Baby Falak

There is a news story here that has been going on for as long as I've been here.  It's horribly tragic and really shows the worst side of people.

The short version of this story is that Falak, a two year old girl was left outside of New Delhi hospital so physically abused that whether or not she survives has been touch and go for the last three weeks.  She was bruised, bitten, branded on her cheeks and has suffered brain damage as a result.  Every morning the paper has an update on her condition and the whole nation seems to be behind her.

The story on how she got there is equally horrific.  A man has been arrested for handing over Falak to his 14(!) year old girlfriend as part of a human trafficking ring.  Falak's biological mother was forced into prostitution by her husband, before running away.  From what I've gathered, the mother was then sold to another man, and her children taken away from her.  Falak ended up with the man who was arrested and his young girlfriend and it is apparently the girlfriend who beat the child.  But then, the 14 year old had escaped an abusive father to end up with a man who raped her repeatedly for three days before pimping her out to his customers and she took out her own frustration with her situation on Falak.

The whole story is stomach turning and is a sad tale of the state of women in this country and, I would say, of disenfranchised women around the globe.  I've done a bit of Google searching and it seems to be news only here.  I am always shocked that even though we can make such huge strides forward in the rights of women and basic human rights, this kind of abuse continues.  These women are victims just by virtue of their sex and their poverty.  Even if they could escape, there are very few places where they can go for help here, if they even know of their existence.

Here are some links.  The entire story is a bit convoluted and I've noticed different new sources will post slightly different angles on the same thing.  I've been following IBN.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/baby-falaks-brain-infection-starts-subsiding/231235-3.html

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/baby-falaks-brain-infection-starts-subsiding/231235-3.html

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/man-who-abandoned-baby-falak-arrested/229145-3.html

It's hot!!! Finally!

Just to rub it in to all the people enjoying a lovely, cold winter, the daytime high here today was 36C!  It was beautiful out.  Now if only I can get some time outdoors, I would be really happy.  I can't wait for the weekend to be outside and work on my "tan" (I think that I might be slightly more pink than my usual pastiness).   I've discovered that I can sit in the sunshine of the rooftop restaurant completely undisturbed until the hotel staff start setting it up for service in the late afternoon.  It's like a little oasis.

Here is the forecast for the next few days.  I find it interesting that for today (Feb 21), the description of the weather is "smoke".  Today, like yesterday was very hazy.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/inxx0026

New Shoes!

I'm actually not feeling well today.  I woke up with a very sore throat, runny nose and achy body.  Unfortunately, I did have to go out a bit and on the way home, I stopped off at nearby mall to head to the drugstore to grab a couple of things that I am running low on and have a bite of lunch.

Since I was there, I also had a poke around a few of the stores to get a few small presents to bring home.  Since I happened to be walking by a shoe store,  it just seemed wrong not to go in. :)

For the most part, I'm not in love with the shoes here.  Most of them are slip ons and are like flip-flops; they have that thing that goes between the toes, which I always find kind of uncomfortable.  Everyone here wears them though and I've noticed that women actually have a little gap between their big and second toes from wearing them since they were small.

I did happen upon a nice pair of red shoes with an espadrille-type heel that fit like they were made for me.  I was just thoroughly pleased to find a pair of shoes in my size and then thrilled that they fit and were a good price--about 45 dollars.

I happily made my way  out the store and then happened by the sale rack and there was another pair--sort of a patent bronze.  Same brand, same size, so I had to try them on.  Also a perfect fit.  And the price made them worth while--399 rupees, so about 8 dollars.  Love it and love the shoes.

Street Chickens

I get a kick out of the animals I see on the streets here.  I've already rambled on about the dogs and there are the expected cows, but I also see goats, the odd sheep, and have witnessed a riderless horse ambling along the side of a street.  Recently though, I've noticed the the odd stray chicken.  

Every morning, I see truck loads of live chickens being delivered.  If I had access to a kitchen, I could buy a live chicken, have it plucked and butchered and bring it home.  I've gone by some of the stalls selling them and I'm both intrigued and feel very sorry for the chickens at the same time.  The feeling is not unlike the one I have on my way to work in the morning.  My schedule matches up to the delivery of live pigs to the last abattoir left in more down-townish Toronto and I always feel bad for those pigs on their final trip. 

