Flat Tires

Before you read this blog, I’d like you to know that I have written two blogs today. So, please also see “Helping Friends”, which is just as important, if not more important, than this entry!

Sashi, my translator, and I were halfway to the village of Kottikari yesterday when she told me that she was feeling “lazy”. When she said this, I made a spur of the moment executive decision to not continue to the village. I stopped the bike and said “Sashi, are you spontaneous?” She responded with, “I haven’t been lately”. I took that as a no. I then told her that I needed to go back to my hostel to get my money because we were going on a road trip.

So, we traveled to Mammalapuram, the stone-carving capital of India, where stone carving shops are more common than Starbucks in NYC (for those of you who don’t know, there is pretty much a Starbucks on every corner in NYC). To get to Mammalapuram we traveled two hours north on the East Coast Road (ECR), passing through villages, heavy forest, rice paddies, and a salt production site on the bay. It was a great drive/bike with views of the ocean for about 80% of the time. In Mammalapuram we had lunch and then Sashi showed me around the town. We visited the Shore Temple, the earliest built stone temple in South India (built in the eighth century), the Lighthouse and Old Lighthouse Temple, and Arjuna’s Penance, a 5-story rock sculpture depicting gods and various types of animals. At Arjuna’s Penance, there were also a few families of wild monkeys that I watched attack people’s food that they were carrying in bags or holding in their hands. Luckily I had already eaten.

On the way home, Sashi and I were making great time…..until we stopped to get petrol. As we pulled into the petrol stand we popped the rear tire of the bike. Sashi asked the attendants where the closest mechanic was and then informed me that we would need to walk about 1.5 kilometers into a village to get the bike fixed. So, we went on our way. While walking down the road to the village a man stopped to see if we were okay. Sashi told him our problem, told me to get on the bike with the man, and told me that she was staying with the bike to make sure nobody stole the bike or the petrol we had just put into it (people here have the tendency of siphoning petrol from bikes here!) The nice gentleman took me to the village bike mechanic, muttered something to him in Tamil, and then motioned for me to get off the bike. For the next hour I drank chai with some village men, drew pictures on the ground to express myself (because nobody spoke English), smoked a beedie with the men, and waited while the tire was fixed. Finally the tire was ready. I said by goodbyes with my new friends and was promptly taxied back to Sashi. We got back on the bike and safely arrived home just after sunset………

Tomorrow I am going to Ahmedabad via Air Deccan to visit Suresh, a friend of our family (our family being Ellyn and I). I am staying with him through the weekend so I should come back with some good stories……I hope. Other important dates/events to look forward to are my trip to Bangalore next weekend via overnight bus to see two friends I made here and also the arrival of Dave Stewart, aka “The Loffer”, aka “Stew Maloff”, a friend from college who lives in Cologne, aka Koln, Germany with his German girlfriend. He will be arriving July 15^th and we will be backpacking South India for two weeks. Go us.

Here is some sweets for your ocular enjoyment…………

Rice Paddies

Shore Temple

Quails for Sale on Side of Road

Men on Beach (Shore Temple in Background)

People at the Beach

A series of Jackfruit

Helping Friends

These are my friends Suresh and Gopi (and me!) who do stone carving for a living. Following are some of their stone carvings. In an effort to help them succeed, I told them that I would e-mail friends and family pictures of their work to see if anyone was interested in buying.......

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are small sizes......about 1-3 inches in length.

Numbers 7 and 9 are medium size......about 6-1o inches in length.

The rest of the sculptures are large in size...... a foot or greater.

The sculpture of Ganesh (Elephant) in #8 is the most expensive by far at $60 because it took 2 months for Suresh to make it! The small ones are anywhere from $2-10!

The workmanship is great. The artwork is great. And it is more than reasonably priced!

If you are interested in helping out Suresh and Gopi, e-mail me which pieces you are interested in at jonathan_d_black@yahoo.com and i'll let you know the price. Thanks!

PS- PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO YOU THINK MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN BUYING! MAYBE I COULD TURN THIS INTO AN EXPORT BUSINESS FOR THESE GUYS!

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Cows Rule

In today’s “blog” I’d like to describe, comment, discuss, and show.

