A Different Kind of J.O.B.

This group of musicians comes through our colony about once a week playing the dholak(drum), tambourine, and hand cymbals, while singing songs. They go throughout the city playing music to earn money. Sometimes people will come outside of their homes to give them small amounts of money.

The tradition of these types of music groups roaming the streets and playing for money is actually quite interesting. In Indian history, and still today, people with leprosy were banned from acquiring normal jobs or living in normal quarters. Leper colonies were even created (at least 1,000 in India) for those that were plagued with leprosy. Without many opportunities for jobs from employers, brilliance of mind and musical creativity opened this opportunity for ailing lepers to earn a living in society.

These days the traditions still continues and some people, like the ones you see in this video, are still able to earn money and provide for themselves while living with a crippling disease.

Indian Independence Day

August 15th marked the 65th anniversary of Indian Independence.

India might have many fun and exciting festivals and celebrations, but I'm sad to say that Independence Day in India is not much compared to U.S Independence Day. :-P I'm used to outdoor picnics, barbeques, live bands, family and friends, and lots  butt-loads of fireworks. To India's defense, it is monsoon season, and rain not only covered, but flooded Independence Day without even a minute of dry relief. So besides the deluge of rain, the day was rather uneventful.

Gaining Independence from the British in 1947, it is a rather young country. Nonetheless, Happy Birthday to India, a country full of deep and colorful culture and traditions not found anywhere else in this world.

Raksha Bandhan; A Brother-Sister Affair

On Saturday, August 13th, we celebrated the annual bro-sis festival of Raksha Bandhan. With Raksha and Bandhan meaning protect and promise, the brother makes a promise of protection to his sister. The sister ties a band (rakhi) around the brother's wrist, reminding him of the promise he made to her.

I really enjoy the idea of a promise made between brother and sister like this, and it makes me wonder why, in the U.S., we don't celebrate that unique bond that a brother and sister hold. Even when family members live far apart, they make it a point to come together for this festival. Many times rakhi is also exchanged between close cousins, considering each other as brother and sister.

For Raksha Bandhan we had family come and stay with us, which is always nice. And of course, like any festival, excellent food was had. :)

 Abhi and Shivangi

Shivangi tying rakhi on Abhinav's wrist 

Shivangi tying rakhi on my wrist. Husband and wife are considered as one, so when a sister ties rakhi on her brother's wrist, she also ties it on her brother's wife.

My Mother-In-Law tying rakhi on her brother's wrist. 

Mother-In-Law tying rakhi on brother's wife's wrist.

Happy Raksha Bandhan.

Chyawanprash: In Sickness and in Health

The practice of using natural medicines and (ayurvedic medicines) originated in India, bringing remedies for illnesses from the major to the minor. With the main concern being finding a cure for sickness using all natural ingredients, ayurveda provides natural medicines for things like upset stomachs or bad gas to artery and heart disease to diabetes and more. There are even yoga exercises that are practiced to keep good health as far as illness and disease are concerned. Within India many ingredients, such as turmeric and cumin, that are used in everyday foods are also key to ayurvedic practice of maintaining good health.

I recently started showing symptoms of a cold (first one in 6 months, I think thats pretty good!), so Abhinav introduced me to a new "product" used in ayurveda. Its not exactly a cold medicine, per say, but more of an immunity booster. It can be eaten throughout the year... in sickness and in health.

Its called chyawanprash and I really have never seen anything like it in my life. Its this dark brown paste with a strong sour smell; not appealing to the senses in any way by its looks alone. The taste is not so bad, though i takes some getting used to if you've never had it before. And its really difficult to describe, other than a mixture of salty, spicy, sweet, and sour all-in-one.

Chyawanprash is made up of around 50 different ingredients, but the main effective ingredient used is Amla(Indian Gooseberry). Amla is considered the fruit with the highest Vitamin C content on the earth, and is a key ingredient in many ayurvedic medicines. For a list of other ingredients used in chyawanprash, look here.

Nice color, huh? 

Here's to better health!

Making Paneer

With the help of Google and YouTube, I was really excited to learn how to make Paneer. Paneer is a type of Indian cheese with a very plain taste that doesn't easily melt like our regular American or Provolone cheeses (man, I miss cheese). Since its used in a lot of different Indian vegetarian dishes and I have never seen it in the States, I wanted to be able to make it when we return home. Surprisingly, its super easy to make!

First, bring your milk to a boil (I used 1 liter).

When milk begins to boil (before it starts to boil rapidly), slowly add lemon juice (about 3-4tbsp) and stir with  heat on low.

Milk will start to separate into curds(cheese) and whey (milk liquid) {ahh, Little Miss Muffet FINALLY makes sense now!}. If the milk isn't separating you might need to add more lemon juice. Once separated, turn off the heat.

Using cheese cloth or any other thin type of cloth, strain your cheese.

Rinse the cheese with cold water to remove any lemon taste. While still inside the cloth, squeeze out excess water from the cheese; the more excess water you squeeze, the harder the cheese will settle. You can wrap the cheese in a cloth and form into a block shape if you wish by placing two flat and heavy surfaces on either side. Let it sit and cool for about 30 mins. You can use it for cooking immediately or else store in the refrigerator.

Our 1 liter of milk made about 100 grams of paneer (not very much) so don't feel bad when you look at the finished product and think somebody stole your milk! Its normal :-)

We used our paneer to make paneer paranthas, just like my previous onion paranthas.

Enjoy!

Kavad Yatra

If you were in Northern India right now, you would see an unusual amount of orange color in the streets. Men (and some women and children) crowd roads and highways annually to fulfill a type of pilgrimage dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva.

Not properly a pilgrimage but more of a journey (Kavad meaning the tent-like structure that is carried, Yatra meaning journey), hundreds of thousands of saffron-wearing devotees make the journey from their respective home cities to Northern India's holy cities of Rishikesh and Haridwar. The trek begins every year on the first day of sawan (monsoon) and lasts for about two weeks (this year's is July 16th-29th).

During the journey people carry kavads, elaborately decorated structures made of bamboo, many of which look like tents because they are so large in size. The kavad should not touch the ground at any point during the journey. Once the traveler has reached the Ganges river, he or she fills jugs with the river's water and places them at each end of the kavad, making it much heavier that it already was. Then the journey begins back to each person's respective home temple dedicated to Shiva. Some travel in groups, others alone.

Some devotees travel by train, bus, motorcycle, or bike, but most of them travel by foot, some also without shoes!

The most interesting part of this Yatra, for me, is that these travelers happen to be passing right through the city I live in! I don't know if its a good thing or a bad thing...maybe just more of an interesting thing. Along the journey there are many checkpoint areas where travelers can rest and find something to eat or drink provided by various temples. Many of these checkpoints are in our city. The not-so-awesome part about being a 'checkpoint' city is that many of our roads are blocked now so that the travelers can do their traveling in peace, making for very congested streets nowadays. Also, I constantly hear a voice on a loudspeaker directing traffic and travelers. Day and night, day and night.

Abhi and I went around the city trying to get some good footage of the orange-ness, here's what we got:

 butt shot!

a pretty big kavad 

This is a drive-by of one of the rest areas in our city.

Dooooosaaaaaa

I had the pleasure of eating one of my favorite types of Indian food the other day, DOSA. Its not easily found where I live because its mainly a South Indian dish. Dosa is a thin layer of cooked batter, filled with masala potatoes, then formed into a long roll. Its served with sambar (soup-like and sour) and coconut chutney. There are a lot of varieties of Dosa, but this potato-filled one is the most common (I think).

Yellow liquid: coconut chutney + Brown liquid: sambar + Roll: dosa = delicious!