November 17, 2014 -- Peanuts etc.

I just want to share a few pictures of things that interest me.

First thing

For maybe a month or more , we are seeing vendors with carts on the road, or men sitting on the sidewalk beside a HUGE pile of peanuts – in the shell. Ah, so it’s peanut season!

Roasted Peanut Vendor

These guys roast their peanuts right where they sit, using a method of heating up sand until very hot – then adding the peanuts. You can buy a little paper of them for a few rupees or get a kilo or about 80 rupees. Delish, and HOT! I am also enclosing the info I found on Wikipedia.

Second Thing
In all the markets here, we see street food of every description being prepared and voraciously eaten until quite late every night. When we go out in the evening to our local street market, no matter what we have eaten for dinner, the sight and aromas of these various stalls is very enticing. One such cart makes paneer kabobs. Big hunks of cheese are skewered with green peppers, onions and tomatoes and then doused with tikka season (very reddish) before barbequing on a grill. Rob is tortured by these every time, so one day, we will have to try one out. You know we don’t really eat street food, because our gut is used to different microbes – plus, it is not possible to know about the hygiene practise of those who prepared it. But, we are getting a little bolder, the longer we are here – and figure that when food has been cooked at high temperature, it probably is safe for us foreigners. See Picture.

Paneer Kabobs

The Third thing is Chaat
My friend Shilpa used to RAVE about CHAAT. Her favourite street food – though she could never quite make me understand WHAT it was.

The picture I already sent from Pondicherry of that delicious concoction of chickpeas, onion, tomatoes and cilantro in a huge dish – ready to be scooped onto little plates – was a chaat. 

Chat with chickpeas

A very common snack we see in the markets is called Bhelpuri – Crunchy Snack. – another chaat. People just LOVVVVVVE it and I’m sure it is tasty. Pour in enough tamarind chutney and anything would be tasty, methinks. I am attaching a picture and a description from a recipe site I found online. I think the Bhelpuri in the picture has corn flakes, as well as puffed rice.

Bhelpuri

Bhelpuri (Hindi भेलपूरी, Marathi भेळ) is a savoury Indian snack, and is also a type of chaat. It is made out of puffed rice, vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce.

I know, I know – another email about FOOD. Simple pleasures. What can I say?

From Wikipedia
Hot sand frying is a common cooking technique for street-side food vendors in China and India to cook chestnuts and peanuts. A large wok is filled with black sand and heated to high temperature. Nuts are buried in the hot sand and occasionally turned with a spatula, then the sand and nuts are separated through a wire-mesh screen.

Hansi

November 16, 2014 -- This & That

Hi all

Just a few odds and ends. There is a Barrista Coffe shop just around the corner from us where we can get a very nice Cappuccino - see attached. So far we've avoided the Swiss Hot Chocolate . . .

Harpreet (CIIS Academic Principal and good friend) took us to visit the Banda Singh Bahadur memorial on the way home from work last week (same day we saw the peacocks). This commemorates a fierce warrior and leader from the 1700s who fought the Mughals - see Google for the complete story. It is beautiful, new (opened 2013 and still not quite complete) and very peaceful. As usual (seems so to us), a few groups of school girls arrived just as we did and they followed us around screwing up the courage to ask for a photograph (we're in 100s of photographs from all over India by now). Cute kids and why they us in their pictures . . . ?

Hansi & Rob in the obligatory "school girl" photo

Hansi and Harpreet at Banda Singh Bahadur Memorial

School term is winding down (December 8 is the last day of classes) and I'm looking forward to the time when I do not have any classroom prep work (I'd forgotten how much work is involved). Teaching classes of Indian students is an experience second to none and I've enjoyed both great joy and major frustration. The "kids" area delight (they stand when you enter the classroom and thank you on the way out), often funny, always sociable and frequently having a laugh at me in Punjabi. Their work habits are all over the place ranging from studious "keeners" to major "slackers" (not too different than Canada). But, given their school experience until now (lots of rote memorization, very little faculty interaction other than punitive and berating, a lot of "nannying" to keep them focussed on their work, little or no independent work expectations, family intervention at school to get them "off the hook" etc etc), the road to our way of teaching/learning is a tough one.