Driving Hierarchy: Whether it is driving down the highway or on a rural road, there is a road-hierarchy that exists in India. The bicycles give way to the mopeds which give way to the motorbikes which may or may not give way to the auto-rickshaws which give way to the cars which give way to the buses which may or may not give way to the trucks. People fall somewhere in between all these but not above what I am about to discuss..... At the top of this hierarchy though, is the cows. It doesn’t matter what type of vehicle you are driving; if a cow is in your way, you stop…for cows are holy here. If a cow decides to lay down in the middle of the road, then the traffic will stop. The weird thing about this is that all cows seem to know that they are the “Kings of the Road”. They waltz across the road at whichever pace they choose, they don’t hesitate to move into oncoming traffic moving at 60mph, and they have no qualms about going onto major highways. They do what they want, how they want, and when they want. It is a truly bizarre phenomenon. In short, people would rather get into an accident with another vehicle or hit a pedestrian than hit a cow.

Bus Enthusiasm: The bottom line is that the people riding buses here are really psyched. In America people get on the bus, take their seat, speak to nobody, arrive at their stop, and get off. In India, the experience is completely different. Buses (which were probably made in the 1970’s) are always filled beyond capacity and they lean to whichever side of the bus has more weight. When I say the buses lean, I mean that it is clearly visible that the bus is leaning to one side and it appears as though it may keel over at any moment. On the inside of the bus there are neon lights which constantly are going on and off, creating a nice dance club atmosphere and there are “god action figures”(I am referring to different gods from Hinduism) which often light up and which dangle from the rear-view mirror. Lastly, the people on the bus all sing and dance to Indian music which blares from the speakers. The music is VERY loud, loud to the point that you can barely hear the person next to if they are speaking to you! Like everything else in India, riding on buses here is crazy. People also talk to strangers on the bus. That would never happen in America.

Boiling Water: I have learned something very interesting about the villager’s perspective on boiling water. Many of the villagers boil water only after it rains. Why? They think that they are more likely to catch a cold after it rains because the rain causes a drop in the water temperature of the municipality water that they receive and this “cold water” is what causes a cold. So, they boil the water and then let it cool again before drinking it in an effort to “raise the temperature of the water” and avoid getting a cold! This idea is fascinating……

Early Risers: I was told that in this part of India (it may be true in the whole country but I can’t verify that) that people try to go to bed by sunset and be up before sunrise. After riding my bike in early morning and at night, I can say that this is true for the majority of people. Drive through a city or village at 8pm and you will see bodies tucked away in the shadows, on porches, on make-shift beds on the side of the road, and on the ground. These people don’t appear to fear snakes, scorpions, or anything else that could harm them….they just want to sleep. In the morning, as early as 4 am, you can see people going to the fields/ocean to start the days work. At 7am, when I have been on the roads, I have seen the people coming from the fields with their findings/pickings on their heads. Whether it is fruit or fish in a basket, sticks, bamboo, or cardboard boxes, these people are up by sunrise doing their thang and getting their work on.

OK, enough of my rambling…..here are some photos…..

Driving

Night Market

Jasmine Flowers in Hair

Place where I ate dirty snacks

Outdoor Kitchen in Village

PS- The smell of Jasmine flowers is delicious! I can't put into words how much I love this smell. Ellyn, can you see if Wegman's has these? That would be great......

Calvin Klein With Wierd Cartoons

First off, I apologize for being unable to post any eye candy as I haven't uploaded photos onto my computer in the past few days.

Research/Surveying is again underway as I began working in Kottikari today. I was forced to eat dried legumes of some sort by a villager and my translator (I didn't want to eat them because they were laying on the dirt floor), I ate some sweets (which India is famous for and which refers to all types of candies/desserts/snacks that are sweet) which were stored in a container that had ants in it, and I drank a Pepsi which tasted nothing like the Pepsi I am used to.....it actually tasted like Red Bull, although that could have been a mixture of the sweets aftertaste and Pepsi combined. Anyways, the sweets I ate were little pink balls that were a little bigger than marbles and which oozed sugary liquid when bitten into. The consistency of the balls was cake-like, but more dense because of the liquid.

