merry christmas and a happy SNAFU

so yesterday i got an email from cheap tickets notifying me that there have been "significant changes" to my itinerary. i called last night, and after just about an hour on hold, (calling from india to the U.S.), i was told that my flight home has been canceled. i was really tired and crabby at this point, (it was 12:30 AM), and the air india office was closed, so there was nothing i could really do about it right then. so i will not be returning to the states on the 6th as planned. i'm not actually sure when i will be returning, but christmas eve is just about the worst time to have to contact any airline. in the meantime i am still having a wonderful time here... contemplating staying a week longer or so, i mean if i've got to pick a new flight anyway, why not? tonight there will be christmas yoga on the beach and our dear friend ben is super amped for sunset caroling, (also, naturally, terrifyingly, on the beach), he even printed out the lyrics to the little drummer boy for me, imagine, he actually wants to hear me sing(!?) then we will be going to the restaurant at jardim a mar for christmas eve dinner, lots of seafood platters for everyone, and a veg platter for me. we're making mulled wine after that, and then there is a dance party for our nepali friend binesh's birthday. christmas in goa is lovely, my anglo-indian landlady has reminded me a full 4 or 5 times about the morning mass in english, so i will be going to church this year.
i will keep everyone posted as to my return, and i will be calling the loved ones on the christmas eve-evening. i am sending lots of love and holiday cheer to everyone. xoxoxo

christmas

so i have decided to stay here in goa for christmas. i have made a really solid group of friends here one of whom is jo, a lovely girl from whales, who is basically the christmas spirit personified. we're going to have a party and make mulled wine and decorate the beach hut and make christmas roti, which was my suggestion, see when jo asked the guys from jardim a mar, where i am staying, if we could use their oven to make christmas cake and they told her that they don't have an oven, i quipped, "that's okay, we'll make christmas roti!" and jo said "brilliant!" but now i'm afraid i don't really know what christmas roti is.... whatever it is i'm sure it will be delicious. my land lady has already informed me of the english mass on christmas morning so it may be the first time i've been inside a church for a non-touristy reason in quite a while.
as far as my health is concerned i am a little worried i might have a parasite, because the antibiotics aren't really touching the nausea and i still have no appetite. so i'm going to get some precautionary blood work done and take some bikinni photos and make the best of the situation.

update

so i am still in goa. i got sick about a week ago with something that felt suspiciously similar to an illness i had in thailand almost exactly two years ago--and because i think i am tough and don't ever want to go on antibiotics, i wound up with a serious bacterial infection that spanned three weeks swallowing christmas and the new year.
this time it started as mild nausea, then proceeded to full-fledged nausea, i tried to take a tums, and vomited that up. every time i tried to eat food my stomach would clench in protest. if i did manage to choke a few bites of something friendly down, like say bananna, (mind you i've had no appetite), as soon as i stood up after the meal i would immediately feel faint and pukey. it got to the point where all i could do was drink cups of ginger tea, force-feed myself yogurt and sip daintily the broth from carrot ginger soup. now i know how anorexics feel! after about 2 days of this LA lifestyle i realized it was time to get on antibiotics. everyone kept on asking me if i was having "loose motions", which is the indian term for diarrhea. i tried to explain that i hadn't been having any motions really, which meant whatever i had couldn't have been dysentery, but then i wasn't eating either. then i started getting fevers, and of course i have been feeling weak from the weight-loss. so i am on my 3rd day of ciprofloxacin and paracetamol and i am starting to re-gain my appetite. this morning i had a fruit salad with yogurt and watermelon-mint juice, a veritable feast considering. tonight i've got plans to (try to)have italian food with some friends.
and so, i may be staying here for the holidays... i know it's not "real" india, but it's just so damn comfortable and vacation-ey. my illness gives me a nice excuse to not move anywhere for a while. it's great, a whole day can slip by and i'll have done nothing! what a huge luxury considering how crazy my summer can be. all in all i don't feel too bad

vegetable pulao

this is a wonderful rice dish that can be served as an accompaniment to vegetable, meat, or fish curry and a dry curry like cabbage thoran.
this recipe is for 4 people or so, but can easily be doubled.

vegetable pulao

2 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp salt, (more to taste)
small handful cashews
small handful raisins, (preferably white)
1 c. long grain basmati rice, (white, washed and drained)
small handful of diced green beans
1 diced carrot
1 diced onion
1/3 c. diced green cabbage

