from the high ceilings. The wialls were covered in shapes that had been interpreted as various animals and religious figures, and there was a temple area up some stairs near the top of the cave. We walked through for its full excavated length, about 1km. Unfortunately the flood of people did soon show up, most of them obnoxious guys who greatly enjoyed shouting, hollering, and clapping their entire time in the cave, the noise spreading all throughout and greatly dampening the experience. We were ready to get out of their and away from their noise by the time we had walked through; I wish I had been able to enjoy it for longer but their antics took away from it hugely. 

     Back in the car, we soon were away from the shouting and driving round and round the mountain up into Araku Valley. The road was narrow and endlessly curvy, the driver honking almost constantly as he announced his presence to anyone who might be on the other end of the curve. We passed by many different trees – cashew, banana, coffee, white oak, guava, mango, jackfruit, black pepper vines crawling up trees, and many others. Animals were often strolling alongside or in the middle of the road, from cows to monkeys to pigs to dogs, many of them with their babies. We stopped at one point to give throw our remaining fruit to a bunch of monkeys and cows hanging out on the side of the road. There were four or five mother monkeys with adorable tiny babies hanging out their stomachs or backs. They were smart and mostly stayed out of the road, quickly scampering to the sides when cars went by, but the cows followed after us as we drove away, wanting to lick our hands and beg for more treats. 

     The valley is a huge local tourist destination, so we were surprised when there were not many attractions or activities there. After lunch, we headed to the tribal museum, which was quite interesting. The mountains that we were driving through are mostly tribal land with lots of tiny communities who live off the land and have a very different culture and language than people in the cities and towns below. It seems that most people just vacation in Araku for the weather, which is wonderfully cool with a breeze and not a hint of humidity. We wanted to hike, but that’s not something that’s typically done as an activity here, partly because it’s just not part of the culture and partly because of all of the poisonous snakes. On our way back down, our driver stopped at one point where we saw a path, which we walked a bit down to where it connected to a village road. While we were gone, he saw a village woman walking up another path and pointed it out to us. We walked up the hill and followed that path a bit, looking down on the village at the bottom of the hill. I’m impressed by how all the local people manage to walk up and down these hills carrying baskets of food, buckets of water, bundles of firewood neatly balanced on their heads. On the drive home, we stopped on the side of the road a few times to get out into the fresh air which is a huge change from the city (we could even drive with the windows down instead of blasting the AC). Of course every car and motorcycle that drove by would honk at us and turn to stare as they passed us – a foreigner in this region, and people sitting on the side of the road. Back at the hotel after 12 hours out (going between places is always surprisingly exhausted), we stuffed ourselves with the hotel buffet dinner, which was surprisingly not killer spicy, and topped it off with some delicious pumpkin halwa and other desserts. This was ridiculously long, sorry for sticking so much in one post!