Voila!

Today is one of those days that needs to go down in the history of my internship and largely as an incident worth remembering in larger life situations.

So here’s what happened.

Somehow (its another long story how and why and such, which I’m done venting about so we shall not get into) I landed myself with the honorable task of taking 18 secondary school kids to Mogri ( a town by a river both with the same name) and back because they insisted on going “Ghumne”!

Now we left in the moonlight of 11:30 AM and got back by 5:00 pm. On the way I got talking to some of the kids and had some interesting revelations about my place of work, its perception and history which are truly valuable. I also sat by the river under a tree and facilitated my first so called  “class”. So that stuff was quite fun. The other fun thing was the lift we got in the open rickshaw-truck-type thing carrying cowdung and hay… for about 2 KMs!

Since I am still alive and am done being annoyed about how I got conned into going in the first place… I am now being extremely excited and proud about the fact that I reached home and managed to clean the dishes and make myself some awesome risotto. Today I felt like I deserved any luxury of comfort food/comfort activities that I cared to provide myself with and for once could not be less bothered about what people here would have to say or think… because its kind of like their un-asked-for redemption. So I am now going to watch Californication, talk to the peeps on gtalk and leave you guys with the recipe to anytime anywhere risotto.

Risotto a La Me in a village in remote Madhya Pradesh, India.

Apparatus:

1 Pressure cooker

1 Laddle

1 Thingie you use to make buttermilk with … the long stick with the spikes at the end.

Ingredients:

Half cupful of Thick Rice (available abundantly anywhere in Italy/North, Central India)

1 Onion

A few cloves of garlic

2 Tomatoes

3 Spoonfuls of Ghee

Some Oregano and Chilli Flakes to taste

1 Cheese cube.

Procedure:

Put the ghee in the pressure cooker, saute’ finely chopped onions and garlic along with oregano and chilli flakes, add to that the finely chopped tomatoes and saute’ those for a bit also. Then add some water and bring to boil. Get the butter milk maker thingie and puree the mixer you have in front of you in the cooker. Add pepper and salt to taste and then add the rice. Put the pressure cooker lid on and go do other things for a while.

3 Whistles down, shut the gas (which you should have started before you started any other procedure!) and let the steam out. Remove all the rice in a plate, grate the cheese cube and mix well.

Tastes Best when starved and having walked 16Kms!

Fifteen days into my internship (almost) I have to confess that I’ve had things at a level higher than the average comfort. The last weekend went in mom dad’s visit to Adharshila as a surprise for my birthday and this weekend I’m in Bombay, in the comfort of my bedroom and bathroom and thin rotis, in the comfort of being with mom dad and all loved ones on Diwali. I don’t think I could have asked for a more smooth first fortnight of my internship.

Of course despite this, and despite the fact that in hindsight all of this happened over the past 15 days, each week felt like an eternity and to break in and out of routines is going to be difficult. Also finding my own place there and also fitting into my groove and coming to terms with the massive shocks has taken and will take its time. But what really helps is knowing that there are other people sinking in the same boat… and that we’ll all come out of it together.

Here is a glimpse of my life at Adharshila and the interesting changes that I have made to my life.

This is the road that leads me to Adharshila. The small crowd of trees that you see at the far end is the Adharshila Campus… The road is almost always open and makes for a great evening walk route.

This is the Computer room. It gets its name from the sole laptop that lies on the table here and the fact that there is a battery here from which one can charge their laptops to prevent the dangers of voltage fluctuations of all the other plug points in the campus on the laptops. It is also where I take most of my classes or other work related discussions.

Here is the infamous open bathroom that I have my baths in. It is relatively safe from human eye so long as you ensure you bathe when no one is around or don’t care enough. One must beware of the uninformed animal once in a while like the dog that walked into and out of the bathroom whilst I was having a bath and had soap all over my body. I have to say that that was one of the most interesting moments of my 15 days!