2 1/4 c. water
3 cloves
5 green cardamom pods
1 inch piece of cinnamon
5 black pepper pods
2 start anise

heat the ghee in a large pot and add the onion and salt.
when the onion is half cooked add the cashews and raisins.
when the raisins become puffed up add the green beans and sautee for 2 minutes.
add the cabbage and carrots and sautee for another 2 minutes
stir in the rice. sautee the rice for 8 minutes or so, until it just begins to have a golden color.

in this time you should also boil the water in a separate pot with all your spices.

when the rice is slightly golden add the boiling water and spices. bring rice to a boil then cover and turn down to a very low heat to steam. i am not a genius when it comes to cooking rice--actually i am lazy and i usually use my rice cooker. in this instance i think it should take 15-20 minutes to steam. i am sure when i try this on my own it will involve a little anxiety and plenty of trial and error. perhaps you are a person with more rice instinct than i.
good luck and enjoy!

new york

i am flying from india to new york on january 6th. i may need to crash on a couch for a day or two before heading to the cape. if you let me sleep on yours i will bring you a cool present.

where i'm at

right now i am in goa, at agonda beach. it's beautiful and peaceful and far less cynical and overdeveloped than palolem. rachel, (my friend from the UK), and i decided to take a beach vacation. since i won't be going to sri lanka after all i was pretty amped at the prospect of 2 weeks on a beach. we're going to return to fort cochin for the holidays, but for now we're relaxing. rachel has a lot of writing to do, (she's ghostwriting an "autobiography" for a psychic healer in the UK), and i've got a lot of yoga to do. right now i've got a cozy little room off the beach and in front of to an outdoor yoga studio. i will return to cochin refreshed and ready to dive back into my cooking classes.

You Get What You Pay For

In the spirit of medical tourism, I bought two more pairs of glasses in India. After splurging the first time in Mumbai on a very nice pair of Ralph Lauren frames (which you have been seeing in our photoshoots) I thought it was time for something a little less designer. Behold...

INDIAN GLASSES. SO EXCITING.

No really, the pair I got weren't actually as cool as these but I was tempted.

They came to a whopping $13 even with the eye exam included.

But alas, in India you get what you pay for and when I picked them up a few days ago I couldn't actually see out of them. So it fulfilled its destiny of being a true Indian experience, and we had to go to aaaaanother eyeglass shop to get new lenses made. Confirming the age old adage that the two things you should never skimp on our good shoes and glasses. In the meantime I can't wait to whip these optical monstrosities out in a few months when I get back to Bard. tres chic.

Un long petit déjeuner indolent

Today Katie and I had our last long and lazy breakfast at the Hotel De 'l Orient. Since our arrival to Pondicherry from Auroville, we have treated ourselves to 1 - 2 hour long breakfasts. A festival of fresh squeezed fruit juices, eggs any style, warm croissants, muesli & curd (my favorite), local fruit and an endless well of herbal teas and masala chai.

Before, during and after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai the Hotel De 'l Orient has been a sacred space for us. Every morning Katie and I arrived at the hotel's restaurant greeted by warm and eager smiling faces, The Hindu and the most friendly and attentive service.

A wise Indian man by the name Ramesh owner of the hot new North Indian restaurant Dal Roti on Lily Street in Fort Cochin, told me one morning that he only served lunch and dinner because he believes that most people prefer to start their day with a native breakfast. He couldn't be more right when describing my preferred morning meal. Don't get me wrong I love dosa, idli, pongal, chapati and vada served with hot sambar and chutney, just as much as the next girl, but nothing beats a perfectly chilled and fermented curd with tasty and crunchy muesli and fresh sweet bananas.

A short lesson on breakfast:

English 1463, from break (v.) + fast (n.). Cf. Fr. déjeuner "to breakfast," from L. dis-jejunare "to break the fast." The verb is from 1679. The Engl derives from the concept that sleep prevents eating, thus an involuntary fast occurs during sleep; this fast is broken by the first meal - called breakfast.

random fort cochin photos

my boys at solar cafe


and the amazing fruit plate they serve

fort cochin at night

rachel is a friend to the dogs

jude, rachel and bobby

jude thinks he knows everything

we meet faraz at kashi art cafe.

at a hookah bar in ernakelum VIP room yo.

goat break

i lovingly dedicate this post to etta, and take this opportunity to announce that i will be in chicago in march.

cooking class

i have been taking cooking classes with leena for a few weeks now, and i've accumulated over 50 recipes. she is a wonderful teacher, and an even better chef.

i take notes on dosa technique

leena rolls out chapatis, "thinner is more tasty"

leena's helper lady scrapes the coconut.



