Shop 'til you drop!

View from Nipsi's parent's flat

After waking up from a refreshingly cool night's sleep, Nipsi and I got ready and headed back to her aunt's house to join them for lunch. We drove with them to the nearby UB City (a sort of mall) where we stuffed ourselves with Thai food at "Tasty Tangles". After a quick stop to check out the wares at the Apple store, we dropped her family members back at home and set out to do a little damage to our bank accounts.

Lunch restaurant

Inside UB City mall

Bangalore has loads more options for shopping than Chennai does, with shops ranging from tiny stalls in overcrowded shopping centers or on busy streets to huge modern malls with designer and foreign stores. Our first stop was Commercial Street where Nipsi found four cute dresses in the type of store that you have to know to even find. Although we were happy with her purchases, we were slightly annoyed that no one wanted to bargain with us. Unfortunately, I think my presence (as an obvious foreigner) might have hurt her chances of a discount. Despite that annoyance, we still managed to enjoy ourselves... until we tried to leave and found that the car had been clamped!

Cluttered clothing stalls

One of the many malls around Bangalore

The evil car clamp

Unfortunately, I was too dismayed to remember to take a photo so I had to take one of an unused clamp later on. This was an important lesson for us: Bangalore is much, much stricter than Chennai. It cost 100 rupees to remove the clamp, which was of course accompanied by a disapproving look from the police man.  We were also told that not wearing your seatbelt is a 100 rupee fine as well. So, lesson learned! We made sure to be extra careful during the rest of our stay.

Bangalore shopping caters to all needs

Next we headed to Dubai Plaza, another little shopping building that Nipsi knew from her days as a student in Bangalore. Here we were both successful with Nipsi snagging two pairs of shoes while I came away with a pair of gold sandals from a store nearby. I was really pleased to find them as they are the perfect thing to wear to slightly more dressy events (such as going to bars, hotels, or parties in the evening) around Chennai.

New shoes!

In addition to shopping, Bangalore is also home to a greater number of international food options compared to Chennai. We of course took as much advantage of this fact as we could! Although we had a slightly disappointing meal at the Hard Rock Cafe, our lunch the following day made up for it entirely.

Margaritas at the Hard Rock Cafe 

Margarita and Nipsi

Spiga Restaurant

Spiga is a small Mediterranean flavored restaurant, although it also has several Asian inspired dishes on the menu (such as prawns in black bean sauce). Beautifully open and light, the restaurant was pretty and the food even better. I opted for the "Greek Fish" which came with potatoes and zucchini, Nipsi enjoyed the "Florentine Fish", and her friend chose the afore mentioned prawns. We ended with an "oreo cheesecake" that could perhaps be better described as a deconstructed oreo. It was, of course, delicious.

Inside Spiga

Greek fish

Florentine fish

Oreo cheesecake

After our tasty lunch, Nipsi and I decided to splurge a bit in Pheonix Mall where we found Zara, The Body Shop, Mango, Accessorize, Claire's, La Senza and a host of other international brands. Standing outside a coffee shop, waiting for Nipsi (who was inside buying a coffee), I found myself smiling at the fact that, given the shopping bags I was clutching, I could have been literally anywhere in the world. Zara, The Body Shop and Claire's... those three stores are so international, it might be difficult to find somewhere in Europe or the US where you wouldn't be able to shop in at least two of the three. While I felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought of these international brands potentially pushing out smaller local businesses, I have to admit, it felt wonderful to walk into a store and instantly know the layout, products, sizing and style.

When we'd finished shopping and taken a few minutes to refresh ourselves, we headed out to meet Nipsi's friend DJ Vachan for a drink at the strangely named "Love Shack". Over mojitos and bar snacks, we chatted about upcoming plans for a trip to Kodiakanal, a hill station here in Tamil Nadu where my parents used to go twenty five years ago. I'm really hoping we can find a suitable week to go as the temperatures will again be cooler than Chennai and the scenery will be stunning. Crossing my fingers the trip materializes!

All in all, I think we had a lovely and satisfying trip to Bangalore. My goals were to escape the heat, find nice sandals, eat lots of tasty food, and possibly buy a few cute dresses and I accomplished all of those. However, we still had one final hurdle on our way home: the drive back...

Bangalore or Bust!

A similar route to ours

After waking up early on Sunday morning, we (Nipsi, Bhodee and I) hopped in the car and geared up for our adventure in Bangalore. I was really looking forward to this trip because of the cooler temperatures in store for us. Bangalore is the major city in Karnataka so our road trip would take us out of Tamil Nadu and through Andra Pradesh before finally reaching the city. Also known as Bengaluru, the city is the third most populous in India so I was expecting a serious change to Chennai, which still feels quite sleepy and small at times (in a good way of course!).

