It's Dussera festival weekend here in India, celebrating Durga's triumph over the demon Mahishasura. The festival lasts for 10 days and is one of the most auspicious occassions of the Hindu calendar. Most businesses close for a day or so holiday, I have 6 full days without work! This is great for me as I'm feeling pretty tired after the stress of arrival in India, learning new things, travel across to Orissa (twice), trying to make a home and get to grips with a new job.
Yesterday I had a really exciting day, walking twice into town to get some food and bits and pieces for my house. I did my shopping in the wrong order, really not thinking things through properly beforehand. I had invited A and M round for supper and decided to make something using chicken. This was the first time I'd ventured into carniverous cuisine here and I hadn't experienced the chicken store before. Let's just say I can be sure that my chicken was extremely fresh. I decided that I needed to get the chicken home ASAP and into the fridge as it was a pretty warm day, the rest of the shopping would have to wait. And the meat needed to be cooled down!
I walked back into town for a second time in the afternoon to look for a couple of tin trunks to store my clothes, towels and my one spare sheet in. Up till now my belongings have been stuffed into cases or vacuum bags strewn around the place. It's really nice to be able to get them put away properly and easy to find again. The trunks were too big and heavy to carry home so after trying to explain to the storeholder that I would leave them at his store while I found an auto to take me home (he spoke no English and my Oriya will not stretch that far) I got an auto just around the corner and told the driver what I wanted by gesticulating wildly. We stuffed the trunks onto the seat next to me and rattled our way over the bumps and potholes up the slope towards home with me pointing and grunting to try to explain the route. I know where my house is and how to get there but don't yet know the address which adds to the challenge. I'm a bit like a dog that knows how to get home but can't tell you the address. He got me home safely and only charged me 20 rupees and a handshake for the privelage. My house is starting to look slightly more presentable and I might even have more chance of finding things.
There is a string of email banter going on among the VSO volunteers here in India at the moment. It was triggered by a 'basket of goods' survey we were asked to complete to gather info on the cost of living, presumably to check that the VSO allowance is adequate. One of the items was cheese, something that's very difficult to find in rural India and not easy in cities. The 'best store in Koraput' sometimes has processed cheese, a little like Dairylea spread. Not quite the local farmhouse cheeses that I treat myself to back at home but it is a welcome change to be able to put something savoury onto my bread. This survey sent us vols into a series of mails all of us craving cheese and threatening to break into the houses of volunteers who admitted that they had managed to procure cheese. It's strange what having to live without a favourite food can do to us. I threatened M with a lynching when he was served in front of me in our local best store and he proceeded to buy up Amar's whole stock of cheese, all 4-5 packets. I thought that was just not fair but he relented and very kindly brought one of the packs round to my house the next day along with a couple of cans of Fosters so order is restored in this part of Koraput. A and M came round to share my chicken concoction for supper. I was beginning to crave something other than curry and managed to conjures something up with chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and peas along with some basil and thyme I'd brought from home. It seemed to go down OK and all the food was eaten without ill effect. But no cheese-board, sadly.
The builders are still hard at work on my house. I arrived home from work on Thursday to find scaffolding in the house. They use bamboo poles for scaffolding here and there are half a dozen poles shoved through the grilles on the window, balanced on the frame with a bit of thin wire wrapped round to hold them in place.
This one's right outside my bedroom door and I was worried I'd walk straight into the splintery bamboo which is at eye-level so it's now tastefully decorated with my one cushion of the house
At the moment they are busy finishing off the base of the parapet wall that's appeared round the roof. And of course there are bits of mortar, wet and dry flying into the house. Reminds me of when we had builders into our home in the UK a couple of years ago. There's lots of shouting and hammering going on out there, echoing wildly around the house which has no soft furnishings to absorb noise. Time to go out and see what festival celebrations are building up in town for this evening I think.
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Wow, 6 days of rest! Great news! I am sure you will be very busy and will probably need another festival break to recup! I hope you are putting these festivals in the calender for next year so we can prepare for these precious non-working days!
ReplyDeleteHow far is it from your house into town? I don't have a good feel for how big Koraput is, or Rayagada for that matter. As for the tin trunks, these sound a really good idea. I could have seen you walking with one on your head, but maybe not two! Now that would have made a good picture.
As for the food items, first the cheese, what about paneer? Can you get eggs? And now you have a successful butchery expedition under your belt as well. I remember my ex telling me about buying meat in Mongolia - no two lamb chops please, but a whole carcess of whatever animal is what is purchased, for storage on the appartment balcony, no fridges when he was there, only the winter cold to freeze things in.
Warning - the next part is not for the animal sensitive readers!
I am sort of assuming you didn't have to do the dreaded deed on the chicken yourself. Only recently I was chatting with a friend about whether we could do this or not. I've skinned rabbit, hare before, but never, plucked a chicken clean. I did get disoriented once in the market in Marrakush and turned into an alley that was absolutely full of feathers - it was the fowl corner where all the birds were being killed and plucked. The air was full of feathers. I did get out quick! My friend decided she would just not eat meat if that was the only option, whilst I came to the conclusion that I could if I really needed to and that after doing it once I probably wouldn't be too concerned about doing it again. I think that a chicken is doable, but something bigger I'd have more difficultly with coming to terms with doing it, not least because I'd not be sure I was doing it properly. But I think the first time would be quite an emotional episode even with a chicken and as they say 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'! But I am glad to hear the fridge is working well and earning it place in your kitchen for the beer as well as for the chicken.
Yes, I've been thinking I need to learn to carry things on my head like the local women do (never men though). Must be very good for the posture. Tin trunks seem to be a common storage item here, wooden furniture is unusual. I'm longing for a decent, non-plastic chair but don't think I'll find one.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have to dispatch the chicken though I have done that in the past. If I can pay someone else to do it that's fine by me.
Paneer and yogurt (locally known as dahi or curd) are easy to get here if you know the right shops. Eggs are plentiful and cheap - 3 rupees each here, they're a big part of the local diet. However, you have to carry a plastic bag of eggs home, not an egg box in sight so breakages are common.
The walk into town from my house is around a mile down a slight hill and around 1.5 miles down a steeper hill from my office (which is probably about a mile from my home)
A good enough walk to keep fit and active on then. how about good cushions to sit on the floor? I wonder if you can get collapsible egg boxes?
ReplyDeleteI've just made my cheese and pickle sandwiches for my Dovedale walk tomorrow. One with Yarg, one Double Worcester on nice fresh granary bread together with an apple picked fresh from the tree yesterday.
ReplyDeleteOh Jon you tease!
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