India Culture Review
Loving India❤️🇮🇳
Chapter 1 :: My Take
A few opinions I had about Indian people before I came here: Smart, ambitious, opinionated, hard working. All still seem true😊 I will add: nice and likes America.
The friends I have met in the states who were born in India are all successful… a lot of engineers😊 And a few visionary/authors – like Deepak Chopra. Wait, he’s not my friend… I just wish he was. Anyway, I’ve always thought so much of the people I know who have immigrated, being able to go to a new country, do University study in a secondary language, a lot do post-grad degrees, then get jobs and are successful at their work… I recognize how amazing that is. How many Americans can’t even do half of that, in their native country, in their first language… Amazing.
It’s the same for all immigrants, but I guess I just have more personal experience with people from India. They seem to be the most ambitious people in the world. A few years ago, when I had a job as a manager at a manufacturing company, my friend who worked there as an engineer BERATED me because I chose an Art, Philosophy & Literature major in college. As he said, “You need to be engineer, doctor, or something good where you make the most money!” It’s funny, of course not true, and comparison isn’t a good thing… but I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to be the best and expect others to want to be the best.
And that leads into being opinionated.
Lesson 1 : Expect to be given advice without eliciting it.
I’ve had some very forward people give me advice when I wasn’t at all seeking it. I had noticed this before (see example above), and with total complete strangers, it has happened here a handful of times. Grin and bear it.
And, people are really nice. So many have randomly helped me, especially with bus logistics. Super nice😍
Chapter 2 :: Cultural Show
Because you can’t talk about culture without a cultural show. The one I went to was in Munnar. The first part was a Kathakali show… elaborate costumes, music, some strange dramatic acting, a little dance…
putting on make-up
this was weird
i still don’t know if these are men or women
The second show was Kalaripayattu, which is a martial artform that was founded a gazillion years ago in Kerala, and might have been the basis of what we all recognize today as Chinese martial arts. To me it looked like part fighting + part weaponry + part yoga + part gymnastics + part fire dancer + and part NFL combine…
Lesson 2 : If you watch a Kalaripayattu show, you will be scared for the performers, and you will also love it. This shit was awesome.
Yes, he caught himself on fire. Seriously.
Chapter 3 :: Wildlife
Lesson 3 : Never trust a monkey. It’s like having a distant cousin that you think you might have to be friends with just because way, wayyy back somewhere, your people were related. It don’t matter. Distant cousins are not to be trusted (or married, btw). Neither are monkeys.
Why do I say this? A monkey mugged me. I guess bad things happen in India when you’re on a local bus, traveling through Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and you get stopped at a checkpoint.
this bus – see how there are no windows?
I was reaching into my backpack that was on the floor in front of me to get something, and I heard the little girl next to me yell, “Mama!!” So I looked over and she was leaning away from me with terror in her eyes. When I looked ahead, Mr. Monkey was on the seatback in front of me, staring at the newspaper I was holding in my hand. The newspaper was wrapped around two oranges. I leaned away because I was scared, and at the same time, he grabbed the newspaper out of my hand! Then I yelled, “Take it!” And he dropped the oranges on accident (what a lousy thief to drop the goods).
Then the park ranger guy came over and was trying to hit the assailant with a stick, but he hissed and tried to bite at him! He’s still right in front of my face on the back of the seat! HUGE, sharp TEETH.
So then the wanna-be-bandit went out the window to the top of the bus and came back a minute later and was right behind me, on my seatback! At this point, the girl next to me started crying. Have you ever been in an unfamiliar place, and you’re not sure if something is ‘normal’ or not, so you look to the local people to decide whether to freak-out or to play it cool? Well that’s what happened with me during this, and when the little girl started crying, I wanted to start crying too!
Then two more park rangers got on the bus with sticks, and he jumped down, and they let the bus go through the checkpoint.
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. (the big one)
But today I saw a dead monkey on the road, roadkill… looked about the same size… maybe Mr. Monkey Cat Burglar got his comeuppance.
Chapter 4 :: Food
Lesson 4 : When an Indian person says, “Not spicy”, it means it is the spiciest I can stand it without choking to death. Every. Time.
But, ahhhh, the food here is sooooo good…
Chapter 5 :: Hereto, A Menagerie
Lesson 5 : Mustache game be strong in India.
For example, see advertisement below.
What do you think this is? Hairclub for men ad? Mustache-enhancer product billboard? No. Members of the Indian National Trade Union Congress. And what do they all have in common? Fat. (Wrong, because one of them isn’t fat.) THEY ALL HAVE A MUSTACHE. If you live in India, you better bring a strong mustache game if you want to fit in or, especially, be a man politician.
Lesson 6 : Expect India customs / security in airports to ask for weird stuff.
Example –
Mustache Security Guy: “What country were you in before India?”
Me: “Sri Lanka.”
MSG: “Let me see the boarding pass you used when you flew INTO Sri Lanka.”
Me: “Whaaaat?! That was three weeks ago. I don’t have it.”
MSG: “Okay, proceed on through.”
Are they just messing with me, or do they really need this stuff? I may never know. But I might have to rent a storage unit in Mumbai to file away all of the documents the Mustache Security Guy wants me to produce.
Lesson 7 : Bollywood is awesome.
The people here are huge fans, they follow the actors/celebrities, they get excited about new movies coming out… I don’t doubt that the movies are better than a lot of what is produced in LA these days. I want to meet Salman Khan. Here is an ad I’m seeing everywhere – must be the next big movie coming out…
This is everywhere. *Please note the facial hair.
