what's so special about India # part 2

The mysterious headshake.

We're used to the that shaking your head means "no".
In India on the other hand it means...guess what? - yes.

This might be confusing to travellers like ourselves.
Many times this is the only answer you'll get. The person you are speaking to won't
say anything, he or she will simply shake their head.

- Is this bus going to Chennai?
-headshake
- Simi he says the this isn't the right bus!

-Is this the right way?
-headshake

- Do you serve dinner?
-headshake


You get the point.
To make it even more interesting, sometimes it means "maybe" too.
Well well, when you start understanding then comes the difficulty in changing your own habits.
Today Simi was haggling about the price with a rickshaw-driver. He proposed it would cost us rs 150. Simone didn't agree so she shook her head, and the driver was happy about a good deal for a few moment.

No, I'm not dead.

The doctor told me I could leave the hospital today.
Which makes me happy. Staring out the hospital window was driving me crazy;

I have been in better shape. The 15 minute walk to our hotel made me wanna fall asleep,
most kinds of food isn't tempting at all, and my stocmach really has a life of it's own.(This I am not
going to give you any details about, it"s no fairytale) I guess this is just something you have to prepared for when going to India. My antibiotics is starting to do their thing and sooner or later I'll be back on my feet.

So no worries poeple!
Next week I'll get the result of some tests they took,
and until then we'll do not too exhausting things .
(like walking around a mountain twice a day or something as clever)


Puss&Kram!
/Nina

This is my city!

 

Becoming Indian

After visiting Madurai and Kanyakumari (the southest point of India!), and after hour of painful bus rides, we finally arrived in Kottayam, whereone of Ninas friends parents-in-law live. Jacob and Jaya have a very nice house a bit away from the centre, and they welcomed us as if we were their own grand children.

And so we got our first Indian culture lessons: how to wear a saree, how to eat properly, how to pronounce Malayalam (the language in Kerala), how to open a coconut the right way (there are so many coconut trees here!)... after some days and clothes shopping they told us: Now you are Indians!

Unfortunately Nina became sick after the first day, and so I had to entertain myself a bit. I made an apple duck, and Jaya showed me some traditional Keralan dishes. On the picture you see Achappam (yes, I remembered the word!), some deep fried cookies/crunchy things.

After nearly a week Nina felt better, and so we left for Alleppey, which we reached by ferry. But then she felt sick again, and so we decided to change our plans and go directly to Kochi, where we are now. Nina is in hospital for a day or two (dhe has an infection), and I wander along the streets here. It is a beautiful city. A bit too many tourists maybe, but really beautiful. In the morning I took the ferry to come to another island (Kochi is spread over some islands), and I really enjoyed the view over the sea. So now I just hope that Nina gets out of hospital soon, so that she can enjoy it too.

Remembering Tiruvannamalai

Every full moon, thousands of pilgrims come to Tiruvannamalai, to walk 14 kilometres around a holy mountain. We decided to join them. When we arrived we were not uite sure if full moon really means full moon, and so we did the walk during noon and the afternoon. We were not the only ones, but there were definitely not thousands, and so we thought, maybe the guide book is wrong. But after dinner we realized that full moon really means full moon, and as we like to do things two times anyway, we joined them again. It was amazing. Though still - the Hindu rituals seem quite unusual for a Westerner. People begave more like on a sunday excursion with their families: There is a lot of food, entertainment, people are shouting, laughing and enjoying themselves. With bare feet. As an honour to Shiva the walk has to be done with no shoes on. (we did it bare feet the first time, but not the second)

What's so special about India? # part 1

In India you never, or at least very rarley use toiletpaper.
Instead the toilet will be equipped with an extra watertap next to the toilet itself.
Practical! And way better for the nature not to waste all that paper.

 At first it felt strange. Then slowly we got used to it. Now we are considering never going back.
Toiletpaper is an unnecessary luxury in invented by western society? We think so.

Stay tuned for more crazy indian facts coming up :)
(Said with our very best tvcommercial voices)

Tranquebar & Tiruvannamalai - Impressions

                                          The old danish fort in Tranquebar.
Tranquebar is an old danish colony, even though today only the fort, the church and a "danish shop" (which doesn't sell any danish things) reminds of the old days. Still, a lot of Danes come to visit this beautiful idyllic little town.

                                   German writings in the old danish church.

Nina after our first Pooja in Arunachaleswara Temple in Tiruvannamalai.We were a bit confused because we just saw some people waiting for something and so we decided to join them. We then found out what a Pooja is: you go into the inner part of the temple, give some donations and receive a red dot on your forehead in return. It was so much fun that we decided to do it once again, in another part of the temple. There we received some white powder, which is used to make a white stripe, again on the forehead. The different colors and signs are symbolic for the different gods in Hinduism.

                                      One of the entrances of the temple.

Happy Pongal!

The biggest Ferrero Rocher in the world

Last Sunday there was a big festival here in Sadhana. About 300 children from different schools came to celebrate the first birthday of a project called Children's Land. It's a part of the forest that children can create and use as they want to. Some of the people (of the long-termers) living in Sadhana are responsible for this project, and they guide and support the children that come here. But for the birthday the help of all of us was needed. There were different workshops: music, sports, handicrafts, games, a clay village, face painting, and boat building (which Simone was a part of). It was a very very exhausting day, but also full of energy. It was so good to see how happy the children were  - even though they were really uncontrollable!

And then, this weekend, we finally made our way to the centre of Auroville: the Matrimandir. It's this Ferrero Rocher-thing you see in the picture, and it's Auroville's most important sacred place. Inside (but it is very difficult to get permission to go inside; we even had to watch a movie just to see it from the outside) there is the world's largest crystal. The Matrimandir is also used as a place for concentration and meditation.

Now we are half way through our stay here in Sadhana. By the way: New Year's was good. We didn't make it until the next morning, but we had some dates and cashews as a special dinner, and we chanted into the new year while dancing around a bonfire in the forest together with the other volunteers. (and we did Blei giessen!)
So happy new year to all of you!

Christmas at Sadhana Forest, Auroville

A little bit too late, we know... but as we are living on a super-ecological farm now (actually, they are reforesting an area), internet is hard to find. Super-ecological means, that it is a community with quite strict rules: no alcohol, no smoking, only vegan food, no competitive games, no oil, no chili, no sweets, BUT: very complicated toilets, shower buckets, a lot of good music, great people, a relaxing atmosphere, workshops every day, singing, dancing and learning. As there is high season right now, there are nearly 100 people, and so, of course, it took us some time to arrive here and to feel comfortable. (but sometimes it is good to come out and play Scrabble and eat cheese)

For Christmas (on the 25th) we made presents for other people, and we had a very good dinner together, followed by a performance about Jesus' birth. And then, in the workshop about astronomy, we saw some shooting stars and made wishes for next year!