chilis, garlic, onion, mustard seeds, and curry leaves sauteed in coconut oil--the foundation of many south indian curries

this is a long-bean curry

and this is gulab jamun--an amazing desert that falls somewhere between cheesecake and donut holes. they are served in a tooth-achingly-sweet sugar syrup that is flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, and rose petals... it's amazing.

this is fort cochin

i love it here immensely.

cabbage thoran

so i am still in cochin, still taking cooking classes every day and being utterly spoiled from all the delicious home-cooked food. i've got almost 50 recipes, and my teacher leena has been so kind and sweet to me, inviting me to dinner, worrying over me when i don't feel well, sending me home with packages of food... i've been so lucky to have met her and her family.
so here's one of my favorite simple recipes, it's for cabbage thoran, a very traditional south indian keralan dish. it's usually served as an accompaniment to either rice or chapati, and some kind of pulse or meat/fish curry.

cabbage thoran for 4-6

thinly slice about 1/3-1/2 a head of green cabbage--you should cut it like you're making coleslaw
finely julienne 1 carrot--coleslaw style
halve 2-4 green chilis
thinly slice 1 large red onion
sliver 6-8 cloves of garlic

put all the ingredients in a bowl
add to the veg mix
10-12 curry leaves roughly torn in half
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 large handful of unsweetened dessicated coconut, preferably fresh, but realistically you can find unsweetened coconut at the healthfood store, if this is the case prior to adding it to the veg mix you should soak it in 1/4 cup or so of water for about 10 minutes to make it more tender, then strain

mix the spices into the vegetables with your hands, (they will be stained yellow from the turmeric) and allow to dry marinate for about 10-15 minutes

heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
when it is hot add 1/2 tablespoon of black mustard seeds
allow the seeds to pop, then add the cabbage mixture
cook for 10 minutes or so until everything is tender
season to taste with salt

Drowning in Human Unity

In the middle of a monsoon things are very 'Quiet'

Since all of Auroville has lost electricity for the past two days (this computer lab is solar powered) we've tried to occupy ourselves with new things. This morning we headed down to the Quiet Healing Center where we took a deep relaxation meditation class this morning. In the few moments when the rains were not pounding down we managed to get a few pictures of the beach that Quiet sits on:


We excitedly anticipate the return of power to Auroville so that services are up and running again here and we can get around by other means than candlelight.

For those of you who didn't know, Southern India and Sri Lanka are being pummeled by a serious cyclone right now that's just getting worse. The forecast is:

The weather news flash is Tropical Cyclone Six, swirling around the
South of India with winds up to 74 kph, plenty of driving rain, roads
more like lakes and numerous uprooted trees. Plus no power as many
trees fell on low and high tension lines over wide spread areas from
Auroville's centre to the Greenbelt to Quilapalayam and points
in-between, resulting in broken poles, discs and insulators. The
extent of the damage will take more than 2 days to get cleared so
that power resumes.

Please pray for our wet souls.

Hey Baby, Guest Birds Are Here

Katie and I have found ourselves in Auroville.

I don't want to be too quick to judge, but so far....um....it's nice. (eye roll) I really started to get attached to Fort Cochin, but Katie and I are determined to get the most out of this trip so we agreed on a change of scenery. So we headed for the hills to Kumily. Which is suppose to be a really special place, the home of tea and spice plantations. Which really just ended up being a wet, cold and miserable destination. Both Katie and I got altitude sickness and because we were two of the only Westerns in the town, we were rigorously targeted and harassed by touts.

We didn't visit a single tourist destination. No boat rides, no Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, no day or evening treks. We just stayed there two nights, got spices (30 pounds I think) and got the heck out of there. Everyone at home will get a nice organic spice package of cinnamon, turmeric, coco, curry, pepper, coriander, chilly powder, etc. Katie and I are still working out the details on sending it home. (DHL) If anyone has any good ideas of how to ship things cheap internationally please let us know. Getting through customs will be comical.

So then we took a car to Madurai and stayed there for about 10 or so hours until we caught a train (6 hours) to Villapuram and then an hour and half car ride to Pondicherry. We stayed in this amazing French style guest house that couldn't have been quainter.

So now that we're caught up, we'll share with you a little about this far out place that we're going to be spending the next week in. Auroville.

Auroville is a universal township in the making for a population of up to 50,000 people from around the world. They come from some 35 nations, from all age groups (from infancy to over eighty, averaging around 30), from all social classes, backgrounds and cultures, representing humanity as a whole. The population of the township is constantly growing, but currently stands
at around 1,700 people, of whom approx one-third are Indian.

