To Gandhiji - Blogabond

To Gandhiji.
It’s the anniversary of Gandhi’s death, and the event is observed by 2 minutes of silence at 11. AM. It’s a nice gesture but as we stood in silence I heard the honks and street noises and thus was not under the illusion that the whole country stops in place to observe the moment.
I am in fact sick. Its ironic really, not a single stomach problem since I’ve been here, but 2 colds under my belt already. Cross you fingers that it doesn’t get worse.
Today was a bit warmer, so we are holding out that the weather is at last thawing and will remain a pleasant temperature for some time. We had our second development class, and we have started to go over the history and theories of international development. An interesting subject taught by an elderly lady professor who manages to be both adorable and stately at the same time.
Emma and I had our own way of celebrating the non-violence Guru: preparing a non-indian meal. We decided to cook spaghetti (we’re both Itallian) for Sunita-ji to show what the West has to offer. Pasta or noodles of any sort is invariably served with a dollup of ketchup in this country-a horrible adaption of the marinera sauce (though, I think Sunita is quite familiar with spaghetti already, having visiting the US and Australia on numerous occasions). We were successful able to buy all the necessary ingredients except for basil and Oregano. Basil we were able to luckily substitute a but the oregano was nowhere to be found. For all its spices, Indian is completely missing out on one of my top five. Hopefully, the sauce will service anyway. Should we make garlic butter roti as well?

1/31/08

Today was relatively unique. First of all because my cold has reached the disgusting I-have-phlem-up-the-gazoo stage. Second, because I had American pasta, American coffee, and sat in a starbucks like coffeeshop. Third, because we went to Renuji’s (Sunita’s niece-in-law) English class.
Renuji, who we have met several times when she comes to visit Auntiji, speaks the proper lyrical English of the highly educated Indian and is an absolute sweetheart. She had previously invited us to come to one of her classes and speak to the students in English, and today we went. The whole experience was overwhelming. Emma was placed in one room and I another, each filled with maybe 20 university and graduate students. Some spoke fluently, others very hesitantly, and all of them were staring at me and asking questions from all quarters. Simple questions like “do you like Titanic?” and impossible ones like “what are the differences between India and the US.”
One elder lady student even invited us to her house afterwards. The wife of a Jaipur minister, their home was right across from the grand ministerial building. We drank tea and ate sweets and laughed through halting conversation as the three grandchildren alternately stared and laughed at us on the other side of the room. It was nice to see two more Indian homes, one moderate, and Renuji’s absolutely grand.
After a quick dinner of pasta with Sunita (which I think at least amused if not impressed her) we went out to a totally Americanized coffeeshop with Auntiji, Renuji and her husband. For all the chai I am having these days, having my classic earl grey, black, was such a treat I couldn’t stop smiling.
Tomorrow we prepare for our first weekend excursion: Bundi, a much smaller town off the tourist-beaten track about 5 hours away by train. Lets hope for the best on the journey and for the love of peat hope my cold is better.

written by

Drie on January 30, 2008 from Jaipur, India

from the travel blog: Adventures in Hindustan

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Thanks for the information about remembering Ghandi. Thats really awesome.

It sounds like you're doing so many cool things! How did the spaghetti turn out? Was it good? Did you make Garlic Roti? What are your top 5 spices? I'm going to guess garlic, oregano, basil, cumin, and..... coriander???? eek, I dunno. What are they?

Keep blogging!

written by

Della on February 1, 2008

Didn't you bring some Earl Grey black along with you? I would assume you could make a pot of tea at home (so long as you were willing to share...

The experience of going to class sounds interesting. I am glad that you get to meet other people through your home stay.

written by peggy cuciti on February 3, 2008

One more comment I forgot ... You and your sister both -

it's GANDHI. This is one you should figure out how to correct

written by P on February 3, 2008

One more comment I forgot ... You and your sister both -

it's GANDHI. This is one you should figure out how to correct

written by Peggy Cuciti on February 3, 2008

One more comment I forgot ... You and your sister both -

it's GANDHI. This is one you should figure out how to correct

written by Peggy Cuciti on February 3, 2008

I really wanted to find basil in Jaipur too...a lot of people told me that everyone keeps a basil plant in their house, but I was unconvinced. When I finally got to try some (the Hindi word is तुलसी tulsi) it was definitely some variety of basil-- it tasted like the "cinnamon basil" we grew when I worked on a famr-- but not the kind you'd put in Italian food, unfortunately. I remember buying a tiny thing of olive oil for something like 500 rupees in Jaipur-- but 100% worth it! There's a store in C-Scheme called Shoppers Paradise which sells a lot of imported products if you ever need to find something like olive oil.

written by Josh on February 3, 2008

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