Khan Saaf Kerna Wallah- The one who cleans ears

As I was sitting over chai with a friend at the motorcycle shop an ear cleaning guy walked by. With a simple head bobble of communication the ear cleaner got to work. He used forceps, a brass spoon/hook tool, and a rod with a cotton swab end to extract ear debris. As he went, debris was wiped on the back of his thumb, showing my friend each bit.

When both ears were as clean as a whistle they both examined the accumulated crud and haggled on "How much is that job worth?"

For the use of this picture, I sprung for the cost of the procedure, which was roughly 8 cents USD.

I have never had my ears cleaned this way as ear drums have been known to get punctured from time to time.

 

Language milestones and new friends

These were my trusty barbers back in the hill town. Just 200 feet from my apartment. They spoke zero English and getting the right haircut or shave required some quick learning. As many barber shops across the world, it was good place to sit and hear guys talk. Hours of sitting and struggling to chat turned into some of my best learning time.

A major milestone of my time in the hill town was a late evening conversation during Ramazan. The barbers had broken their fast, there were no customers to interrupt, and it turns out my Hindi gets better late at night. We were able to listen to stories in Urdu, the Muslim variation of Hindi, and discuss what the most important parts were. It was a huge milestone to have a conversation and move towards a main point to be understood.
I miss seeing these guys every day, but they will be my first stop when I need a shave and can get back to the hill town.

Intoduction to Jackfruit- “Kahatul”

Jackfruit are common in markets from May to September. For some reason I passed it up until I was in a position to harvest it myself. I believe the proper method of harvest is as follows:

-First, tie a rock to a rope and throw it into the tree precisely over a fruit.
-Hand the rope to room-mate and encourage him to move around and tug at the rope until the huge 1 inch diameter stem breaks.  
-Lurch forward to catch the jackfruit
-Reconsider the wisdom of running underneath a spikey 25 pound object falling 30 feet from a tree.
-Next, at least break the fruit’s fall as to limit damage. Because who has practice doing this sort of thing?

A large fruit contains roughly 75 fleshy pods. When fully ripe the flesh tastes sweet like the ripest strawberry imaginable without being rotten and a consistency between custard and a slimy banana (depends on your outlook). It can also be cooked as a vegetable before it’s ripe. Some say it can be seasoned to taste like meat. Although I’d welcome the chance to see that done, my experience with the unripe jackfruit tasted like a firm sweet potato.

Culture point: It is rare for South Asians to choose to eat this fruit in the ripe stage. They sure love their pan fried and spiced vegetables. That’s just dandy until you pull down 25 pounds of sweet ripe jackfruit and your local friends struggle to find a polite way to say, “Well, good luck eating that yourself”

Kite flyers

While getting to know different neighborhoods I met these guys walking along with a kite. I was able to tell them that I had never flown an Indian kite. Eager to show off, that kite was soon soaring out 200 feet. They wanted to see a foreigner fly one, so I took the reins a few times. Each time, I would maneuver until it dove way down out of view behind a tree. Each time the guys would grab the string, correct the flight and bring her back into view. I was impressed.

Cultural: Kites are a big pass time for kids. A nice one costs about 25 cents. They will pilot kites from roof tops, alleys, near power lines. Anywhere. I say “pilot” because they can be precise. Not flying like Mary Poppins would, but rather the Red Baron. A special string with glass filament is imported from China for kite fighting. A leader of this string is used for the segment connected to the kite. Each pilot fights to cross lines just right and cut down his or her rivals. I cannot wait to see this in person. I think I better get practicing before the kite festival in January.

Goodbyes in the hill town

Try to imagine the wonderful combination of a former temple

musician, a neighbor with about zero hearing, a daughter

learning guitar, a loving mother, and a son who likes to

show off his 5 styles of self-taught Kung-fu. What can't you

learn on Youtube these days?

This is the family and some neighbors whom I was blessed to join every week for prayer meetings. As I got started in language studies this was a time for me to hear worship, scripture and prayer in Hindi. The time grew rich and deep when I spent time with these folks outside of the meeting. In time, I wasn’t just listening to them worship, but I got to worship WITH them. I certainly didn’t understand every need we brought up in prayer, but they were shared needs.

I can only try and tell you how much fun they are. I never expected my time with them to grow from a weekly task to a highpoint of the week. I had fellowship with other westerners, but the encouragement found in this household was as sweet as it was unexpected.

 

Mukhun Walla

When I step off the vikram bus that gets me home from school there is generally a snack vendor of sorts. Sometimes the snack has "sick day tomorrow" written all over it, so its tempting, but today it looked great.

You pick the raw ear you want and the muckun wallah throws it on the coals and fans away. He finishes it with some numuck (salt) and nimbu (lime) and serves it in a green husk. It's far from tender, sweet, or juicy, but tangy and salty isn't bad after Hindi school.

The corn stand is a great place to talk to people. This time, the 2nd sentence from a guy was, "So if you want to stay at my house for the next 3 or 4 days, you are welcome!" Yes, it sounded that odd in person too. Then the next 8 times he offered as well. But I just wrote it off as super Asian hospitality.

After talking and sharing for 20 minutes the conversation turned political. Friend #1 told me "I believe Obama is a shadow person. You know, someone sent from above to better the world". Friend #2 chimes in with, "Oh, Jackie Chan too, being that he is from Korea". How would you field that?!  Just when you think a conversation is getting predictable.

Butcha Billy (baby cat) Wallah

It's not every day that a kitten falls through the ceiling of your hardware store and you go home with a new room mate. (feel free to imagine that scene). We had him for a few weeks until a family came along that wanted him.  His favorite pass times included mewing loudly, eating chicken livers, and pouncing on feet (which got REAL old).

We came to find out that South Asians range from being uncomfortable around cats to highly superstitious about the curses they bring. There are always exceptions, but cats are not often kept as pets here.