On the surface, Auroville can appear rather incomprehensible. It is an intense and challenging experiment, attempting the seemingly impossible, and one needs to be ready to actively participate in such an adventure. The meaning of Auroville only becomes clearer in the context of the vision of its founders, which has stimulated people from all over the world to join in this 'laboratory of evolution'.

To be a True Aurovilian

BACK to the Kristen chronicles:

Katie and I called the day we got to Pondicherry to set up a tour, trying to be formal and respectful of this charming and wonderful place. So we called the visitors center and no one answering the phone spoke English. Ok so we took a rickshaw to Auroville. Still no one really speaks English and if they do they don't seem particularly interested in speaking it. So I wait with our mountain of backpacks and new travelling companion 'The Spice Bag' and Katie investigates the scene and works on finding us accommodations. Yippy she finally finds us a cheap place for two nights. Well yeah it's cheap, it's a hut! Now we are in the back woods, sleeping in a hut with mud walls with the lizards, mice and a trillion different bugs. 100 feet from an open public squat toilet structure. Ok so we made it through the first night.

We go to guest services to find out how to navigate around this dark muddy maze and the person there is ZERO help. The only English he knows is "leave your shoes outside". Well thank you Mr. Guest Services Man for being a fountain of useful information. Now Katie and I know all about Auroville and how to navigate this lovely experimental community in the middle of nowhere land during monsoon season. So we pull out the map Katie was insightful enough to purchase yesterday. As a wonderful Indian woman said to me today "Nothing is free in Auroville." I disagree being wet it free, bug bites are free and getting lost in this muddy maze is free.

So resourceful Katie and I created a financial account (auroville works on a cash card system) you put money in an account and just submit your number everywhere to pay for food and other goods. We then got our hands on a moped. Auroville is very spread out.

The we called and visited a number of guesthouses and finally found livable conditions at a community called creativity. Creativity is a collective community of about forty people, in the South-West of the Residential Zone. The Aurovilians who conceived of Creativity were residents in need of houses, as well as people who wanted to study how the Auroville housing shortage could be met by building modest apartments, at low cost and environment friendly. Some of the aspects they studied, before starting, were: cost-effective building/maintenance, low environmental impact, functionality of design for a commune, and the suitability for residents of varying ages and nationalities.

Just our luck. Luck, Luck, Luck, Luck

We called them yesterday and they didn't have any openings then we go yesterday at the most perfect moment and speak with Lloyd (the steward) who mentioned that if we came a moment sooner he couldn't have helped us because his head was in his number and the person who was suppose to stay at least another week decided to move on and travel to Goa. So we move in
today.

So.... The thing about this place so far is that is, Yes Experimental! It looks very good on paper but in reality it's pretty rustic and people seem very distant. Katie and I are not sure what brings everyone here, because it seems very individualistic. Do people live here because they want unity or is it because everyone just wants to live off the grid. I don't want to say too much because I have only been here for a limited period of time. But, I will say this Auroville really needs a dose of Colleen Anne Reed. A ball of developmental, creative, pleasure seeking, community mobilizing, spiritual, fun, positive, family supportive energy. Mom i know you are
living in the a lower gear these days but, Auroville needs you.

Last night we headed to dinner at Solar Kitchen for some dinner. The Solar Kitchen building has been designed as a major collective kitchen for the Auroville community and was finalized in December 1997. Since then it has served lunches in its Dining Hall and in the same time sent lunches to different outlets like schools or individuals. While we were there we experienced the full breath of the monsoon season, it feels like we were in the middle of a hurricane.

We took advantage of the break in the torrential rain to drive home. We quickly found out that there were trees down everywhere though, blocking our way back home.

So we lifted the bike. Over the tree.

We finally made it home last night to our hut. And we were never so relieved to be sleeping in it, with all the bugs and mice, etc. The guest house experienced some of its own devastation. Check out the bathroom:

This morning as we tried to check out, one of the residents called out to the host "Hey Baby, Guest birds are here". Guest birds?! We love these people.