It is gratifying to see the positive changes in attitude and English proficiency that have taken place since we all started last August - makes it all worthwhile. This model (first year in India and then transfer to Canada to complete degree/diploma at Canadian partner institution) works and I only wish there were more Canadian faculty over here.

Hansi and I are off (by auto rickshaw, of course) to a big outdoor craft show or mela which is on the other side of Chandigarh from us. Sounds like fun - it's cool and sunny and maybe we'll get a little nosh to boot!

Rob

November 14, 2014 -- Indian Market Fare

I know I seem to blather on about the markets here, but there always seems to be something new to buy, or something new to see.

On one of our last trips to Phase 7 Sunday night market, we found many people selling cartloads of ???? What the heck were they?  One lady who was choosing something else from that cart told me they were called singhara.  What do you do with them?  “Boil them and salt them.”

Singhara

Ah, so they are a vegetable.  Do you like them?  “Not really.”

Moving on…

I asked the next people who stopped at that cart.  A grown son with mother.   How do you prepare these?  “Oh, you just peel the outside off and eat it.  They are very good.” Then he peeled one and broke half off for me.  (If you think for a minute that you can keep people’s hands off your food here, you are mistaken). Anyway, I ate it and it was good.  It was like a chestnut.  We bought a half kg.

So it turns out singhara is the Indian Water chestnut and they are crispy, juicy and very slightly sweet.  They are considered a FRUIT so can be eaten during fasting – and because of this, a flour is also made from them – to use for making things like pakora etc. during a fast.

Bought the biggest lemon I’ve even seen, and it turns out it really is a LEMON.  Wasn’t sure.  We only see the tiny round Indian lemons here.

Huge Nemu; little Nemu

We bought three (hopefully) yams or yammish sort of things, which we plan to turn into something, and we bought a large quantity of green beans – just coming into the market now – many of which we just steamed for dinner, much to the dismay of Milo who sorely wanted to masala gravy them to a fair-thee-well.  Well, it turns out that Milo thinks that plain steamed beans are mighty tasty (she’s never had them like that) – so we share a stack with her every time we have them, which has been MANY since that first time.

We stopped at a giant grain market in sector 26 on Saturday with our hired driver.  He said we would get the best prices there on bananas and apples which we needed. 

The market was massive – covering 4 acres. One side was for fruit, and veggies were on the other, and with a huge section just for wholesalers. (This is probably where our street cart guy gets his produce.)

Though we had only gone for two items, of course we were tempted by everything – including the green beans (again? You say) so bought a kilo – even though we had left Milo with instructions to get more beans (she did).  There were BEETS.  Hadn’t had a beet in 6 months.  So we bought a kilo of those though now I wish it had been three kilos. 

We pressure- cookered the beets next day and I saved the juice for smoothies.  No sauce, no garlic or cilantro,  no oil – just beets.  Ahhhh….  Such simple pleasures.  

Beet smoothie

Last night we made a huge pot of chili using the taco seasoning I had brought, plus kidney beans (rasmah) which Milo pressured, capsicum (what they call green peppers here) and onions etc.  Don’t let me forget the minced GOAT.  I kept out enough GOAT for two goatburger patties for Sautrday’s lunch.  We’ll see how that goes.  This email is even putting ME to sleep, so I will close.

Hansi

November 13, 2014 -- Birds etc.