This is the kitchen of my new room. Here we have cooked kichdi and bateta nu shaak (potatoes) and I have cooked maggi… once. The second highlight of my 15 days!

So basically my day at Adharshila starts at 5:30-6:00 Am. Its a different story that it takes a lot of effort to actually convince myself to get out of bed at that hour but for all other practical purposes I am awake.

Then I wake up and do sundry waking up activities like use the loo/brush/eat/drink milk etc and prepare for my Economics class with the 10 graders. This is the highlight of my day… everyday. That gets done by 10ish and then I’m doing some or the other work till about 4:30 after which time I study a bit and sit with the room mates and chit chat. Then there is shramdaan that involves some amount of farming. This is fun and we sing random songs while doing this with the other girls. After this we go for a walk into the sunset and come home, make and eat dinner and lounge around till the eyes close the shutters and one is forced to call it a day. This happens around 9:30 pm!!!

I will write more about the day to day fun things that happen later… but this is for all you guys that wanted pictures!!

This last one is one of the 15 gorgeous sunsets I’ve seen in my 15 days there…

Beautiful Rising

Anticipation didn’t leave much room for sleep on my bus ride to Sendhwa from Bombay. The bus was comfortable and thanks to N, I had some really nice music to keep me company through out. (Jalebee Cartel – Highly Recommend)

Anyways, despite all speculations, Sendhwa came at 5:30. I got off at the chai walla while it was still raining and luckily found an auto that offered to drop me to Adharshila for a very reasonable rate. So we had our first cup of tea for the day in the rain while it was still dark and left the bus stand-chai walla when the sky started turning a lighter shade of blue.

The whole journey (10 Kms from NH to Sakad) a drizzle followed us. The atmosphere was this light shade of cold that was depicted so well by the blue tinge that everything seemed to have. If it wasn’t real, I’d say it was an exaggerated camera effect. The whole road was  small cute and well maintained with endless grass and trees on either side and fields. The campus is slightly uphill in this heavy patch of trees. Here I met Amitji and my room mates. 4 Locals and 2 Indians of American Origin who are here for a similar internship except they will be staying a year!

Stuff that surprised me

1) They have lesser luggage than I do, and they’re staying for longer

2) They speak only hindi and their hindi is rather good

3) They’ve adapted far far better than I expect myself to!

4) We have an open bathroom… seriously.. the closest there is to walls are these 2 planks of thatched cane put at an angle.

5) They eat rice only once a week!

I’m still super jealous of N because of where he gets to go, although we spoke and realized a lot is similar. Also I found out that HKS works very closely with Adharshila. That should be interesting…

I don’t know much about Adharshila yet and my opinions are very half baked … or rather just freshly put into the oven to endure the heat… so I’ll wait for a while before I decide that.

So, This is Goodbye…

Goodbyes are strange things. They come in different shapes, sizes, colours, et al.

I’ve been saying my set… and whats funny is, when I wasn’t going away anywhere… I always thought that I would make my goodbyes totally emo and say a lot of senti things, remember all the good times and cry buckets… I always thought I would say thoughtful parting words and receive thoughtful parting words in return.

Now that it is time to say good bye however small or big… I see how none of these things are happening quite the way they did in my head. For 1 I’m avoiding all emo possible. For another, my brain can’t seem to think of the apt words to say. I am not able to cry buckets and this is not because I’m stopping the tears from rolling or the eyes from welling up. All around, I feel this warm fuzzy feeling like its not goodbye at all.

When I said goodbye to AIESEC earlier this year… I did all those things, because I knew that the goodbye meant something. Not only did it mean goodbye from the organization et al, but also a goodbye to most of the people, that lifestyle and that part of me that I wouldn’t go back to that often if ever…But this time, its different… I know the people are constant, I know the lifestyle is mine to have when I want it, I know that the version of me is constant even if ever changing…

This makes saying goodbyes a little pointless… its more like “So long mate, see you later”. So to all those people with whom I have been unable to weep or say perfect things… please understand thats only because I don’t intend on saying bye at all.