Yesterday I went to Pondi at 9pm after my tri-weekly soccer game to visit the Sunday night market. It was about 20 blocks by 5 blocks in size and you could find anything from sari's to fabrics to "Calvin Klein" (parenthesis b/c they were fake) bags with cartoons on them to silver diningware. I came out of the market with a drum for my international instrument collection which I bought for $5, and three pairs of linen pants which I bought for a whopping $9! I was very happy at the end of the night, especially b/c I talked the drum seller down from 600 Rupees to 20 Rupees.

On the way home from the market, myself and Pehru (a friend from Kullipalayam who works/lives in Auroville) stopped off at a BharatNatyam (a type of South Indian classical dance) festival that was going on.

OK, off to work on my second stone carving.

Peace Out.

Begginig for Supermarkets

First, there are two topics i'd like to address.....

1. Begging

• I believe that there are two main types of begging....

• 1. Passive Begging- The type where someone sits or stands while holding a sign and/or an empty cup with a few coins in it, occasionally shaking the coins at you. This is the type of begging you see in Grand Central Station or at the on/off ramp to the highway.
  
• 2. Active Begging- The type where the person doing the begging follows you, tugs at you and your belongings, and quazi-heckles you. This is the type of begging that happens in India.

2. Driving School

• In American driving schools they teach you how to drive safely.
• In Indian driving schools (I saw a student driver today) they teach you how to drive like a maniac. True Story.

3. Supermarkets

• Like inner-city Rochester, there are no supermarkets here. The difference here is that there is produce and livestock at the bodega-like stores. Thus, the people here don't get obese from eating crap/junk food because they buy, eat, and prepare healthy food.
  

The administration of surveys is finished in the village of Kullapalayam. It was an interesting week where I learned that people don't boil water because it makes it taste bad, that people shit outside on the streets and in their yards because the public toilets are too dirty, and that some people believe that all water, regardless of where it comes from, is good water. It is great information to help with my study and I look forward to starting the administration of surveys in another village next week.

Last night I slept outside on the roof of the hostel because it was way too hot in my room....even with the fan on! I saw a few shooting stars, woke up 12 times due to loud noises (more to come on that in a few sentences), and saw the sun rise. So, there may or may not have been a wild animal fiesta all around me last night. Between the crickets, tree frogs, cows, peacocks, monkeys, and other birds, there was enough going on to please the most avid outdoorsmen. I will sleep outside again tonight if it is too hot in my room. Case closed.

Today, I went tp Pondi where i walked around the fish market, bought a Lungy (indian men's wear), some fishermen's pants, some more CD's, and two small wall hangings, all for the price of $10. I bargained pretty well, I'm not gonna lie. Follwing this, I went to the stone carving shop to polish my carving (Dad, the picture follows.....) and then went home to the hostel where I had a cocktail on the roof, had henna put on my hand by the girlfriend of a hostel-mate, and made plans to go visit Anil (a guy from Bangalore who is staying at the hostel) at the beginning of July.

Finally, I sprained my thumb yesterday playing soccer. That is the anti-cool. I expect that it will be healed enough by tomorrow afternoon's game so that I can score tons of goals. Side note: In the process of spraining the thumb, I scored a goal.

Now for some eye candy.......

Child and Mother in Village

My Stone Carving

Henna on my Hand

Village Street

Stairs of House

Tailor in Market

Village Boy

Village Man

Two Quickies

I must go out to the Kullapalayam to do my research in a few minutes but I wanted to give a quick update as to yesterday's happpenings.

1: I was watching the US lose against Ghana last night when Raj, the man who owns the internet shop where I write this blog from, showed up to tell myself and a few others that he is getting married on July 2nd. He then proceeds to hand out invitations to us. Guess who is going to a wedding July 2nd? This guy. We need to travel about an hour by bike to the temple where the wedding is being held and we must leave at 5am because the wedding starts at 6am! Get psyched, because I am.

2: Yesterday I went to finish my stone carving. Instead of finishing it, I ended up giving an English lesson for about an hour. It turns out that I am going to need to exchange English lessons for the unlimited use of stones and stone carving tools.

OK, off to sweat.

