Off the beaten track

The last month and, in particular, the last couple of weeks has seen us experiencing Indian culture from an insiders point of view.  I really love the fact that we're living with a family and are able to experience India first hand rather than only following the well trodden tourist tracks.  I thought I'd let you in on a couple of the things we've been going to that wouldn't have happened if we were purely tourists.

Our neighbourhood 

Our first, very random for us, experience was one evening when Sam burst into our rooms and said “You ready to go? Now?”.  We had no idea what he was referring to but blindly agreed that, yes, of course we were ready to go! And so we left the house on foot with Sam and Laisha.  We walked to the end of the road where we met some friends, Sam and Glory (the loveliest couple ever from church) and continued up another road.  We headed up to a nearby suburb called 'Mount Pleasant' which overlooks the large tea plantation by us and our little cluster of houses.  We turned up a small alley way and ended up in the backyard of an older couple who's son comes to church.  Our mouths instantly salivated at the smell of cooking although this was quickly abated when accompanied with the pong of cow dung.  By this point we were picking up some clues as to what was happening and where we were going.  It was a Tuesday and the last of a four day national holiday.  This holiday is called 'Pongal' and is a Hindu celebration and time of worshipping the sacred cow.  We sat inside for a quick drink before heading out back to the cow yard.  We found a large cow in a smallish shed decorated with banana leaves and lights.  We then proceeded to pray for and bless the cow and thank God for His provision.  I think this was basically a Christian take on Pongal and more of a mini thanksgiving service, kind of like harvest.  It was quite good fun although every time the cow moved or looked at me I definitely backed up a little! After some prayer and singing, we all took our turn to feed the cow (by hand) a traditional pongal dish called..... pongal! Once the cow had been fed we all scrambled into the house for our own pongal.  The best we can describe the dish is mashed potato meets rice pudding in consistency with cardamom and cashew nut flavours – tastes much nicer than it sounds! This was also the momentous, life-changing occasion when Daniel met Vadai for the first time (see previous post for deets!).  After dinner we prayed for the family and house thus culminating our first, definitely non-tourist adventure!

The amazing traditional Chinese fishing nets

This last weekend we were driven 6/7hrs south-west to the region of Kerala.  We stayed for two nights in a town near to Fort Kochin which is a hive for heat-lusty tourists.  We found it surprisingly odd seeing so many white people! Although we did do quite a few of the usual touristy things including market places, boat trips and watching epic and traditional fishing techniques, the reason for the visit was actually to attend a 50th wedding anniversary! Laisha's auntie and uncle live in the region and we were basically invited to gatecrash the occasion.  We arrived late Sat night, greeted everyone and went straight to bed.  On Sunday morning we went to a small (about 20 people), local, backstreet pentecostal church (another thing we only experienced as non-tourists) then went back for anniversary celebrations.  The porch of the house had been transformed with brightly coloured canopies and drapes and chairs had been set up for a mini service.  The couples' orthodox church leaders came and led a short service and prayer time then presented the couple with a golden shawl as is tradition.  Then loads of their friends came up and shared stories and memories of the couple.  There were probably about 70 people there and so, after the ceremony, an almighty buffet feast began and every square inch of space was filled with people or food! Another trés fun insight into Indian culture. 

A small selection of gifts!

Talking of gatecrashing events...we also gatecrashed a house-warming party! This was really good fun.  We all rammed into the car and drove about 30mins across the mountains to a small village with the most stunning of views.  We parked up on the 'main road' and were greeted by a lovely couple with their young son.  They led the way to their newly-built house, scrambling up small tracks, through back-gardens and collecting basically the whole village on the way!  The next few hours were subsequently filled with an ostentatious ribbon cutting ceremony, prayer and blessing over each room and the kitchen hob (random!), singing and the presenting of gifts from all the neighbours and family.  It was astounding how generous people were! Everyone had brought a gift, be it food, an essential household item, decorations or clothes.  This was followed by the immediate family presenting the couple with a whole host of fruit, flowers, pots and clothes which literally covered about half the room! Such an example of generosity particularly as most of them had very little in the first place – definitely a lesson learnt! After this, as is typical of Indian celebrations/any average day, a great feast for the whole village ensued.  Women came round the corner with massive tureens of curried everything, vats and vats of rice, piles of poppadoms and heaps of vadai! It was pretty amazing especially when they were all served on banana leaf – no washing up and completely biodegradable, perfect!  A really fun day and so great to be involved in!

The grand house opening

There have been quite a few other occasions where we looked at each and thought “well this wouldn't be happening to us if we were tourists!” and it's great to get a bit more to grips with India and how people and events work here.  A few weeks ago we experienced how this particular culture mourn too.  There was an old lady (Patti – Grandma) who lived with us and was here to be palliatively cared for and she died a few weeks ago.  Now in the UK, it can take weeks before any funeral or life-celebration happens but here it all happened in a day.  She had died at 7.30am and by 3pm we were in a nearby village at her daughters house mourning with her family before the funeral service in the evening.  We walked through the front door to see her lying there very peacefully, covered in beautiful, colourful flowers from head to toe.  There was an open door policy and throughout the afternoon neighbours, family and friends came and went, bringing gifts and sympathies and saying their goodbyes.  It was a very touching time and was handled really respectfully both to her and her daughter.  Although we had met and lived with Patti (albeit shortly), we felt quite honoured to be allowed into something so personal and, again it was amazing to experience, so intimately, a different culture. 

A casual 10 minute walk from our front door

We've also seen a few birthdays where lovely, tender traditions like cutting cake with your parents and feeding each other happens along with the birthday girl or boy generously buying everyone cake or sweets and sharing them out.  And we feel fortunate to have gone on some local walks from our front door and discovered little villages otherwise unknown to tourists and meandered through beautiful hills and scenery all because of where we're living.  It's amazing to live life alongside a different culture and see things through their eyes and traditions.  Who needs fancy hotels and rip-off tourist prices hey?

P.S. Just found out that we're going to a wedding tomorrow....win!