What did you just call me?

Spotted Owlet. Seen while visiting
in Rajasthan

In South Asia, the owl (Hindi word, "ooloo") is considered about as dumb as a donkey. Or at least the insult is about the same. Our wise nocturnal hunter is thought to be stupid for not even knowing when its time to sleep. Come on owls, get with the program.

So when it comes to haggling over a price and the vendor throws out an insulting price you can always say, "I am not an owl, brother".

Sap Season

Firstly, that's a whole quart of CT maple syrup that arrived with my parents last week. Yehaw.

As I explained maple syrup to a national I realized the process might sound similar to that of village moonshine. A plastic jug is hidden in the fronds of a palm tree just below a slit in a leaf stem. The jug collects juice that ferments in the hot sun. When a buyer shows up a boy shimmies up and brings down the hooch.

Caagage Wallah (The Paper One)

This is the youngest in a family of paper bag makers I have been spending time with. He is doing some of the finer work of making small white bags used in administering medicine. I am amazed that he can paste, fold, and press a stack of 50 in about 2 minutes. So many of the tradesmen here do their work with a flair of personality that wouldn't be there if they simply operated a machine.


One hand moves the stack like a flip-book while the other
 hand pokes precisely in between each sheet to fold a tab

I am also a welcomed guest to the boy's great-uncle. He only has two teeth and is pretty hard to understand, but a warmth comes through in our exchanges. I had already finished the chai served to me by the nephew one day when the elder showed up and asked if I had been served. Everyone present truthfully said, "Yes", but he insisted, "That's not true, get more chai!". Here, Uncle Ji's word is the last word. It's no wonder that I might sip 8 shots of chai in a day.


This is a new type of crowd I am learning from. There is little understanding of English in the labor class. So when my Hindi runs out, so does the conversation for the day. This forces me to push harder in building communication skills.