Thunder Storm Awakedness

Phew! I’m alive. It’s ok mom and dad…….. I haven’t written for good reason…I’ve been in Indian jail.

Anyways, it’s been awfully rainy here during the past few nights. So rainy in fact, that the electricity has been on and off and back on and then off again but, then on again and then off again. What I am trying to say here is that it’s been a little difficult to get much done lately.

As a side note…..for those who know me, they know that I have inherited from my father, the great skill of being able to fall asleep anytime and anywhere. In addition to that, I can sleep through anything; rain, a marching band playing, being shaken (ask Ellyn for details)…… well, two nights ago, I couldn’t sleep between 2 and 3:30 in the morning because of a thunderstorm that was going on. I was a serious storm. Following that, I couldn’t sleep because tons of mosquitoes, probably malaria infested ones, entered my room immediately following the storm. Yeah. So, that’s what’s been going on with my sleeping patterns.

My first day doing research in the village of Kullapalayam went great, although at the end of the day we realized that some of the questions on the survey didn’t work so well. Needless to say, we changed the survey a bit. As I learned in my qualitative research class that I took in the spring, part of doing research is hanging out. So, on Monday, I hung out in the village a bit. I smoked beedies (tobacco and other stuff wrapped in tobacco leaves) with old men, drank tea with women, and drank fresh lime juice with some teenaged kids. It was all unsanitary but very enjoyable. In addition to that, I took some photos and a little bit of video. Since Monday I haven’t done any more research because I had to go into Pondi to get 150 copies of the survey made, which took a full day, and I had to learn to carve stone…more to come about that.

Here are some photos from the village……..

Tuesday I altered the survey, had a samosa and chai for lunch, and returned to the stone carving workshop where I had visited last week. Last week, Suresh, the guy in charge of teaching and overseeing the stone carving invited me to come back and hang out, so of course I did. I perused the different carvings that they had made there, deciphered in my head how they had carved the stone, and then took a stone and some tools and went at it…..attempting to carve a face into stone. My carving wasn’t half bad and the kids at the shop were quite impressed. The down side of the afternoon: I managed to slice my finger with one of the carving tools. What a rookie mistake. I will probably go into finish the carving on Saturday.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I went with Sashi (the woman who is helping me with my research) to Pondi to make the 150 copies of the survey. When we got to Pondi at 11am, we learned that the Xerox shop had no electricity and wouldn’t be able to complete our project until 3pm. So, Sashi and I walked around a bit, had a big south Indian lunch (which I ate too much of and ended up vomiting up some, actually vurping (vomit-burping)). We then go Chai from a street vendor and I bought an instrumental CD for 20 Rupees, or 45 cents. Go me! I tried to buy some other Indian musik but the dude in the stall kept trying to sell me English musik……he didn’t understand that I was trying to immerse myself in India. Lastly, before going to pick up the photocopies we wen to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It is where Sri Aurobindo and “The Mother” are buried. It is an important place for many south Indians and Hindus and is a place where meditation is done and respects paid. I meditated for about 10 minutes, listened to the birds chirp, and watched the devotees come and go…..it was very relaxing.

OK off to Kullapalayam to do more research………..

PS- Neil, you are partially incorrect. While there is plenty of cow dung in the streets in the villages and in Pondi, and in other cities for that matter, there is also plenty of human dung. I know this because I seen it. I also know this because I am interviewing people about their toilet practices and they told me that they shit in the streets because the public toilets are too dirty and smelly. Interesting rationale……..

Black Death

Sorry not to have written in the past few days....I've been busy again. Most recently I have been trying to figure out how to go about getting a new ATM card since I have misplaced the only one I brought. Yeah....
It looks like Ellyn is going to have to somehow get me a new one and send it to me here in India. Right now, I have about $30, so that should last me about a week and a half. Ellyn, the clock is ticking. .....tick......tock....tick.....tock.

