Holes in the Ground

Yes. We have porcelain holes in the ground that are called toilets. And yes, we don't use toilet paper. I know you don't want to really hear it, but yes. We wash our butts with water and a good old left hand.

Ha! Does that look scary. You squat and do your business. Actually, usually a house has two toilets. One is this one and the other is called a "western toilet". It's your standard chair looking toilet.

Actually, my biggest fear isn't using the toilet. To be honest it's quite comfortable. It's that there might be something hiding, lurking in that dark hole in the toilet. I don't want to go the bathroom and have something attack my you-know-where. Good thing that's never happened.

Another difference with the bathrooms here are that there is no bathtub. You take a shower on the floor and the water goes down a drain in the floor.

As you can see here, this is the full view of the bathroom. You catch the water in that bucket and use the small mug to pour the water over you. The water goes onto the floor and into the drain that you see on the left of the bucket. The floor of the bathroom is usually always wet, and so there's always the problem of pulling off any socks your wearing. Not that anyone usually wears sock in this heat.

So it takes some skill to brave a usual Indian bathroom, but really it's not unbearable. And you know doctors say that the squatting position is actually a healthier and more comfortable position.

Indian Food

Today we had some really good food for lunch. It was my sister's birthday so we had a special meal. 

The middle larger chunk is Pongal. It's sort of a kind of mashed up rice dish. It's eaten as the main meal. The grayish liquid is Coconut Chutny. It's like a gravy for both the Pongal and the doughnut shaped item at the top called Vada. It's basically a spicy fried dough. Then the top left corner is a sweet called Kesari. The one I ate has pineapple in it. 

Sometimes special meals are eaten on a banana leaf (or even regulars. The leaves are easy to get and decomposable) but I have plate under my leaf because the leaf was small and I didn't want to spill onto the table. A lot of hotels actually serve dishes on a leaf that they cut out and put on a regular plate.  

Handful of Henna

Day One of Henna after scraping the paste 

Day Two of the Henna after applying oil

Henna is a natural dye that is applied on the hands in a paste form. After the paste hardens you scrape it off and it leaves an orange-ish stain that gets darker as it oxidizes and the lighter as it fades away.

I got mine done at Dakshinachithra by some lady. It's not amazing by any standards, but it's really fun to get done. It doesn't have to look amazing. Plus, it's a fun way to get a non permanent tattoo. A lot of people get them done in India for special functions like weddings but they can go out and do it for fun too. There's always some people on the streets willing to do it for you in the city. 

Haha, don't laugh. As you can see I blotted out my face because I'm a paranoid freak. But yes, this is me getting henna (mehendi as we call it in South India). She took about twelve minutes--not very long at all. I waited about two hours before scraping the paste off, but really you can take it off in about half an hour. 

Family Visits

A little comic I made on some scratch paper I had. It just kind of describes how whenever we go to India we have to visit all these relatives. I love talking to new people but there's so many names/faces to remember! I feel so bad when I can't remember a name, so I just nod and smile. 

Another thing is that we don't stay long and we have only a few weeks so we rush around to visit so many people. The thing is they get offended if we do go to visit them so we have to visit everyone. Not that I mind too much because as I said, I love meeting and talking to people. 

Kozy Kitchens

I love the small kitchens in India. I live in the city so there are more flats (apartments) than single family homes. I actually prefer living in small homes and so I love the cramped spaces here. The kitchen is tiny. It has a granite table top on the left with a sink and stove on opposite ends of that table top. On the right side is a built in open shelf that holds the cups, plates, and other silverware. There is a back door that goes out to the small backyard because it gets incredibly hot while cooking. Add that heat with the heat of India (90 degrees F on a good day) and it can get pretty darn hot. 

Another unique thing about the kitchens in India is that the stoves are gas stoves. The red can underneath the counter top is the can of gas used to power the stove. You have to buy the cans and hook them up to your stove. 

As you can see more clearly, the right side is an open closet. It's just really holes in the wall with shelves nailed in. It's pretty shabby but easy to keep clean and good for when you need to grab something quickly. Although it takes time to get used to the size and looks of an Indian kitchen, it does have its advantages over the typical big American kitchen with it's large cooking space and island in the middle. 

Monkeys Gone Wild

We were driving to the beach when we stopped at a toll booth. There were about ten or fifteen monkeys walking around and eating some mangoes. The thing that was amazing, but equally dangerous, was that they were totally unafraid by the large buses and trucks whizzing by. I'll remind you that this was at a toll booth. The monkeys here are so used to human contact here. It's really cool to see because you get to see monkeys all over the place. But in reality, they are kind of a pest. They can damage property and hurt people as well.  

But although it's not good for the monkeys to not fear humans, it's totally our fault. The people here feed them food and allow them to get close. Another sad thing is that the people here can get very violent towards these monkeys. I can't even count the number of times I've seen monkeys in the city that are missing legs and arms and a tail. It's really depressing and although the monkeys can be pests, I wish the people here would handle the problem a little better. Nevertheless, it's so cool that these monkeys are roaming free in the "wild". It's really amazing to see these awesome animals.