Pongal on the farm and in Namaleri was awesome. The cows were gorgeous (lots of photos I'll post later!) It turns out the 14th was stuff your gut day, the 15th was decorate cows and play day. First we witnessed cow decor and ceremony on the farm, later that day we went into Namaleri (one of the nearby towns) to Anna's friend/farmer she works with, Manni's farm. Yay! That's where all the town's decorated cows are gathered! They had painted horns with glitter and tassels and bells - one pair even had flags attached! The ceremony was much bigger, and at one point three or four guys ran around the whole crowd with incense and throwing water and Pongal (the food) on everyone (to bless the cows and area.) Also, a chicken was killed, its head cut off and the blood drained. We didn't do that on the farm.
Now we're in Mysore and the cows have all been dyed bright yellow!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
maps
so you know where i'm talking about. Note: towns have at least two names:
Bengaluru = Bangalore
alleppey = Alappuzha
Kollam is as far south of Alappuzha as Alappuzha is of Kochi/Cochin/Fort Cochin/Ernakalum (All on the west coast of Kerala)
Ooty is SW of Bangalore. Coimbatore is south and slightly east of Ooty
Bengaluru = Bangalore
alleppey = Alappuzha
Kollam is as far south of Alappuzha as Alappuzha is of Kochi/Cochin/Fort Cochin/Ernakalum (All on the west coast of Kerala)
Ooty is SW of Bangalore. Coimbatore is south and slightly east of Ooty
back on the farm
Yes, I am fine! I haven’t written because we’ve been so busy and having so much fun. On to more fun stuff-
We’re back on the farm now, and I’m so glad to be back! Like I said, we’ve been very busy.
We took a long train and bus ride to Ooty, a small city aka “hill station” in the Nilgiri Hills in NW Tamil Nadu. 4 or so days there. Highlights: 1. the hike down from Dotta Betta, the highest peak which is a lot like Disneyland – souvenirs, entry fee, crowds, weird orange soda fountain – anyways, we walked all the way back to Ooty through the forest and old Ooty. This awesome old man who was carrying an impossible load of wood showed us the way (starts down a goat path) and then we just headed down. The path opened up bigger and bigger and we were walking through all types of residential neighborhoods (all of which had a sewage system! Cool!) and meeting tons of people and talking to them in our limited Tamil – it’s surprising how much you can get across with just a few words and phrases. They were so nice!! Actually, almost everyone in Tamil Nadu has been super nice to us. On the train to Ooty we rode in the ladies car and met lots of awesome women and kids. Reema and her kids invited us to their house for tea in Ooty and Mary adopted us and made sure we got from Coimbatore (end of the train ride, transfer to bus in another part of town, crazy bus station wait of 2.5 hours, 5.5 hour ride) all the way to getting off the bus in Ooty where she made sure we knew how much to pay for an auto (motorized rickshaw) to our hotel! She fed us too.
So, Ooty is a nice temp. in the day but actually dropped to freezing at least one night we were there. 2 nights in the un-insulated, broken window, no duvet just wool blankets YWCA and we splurged ($12/night!) on a new place that was crazy warm and wonderful. That was after we took (highlight 2.) the day long guided hike through different ecosystems higher in the hills – it was amazing! I killed one camera battery on just that J
The Nilgiri Hills are known for their tea and homemade chocolates. We bought a bit of chocolate and took a tea factory tour as well as wandering through many a tea field. I have been drinking tea – small weak cups of milk brewed tea with sugar. Heavenly!
After Ooty, we took an overnight train to Kollam in Kerala (state), one of the 2 towns that is considered a ‘gateway’ to the backwaters of Kerala. 1 day in Kollam, early bus to Alleppey, the other of the 2 gateways. Same day we arrive we started our *bling* 2 day and night backwater cruise withour own boat & 3 staff. (big splurge for us!) Kerala is hot & humid and we were there when ‘the humidity is at its least debilitating.’ It was pretty strong tho, how else could you keep me cooped up on a boat for 2 days without exercise but to exhaust me? We had side trips walking thru villages and on a canoe trip thru a village (think Venice meets the less developed rural world.) Canoe trip highlight: we played pirates and hopped aboard a parked fishing boat. After we left the boat I stuck my hand between our canoe and the fishing boat as they slammed together – um, that hurt, and I don’t recommend it. Nothing horribly wrong despite the cries for ‘doctor’ and ‘hospital’ by the pirate crew. Just a wicked bruise and painful amateur rehab.
Next we spent ½ day in Alleppey and ½ day in Kochi taking a Keralan cooking class. Then, another overnight train (it takes forever to get anywhere here!) and here I am back on the farm.
Other fun stuff: I’ve started a list of fun product names like “happy,” a pineapple jelly, and “Playboy,” a play mat for babies.
Post 1
Greetings from India -
Some of you know, and some don't, but I'm in India for 3 weeks to visit my friend Anna and be a tourist. Here is my first email out, y'all told me I had to do a blog - so I set one up and it doesn't recognize my password. It's thru my gmail account, and notice I am on gmail so I do have the correct password so it's not just how low tech I am. . .
