An Indian love affair

I love food. I love everything about it. I love growing it, preparing it, cooking it, reading about it, experimenting with it, oh and of course consuming it. Emily will testify that often after finishing dinner I will ask, “what do you fancy for dinner tomorrow?” My mother was devastated when I left home because I ate twice as much as my little sisters combined (that makes my mum sound like a feeder...she is a feeder) and I am known in Emily's family for polishing off double and sometimes triple roast dinners of a Sunday. I love food, and when I realised that our trip to India would see us eating curry most days, if not every day, I was over the moon.

You might have guessed that this post is a tribute to my favourite subject, if you feel as I do about food, and especially curry, this post is dedicated to you

Curry was always been a staple growing up in our house. About once a month my mother would produce an Indian banquet for the family consisting of two different meat curries, sometimes a vegetable option, poppadoms, naans, yoghurts for burning tongues, chutneys, dals and of course, perfect fluffy rice. Hands down it was the best meal of the month, my dad and I would gorge ourselves. Obviously spice played a fairly major part in my culinary upbringing as well, with spicy Mexican meals and my father constantly daring me to eat his deadly pickled chillis. And Emily has always impressed me with her capacity for spicy dishes (very attractive in a woman) However we were not sure what to expect when we came here. We'd been regaled with stories from friends of burning mouths, streaming eyes and burgundy faces...how would we cope when faced with authentic Indian fare?

A beautiful meal that we enjoyed at a house-warming

It's difficult to know where to begin...other than to say the food here is absolutely fantastic. Every afternoon is spent with rumbling stomachs as the smells of garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chapatis and mysterious spice mixes waft our way from the kitchen. The ladies of the house (various aunties and friends depending on who's in) will spend all afternoon chopping, frying and mixing these wonderful delights for the evening meal. They have been gracious enough to start with very little spice and increase the amount each day until we find our limit (I think we're just about there...as I type this my lips are all a tingle from lunch)

I could talk about this all day, instead, here are some highlights and tip's I have learned for making perfect Indian food. The best meals we have had have been birthday treats. First was chicken biryani, a sticky, sweet curry with tender pieces of chicken with a little spice but not enough to smother the ginger and garlic. Then came the beef curry (which I will dream of until the day I die as the ultimate curry). The beef was cooked in a pressure cooker and all the juices were included, red onions were cooked gently for over an hour until they were disintegrating and small flakes of coconut with a little turmeric were thrown in for texture. The result? Beef that melts in the mouth introducing a different flavour with every chew and enough spice to keep you on your toes. Most days we eat a basic chicken and potato masala with rice and chapatis which never fails to please. For lunch it's rice and a spicy dal (thick lentil soup) and whatever curry is left over from the previous night (there's no wastage in this house, the curries keep reappearing until they have been eaten and every edible part of the chicken will be thrown in)

A very spicy curry in the making

When it comes to spice I would liken a hot curry in an Indian restaurant in the UK to being punched in the mouth then having to pay for the pleasure. Too often the chillies are used as a weapon of mass destruction to defeat whatever macho moron decides to order a vindaloo. Not so here. Recently we've had quite a few hotter curries but the spice is more subtle. The burn is still there (together with its unwelcome reminder the following morning) but it has context. The spice element is like just another colour on the cooks palette of flavours, adding to and complimenting the other ingredients to create culinary perfection. So far I'm nowhere near sick of curry yet, and the thought of curry again tonight is still exciting!

I wish the same could be said about breakfast. I hate having breakfast at the best of times, unable to muster the motivation to make anything worth eating, but curry for breakfast has been a real test of my love for the spicy food. And spicy it is, usually something like iddly (small, dry parcels of mashed up, ground rice) or dosa (large, savoury, crispy pancakes) and a spicy chutney. First thing in the morning it's not quite the gentle wake up I'm used to! Also the tea is very different here. Em and I drink pal chai (white tea) with a spoon of sugar to bring out the flavour. Usually I wouldn't have any sugar (sweet enough for two I am) but my one spoon is rather conservative here. In my experience if something is going to be sweet it will be SWEET. We had pudding one day which looked like it was a very large lump of caramel. Turns out it was a very large lump of caramel, about the size of a deflated football...I hoped we didn't have to eat the whole thing, I could feel it rotting my teeth then and there. Emily on the other hand loved it!