*Some text has been taken directly from the Aurovilled website*

cooking in cochin

so i decided to stay in cochin while kristen and katie head for the hills. i have been fortunate enough to land an amazing teacher named leena--she has been teaching me traditional kerela-style indian food. it's very different from the indian food we're used to in the states, in fact it's nothing like it. most indian restaurants in the u.s. serve northern indian mulgai or punjab food. maybe it's because quite a few punjab people were displaced during and after of partition, and they became part of the indian diaspora and opened restaurants. whatever the reasons, when we think of indian food we think of palak paneer, (spinach and cheese), dal makhani, (rich lentil-bean curry), tandoori chicken, and nan, (buttery, garlicky flat breads cooked in the tandoor oven). i love northern indian cuisine, it is delicious, but it is also very rich, by contrast, kerela food is a little lighter, with coconut oil replacing the ghee, (clarified butter), and shredded coconut or coconut milk replacing the milk and cheese, and fermented rice pancakes; idlis, utthapam, and dosas replacing the nan bread.
at only $10 per class i really couldn't afford to leave without learning everything i could.
i have also made a friend rachel, who referred me to her dentist here, so we've been spending time getting dental work done, writing in cafes, and cooking dinners with her friend and ex-sister-in-law anuja. it's great practice for me. cochin has been really warm and welcoming. i am afraid i never want to leave.

Kumily gets a little spicy

We arrived in Kumily yesterday afternoon after taking a beautiful scenic drive from Fort Cochin, following the windy roads up into the clouds.

We found it much less charming here, since it has been raining constantly and has been chilly with lots of overly idle touts, since it's the low tourist season here. We'll have to pass on the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary for now since Kristen and I have both been suffering with a bit of altitude sickness. We'll be taking a car tomorrow morning to Madurai to get back into lower lands.
During our brief stay here we landed upon the 'Lord's Spices', a spice shop where we bought a bounty of different spices and tea to bring back to the states.

Kristen drove a pretty hard bargain with them. They commented just like every other Indian guys who's had the pleasure of doing with business with us, that she can be a bit "spicy".

Sampling of some of the stuff we got: vanilla bean, cinnamon, tumeric, chili powder, pepper, masala mix, tea, coffee, cardamom, saffron, etc.

No backup generator

Katie and I are heading for the hills tomorrow. We plan to arrive in Kumily late afternoon. Genevieve will be staying in Fort Kochin for a little while longer. A place I will hold dear to my heart forever. Katie and I have gotten to experience a part of Fort Cochin that surely most travlers have not- the Indian medical system and more specifically Gautham Hospital, one of the most touching and warm hospitals in the world. We've had an amazing respite in this charming little Portuguese and Indian fishing village that is acutally on an island. We were surprised to find a burgeoning art community, outstanding cuisine and a place where we could even do a full degustation and Kerala cooking classes, and a group of indivuals, expats and Indians alike who welcomed us into their community.

Fresh shark, caught in the Chinese style fishing nets that Fort Cohin is famous for, is on the menu tonight. It goes like this: pick out a net and subsequent fish stand, pick out the baracuda/shark/pufferfish/fish you've never seen before/heard of and buy it and bring to an assortment of places that will cook it for you on the waterfront. We'll let you know how it goes...

I may never come home. My Gyno has invited Katie and I to stay at her home and promisies to find us "good" indian husbands.

a long day in hampi

we hired this guy kali to take us out on a sunrise hike to see the famous temples of hampi. well we ended up having such a great time that we signed on for a sunset tour as well. the day evolved into a long walk with a new friend who happened to be a really great story teller. we are so glad to have met kali, and to have had the opportunity to see hampi from a better vantage point than our initial introduction offered us. these photos are in chronological order, starting with the sunrise hike and our awesome experience feeding monkeys(!)







the view from the top of the hill


a temple at the top of a hill


this is the kali temple, it's thousands of years old

where our guide kali got his name

at the snake temple, you're supposed to touch the feet

down in the old royal courts of hampi



there's kali at the royal court


detailing on a column

pilgrims on the banks of the river come to wash away their karma

we took one of those round boats out onto the river

this is our photogenic boatman


one of the thousands of temples carved into the boulders


some of the gorgeous kids of harmony house, the children's program that kali co-founded, (see later katie post)



they like to salute

this photo was taken from the bottom of a royal bathtub--it was like the size of a swimming pool, jealous? yup.

that's kali chilling in an alcove meant for courtisans to toss flowers down into the water

and this was some kind of swimming pool i think...

this is where the king would sit to address the masses

kristen and katie investicate some carvings









those crazy hampi boulders

this is a statue of one of the incarnations of shiva--a half man half lion who killed a demon in a doorway on his knee at dusk--kali told us the story, but i can't remember how it all went.

for scale...

a sweet family we met at the big ganesh statue.

some local thugs

cow break

bye kali! we'll miss you!