Anyways, a short update: 24 hours to get here. Yes, seriously. I arrived at 4am Jan 1st, took 2 small naps during the day, went shopping for indian clothes, and we drove (well, Anna has a driver for her job - his name is Anand and he drove) to the farm. Today I'm on a perfect time schedule! No naps or anything. The farm has cows - i've seen them but we haven't formally introduced ourselves - and a great dane named either Neo or Neow (either like the guy from the matrix, or like a cat's meow.) Neo is awesome - he's super friendly and I even cleaned his ears for him today and he let me! Also here are Margesh, the farm manager who speaks some english - I started learning Tamil yesterday, but slow slow - and Gaurarama and Krishnama, two very nice ladies. Gaurarama apparently tells Anna how she's supposed to do things like cook, but that's in Canada (main language of Karnataka, a state nearby) and Anna answers her in English - they really like each other and talk a lot like this. Today Anna and I went for lunch at Usha's house in Namaleri, she's a nurse from the nearby clinic/hospital who speaks English quite well and is friends with Anna. Many people also dropped by, and it's amazing how much communication happens with Anna speaking english and small amounts of Tamil and the other people speaking Tamil. It's just important that they're talking, even though they don't actually know what each other are saying. Lunch was fabulous because we had paisan - that's probably the name- vermicelli in milk with sugar, cashews and raisins - it's like rice pudding but way way better and more liquid. I love it! And Usha and her mother and friends are very nice. We also went to Devi's house and she fed us tasty sugared tea and showed us her wedding album. Then we went to the preschool and the clinic to check them out. Anand and Morgesh returned from errands and we convinced Anand to walk back to the farm with us - about 3 km in which we learned Tamil and talked to just about everyone we ran into, which was a lot of people as we walked thru many towns. Also, thank god for exercise, I've been sitting so much! (the farm is about a 3 hour drive from Bangalore, the trip from the airport was maybe 45 mins, and everyone we visit with wants us to sit down. and eat!) Tomorrow we will trek all over the farm I hope. We're not supposed to go walking around just us 2 ladies, we need a man with us. sigh.
Upcoming: Anna and I will travel to Mysore, a city about 3 hours from Bangalore to the southwest, the Nilgiri Biosphere Preserve, Ooty for trekking and chocolates, their specialty! and into Kerala (sw state) for greenness and the backwaters - their true name. Possibly we will hit the Periyar animal preserve/park in the south of Kerala and the town at the southernmost tip of india - the sun rises and sets on the water. We will return to the farm in time for Pongal, the harvest festival on the 14th when we get to wash and decorate the cows! And then we'll go look for the elephants around here - with help from someone like a park ranger. It turns out Anna will be travelling with me the whole time - yay! I like Anna.
-Kim
ps okay, i meant it to be short. :)
Some of you know, and some don't, but I'm in India for 3 weeks to visit my friend Anna and be a tourist. Here is my first email out, y'all told me I had to do a blog - so I set one up and it doesn't recognize my password. It's thru my gmail account, and notice I am on gmail so I do have the correct password so it's not just how low tech I am. . .
Anyways, a short update: 24 hours to get here. Yes, seriously. I arrived at 4am Jan 1st, took 2 small naps during the day, went shopping for indian clothes, and we drove (well, Anna has a driver for her job - his name is Anand and he drove) to the farm. Today I'm on a perfect time schedule! No naps or anything. The farm has cows - i've seen them but we haven't formally introduced ourselves - and a great dane named either Neo or Neow (either like the guy from the matrix, or like a cat's meow.) Neo is awesome - he's super friendly and I even cleaned his ears for him today and he let me! Also here are Margesh, the farm manager who speaks some english - I started learning Tamil yesterday, but slow slow - and Gaurarama and Krishnama, two very nice ladies. Gaurarama apparently tells Anna how she's supposed to do things like cook, but that's in Canada (main language of Karnataka, a state nearby) and Anna answers her in English - they really like each other and talk a lot like this. Today Anna and I went for lunch at Usha's house in Namaleri, she's a nurse from the nearby clinic/hospital who speaks English quite well and is friends with Anna. Many people also dropped by, and it's amazing how much communication happens with Anna speaking english and small amounts of Tamil and the other people speaking Tamil. It's just important that they're talking, even though they don't actually know what each other are saying. Lunch was fabulous because we had paisan - that's probably the name- vermicelli in milk with sugar, cashews and raisins - it's like rice pudding but way way better and more liquid. I love it! And Usha and her mother and friends are very nice. We also went to Devi's house and she fed us tasty sugared tea and showed us her wedding album. Then we went to the preschool and the clinic to check them out. Anand and Morgesh returned from errands and we convinced Anand to walk back to the farm with us - about 3 km in which we learned Tamil and talked to just about everyone we ran into, which was a lot of people as we walked thru many towns. Also, thank god for exercise, I've been sitting so much! (the farm is about a 3 hour drive from Bangalore, the trip from the airport was maybe 45 mins, and everyone we visit with wants us to sit down. and eat!) Tomorrow we will trek all over the farm I hope. We're not supposed to go walking around just us 2 ladies, we need a man with us. sigh.
Upcoming: Anna and I will travel to Mysore, a city about 3 hours from Bangalore to the southwest, the Nilgiri Biosphere Preserve, Ooty for trekking and chocolates, their specialty! and into Kerala (sw state) for greenness and the backwaters - their true name. Possibly we will hit the Periyar animal preserve/park in the south of Kerala and the town at the southernmost tip of india - the sun rises and sets on the water. We will return to the farm in time for Pongal, the harvest festival on the 14th when we get to wash and decorate the cows! And then we'll go look for the elephants around here - with help from someone like a park ranger. It turns out Anna will be travelling with me the whole time - yay! I like Anna.
-Kim
ps okay, i meant it to be short. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)