11/feb the tank, eating rules, tibetan refugees & grown up children
After the great breakfast, to the beach. It was between 10 and 11 am. I wanted to avoid the hottest hours of the day, from 1 to 3 pm.
Here, in varkala, in this little paradise, it’s too easy to forget that you are in India. It could be brazil, Thailand, or any nice place in the world with a similar weather. And this is because the only Indians that are in the beach, are working; they sell pineapples, mangos, chai, drinks, they rent umbrellas… but none of them is enjoying the beach. But I only have this feeling in the beach, and sometimes eating. But fortunately not all the time.
I swam a couple of hours, and decided to go to see the temple afterwards. But it was closed till 5 pm. So I instead took a few pictures to 7 or 8 boys that were having so much fun jumping to a water tank. And they became mad when the saw me taking pictures! They all wanted to be main character!! And, as everytime I take a picture of people, I show it to them, trying to be respectful, I showed to them, everytime, and they were trying to make more difficult jumps. There was other people washing their clothes, cleaning themselves… and the water of these tanks, is not that clean. I don’t know if they change it once in a while, but it use to be greenish, or brownish… and never nice or clean colors.
It’s fun, because only after a couple of days being here, everyone recognizes me while I’m going home! It feels I’ve been here for a long time! And another thali!! Of course, a veg thali! I’m becoming vegetarian! Can you believe that? I guess many of you cannot, but vegetables here are very tasty, and cheap. And there’s less oil or fat than in the meat meals, that’s why. I feel I’m very healthy now!! Healthy food, sports everyday, reading and sleeping well!
And now, eating rules; As I wrote in the last post, food must be eaten ONLY with the right hand, the good one. Thalis, the national meal, are served on a metallic plate, with 4 or 4 small divisions, and a big one. (like the plates in the army, I think) Rice (a very big portion) goes to the biggest division, and in the other vegetables cooked in different ways (dry vegetables, vegetables with sauce, with coconut, with pineapple…) a curry. They serve a papadam with it (I don’t know if this word is in hindi or mayamalam) that it’s a kind of cracker. Now it’s time to start. You have to throw a little bit of the curry on the rice, and start mixing it with the rice, with your hand. The, you make a small and as compact mountain as possible, and take it to your mouth. To do all these things, mixing, compacting and introducing to your mouth, you must use the whole extension of your fingers. Every now and then, you take some of the vegetables and eat them, sometimes with the papadam. After eating, 2 more things are basic; washing your hand (also before starting), full of food, and make a burp (rot), not very loud, but not silent. People is sitting anywhere, and they don’t say a word during the meal. I don’t know if it has to do with the thali philosophy… I always try to smile to them, and I always get the smile back, but this use to be the end of our communication. Thali is the national meal because it’s quite complete, you are full after eating, and it’s very cheap. From RS 10 to RS 30, or at least these are the prices I’ve seen around. And I forgot something very important!! They refill you plate all the time!! You have to say ‘please stop or I’ll explode!!’
After this great meal, beach again! While I was bodysurfing, I met some people from spain. From galicia, santander and Ibiza. From 11 years to 40. A nice group. And then, after meeting a girl from germany that has been living in tarifa for the last 10 years, yoga teacher, I took my first yoga (yenga?) lesson. The teacher was mira, a girl from italy (cagliari, sardegna) that has an institute in germany. And wow, that was so tiring!! And I hurted my knee… but only a little bit. Everything was so slow… Maybe I’ll enjoyed more next time. After the shower, I went to have dinner, and I met and had dinner with one guy and one girl from Osaka, japan, They both had been once in Barcelona, and like everyone I’ve met, they love it! On my way home, late, still a few Tibetan shops were open. Workers are Tibetan refugees. I talked for a while with a man, and when I was living he lent me a book talking about the destruction, by the Chinese government, of the biggest institue (and temple) for Buddhist studies, under the ‘cover; of politic actions against china, and pro-dalai lama… the book was counting all the laws that china is forgetting, and there are so many. They killed many people, destroyed a lot of houses, and lowered down the number of student from 10000 to 300 or 400 people.