Wonderful Vadai

We're also discovering the delights to be found in the Indian bakeries. Varaki (small and very addictive puff pastry mouthfuls) sweet biscuits (exactly what they sound like) and salted biscuits (ditto) as well as wonderful bags of 'mixture' (bombay mix to you and me) and my favourites, Vadai. Vadai are a combination of lentils, onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, chillis and flour, rolled into balls, squashed and deep fried. The result is a crispy, salty snack, bursting with flavour and revealing little secret tastes the longer you chew them. The first time I tried them I went a little catatonic, closed my eyes and mmmed my appreciation...much to Emily's embarrassment.

Of course we've been eating all these meals with our hands, scraping the rice into a little mound, scooping it up and flicking it into our mouths. This didn't take too long to master and now it's second nature, though we are slightly worried we'll forget how to use a knife and fork when we get back.

Emily making a batch of carrot cake

Tomorrow Emily and I are cooking for the family. We're making chicken pie, with as much added flavour and salt as we can bear to cater for more intense palettes. It has to be said we're missing English food; cheese, proper bread, pasta and sauce, roast dinner where the flavour of the meat is the main event rather then the spices it was cooked in. (We had a rather amusing conversation where we described a hog roast. P. Sam and family just didn't understand why there was no 'masala' on the meat...and we just ate the meat plain? Was it not really dull?) But our hosts are so generous with their food and the time and love that has gone into making it that we're never missing it for long.

I could go on about this all day, but I won't. All I will say is this, if you love food, and if you love curry, come to India. It is a foodies paradise with new adventures every day. I think my mother has it right, we will be rolling back to the UK come April.

Another little bit of India...

Daniel and (some of) the lads

Most of our time for the last week has been spent compiling profiles of all the children cared for by Bethesda both at this orphanage in Coonoor and the other one in Erumad. There's about 120 kids in total and lots of pieces of paper and random bits of information to be sifted through for each one (sometimes with slightly different facts on them) so it's quite a task! It's been great though because we're getting to know the children a lot faster than we would normally and are able to name the quieter ones as well as the ones who use you as a climbing and spinning frame! We've had lots of fun taking photos for some of the profiles too. As soon as the children realise we have our camera with us when we go down they charge at us and demand photo shoots with their friends and siblings. It's actually really useful because we'll say a name of a child we need to photograph and they all go off and find them thereby taking the potentially awkward moments of misremembering a child and their family away from us. The kids here are amazing, they're so playful (as kids usually are) and just so happy to be in each others' company. For every child there is a small suitcase with everything that they own in the world in it-there's usually some space still left in it too. So, as you can imagine, when we go down armed with a laptop and a fancy(ish) camera a) they mob us and enjoy looking and touching everything and b) we feel well spoilt having so much!

The kids sorting out their belongings

We've also broken the barrier that is going into the kitchen, hoorah! So far, if we've tried helping out in the kitchen in any way we've been swiftly ushered out and told to rest which, as English people, goes against all politeness and manners we've grown up with (thanks parents!). That is, until Monday, when it all changed. Daniel forced his way into the kitchen and begged to be shown how to make chapatis. As a variety of onions were being fried with coconut, beef, tomato and copious amounts of spices, Daniel was in his element kneading, cutting, rolling, folding and rolling dough into shapes some of which rather dubiously resembled chapati. I genuinely think this was the happiest I've seen him here and that's saying quite a lot! I also managed to wheedle my way in to make a chocolate birthday cake for Bibin (Pastor Sam's nephew who lives here too). Turns out birthdays here have some really lovely traditions. Bibin came back from town in the afternoon with two very large boxes full of cake for the children and in the evening we went downstairs to share it with them. We all sang “Happy Birthday” very loudly and out of tune with various added Indian verses and then Bibin and his parents cut the chocolate cake together (after a long time attempting to blow out relighting candles...oh chuckles!) and proceeded to feed each other bits of cake. Cake was then handed out to each child and general crumb-filled frivolity ensued including some cake-smushed faces courtesy of Daniel. It was so lovely and good fun!

