Rama’s bridge

Part of a series of entries retelling Hindu legends about different Gods in my own words. While there are over 330 million Hindu Gods, I’ll just tell stories I encounter. 

Rama (avatar of Lord Vishnu) was travelling through India to Lanka with his army of ape men in order to rescue his wife Sita who had been abducted by the Demon Lord Ravenna.

They travelled for a long time, overcoming many obstacles, before reaching the Indian coast line. They could see across the ocean the land of Lanka, where Sita was being held. Now, Hanuman had no problems. With one leap he jumped across the wide gap, but realised halfway through that noone was following him – the distance was too far.

So he came back, to find an incredibly frustrated Rama – he was starting to get annoyed at all the obstacles between him and his wife. After a heated discussion, Rama swiftly pulled out his bow and and an arrow gifted to him by Lord Brahma, and threatened to shoot it into the ocean. This arrow would dry up all the water that it touches, allowing the army to pass.

Before Rama had a chance to shoot the arrow, there was a great churning in the ocean and the ocean-God appeared, begging Rama not to shoot the arrow, and dry up the ocean. Promising to assist the army in crossing to Lanka, he managed to calm Rama down. However, because he had already vowed to shoot the arrow, he needed an alternative place to shoot it. So the ocean-God asked him to shoot it north, where a group of robbers and thieves were using the ocean’s waters there to make mischief. So Rama shot it there, and it is now known as the desert of Malwar in Rajasthan.

Thus, the ocean allowed the monkey army to build a bridge across it to Lanka, by throwing boulders into the ocean and constructing a bridge across these pillars. It took the army three days to build it, and on the fourth day they all crossed into Lanka.

Now, the really interesting thing about this story is that even today there is evidence of a bridge like structure joining India and Sri Lanka.

Here it is on Google Maps:

Scientifically it is defined as a 30 km long series of limestone shoals, formed either by seismic activity or sediment deposits from the ocean.

In 2007 there was controversy  about a proposed canal project aiming to dredge the bridge, in order to create a shorter path for ships travelling around India and Sri Lanka. There were protests across India by various Hindu groups, who tried to highlight the spiritual significance of the site. The debate that raged around the issue is very interesting: an example of science versus religion. Scientists were asked to comment on the religious importance of the site, and the ‘evidence’ used to prove the truth of the Hindu text Ramayana was challenged.

The Gap

There is a lot written about the gap in India between rich and poor. And you can see it everywhere you go, the expensive cars next to the people on bicycles, the beggars standing outside UB City, home of Louis Vuitton and Burburry. But these obvious signs can be ignored. You can look away from the beggars, you can ignore the way in which different groups live. But sometimes this huge gap is brought home by very simple things. Today, it was something as simple as a cup of tea that reminded me.

 

Street Chai: 7 rs

Chai at the Capital hotel: 99 rs

Homesickness

 

 

How to: Make Yoghurt

I consume yoghurt (curd) by the kilo in this country. Its fantastic with every meal that contains rice, and I’ve really started to love having curd rice (rice mixed with curd and a little salt) to finish off my meals.

I tried making yoghurt at home in Canberra once, but it is far too cold there and we couldn’t get the cultures to set. Also i think the milk from supermarkets is too pasteurised and so the yoghurt can’t breed and set.

Here, it is incredibly easy to make your own curd, and it tastes fantastic when it is home made – no added sugars or anything. All el naturale.

YOGHURT (CURD)

1. Boil milk, let it cool
2. When milk is lukewarm, add 1/2 tsp yogurt
3. Mix
4. Leave in a covered container for 2-3 hours
5. Enjoy!

TIPS: If the milk is too warm, or you add too much yoghurt, then the mixture will set too fast and become sour. If the milk is too cold, or you don’t add enough yoghurt, then the mixture won’t set.

Currency

Whenever you go to a new country it takes a while to get used to the new currency. But I don’t know how you can ever get used to multiple forms of the same coins!

Hanuman saves the day

Part of a series of entries retelling Hindu legends about different Gods in my own words. While there are over 330 million Hindu Gods, I’ll just tell stories I encounter. This entry is the second of the stories regarding Hanuman, the Monkey God.

Hanuman was helping Lord Rama (incarnation of Vishnu) find his wife Sita who had been kidnapped by the demon king Ravana, and taken to (Sri) Lanka.

There was a great battle between Lord Rama’s army and Ravana’s army of Rakshasas (demons), during which Lord Rama’s army was destroyed. As they lay dying and dead on the battlefield, someone told Hanuman to go to the Himalayas to collect some magical herbs to bring them back to life.

So, without asking questions, Hanuman flies off to the Himalayas. However, once he reaches he realises that he doesn’t actually know what he is looking for.

So, like a boss, he picks up the mountain and carries it back to Lanka with him. As he gets closer, the perfume from the herbs on the mountain revive Rama and his army, so Hanuman returns the mountain to its rightful place.