Hi all

Since Hansi is covering off most of what's happening, I'll focus on the bird side of things this time. In the past couple of weeks we've seen several new (to us, of course) ones. Two weekends ago we hired a cab to take us to Sukhna Lake here in Chandigarh. Last weekend we managed to hire our favourite driver mit car (Johnny) to take us out to the Ropar Dam area, an earthen dam nearer in to Chandigarh and thence to Sukhna Lake. Johnny qualifies as a favourite because his English is pretty good and he is very sharp-eyed birder - he drove for a military guy who was a birder, go figure the odds! With the naked eye he can spot birds way faster than we can with binoculars and his eyesight is astounding - obviously our driver of choice.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves - the telephoto range of my camera does limit things but, by and large, I manage to get shots of all of the new birds we see. Now that the rice paddies have been harvested and the weather has cooled, we've begun to see peacocks/peahens ever more frequently - the day I took the photos we were on our way back to Mohali from CGI and pulled off on a side road. Saw 19 peacocks/peahens in one small field and I finally got some shots! The kingfisher is one of our favourites - colourful and the beak looks like it was meant for a different bird. Also finally managed to catch a coucal (lesser) - they're secretive and like cover.

Life continues apace, the Tim Horton's coffee looks to be good for a few more weeks, the newspaper continues to rail about corrupt politicians, shabby policework and the like, the mornings are brisk, the days sunny and warm, the local markets are vibrant and choc-a-bloc with fresh fruit and veggies, spices, popcorn, biscuits . . . ah, this is the life (and I'm getting paid).

Rob

Peacock

November 5 & 6, 2014 -- November Celebrations

On October 31, as we were lighting the pumpkins on the balcony for the second night, Milo came rushing in to say that SIR had to come out and help her put up more Diwali lights (Christmas strings, basically).  Diwali was officially over by Oct. 25^th and the lights which had been strung up on our balcony in our absence were no longer being lighted at night (but had not been taken away either).   So, Milo and Rob wrapped even more lights around the balustrade – noticing the while that all the neighbouring houses were also now winking, flashing and shining with even more lights.  Why???  you ask? Turns out that starting Nov. 2 until Nov. 6 (the ACTUAL Holiday) we are celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s life– and doing it with LIGHTS. [Try this link to see the lights and hear the fireworks.]

Gurū Nānak  (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539) was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated world-wide on Kartik Puranmashi, the full-moon day which falls on different dates each year in the month of Katak, October–November.

As an added attraction, it so happens that this Wednesday is Founder’s Day.  No, I don’t know what that is, but I will doubtless find out.  There will be more Ramp Walking, and Bhangra dancing (like at Fresher’s Day) and politicians will be on hand to speak, as well as our Founder, Colonel Sandhu.   I know that all the gals dress up and it is a Formal occasion.  Believe it or not, all last week’s classes were shortened to make time at the end of each day for rehearsals for the above.  Education seems to be secondary to festivities at this school.  And today, Dress Rehearsal – so really no kid is showing up for classes ( too excited - hence I have emailing time), whether they are taking part in Founder’s Day or not.   AND, since Thursday is a Holiday – many kids have ALREADY gone home to their towns - choosing to bunk classes all week and also Founder’s Day in favour of another week off.  I do not believe for a minute (nor does any other teacher) that anyone will show up to class on Friday.    Curriculum be damned   Bring out the Tablas!

So, when we arrived at school on Wednesday morning (Founder’s Day), we discovered that the whole campus had been duded up for the occasion.  The front entrance completely draped, the outdoor amphitheatre completely covered with white fabric and lavishly decorated with floral arrangements, roll-out red carpets etc. and in the reception area, two rangoli projects were in progress by students.  See pictures.  Literally every brick and flower pot inside and outside of the school had been repainted with brick-coloured paint, and I could not help but think of Alice in Wonderland, where the Queen INSISTED on red roses so in fear,  her minions painted all the white roses red.