What I like about the chickens, is that I think of them as "escapees" from the chicken truck.  I see them pecking away at whatever they can find with everyone ignoring them.  Although I am sure that their freedom is short lived;  if someone doesn't grab them, they will likely peck their way in the wrong direction and get flattened by a speeding rickshaw and still end up in the stew pot.  

Even so, I can't help but smile when I see them on the run.  Run, Chicken, Run!

Chaat or Street Food (aka Sev Puri)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I finally got to indulge in street food.  We went to a place that is know not only to be clean, but some of the best in the city.  The cart certainly lived up to its reputation.

We indulged in my new Indian food addiction, sev puri.  It is just a delicious looking mess.  Basically, it's made of sort of a flat, cracker like bread, with potato on top, sauce and crunchy bits.  It doesn't sound like much, but it's the perfect combination of crunchiness, softness, and sauciness.  In the last week, I've eaten it five times.  I can get it at the cafeteria at work, plus there is a restaurant nearby that makes it.  This afternoon, on my way to the grocery store for some juice, I ended up stopping off at the restaurant and getting an order.  What's fun about the restaurant is that they have a counter that sells "street food".  I can just walk up, get my sev puri, eat it and be gone again in less than 10 minutes.  Plus it's dirt cheap.  Less than a dollar at the restaurant and at work, it's about 20 cents.

Below is a recipe.  I will make attempt it when I'm hope.  I'm sure that I can get most of the ingredients in Toronto's Little India.  If I can't, I'll just have to find a reason to come back here.. :)

Sev Puri

10 - Flat Puris (crisp)
1 cup Fine Sev
1/2 cup chopped Onion (Pyaj)
1/2 cup Curd (Dahi)
3 tblsp Tamarind (Imli) Chutney
3 tblsp Coriander Leaves (Dhania Patta) Chutney
1/2 cup boiled Potato (Aloo)
1 tblsp Chaat Masala
1/2 tsp Red chili pepper (Lal Mirchi)
1/2 tsp Cumin Seed (Jeera) 

How to make sev puri:

• Arrange the puris on a plate make a hole in each puri in the centre.
• Fill with a few chopped boiled potato cubes.
• Add about 1/4 tsp of tamarind and green chutneys in each.
• Sprinkle cumin powder, salt, red chilli powder.
• Sprinkle finely chopped onions.
• Then generously sprinkle sev all over the puris.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander.
• Serve fresh..

Last Sunday :)

This is a short post as the day was merely "meh" instead of the fun that I had hoped for.

One of the things that I had been looking forward to was a trip back to Colaba and tea at the Taj Palace.  I had reserved a car and was so looking forward to my old haunt.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the same.

It is high season for tourists and since this is almost my third week here and every day has been sunshine and every evening cooling down to just the right temperature, I can see why.

I wandered around and saw my old haunts, including checking out my favourite building, but there were scads and scads of tourists.  When I went to lunch at my favourite cafe, I had a 20 minute wait and when I made it to the Taj  for tea, the only available table had no view.  So it was ok, still interesting and still the neighbourhood I like the best, but I think I prefer it in the pouring rain when I'm practically all alone, rather than having to share it in the sunshine with the rest of the pushy tourists.

And I can't believe that I almost forgot the best part.  As I was walking around, I was stopped by a man who blessed me.  He had me eat this little white sugary candies, wrapped my right wrist with a piece of yellow, red and orange wool and gave me a marigold that I was too keep in my pocket for food fortune.  I remember him from the last time I was here, he blessed me then, too.  I went with it again, though, and when he suggested a "donation" of 500 rupees (10 bucks), I just gave it to him (last time I haggled him down to 150).  I just wasn't in the mood to haggle over my good fortune.  In fact, I wasn't in a haggling mood at all, so perhaps that's part of the reason of my discontent with Colaba that day.

Below is a horrible picture of me, post blessing.

Last Saturday :)

I am finally catching up by sitting on the patio drinking the delicious sangria that the hotel makes.  Below is what happened last weekend.