Daniel loving the dwarf french beans at the nursery

Unfortunately, yesterday saw the local council hike water restrictions up a level. Basically, there's a water shortage in the region and it'll only be solved by lots of rain. It hasn't rained a single drop for the last 2.5weeks we've been here and doesn't look as if it's even remotely thinking about it. We've been reliably informed that it may not rain (enough) until July time – eek! As a result there's only about 2-3hours a day in which water tanks can be filled and with 70 children to look after that's not cool. Amazingly, praise God, there's a chap in the church who owns a nursery (plants) not far away and he has a well which he has given Bethesda full use of should we need to. As a result, yesterday the jeep did about 9 trips to and from the well with a large water tank in the back and filled up the cisterns here. However, the water shortage did stop the kids from going to school yesterday which I'm pretty sure they didn't mind! Please pray for a longer term solution if you can!

(Brother) Daniel was asked to speak in church last Sunday which he did! I've not heard Daniel preach before but it was great, not only because of what God said through him but also because I could understand everything that was said! Consequently he's been asked to speak again. I'm sure there's going to be many times whilst we're here that we will be pushed out of our comfort zone (like there hasn't been already) but we're confident in God's ability to use us and are trying to see these as opportunities to grow!

And now for something completely different...context

While the UK grinds to a halt under a token gesture of white stuff from the heavens, Emily and I have spent the day walking amongst the tea plantations in fresh 25° heat, eating oranges and basking in the sun on our balcony. I write today's post from said balcony and can feel the sun starting to burn a very specific area of my left knee. Why am I telling you this? To make you green with envy? Yes, in fact I am, because I happen to love snow and the effect it has on busy UK life. Would I rather be in the England then in this heat? No chance! But I still envy you (slightly) for this snowy respite and encourage you to throw a snowball at a stranger for me.

I thought I would write a post about who we are staying with and what they do. Some of you reading this may already know but for some I fear this might be a grey area, so here is my attempt to relay the wonderful world that is Coonoor, Bethesda children’s home and Pastor Sam.

The first batch

Sam was given up for adoption when his father died and his mother was incapable of looking after him. He lived with a few foster families as he grew up but when one of his adopted fathers also died Sam was sent to an orphanage to be raised. When Sam left the orphanage he went to study at Bible college and felt God wanted him to care for children in a similar situation to his. A few years later Sam and his wife Laisha bought a house big enough to accommodate 15 orphaned or abandoned children and Bethesda Children's home grew from there. Between opening their home in 1993 to the present, Pastor Sam and his family have opened two new homes bringing their total capacity up to 150 and also help run 15 churches who look to serve the poor in their areas.

P. Sam and his Fam.

This year sees a big change for Sam, family and Bethesda. To make the homes easier to run and to enable them to be run to a higher standard P. Sam and co. have decided to build one big orphanage to replace the existing three. This is being built an hour down the road (and the hill) in Mettupalayam. This new home will be big enough for all the kids, tick all the governments boxes regarding standards and provide them with masses of space to play in (something sadly lacking at the Coonoor home at least).

Now I don't know if you're like me but I generally approach charities and organisations like this pretty sceptically. I find myself evaluating everything (being the arrogant Englishman that I am) Is the home effective? Is it efficient? Are they making a difference? Do they really care? Why are they really doing it? Are they somehow profiting from this? My answer to all these questions have been provided in the last week or so.

Emily and I have been tasked with compiling individual profiles for every child on site, which involves getting to know why they came in the first place. Many of the stories are the same, their parents were too poor to care for them and provide an education so they came to Bethesda to be brought up. Some of the stories are more upsetting, one or both parents dying and leaving the child in the grudging care of relatives. Others are downright tragic, involving multiple family deaths, abuse, suicide attempts, mental illness and abject poverty...pretty gory reading I know, but when you consider that some of these kids haven’t reached their sixth birthday the level of trauma seems magnified.

So how are these bruised and battered kiddies who have seen more difficulty in their short lives then most of our parents have in theirs? Running, skipping, jumping, laughing, grinning, surrounded by friends, well fed, well educated, loved, belonging. In a word they are whole (or as whole as can be expected!) It's the kind of wholeness that can't just be provided with three square meals, or a decent education, or even with two loving parents looking after you and raising you. It's the kind of wholeness I've only ever seen in those who know and love Jesus. (Haha! I sneaked it in there, weren’t expecting that were you!) These kids are truly, madly, deeply content and thriving which is incredible given their start in life!