Lesson 8 : You might love the accent.
Tied with Trinidad, it’s my favorite accent. Sounds lovely.
Lesson 9 : Hotel doormen are not called “Lobby Boy” just because you saw it in a Wes Anderson movie.
Lesson 10: The head bobble is really cute AND addictive.
I might, unknowingly, be doing it regularly by the time I leave here.
Next up: Ooty and a Toy Train
God’s Own Country
Kerala is a state in southwest India, and it’s nickname is “God’s Own Country“… it totally deserves the moniker.
should be the picture next to “picturesque” in the dictionary, na?
I was able to get a driver to take me from Kochi to Munnar, a tea plantation town in the Western Ghat mountains in Kerala (when I hear it pronounced, it sounds like: Ker-luh, but I think there is an extra syllable in the middle that I’m just not hearing because I’m not used to the language). Before I came here, whenever I asked people where I should go in southern India, they all said Kerala, but I wasn’t sure where exactly in Kerala I should be. Then I talked to someone from Kerala, and he gave me a short list of the best places, which I then googled, and Munnar looked amazzzzing! So, that’s where I headed👍🏼.
me & Sanju (driver)
We stopped on the way for lunch, and at this restaurant, I noticed a sign by the women’s restroom…
why??
When I was taking a picture of the sign, a guy who worked there came over to me and told me that foreigners always take a picture of the sign. I tried to explain to him why it seems funny – because it leads people to believe that vomiting in the wash basin happens really frequently, and then it’s funny because you wonder why it is a problem at this particular place – but he didn’t understand me. He just said, “Many women, they do, and they should go outside.” OKayyyy😂
Driving around Munnar involves all hairpin switchback turns on a road that is just wide enough for two vehicles. But the viewwws!!!!
view from my hotel balcony
switchback road… endless amazing views
tea trees
Munnar town
town view
❤️
town
The tea plantations cover the mountainside, growing on angles across the steep slopes. The tea leaves are harvested by hand, either by picking or cutting off the top with a handheld scissor/basket contraption. The leaves are taken off the top every ~10 days, and the same trees just keep growing and producing for years and years. Apparently, there is a tea tree in China that is 1,800 years old! Because the leaves are harvested regularly, all of the trees are the same size and shape, which adds to the beauty of the mountainside. To me, Munnar is a greener, hillier, and *dare I say* prettier version of Napa. Not saying it’s better because, I mean, it’s tea not grapes… But definitely prettier.
GREEN TEA
colorful houses
tea and eucalyptus trees
Amongst the tea trees, they also grow eucalyptus. And most of the spices grown in India come from the regions around the Western Ghat mountains (part of the Western Ghats is even called “Cardamom Hills“!). So, growing here is also ginger, pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, turmeric… more I’m sure, this is just what I saw. Because of all this, there are ayuverdic “hospitals” throughout Kerala that use these different herbs and oils that are produced for massage and holistic treatments.
On top of that, coffee and CACAO trees are grown here… which means chocolate is made and sold everywhere…
really good
white chocolate
OF COURSE I went overboard and bought too much, so I sat at one of the tourist stops and ate half of it with a boy who was selling pineapple instead of going to school😕 Maybe it made his day good? Or maybe it just gave him a sugar rush, and his mom was cursing me when he got home😏
Even the nighttime view at my hotel was lovely.
night view – Munnar hotel
night view of hillside across the valley
I visited a rose garden and a tea museum…
fuchsia flower – summer island riverhead?
fuchsia
I never promised you a rose garden
but I did promise you pictures of one
ornamental pineapple😆 I still wanna eat it
these lucky flowers have this view all day, every day
rose garden
rose garden sandals
rose garden
rosey
rose garden
orchid row
rose garden
do you see what I see?
rose garden
rose garden
At this time, in the garden, with the sun beaming down on my skin, greenery everywhere, the smell of the flowers, and the view of the hillside, I said to myself, “I can’t believe I get to be here right now.” I felt Joy.
I also checked out the local tea museum… which ended up being owned(?) by the biggest tea-making (British) company in town… Which meant that the start of the tour was a 20-minute self-serving, bombastic video talking about how this tea company brought healthcare to the local people.. and I all but lost it when they were singing the virtues of employing women by saying, “The women proved to be particularly skillful at being able to pluck the tea leaves quite efficiently.” Are you fucking kidding me? So I walked out and began my self-guided tour.
tea leaf processing
After meandering, I joined a group in the factory, where there was a guy explaining more about tea. His primary assertion: Drink more green tea! Why?
He said:
- You see the Chinese and Japanese – do any of them have big bellies? NO!! It’s because they drink green tea all day!
- Chinese and Japanese never pass gas because they drink green tea all day!
this guy – hilarious
He was awesome. They do drink green tea all day. Well, that’s what I saw in Japan anyway.
green tea!
view outside tea museum
not a bad place to have recess
I saw a few more sights in Munnar…
mattupetty dam
mattupetty dam view
echo point
kundala dam
kundala dam view
pretty trees
pretty, colorful girls
It is really weird getting stopped by people and being asked to take pictures. It’s happening in India a lot. But it didn’t bother me when these ladies asked because I wanted a picture with them too😊
Balcony soundtrack…
This tree is overloaded by beehives!
honey tree…
omg – beehives
tea plantation
Next up: Indian Culture Review
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