Then there are those others…with whom it wasn’t even necessary to say goodbye because they walked out of your life before you could reach that stage with them. Its only when they’re far gone do you realize goodbyes were in order and then you curse and say yeah whatever, too bad… and move on with your days work.

Either way… I’m here… And tomorrow I won’t be. I don’t know how it feels because I don’t think I’m feeling anything right now. There’s definitely anticipation and excitement… but not much else beyond that.

Of course this place will see more updates I hope.. and such other things.

With that I’ll sign off from Bombay from the last time in a while.

The Gaun at last…

Only Today, I was thinking about paying this blog a visit, without having anything substantial to say! I’ve been reading Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut and boy does he write well! Highly recommend him to anyone who wants a refreshing take on life…

One of his witty anecdotes in the book that I liked most was “Lets be perfectly frank, for most people the end of the world can’t come soon enough”. This was to explain his theory of how most people in reality hate living. Another one on that was “World War 2: society’s second unsuccessful attempt at suicide”. Hilarious!

Anyways, the bout of malaria has left me all weak and under house arrest since the past 6 days. I went to graduation ceremony, gave speech and all that and came home realizing the 2 important lessons I have learned in the past 2 years. In 2008 I realized the importance of rituals to grieve and to get closure and in 2009 I realized the unimportance of these rituals to do the exact same thing. Both were important lessons to have learned, so balance at last!

The bout of malaria also prohibited me from going drinking with the batch of 2009! and watch VJ get shit faced as I heard he did. And I feel it is going to sabotage more such drinking plans and then I will be too far away in a village to be able to consume nice alcohol. And I am now beyond even whiskey/vodka and coke and will settle for nothing less than a good cocktail or wine. Spoilt as you may like to call me, I don’t care about drinking that much, so when I am doing it, I’d like it to be done right.

So the village is Sendhwa, Badwani District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The organization is Adharshila Learning Center. The Website and Blog can be found by clicking on those 2 words. I am now reading more to find out more about the place and people and all that so more on that later. But for one its a peoples movement and not an organization, hence it has no rigid structures etc. Its run by this couple Jayshree and Amit. Of course Mridu and Ankit have raised my expectations of such couples that live in remote places. Of course most of you don’t even know who these people are so it really is inconsequential. Now I’m all excited to go. I’m actually just waiting for morning to happen so I can start speaking to people and finding out more about the whathowwhenwhowhere questions that I have.

That Bastard N got HKS, which was both our first choice, so well…  I hope he rots in hell… no not really… but I do hope the mosquitoes that bit me and gave me Malaria do rot in hell.

Okay thats about all. More soon.

Talk

Theres something about conversations that is powerful. It helps you put to words, solidify and reinforce things you believe… alternatively, it opens up for you an avenue of ideas that was earlier unknown to you. And between this spectrum it forces upon you the thought of the thing being spoken about, which is usually beneficial as it broadens your horizon in a particular direction.

The best thing about conversations is, especially the real ones and not so much the forced ones… is that they’re unique to the people having them. The understanding of each word and the response to each word affected by the individuals understanding of that word which is a repercussion of their background means that no two people can have the same conversation with any two other people. That is how people become special. That is how one realized that this person holds a special place in my life, because without this person, the opportunity of having this conversation, of looking beyond yourself, of being understood beyond yourself in this area would not be available. Of course the opportunity varies from being more or less attractive to have available but regardless its having that opportunity available that makes someone special.

I don’t really have a point to this except to feel thankful to everyone that’s ever engaged in conversation with me… and maybe hope several more of these come…

Of course this is one good explanation to why I find facebook extremely unappealing… or small talk, or even for that matter the forced conversation about everything under the sun that is believed to be good to have had with someone so as to increase your “Network”.