We're privileged to be a small part of Bethesda for these three months, because they are making a huge difference to the poor and needy in their community. And think what you will about God, Jesus, Christians and church, first and foremost Jesus came to serve the poor, and that is what we are seeing being done in Coonoor today.

ps, more info can be found here  http://bethesdamissionindia.com/index.php

Our first week

An afternoon stroll amongst the tea

We've been here for a week now and it's been good! Pastor Sam has been gracious and busy enough to let us have this first week just to get a feel for things and to rest. It's unexpectedly comfortable here which was a particular blessing in the first couple of days when we were still feeling naff and our bodies were still on English time. We have a nice double bedroom with a couple of tables, wardrobes, an ensuite/wet room and a lovely balcony looking out over other peoples' roofs (which are constantly adorned with colourful laundry and potted plants) and a tea plantation.

We've slept and eaten a lot which has been lush and leaving us feeling rather plump! Food here is delicious and varied. We were greeted with toast but then thrown into Indian food with a whole host of different curries using various meats and leaves, chapatis, poori, rice, couscous, rice noodles, omelettes(!), poppadoms and potatoes. Best of all we get to use our fingers for everything! My technique at this has been poor enough to warrant advice and demonstrations on numerous occasions. Daniel, on the other hand, is more practised at this so gets away without too much attention! There's also a LOT of it, our plates are piled high every meal (inc. breakfast) and we're always offered seconds. Thankfully, Jeswin (Sam's eldest son) taught us the word 'pothum' which means enough, and this has come in quite useful!

We're starting to get to grips with the very basics of the Tamil language. The kids have taught us the numbers 1-20 and we can say short phrases like 'how are you?', 'lovely curry' and 'white tea please'. It's rather amusing to see peoples' reactions to us saying these small things. We get lots of claps and laughs...not sure whether that's encouraging or not!

Lydia (Sam's youngest) has shown us into the noisy babble that is Coonoor town centre. It's about a 5 minute downhill walk past a local school and the station into the town. Your senses are immediately overrun with sounds, smells and lots to see. There are no pavements here so it's just about hedging your bets as to which cars will be safest to dodge between! There's a variety of shops and a huge market place which sells everything from cricket bats to shoe polish to fruit and rice. We've really loved exploring this place but have yet to put our bartering skills to the test! We have, however, bought some material for me to have a salwar made up! This is basically a long tunic with a scarf and trousers and is what most women wear. All women dress great here, so many colours and fabrics just flowing off them – a real feast for the eye!

Emily, AKA life-size Barbie, has her hair done...again

In the evenings we have been playing with the kids downstairs. There are about 70 living in the Coonoor orphanage and about the 50 in the other orphanage near(ish) by. They get back from school around 4-5pm so we head down about then and Daniel usually plays cricket with the boys whilst I have my hair brushed and played with to within an inch of it's life! We've also taught the Hokey Cokey which is a huge hit. Whenever I go down a gaggle of girls run to me going “IN, OUT, IN, OUT!”. I regret teaching the macarena though... We're gradually learning everyone's names but it's fairly difficult when there are so many of them and half the names we've never heard before and have no reference for either!We've also introduced some card games to the family upstairs...who knew Snap could be such an intense and enjoyable game?!

We went to church for the first time on Sunday and brought greetings from the UK. Sam was our translator which was great although I'm sure there were times he said a lot more than we did! He then told us we should go and help out with kids work because it would be more interesting for us. Turns out we were leading it! Bit of a bodge job but the kids seemed to have fun, especially when Daniel was narrating the story of the Good Samaritan and got the kids to act as we went along...the boy being the donkey got quite a lot of stick!

All in all we're doing well and this week promises to be busier than last. For example, today is “poor outreach” where we take people of the streets for a wash, hair cut, nail file, hot food etc ...let you know how that goes next time! Hope you're enjoying the snow. Apparently 25° is cold for here!

Arriving into Coonoor

 Where did we leave off? I think Emily and I were in a sleeper carriage surrounded by snoring men doing our best to get some sleep. Eventually after a night of fitful waking and sleeping, jolts and wobbles and whispered giggled conversations between the two of us we pulled into Mettupalayam station before the sun had a chance to rise. We braved the trains toilets one last time (I was going to take a picture but thought I would spare you that trial) and hopped off the train. After a quick cuppa on the station Sam led us to his car past the toy train as it filled it's tanks with water (This is the Nilgiri steam train that I had hoped to go on, alas that joy is saved for another day!)