On Saturday night I was invited by an Indian friend to go to a concert in Pondicherry. I enthusiastically said yes and proceeded to get really psyched to listen to some Indian music. At 7pm, we biked into Pondi and arrived at the concert just as it was starting. The first band was a group of guys from Bangalore and they covered songs from Guns and Roses, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and other American rock and heavy metal groups. It was......interesting. Following this, we decided to take a quick break to grab a few cocktails. Upon returning to the concert we were happy to see a new group on stage. This group, "Black Death", was a group of dudes from Madras. They played all original songs (rock) and at the end of the night I found myself moshing/headbanging with a bunch of Indian guys. It was the shizzznit. I did some of my token moves on the grass in front of the stage, one of which involved me giving simultaneous high fives to two different guys at one time. Note: the concert was 95% male (98% of which had moustaches) and 5% female. Following is a picture of Pondicherry at night and a picture of "Black Death" on stage.

Oh yeah, at the end of the night when I returned home, we had an encounter with a scorpion, which we decided to sentence to death in honor of "Black Death".




On Sunday I went to the beach villa of some Italians that I had met. They were having a Pizza Party fundraiser to raise money for the Auroville Radio Station. The house/villa was ridonk. It was a thatch/concrete mix with an unbelievable lettuce (various types) and basil garden. They made homemade pizzas in their stone oven and also cooked up some fish and chicken. It was pretty amazing food. Although we were at the beach we didn't actually go onto the beach because 1) the sand was too hot, and 2) apparently the local villagers shit all over this part of the beach so it's not really that conducive to "beaching it".

Following is a picture of village women walking up the road with bundles of sticks on their heads and a picture of a pond that I saw.

Lastly, frogs and lizards live with me. Although I don't always see them, I see their feces so I know that they are there. On the first night I was here, there was one tree frog hanging out in the bathroom the entire time I was having diarrhea (every hour). That night must have been great for him/her.

I start my research in the villages this afternoon.

PS- In the state I am in, Tamil Nadu, the people speak Tamil instead of Hindi, so they say "Vanakum" instead of "Namaste".

PPS- I often pick up Indian hitchhikers when I am riding my bike. Sometimes I even stop and offer people rides even if they are not hitchhiking. Everyone is grateful.

Saturday in the Sun

Sorry to those who enjoy my photos....I have none to show for today. The only news update I really have to give today is that after being told that it may take a few weeks to start my research, I recently (today) learned that I will be starting it on Monday! So, I'll be off to one of the villages on Monday to start interviewing the villagers. I am really looking forward to this and I expect it to be thoroughly enriching. On my team are myself, the woman who told me that boiling water kills it, and a local village student. It should be interesting. Today I plan on going to the beach, watching the US lose again in soccer, and relaxing. A trip to Pondicherry may or may not be in order.... it's hard to say at this point.

Have an exciting weekend.

Acid Rain?

Mission Accomplished. I have a working phone, I went to the beach, and overall I had a good day. I would like to point out the backwardness of this country though. I bought a new phone from a woman who told me the previous day that she didn't know enough about the phone to sell it to me. Discuss amongst yourselves. During the day yesterday I also visited a jewelry shop where local village women are taught to make jewelry by Aurovillians and a stone carving shop where young village men are taught the art of stone carving. Both are projects that were developed by Auroville and implemented in the surrounding villages.

On a tangent......India has a very effective recycling/trash removal campaign that to me, is surprisingly unorthodox. Around villages, towns, and cities you can see men who ride bikes around and appear to shout randomly into the sky. In reality though, what they are doing is shouting for things like bottles, bags, paper, cardboard, etc. Once the men find or collect enough material (they collect only a specific thing and are paid by the kilogram) they take it to a collecting area and are paid for their "findings". These are not governemnt jobs, although the program is funded by the government. For example, if I could speak Tamil, I could ride a bike around yelling "Cardboard', collect it, and take it to the collection center to collect my earnings. It's an effective way to clean-up the villages/cities and it decreases unemployment......If only the government of NYC would pay the bums to collect trash......

Lastly, I went swimming in the Bay of Bengal yesterday. It was warmer than bathwater. I plan on going every day or every other day from now until I leave..... There was some floating trash in the water though, which I am a little unaccustomed to. I was told that the amount of trash is directly correlated to the direction of the current. Hopefully today the current is flowing north to south......

Jing, one of the hostel-mates.