This is why mails, blogs, phone conversations et al are highly appealing to me. They give you the space to truly verbalize what you think and give the option to another person to respond with their quantity of verbal-ness in their own space and their own time.

With that I must end random rant…. But I must say, that conversations are truly the best healers.

A Great Day For Freedom

Today feels like one of those days when you sit in a really fast roller coaster ride and the steel things fasten you in your place and the little trolley you’re sitting in jerks to a start. There is this feeling in your stomach at that point.

That’s the feeling in my stomach right now.

Its the feeling that from this point on, at least for a little while, life will not be the same. You will zoom-stop-turn upside down-fall steeply down and then finally slowly the trolley comes to halt. And after that also, for a while all you do this stand and try to recover from the ride. You know that feeling, don’t you?

Yep, thats how I feel life will be for a while. I leave for Delhi today and find out more about the internship, opportunities available et al. The day I return is when my results are expected. The day after that C is back from jodhpur and by the way he’s been recently I know he’s going to drop some big bombshell of confessions on me… He’s the kind that will feed the goat with all the nicest things before taking it to the slaughter house… and then in one clean swoop… … …

And thats it, once I’m back the meter is on on the days I spend in Bombay, the meeting of people/shopping/bucket lists of things to do and eat in civilization etc.

In the middle of this is graduation ceremony… for which I’m meant to give a speech and I haven’t so much as started thinking about the speech. Once I’m back on the 27th I have about 13 days for preparing the speech and giving it in front of a really really small audience, and if rumors are to be believed then in front of Lord Meghnand Desai (who i’ve heard from GM is really boring… ) Here I’ve introduced GM who also deserves another post to be introduced.

I also managed to read 2 books in the past 10 days over my trip to bangalore-ooty-kodai. Babyji by Abha Dawesar which I thought would be an interesting read but ended up in a slightly abrupt and almost disappointing erotica piece and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik, a brilliant book without doubt! Thats what I love about Chuck Palahnuik… he’s psyched and he translates his psyched understanding of the world and how we work in our heads and blows it completely out of proportions and writes it in this book which has the most unique style of writing…

On the shelf now is Milan Kundera (because its amazing how many times I’ve come across Unbearable Lightness of Being in the past few days… partly because of L [who I will call L and not P2 because she pmsed on me when I told her about it]). But No, I’m reading identity by Kundera and not ULB since ULB is just too hyped in my mind right now. I also bought me a Vonnegut called Timequake. Sounds interesting. And also the recent Palahnuik called Pgymy.

I hope to keep up the reading pace and all… Looking forward to be on my way now;

Packing is imperative before a journey.

And with those words of wisdom, I part with thee…

Fly Away From Here

So bombay blues end friday when I fly away to bangalore for my cousin’s house warming party bundled up with rakhi celebrations with my mom’s side of the family (yes! more money!!). After that my friend L who I will refer to on this blog as P2 (perpetual procascinator…because she is one) are heading to the beaches of gokarna and goa. I haven’t planned the smallest thing about this trip… so it’ll be interesting to watch how it turns out. The basic idea is nice alcohol, beaches and if weather permits, then summery dresses!

I dont know when that trip ends… but I’m booked on a train to delhi on the 21st and i’m back on the 27th after this my 5 days belong to C who’s back from firangland for the last time before I leave for internship!

Since I’m not a sucker for plans, thats all I’ll plan for the time being…

More updates from the beaches soon…

And today I mentioned 2 important people in my life… I’ll dedicate posts to elabourate more on that soon too.

Random Rant #1

I hate Bombay. Well, not really … but I’m bored so I can say these things. And I have reasons also, as to why I hate Bombay

1) There are too many people to meet; often people insist on meeting you even when you would really just stay under your blanket

2)There is the option to meet people at all times, as opposed to when in delhi or any other place where you don’t know people so the temptation to make a “plan” is really quite minimal.

3)An Idle man is a devils workshop. My mind, has been more like the devil’s factory… his entire friggin’ production unit to his assembly line to his marketing, HR and sundry admin departments reside within my proportionately big head.