The view from the orphanage in the foothills

We met up with Ganesh, the chap who came to pick us up, and Sam told us to pronounce his name like the elephant god, then took great joy from slapping Ganesh on the shoulder and shouting, “Elephant man! Elephant man!” First stop on our journey was to the site where the new orphanage is being built. The land comprises 3 acres of cleared land with a few little streams running through it and the occasional coconut tree reaching for the heavens. The orphanage itself is being built at the end furthest from the road leaving just under 2 acres that are put aside for playing fields and gardens. We pulled up and Ganesh honked his horn a few times. Moments later it was apparent why as some sleepy looking builders emerged from a corrugated tin hut where they are living while they do the building work. At that point the foundations had just been laid and Sam walked the site asking questions and checking on the work.

The work begins as the foundations are laid

Meanwhile Emily and I got our first look at the Nilgiri hills. The new orphanage is set in the foothills barely a mile from where the road starts to climb the hills from the plains. As the sun came up into a cloudless sky it lit up these majestic hills covered in trees with here and there a bare rock jutting out. We could tell it was going to be a hot day on the plains so were relieved when Sam called us back to the car and we made our ascent up to a much cooler Coonoor. We had barely started the climb when we spotted several Makak monkeys hanging out by the side of the road chewing on various pieces of goodness knows what.

The road to Coonoor and Ooty is a relentless climb up a well maintained road with only slightly terrifying sheer drops here and there. Scarier is how the drivers have no problem with overtaking on a blind hairpin bend so long as they sound their horn when doing so. The drive was a feast for the eyes with cascading waterfalls, lush forest with magnificently bright flowers growing in abundance and small villages with various roadside shrines to various gods (including several plastic Jesus' and the odd virgin Mary) We were absolutely loving it, haring up the hillside narrowly missing oncoming traffic and taking in the spectacular views.

At last we reached the top and drove through the streets of Coonoor to park under Sam's church (Bethesda Church) and walked down the road to his beautiful turquoise and burnt red house on the side of a hill. We were greeted at the door by Sam's wife Laisha, sister in law Molly and daughter Lydia. The family all live together on a single floor with 4 bedrooms and large open plan living-dining area. They live above a dormitory which houses the younger children and older girls. The windows overlook a courtyard where cricket is played in all spare minutes and across the way there is another small building where the older boys sleep and meals are prepared.

By now Emily and I were very travel weary and though we were mostly rehydrated by several hours of forcing water down ourselves, we were hungry and imagine our delight as Laisha produced a toaster, a loaf of bread, butter and a jar of marmalade! Sweet manna from heaven! MARMALADE! After eating our fill of toast and trying to make conversation, despite feeling like we were thinking through brick walls of exhaustion, we were shown to our bedroom (complete with hot and cold running water, western toilet, double bed and balcony) said goodnight, and at half past 8 in the morning, crashed onto the bed and slept slept slept.

But what have we been doing since you may wonder? I think I'll be gracious enough to let Emily tell you. So until next time, :-)

The Journey!

Well, finally we have arrived safe and sound in Coonoor! It was a long journey and we're still sleeping it off but it's really great to be here. We left a misty and cold England behind on Sunday afternoon and landed in an even colder, even mistier Delhi the following morning. I should probably mention that one of the first things we said to each other upon landing was, “ Crikey isn't it cold” not exactly what you expect when landing in India!

The flight from London was fairly uneventful, aside from uncomfortable seats and some dodgy Bollywood music videos. We arrived in Delhi to find it a very large, very slick state of the art airport which has clearly seen a lot of recent investment. We had three hours to make our transfer so we took our time...only to discover our plane was going to be two hours late! Apparently we were lucky it wasn't cancelled, Air India seems to have a nasty habit of cancelling flights that will be too inconvenient to prep for departure...suddenly the extra 2 hours wait doesn't seem so bad!