The celebration itself was as usual for this flamboyant and over-the-top kind of function.  Maybe you worked that out for yourselves – what with the brick and flowerpot painting.  The students had prepared all kinds of activities, like modelling, skits, singing and dancing numbers.  Of course, the crowd was exuberant, nay half wild with enthusiasm.  I will send a few videos for reference. 
Bhangra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4rGWYW4Rbg

The morning of that function which actually began at 1:30, Rob and I were rushed off by the marketing team to a school about ½ hour away, to promote our school.  As usual, last- minute, as usual, ill-thought-out, and as usual a really big rush.  So, we did make it back by 1: 30 for Founder’s Day fun,(which was already in progress)  but of course, had not had lunch yet. Harpreet stopped us at the entrance, and ushered Rob and me into a private luncheon with all the other dignitaries (oh really!) like the Founder himself (Colonel Sandhu) who were going to eat and then make a grand entrance. So we did.- Into the front row which was equipped with easy chairs and not the stone benches others were occupying.  Front row also got snacks, juice, water and chai (tea) in CHINA cups/saucers delivered throughout the event.  I noticed that the second level of important people, like the Principal of one of the other schools, got tea, but in a Styrofoam cup.  It’s like that…. A very lively and colourful event it was.  I will only send a few videos to give you the flavour.

FYI:  Firecrackers were(and always are) a HUGE part of Diwali here and have continued to be every day since – with cherry bombs going off hither and yon at any time of day.  This morning (Nov. 5) , at 5 a.m., believe it or not,  there was an incredible number of them exploded.  Just so you are all clear on the quantity of fireworks set off here - The newspaper reported that the morning after Diwali, the air was still blue with gunpowder and the streets covered with the resulting paper shards – this despite the ongoing drive to make people aware of the environmental impact of firecrackers and promote a greener Diwali.

Then, Thursday was the actual Holiday, and firecrackers banged occasionally all day, but as soon as it got to be dusk, they pulled out all the stops.  Non-stop for the next 6 hours, we heard huge percussive BANGS, CRACKLES, Sparkling  Fireworks,  in every direction – on our street, neighbouring streets, across the city – all  underscored by the beautiful twinkling lights adorning every house.  And please don’t let me forget the relentless chanting being broadcast from the gurudwara ALL DAY AND NIGHT. (Got that out of my system!)   Little video clip from the balcony at 11:00 pm doesn’t really do it justice. 

Back at work Friday and going birding Saturday.  Migration should have started by now.

Hansi

Front entrance on Founder's Day

Outdoor amphitheater fancied up

Rangoli begun

Second Rangoli in reception area

Finished Rangoli and its lovely creators

Shades of painting the roses Red in Alice  in Wonderland

CIIS from behind

November 6, 2014 -- Pumpkin Carving

Hi there all,

What have we been up to . . .

Well, I bought a pumpkin (to eat - small, round and green) from the vegetable cart that goes past, and that put the idea into my head that Rob, Milo and I should carve Jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween.

I had prepped Milo about what was involved by showing her images on Google, and she was INTO it.

We found three good pumpkins at a stand on our way home from work.  A big, medium and tiny pumpkin was Milo’s idea – Dad, Mom and the “children” pumpkin (what she calls anything small).

Our friend Harpreet got wind of our plan, and was very keen on joining the festivities with her niece (2) and nephew (4), and to that end, she arrived with both kids and  2 pumpkins about 8 pm on Oct. 30^th.

Now, Milo and Rob had carved out their pumpkins about 6 pm while I made our dinner. (Milo really is not free until about 9 pm after making our dinner, then the two dinners downstairs). In this way, Rob was free later to help one of the kids, and Milo did not miss out on the fun of carving.  She LOVED her jack-o’-lantern, BTW, and took it to her room almost right away. 

Harpreet’s little dudes were so cute.  The boy and even the tinier girl, drew their own faces on their pumpkins (and as quick as a wink, that 2 yr. old managed to get to the couch cushion with that Magic Marker only putting one little black “tic” on it before Hansi  the Omniscient snagged it away from her). 

I wanted them to get the idea about Trick or Treating, so had two little bags which they went “door” to “door” out on our balcony  - saying Trick or Treat (or some variation of that)  each time, and I put a treat into their bags at each “door.”    Fun was had by all.  Pix attached. 

Hansi

November 6, 2014 -- No Bull

Hi all

We didn't freak or even flinch when this bull strolled by the shop where we were buying a few sundries this afternoon . . .

Rob