How to: get stared at

1) Be a white girl.
2) Wear a sari.
3) Ride a scooter.

What fun!

Birthday suit

Blouse, petticoat and sari. And then the finished product:

Birthday present to myself

Today I went shopping to treat myself for my Birthday on Sunday. Really, I just needed an excuse to buy a sari.

So I talked to some of my friends in Coimbatore, and asked them the shops from which they buy their saris. After getting a few suggestions (as well as detailed instructions on how to find the shops), I headed out on Scooty.

It is about a half hour drive to the city from where I am currently staying, and when I started Scooty up I remembered that I was pretty much out of petrol. So I stopped off at the local petrol bunk and got my usual: “two oil, one petrol”. The woman at the bunk recognises me now and so I don’t think I really even need to ask anymore.

So after giving my trusty steed some much needed energy, I set off on my adventure. First stop was a shop called Shobika, at the end of Cross Cut Road. This is a one way street, so I had to go around the block a little to reach it. When I parked out front, I took my helmet off and tried to put it in the bike’s seat compartment. But it wouldn’t fit! Usually it does. Thats when I realised I had accidentally taken my host’s helmet instead of mine. I had wondered why it felt bigger than usual on my head.

So I walked up to Shobikas, and stopped. It looked like my solo sari adventure was off to a bad start: all the metal window shutters were down, and the door shutter was half open. I figured they were closed or closing, until the guard at the door motioned for me to come up the stairs inside. So, feeling like it was a trap, I walked inside (I realised later that these measures were to keep the heat out).

As I walked in I was greeted by a man, who asked what I was looking for. After I told him I wanted a cotton sari, he led me downstairs and put in in the care of one of the ladies working in the store. She proceeded to show me all the cotton saris they had: which to be honest, wasn’t very many. And they were all priced a little higher than I was looking to pay. And she was a little bit pushy in the way she was showing them to me. And I didn’t fall in love with any of the colours or patterns.

So with great difficulty I extricated myself from that store, after being shown all manner of saris even remotely related to the search terms ‘cotton’, ‘blue’ and ‘orange’.

I walked back to my bike, and rode onto the next store: Rangachari in Ram Nagar. This store was around the corner from where my office used to be, and I had driven past it several times, each time thinking: “that looks interesting, I should go have a look”.

Its a smaller store, and while it has stores in other cities (Chennai, Dindigul, Madurai and Bangalore), it felt a lot less commercial than Shobika.

Sari stores traditionally are big rooms with shelves all around, filled with folded saris of every colour, pattern and material imaginable. If one was to enter and try to find something alone, it would not take long at all to get lost. But lucky for the shopper these stores are always filled with workers sitting around waiting for a lost traveller to enter their area of expertise.

So I walked in, said I was looking for a blue cotton sari, and within two minutes I was seated on the ground, surrounded by 10 different options. After looking at them, I told them that i was looking for something with a little less pattern, and a specific shade of blue. Upon which another 10 options were presented to me.

I finally decided on a cotton that was multi coloured: the body of the sari is stitched in such a way that one colour of thread runs one way, and another colour runs the other way. This makes it change colour depending on the light and angle at which you view it. It had a plain pallu (the bit that hangs off your shoulder), and a plain gold border.

I also managed to pick up a ready made petticoat at the same store: the petticoat is worn under the sari and the sari is tucked into it, in order for it to stay up around your waist, and for the pleats to work.

Saris themselves are most commonly 5.5m long, but most come with an extra length of material on the end for your to cut off and get a blouse stitched from. It is usually half a metre extra of the same fabric that the body of the sari is made from. However, I decided that I couldn’t wait long enough to get a blouse stitched to my measurements, so I stopped off at a different store to buy a ready-made-blouse.

The blouse exposes your middle section, but has sleeves and a high neck. The idea is to get a blouse that is the same colour of one of the colours in the sari pattern, or you can go a little crazy and get a contrasting colour depending on what you feel like.

Ready-made-blouses are made to different standard measurements, and you basically just get one that fits. However because everybody’s chest and shoulders are slightly different, they never fit quite right. Mine fits well around my chest and shoulders, but I can’t quite fill out the generous front section: Indian women are a little more well endowed than me.

So I bought a ready made blouse in a colour that compliments the colours in my sari, and headed home.

After reaching home, I took my sari to the tailor to have the sides hemmed, and to have a ‘fall’ installed. The fall is a strip of fabric sewn into the bottom of the sari to lend some weight and help it sit properly. It also protects the sari from your feet – stepping on the hem too much can damage it.

I plan to wear it on Thursday so will unveil my final choice then. Stay tuned folks.

And from now on I can absolutely promise that you will all receive your salary in full, on the 5th of every month… Except for today, this week the salary will be available to you in one or two days time.

– My Boss (5 March 2012). 

As of the 13th (today), salary has still not been received by everyone in the office.