4) The laptop is where the outsourced work of the Devil gets done. The laptop has an evil subsidary called the internet. Continuous access to these without much else to do is wrong because its addictive (for so many reasons, most of which I will never confess to real world) (no, I am not surfing porn)

5)Having too many forms of entertainment accessable make it difficult to enjoy any 1 throughly… the choice between – meeting friends in person, meeting friends online, talking to friends on the phone without being charged roaming are all to tempting for one to say: “okay thats it computer/phone etc, I’m going to shut you down and read a book”. Even if I come so close as to shutting them down, theres always the bloody TV.

6)I like waking up to silent mornings. And I would be perfectly happy calling 8 am Morning if 8 am in the household was a peaceful affair. However its not. You see the grandmother calls 6 am morning, so by the time its 8 am, she’s already had 2 hours of her waking day over and thinks its time to get some live entertainment so she will start talking (in loud voices) or arguing with the household help, the cook, the maali, the guy who washes the car, the dhobi walla et al. all of who incidently start coming into the house around this hour.  Around this time is also when the parents wake up, so while my father is most happy having his tea and reading the newspaper, mother is dragged into the banter of the assortment of kitchen and household activities all of which, not to stress on this too much, but is REALLY REALLY REALLY LOUD. Once father is done with his tea etc, then there is a banter involving him planning his day and moms day and the nieghbour’s dogs day (the nieghbour doesn’t really have a dog… and in all technicality, I don’t even have a neighbour…). All this finally comes to an end at 11 am… 11:30 if i’m lucky. And once I’m convinced that its over…is when I care to get out of bed, get into the empty kitchen and make me some hot chocolate. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just do this at a much earlier hour?

Okay thats about all I can rant about the house for a while. Maybe I’ll sleep a little bit more and be happy…

PS: I got the internship. It starts End September, So I have to find something to do for 2 months or Perish of Boredom!!! Suggestions?

Kashmir Diaries: The Synopsis!

I am back in Delhi now and post day 2, the trip got so hectic and so action packed and so lazy all at the same time, that I absolutely didn’t end up writing on a day to day basis. Now that I am back, I could still write a day by day account because I remember it, but I doubt enough people will actually read it. So here is the synopsis of my trip.

Place and Things:

1) There are rare places in kashmir where you will not see mountains. These mountains are lush green, snowy white or industrial grey depending on the type of rock, climate etc. Each of the 3 type are more beautiful than the other, leaving you completely confused, but happily so…

2) When there aren’t mountains, there are meadows, like the ones we saw in Gulmarg (which literally translates into Gul: Flowers, Marg: Meadow). Gulmarg is filled with an assortment of a variety of wild flowers that grow all over the place on the meadows. The only place where you will not see these flowers is where the horses have eaten them

3) The abundance in glaciers leads to the next prominent feature of Kashmirs geography and hence its picturesque locations; the Rivers. I wrote about the Lidder but what we experienced with the Sindhu, puts many a sea to shame. Its force so strong in some places that if you accidently ventured into it, one would not be sure where they would find parts of your body, well after your soul left it… But one things for sure, they would not all be together. We rafted 3 kms on this river, where it was not as vengeful.

4) When talking of water bodies, one can’t forget the Dal Lake… a 16 Square Km Lake consumed by the lake city of houseboats and floating markets… On the periphery are of course other houses and a more civilized and far less appealing version of Srinagar, (despite the fact that it is home to my heartthrob, Mr Abdullah Jr.)

Mota Mota, that is what we saw in Kashmir,only to realize that we need multiple more trips before we can gather a more fair idea about the expanse of its natural beauty and such things that makes you feel joy from parts of your brain and heart that your urban self doesn’t even know exist…

Find Pictures here

I will take a while to do this… but I also do want to write about the interesting conversations that I had with the Kashmiris…

Coming soon….