The Chai Wallah (part one)

 

This wallah is fundamental to life here. His presence is constant in a place characterized as "reliably unpredictable".
The chai infrastructure is remarkable in my opinion. In a place where electricity comes and goes, water runs out and is delivered once a day, and traffic obstructions range from cows to craters, the chai will go on!

No doubt, chai pushes me to my limit sometimes. For instance, you can move heaven and earth to organize a team and trucks to deliver aid in natural disasters, but if that team hasn't had it's morning chai yet, your caravan is going NOWHERE. It just wont. And it's excruciating.

However, when your long day is seasoned by, true story, a cow using your motorcycle to pick it's nose, you KNOW a chai wallah will be on the next corner to offer you a chai time-out.

Chai is truly a constant in South Asian living. It ties a lot of the struggles and comfort together in a pretty unique way.
 

Batti Choaka Walla

These guys are making a food unique to my region of the state. Hint, its not baked potatos.

Those are dough balls stuffed with spices and ground chickpea. And those aren't wood coals, but rather the embers of a burning dried cow poop and grass mix.

Even better, whole eggplants are smoked over the pan while the cow patties burn down. The eggplant is peeled and mixed with boiled potatos, chilies, and masala.

The roasted dough balls are tumbled clean(enough) in a sheet and tossed in a refined butter. The dough balls are then ready to be broken up and eaten while scooping the veggie mix.

It's enough to make you cry "Uncle!"

Yep. Totally asleep. Woke up to see the crowd and...
went back to sleep. 

On a last minute call, we packed all night to catch a 3am train out of town. Due to disagreement with a conductor on the platform boarding was going to be tight. With Bollywood-star-like agility we ran along side the moving train to find an open door. But that night was a Bollywood tale of woe as every door was locked and we had to walk back past hundreds of half-sleeping people who just watched the effort.

If anyone could help us find the next solution it would be the uncles at the ticket window. Not pictured are the 20 other men I waded among trying to rouse the employees. No matter how people pushed or persuaded, the help window remained open, but not doing business.

This experience typifies some of the most trying moments here. Just when you want something to go right. But a way was made and we caught our flight by using an alternative bicycle rickshaw, 4 hour bus ride, and regional flight to catch our intended flight.

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.