In all these familiar business, everyone is working, and it’s weird to see children acting like grown ups, on the way they talk, they move… and after a second, acting like children again, discussing with their friends, crying, smiling… Some of them work in restaurants, other have to walk the whole day carrying carpets, or sarees, or anything the tourist can buy. Under this huge sun…
19/2/05
Here, in varkala, in this little paradise, it’s too easy to forget that you are in India. It could be brazil, Thailand, or any nice place in the world with a similar weather. And this is because the only Indians that are in the beach, are working; they sell pineapples, mangos, chai, drinks, they rent umbrellas… but none of them is enjoying the beach. But I only have this feeling in the beach, and sometimes eating. But fortunately not all the time.
I swam a couple of hours, and decided to go to see the temple afterwards. But it was closed till 5 pm. So I instead took a few pictures to 7 or 8 boys that were having so much fun jumping to a water tank. And they became mad when the saw me taking pictures! They all wanted to be main character!! And, as everytime I take a picture of people, I show it to them, trying to be respectful, I showed to them, everytime, and they were trying to make more difficult jumps. There was other people washing their clothes, cleaning themselves… and the water of these tanks, is not that clean. I don’t know if they change it once in a while, but it use to be greenish, or brownish… and never nice or clean colors.
It’s fun, because only after a couple of days being here, everyone recognizes me while I’m going home! It feels I’ve been here for a long time! And another thali!! Of course, a veg thali! I’m becoming vegetarian! Can you believe that? I guess many of you cannot, but vegetables here are very tasty, and cheap. And there’s less oil or fat than in the meat meals, that’s why. I feel I’m very healthy now!! Healthy food, sports everyday, reading and sleeping well!
And now, eating rules; As I wrote in the last post, food must be eaten ONLY with the right hand, the good one. Thalis, the national meal, are served on a metallic plate, with 4 or 4 small divisions, and a big one. (like the plates in the army, I think) Rice (a very big portion) goes to the biggest division, and in the other vegetables cooked in different ways (dry vegetables, vegetables with sauce, with coconut, with pineapple…) a curry. They serve a papadam with it (I don’t know if this word is in hindi or mayamalam) that it’s a kind of cracker. Now it’s time to start. You have to throw a little bit of the curry on the rice, and start mixing it with the rice, with your hand. The, you make a small and as compact mountain as possible, and take it to your mouth. To do all these things, mixing, compacting and introducing to your mouth, you must use the whole extension of your fingers. Every now and then, you take some of the vegetables and eat them, sometimes with the papadam. After eating, 2 more things are basic; washing your hand (also before starting), full of food, and make a burp (rot), not very loud, but not silent. People is sitting anywhere, and they don’t say a word during the meal. I don’t know if it has to do with the thali philosophy… I always try to smile to them, and I always get the smile back, but this use to be the end of our communication. Thali is the national meal because it’s quite complete, you are full after eating, and it’s very cheap. From RS 10 to RS 30, or at least these are the prices I’ve seen around. And I forgot something very important!! They refill you plate all the time!! You have to say ‘please stop or I’ll explode!!’
After this great meal, beach again! While I was bodysurfing, I met some people from spain. From galicia, santander and Ibiza. From 11 years to 40. A nice group. And then, after meeting a girl from germany that has been living in tarifa for the last 10 years, yoga teacher, I took my first yoga (yenga?) lesson. The teacher was mira, a girl from italy (cagliari, sardegna) that has an institute in germany. And wow, that was so tiring!! And I hurted my knee… but only a little bit. Everything was so slow… Maybe I’ll enjoyed more next time. After the shower, I went to have dinner, and I met and had dinner with one guy and one girl from Osaka, japan, They both had been once in Barcelona, and like everyone I’ve met, they love it! On my way home, late, still a few Tibetan shops were open. Workers are Tibetan refugees. I talked for a while with a man, and when I was living he lent me a book talking about the destruction, by the Chinese government, of the biggest institue (and temple) for Buddhist studies, under the ‘cover; of politic actions against china, and pro-dalai lama… the book was counting all the laws that china is forgetting, and there are so many. They killed many people, destroyed a lot of houses, and lowered down the number of student from 10000 to 300 or 400 people.
In all these familiar business, everyone is working, and it’s weird to see children acting like grown ups, on the way they talk, they move… and after a second, acting like children again, discussing with their friends, crying, smiling… Some of them work in restaurants, other have to walk the whole day carrying carpets, or sarees, or anything the tourist can buy. Under this huge sun…
19/2/05
posted by Unknown at 17:43
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