The flight to Chennai was a difficult one. The plane was really hot and stuffy and despite our best efforts Em and I were quite dehydrated. All this combined with how little sleep we'd had meant Emily unfortunately made good use of the sick bags on our descent into Chennai and I was afraid I might follow suit given any more bumps and jolts! The only thing for it was to get off the plane, grab our luggage and meet Sam ASAP so we could rest up and rehydrate. Sam was waiting as promised outside the terminal and I think we were both relieved to see him and to be done with our flights.

As a local chap led us off to his taxi we got our first proper look at Chennai and at India. I say look but the first thing that really hits you is the noise. Most people will tell you, when describing Indian roads, two main facts. Number one, everyone drives like a maniac. Number two, everyone uses their horn all the time, no exaggeration! (more on this in a future post I feel) As we got into the taxi the first thing I noticed was that it had no left wing mirror. No worries, I thought, at least he's got the right one...I was sitting in the front seat and as I glanced back to check on Emily, sitting in the right-hand passenger seat our driver pulled out, and behind Emily I saw a small van heading straight for the side of our car that has just pulled out in front of it. The van honks his horn repeatedly, swerves to miss us and our driver, totally undaunted, drives off regardless. Apparently his missing left wing mirror would not be a problem after all, he clearly wasn't planning on using the one he did have...

We arrived at the hotel about an hour later and had a quick wash before going down to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Emily was a right trooper and came down to try some curry despite being exhausted and queasy. Sam ordered us some biryanis which I scoffed and Emily did her best with before we went back up to our rooms and crashed out for a few hours.

The final stage of our journey was a sleeper train at 9pm from Chennai to Mettupalayam. The station was rammed full of people from all walks of life, with all manner of luggage with them. Vendors were selling food and drink for the journey (Sam bought me a fried chicken burger which tasted divine even as I tried not to think about the standard of hygiene that went into it's production) The station itself was a cacophony of smells. Some of them tantalising, interesting and pleasant, most of them none of the above. One tried not to imagine the origins.

The carriage itself was a a three tier bunk bed system with six beds to a cabin. Emily and I took the bottom two while Sam took the top of our set of three. I didn't have high hopes of sleeping and I turned out to be quite right. Between the relentless motion of the carriage and the choir of snoring gentlemen that surrounded us, Emily and I were in for a second night without sleep in a row.

But what happened next? Did we get to Coonoor? (I'll give you a clue, yes we did) but I fear the details of that adventure will have to wait for a future post. Until then, Goodnight!

Before we go...

Christmas has come and gone (leaving copious amounts of chocolate and much expanded waistlines in its wake) and at last Emily and I have had the time to sit down and prepare for India. It's been somewhat challenging over that last 8 weeks since we decided to go. Back in November when we were thinking and praying about it we wondered whether 8 weeks was enough time to get everything done. After all we needed to quit our jobs, pack up our home and life in Southampton, move it all up to the Midlands, buy everything for Christmas and make all the necessary travel arrangements. Add to that a deep clean of the flat, phoning what seems like every company and bank under the sun to change our address and trying our best to say proper goodbyes, it's been something of a hectic 2 months!

That said we have come out the other end (mostly) unscathed and (only just) with the energy to prepare for our Indian adventure! It has to be said that Emily's family have been wonderful. Not just agreeing to house all our stuff (who knew you could accumulate so much junk!) but generally keeping our spirits up, shifting the odd carload of boxes up the A34 and helping us with advice and reminding us of all the small jobs that usually get forgotten in a house move. Also we could not have done it without Emily's organisational skills. I've often thought, with no small measure of gratitude, that Emily is the brain where I am the clueless brawn! Nonetheless, as a team effort we get the job done.

So now we look ahead to India! We fly out at 1pm UK time from Heathrow with 2 giant rucksacks and enough puzzle magazines to keep us entertained for two days. We land in Delhi at some ungodly hour of the morning and have to wait an equally ungodly amount of time for our connecting flight to Chennai (aka Madras). There we meet up with Sam and spend the day getting our first taste (hopefully literally!) of India. Then on Monday evening we are catching a sleeper train from Chennai to Coimbatore before waking up to catch the famous Nilgiri express steam train up the mountain to Coonoor (you have no idea how excited I am to write the words steam and train next to each other!) We arrive in Coonoor on Tuesday morning, no doubt in need of a good wash and sleep but hopefully in one piece...tell you what, we'll let you know how it goes next week shall we? See you then!