Eggplant parmesan!

Taylor Simpson, a University of Chicago student spending the summer at Nirman, decided earlier this week that she’d try to make eggplant parmesan in the Nirman kitchen. Eager to cook after a month away from a kitchen, I decided to give her a hand.

This morning we went to several small grocery stores and streetside stalls in the area to try to find ingredients. I was really surprised at how much we could find - eggplants, tomatoes, oregano, olives, mozzarella (granted, it was really weird mozzarella), parmesan.

Cooking the eggplant parmesan took about four hours from start to finish. A power outage (these happen for 6-10 hours each day) slowed us down a bit, and we did some improvising in the way of ingredients and kitchen tools, but otherwise things went pretty smoothly. We were lucky to have the help of Subash and kitchen worker Pushpa-didi. They laughed at us for testing out the food as we were cooking, because in India “we taste once food is all done.”

All the students staying at Nirman came together to eat the meal. After a month of Indian food, the combination of tomatoes, oregano and cheese tasted like heaven. (Also, the constipative affects of cheese could provide a welcome change for some members of the group). We made Subash take some, but we’re pretty sure he fed it to the dogs. I’ve come to expect everything in India to take longer than I expect it to, and to be a little more confusing and frustrating, so it was nice that this experience went a lot more smoothly than I anticipated. It was really fun to get to know Pushpa and Subash, and it makes me feel even more at home here. I’m glad that I’ve figured out how to find ingredients and cook here in Varanasi. Although learning to cook Indian food will be a PRIORITY during my time here, it’s also nice to know I can make things that taste like home from time to time.

Photos: The finished project, Pushpa grating cheese, Taylor and Pushpa, cooking on the floor in the traditional Indian style

July 26

We’ve been in India for three weeks now, but it feels like months. Each day has its own challenges, excitement, frustrations and hilarious moments. I have yet to make it through a day without completely soaking through my clothes in sweat and fall into bed each night completely exhausted.

A few highlights:

Visiting Sarnath, the deer park where Buddha gave his first sermon. Went to a great museum (with excellent air conditioning - always a plus!), a temple and the ruins of Buddhist structures in the deer park.

Being interviewed by students at the Global Point English School about life in the United States. Questions included “Have you been to Las Vegas?”, “Do you believe in God?” and “If you got a marriage proposal right now, would you accept?”

Spending time at Nirman’s South Point School and getting to know the kids. No, we don’t know Hannah Montana.

Pictures: The auto rickshaws we ride everywhere. Students at the Global Point English School. A performer who came to our host family's house one morning with his monkeys. Cathy with the devil kitten that lives at Nirman. Cameron and I with kids at Sarnath.

July 12-16

We arrived in Varanasi on the evening on July 11, and immediately headed to the homes of our host families, where we will spend two weeks. Cathy and I live with a sitar player, his wife, three sons, parents and sister in their home in a musicians’ neighborhood of Varanasi. They’ve been incredibly welcoming and kind to us. Our host father played his sitar for us and is a wonderful musician. We also heard our 13-year-old host brother play the violin. Our host family has a shower, which is wonderful news!

We’ve been spending our days at Nirman, a children’s school and NGO where we will work, take classes and eventually live. The staff and students are great, and it’s wonderful to be around kids. The brightly colored buildings and sounds of children playing make Nirman a nice retreat from the chaos all around it!

On Tuesday night we went for a boat ride on the Ganga River and saw the nighttime ceremonies at the Assi Ghat. Although our professor warned us that the ceremonies had been somewhat embellished for tourists, it was absolutely beautiful to see the city from the river at night!

I got sick this week, which was a bummer - probably heatstroke. Thanks to Anne Harley, a professor from Claremont McKenna College, for hanging out with me while I was ill. I stayed two nights at Nirman instead of with my host family, and spent a day sleeping. I’m feeling better, but am making sure to take it easy and consume lots of water in the next few days.

I’m enjoying my host family, but am looking forward to moving back to Nirman and being able to settle in here. India is so intense - hot, crowded, busy, chaotic, colorful, smelly, dirty. It will be great to have my own space and figure out how to make this crazy country my home for 5 months.

Pictures: Varanasi from the Ganga River, before and after sunset. Kids and the playground at Nirman school.

July 7-11

I haven’t had much time to write recently - or had much internet access. Here are some updates from my travels in the past few days:

On July 7 we drove to Jaipur, where we visited the Jantar Mantar observatory and saw carpet and textile makers at their showroom (and had clothes made by a tailor at the shop). We shopped in the Old City, where haggled for clothes and shoes, and I ate a wonderful mango from a street stand.

We drove to Agra on July 9. En route, stopped at Fatepur Sikri, a city built by King Akbar in the 16th century, complete with a mosque and a palace for each of his three queens. The sights were amazing, but the 105 degree heat was nearly unbearable and having to constantly resist the children selling souvenirs got really tiring.

In Agra, we woke up at 4am to see the Taj Mahal as the sun rose. I was so glad that we went in the morning, when it was cool and quiet. In the early the light, the monument was incredible - massive, yet intricately detailed. We also went to the Agra Fort, where the king Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal) was imprisoned by his son. In the afternoon, Ben, Cathy and I took a walk through a neighborhood near our hotel. We saw piglets and cows and dogs in the streets, and the neighborhood kids came running out to meet us.

We left Agra on July 11 and drove to Delhi, then flew to Varanasi. I’m so excited to arrive in the city that will be home for 6 months.

Photos: Me at the Taj Mahal, Ben with kids on the streets of Agra, elephants on the streets of Jaipur, the mosque at Fatepur Sikri, our lovely bus - which, as Cathy said, might as well have said "Loser" across the front.

Snippets of July 7

- Spent the morning with the Chopra family - friends of my second cousin David Gault. They showed me some important sights in Delhi, like the president’s house and ministry buildings, and then brought me back to their house for a delightful breakfast where I had a mango lassi and TWO kinds of mango. Afterwards, Sakshi took me a a market area in Delhi where we bargained for cheap clothes and drank coconut milk. This afternoon, we started our “4-5 hour” drive to Jaipur in a three hour traffic jam coming out of Delhi. We ended up spending about 8 hours on the road, and still didn’t manage to beat “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on an iPhone. The sights along the road were astonishing, and sticking my head out the bus window as we passed cows and monkeys and people and traffic was a wonderful way to see rural India.

Pictures: Cows in the road, the road to Jaipur, market in Delhi, Sakshi Chopra, Captain and Romila Chopra