A very weird rainbow-like halo surrounding clouds......the rays of the sun coming through the clouds (upper right of image) were black....any thoughts on what this could be? I thought it could be acid rain clouds......

A village road that I drive down everyday.

Ducking your head in the rain.

First off, if I don't post a "blog" then don't be concerned about me. I am a busy man with lots of action going on, all of the time.

Second off, I have a really sweet sunburn line on my right arm.

When it rains here, all of the power goes out pretty much immediately, and from what I have been told, it stays off anywhere from 1 second to 1 day. The power went out yesterday afternoon at 6:15pm right as the thunderstorm started and it didn't go back on until 2am. I know this because I woke up when the fan in my room went on! As a side note, I was in an open field playing in my tri-weekly international soccer game when lighting and thunder struck simultaneously. It was a rush. I then seekdid shelter. This is why I did not post yesterday, not because I was injured in a moped accident or died from some disease or got lost in the jungle or whatever people think might have happened. Don't worry people.

Now I introduce my first image......it is of a man who I saw on the side of the road. The image quality on this computer doesn't seem to be so good. Sorry.

Yesterday I took my moped into Pondicherry to look for a translator at the "French Institute", which was reccomended to me by someone I met here. After being unsuccessful there, I decided to ride by bike around the city a little bit. It is a typical Indian city with the exception that it has a French accent, as it was colonized by the French and not the British. There are vegetable and fish markets on the side streets, main shopping stores (electronics, clothing, tourist, silk, sari, etc.) on the main roads, and the smell of feces or something that resembles it every 10th block. The road that I had to ride into Pondicherry was a two lane highway with tons of motorbikes, cows, ox-drawn wagons, and people. There were no traffic lights. It was fun and also energizing. Luckily and skillfully, I made it to and from Pondicherry in one piece.

My next photograph was taken when I stopped on the side of the road on the way home from Pondicherry.......


After returning from Pondicherry, I attended the meeting that I had schduled the previous day. It actually turned out to be great! I was introduced to some "Social Service Workers" who were about to start some research about sanitation and the toilet-use practices in some local villages. When I told them my interests, they thought it would be a great idea to tie my research into theirs. So, it looks like my research project is up and running.....well, crawling at least. Now, I am going to need to combine their survey with mine so that we can both get the data we are looking for by administering one survey. My next meeting for this is tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. That means I have today (Thursday) free. Since I still have no phone, that is my main objective. Besides that, I'd like to go to the beach as well as a second round of exploration in Pondicherry! We'll see where the day takes me!

I hope everyone is well!

PS- It appears to be human instinct to duck your head when running through the rain. Indians do this just like Americans do. Note, you will not keep from getting wet if you duck your head in the rain. For those who do it, stop. It just makes you look silly.

Upside Down

So, before I post any pictures, I'd like to let you know that it is 12:30pm and my day is pretty much already done.......

I met this morning with some people I might be working with for my research. After having a good discussion with one man and arranging a follow-up meeting for tomorrow at 2:30pm, I sat down with another woman for about 1 hour to discuss my plans. From her I learned some amazing things. She informed me that boiling water is bad because although it kills bacteria, it damages the hydrogen bonding and breaks up the trimeric, quatrimeric, and pentameric water coagulates and causes them to recoagulate into huge water clusters that the body cannot use to deliver nutrients and vitamins to people. She also disagreed with me that boiling water is better than not boiling it at all. I also learned that Giardia is in everyone and when someone ingests more Giardia, it is the "initial shock" that causes people to suffer from it. She said some people can withstand the shock and others cannot withstand the shock, those which can't, get sick. Needless to say, I am suffering from "initial shock" now! I am going to go to the meeting tomorrow and see what happens.

Finally, I went back to "Reliance" to get my phone figured out. The woman working there agreed with me that my phone would not activate and she informed me that I would need to go to Reliance Headquarters in Pondicherry in order to get it fixed. But, it is now lunch time so I have to wait until at least 4:30pm. I am debating whether or not I should just buy a new phone from her for 1400 Rupees, or $30. I'll think about it over lunch.

Now for two more recent photos.....

View from my ride w/ holy cows blocking the road.

Woman and Daughter