We took the weekend off, which was fabulous.  It gave me a chance to catch up on my sleep and visit my regular haunts.

Saturday, I blissfully slept in and that was the official end of any jet lag.  Since I was so energized, I strapped on my trusty Keen sandals and off I went to my local shopping street.  To avoid the traffic I took a bit of a back road.  I like it better as it is residential and has a couple of little parks along the way, which is quite a luxury in this city.  Unfortunately, I did get lost, but in a good way.

When I reached the end of my back way and got to the next busy street, there was a coffee shop on the corner. Great, I thought, as a Costa Coffee shop is the entrance to my shopping street--except it wasn't.   Costa Coffee is like Starbucks here in India and you see a lot of them around.  So  I breezed past and made it about a block or so in and realized that  I was on the wrong street.  What to do?  I could be boring and turn around or I could just walk until I hit a cross street and then make my way over.  Of course, I decided to walk.  It was great, just local people and local vendors selling fruit and vegetables.  At about the halfway point, when I could see a busy street in the distance, there was a giant "Road Closed" metal gate.  Since a few other people were going in and out, I did too.  This is where I made a neat discovery of sorts.  There was some sort of road or sewer work happening, but it wasn't like anything I had ever seen.  Yes, there were four guys standing around, watching the fifth guy shovel, but people had brought their kids to work with them, as well.

Tied to a bus stop were three naked little (maybe 2 or 3) kids, messing around in the dirt and happy as clams.  Their parents were working and while the men did the shoveling/standing around, the women were filling baskets with dirt and carrying the baskets on their heads.  There were two ancient looking generators running.  The whole scene could have been 100 years ago.  With the exception of the generators, that looked to be about 50 years old, I doubt that the method has changed much.  It's times like that where I wish I was a bit more bold with the camera.  I would have loved to take a picture, but didn't want to to disturb at the same time.  Because I stick out in my neighbourhood, I'm more self conscious about it than usual.  So I walked along and tried to memorize the picture in my head.

When I finally reached the end of the street, I had also reached the end of my shopping street.  They both curved slightly and joined at the top which was a happy discovery.

It is fun just to look in the shops.  You name it, you can get it in one mile strip.  Each shop is tiny, though, and if you want something, you ask for it.  A lot of the shops have their wares behind the counter and then have assistants to help you.  It's kind of nice, but also kind of weird.  The upside is that you don't buy more than you want because you don't browse.  I need tissues, I buy my tissues and move on--there are no "how did I spend $40 at Shopper's when all I needed was a box of tissues?"  moments.
My favourite shops are the one selling costume jewelry.  It can be very cheap, and priced accordingly or quite nice and a little more expensive.  For example, a set of two bangles, that are gold plated over a silver base and have semi-precious stones runs a little over 20 dollars, which is a great price, I think.  They look much more expensive than they are.  At the same time, you can get a dozen cheaper bangles for about four dollars.  Great for kids, not quite "fancy" enough for me.

I treated myself to lunch at one of the local restaurants.  It has sort of a patio and I'm spending as much time in the sunshine as I can.  The weather has been wonderful.   Lunch was delicious.  I had palak paneer, which is the homemade soft cheese that I like in spinach with chapati.  I love eating with my hands.  I'm over feeling the need to eat with a fork and have embraced eating with my hands.  It is just fun.  It was only when I got back to the hotel again and saw the brown water running off my hands as I washed then that I paused for a second, but even then, it was just a pause.  I'm here, I'm going to be dirty, so be it.

In the evening, I had what I have been dying to try--street food!  It is a delicious as it looks and my favourite item deserves its own post.  I am completely addicted.

Afterwards one of my colleagues and his wife took me out for Indian and we joined friends of theirs.  Food was again delicious.  Lamb kebabs, paneer, amazing breads, I could go on and on about how good the food was.  One of the things that this restaurant is known for is its "roomali roti".  It's a very, very thin dough, like pizza door that is baked very quickly on a dome shaped iron griddle.  The result is a bowl shaped, gossamer thin bread that has a diameter of 18 or so inches.  To eat it, you just break off piece and dip it.  The restaurant has an open kitchen and before we left, we stopped so I could see it being made.  Very cool!