Nipsi and Bhodee

While stuck in Chennai morning traffic, we found ourselves singing along to Don McLean's "American Pie" and I was suddenly struck by how small the world is now. The fact that I could be on the other side of the world, singing along to a song with friends just as I would be back home... well, it was a nice moment and made me a little homesick for Virginia! Amusingly, this wouldn't be the only time I felt the global nature of life   while on this trip (more later).

Roadside dosa,artistically presented

As we made our way out of the city, we started to notice a worrying trend. All the petrol stations were closed! Apparently our road trip was perfectly timed to match a petrol strike in Chennai. As we passed closed station after closed station, Nipsi and I began to silently fret about whether or not we'd even be able to find enough petrol to start our trip. Luckily, just as I was beginning to feel slightly panicked, we found a small petrol station that was still open. After that slightly terrifying experience, we headed out into the truly terrifying experience: an Indian highway...

Guess roadtrip snacks are the same everywhere

Actually, the drive was really pleasant. There weren't too many other cars on the road and the highway itself was in great condition, ensuring a smooth drive. I spent the majority of the time just watching the world go by from the back-seat while absent-mindedly singing along to the radio. The scenery was surprisingly green with lots of palm trees and other vegetation. I find myself constantly impressed by how lush India can be given the extreme temperatures. For example, in Chennai, the temperatures the week prior had ranged from 42 - 45 degrees Celsius (114 - 120 degrees Fahrenheit) with not a single drop of rain. Understandably, I was looking forward to our Bangalore escape!

Buses are often decorated with gods or goddesses for protection

Along the highway, there are signs periodically that urge drivers to be careful and to not take unnecessary risks. While this may seem normal, the guilt inducing wording is something I have only seen here in India. For example: "Accident's don't happen, they are caused", "Drive carefully, your family is waiting", and "Safe driving is like breathing, don't stop it!" Although I found the signs a bit surprising, as far as I could tell they didn't seem to be having much effect on the drivers around us who were still speeding along, weaving in and out of different lanes.

This didn't seem like a safe way to travel on the highway...

Upon arriving in Bangalore, the difference in temperature was immediately noticeable. We rolled the windows down and luxuriated in the 30 (90) degree temperature. Of course, all the local Bangalore residents thought we were insane since they felt it was still pretty hot! We were lucky enough to stay in Nipsi's parent's lovely flat in the Benson Town area of the city. Bangalore used to be known as the "Garden City" but with the increase in population, this element of it's history has been lost as buildings now stand where many private gardens did. However, Benson Town is still nicely green and was a wonderful home base for our wanderings around the city.

Pretty palm trees

The evening we arrived, we stopped in the Whitefield area to drop Bhodee off at his friend's house before making our way to Nipis's aunt's house to see her cousin and the brand new baby, Jeremy. He was absolutely precious and Nipsi's family were nothing but welcoming and kind. After a quick dinner, we drove back to Nipsi's flat where I immediately fell asleep in the wonderful airconditioning. In Chennai, my air conditioner is pretty old so I can't run it all night. Instead, I turn it on an hour or so before bed to cool the room down and then switch it off just as I'm about to go to sleep. During the night, I rely on a ceiling fan and a little table top fan to keep me cool. So far, I've found that to be adequate aside from a few nights in the middle of May when I found myself awake and boiling in the middle of the night, fantasizing about jumping into the Arctic Ocean...

Nipsi and Jeremy

Recipe: Moong Dahl

While here in Chennai, I'm attempting to gather new and interesting recipes for local dishes. To that end, I have started harassing my friends and, in some cases, their family members about teaching me to make their signature dishes.

Mid-way through cooking... so colorful! 

First up is Moong Dahl, taught to me by my lovely roommate Nipsi. Made with yellow lentils, it is quick cooking and really filling. We enjoyed it with some sautéed mushrooms, garlic and potatoes but you could also have it as a side dish to a curry or even on its own with a naan or a paratha (Indian breads).

For this recipe, you will need:

1 cup of Moong Dahl (yellow lentils)
2-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 - 1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 handful curry leaves
2+ cups of water

To begin, rinse the lentils in water and then set them to boil with twice as much water. In this recipe, we used 1 cup of lentils to 2 cups water just to make it easy. This made enough dahl for Nipsi and I to enjoy for two meals but if you were serving more enthusiastic eaters and enjoying it on its own, you might want to double the recipe.

As the lentils boil, you may find that there is a foam on the surface. Skim this off as it will affect the flavor of the final dish. It's not a huge deal if you leave it in but might mean you get a slightly different final version than this recipe intends. After the lentils have been at a rolling boil for about fifteen minutes, add in the garlic, ginger, turmeric, salt, chilli powder, and cumin. The amount of garlic is up to your personal preference. We used four cloves but could have easily had more. The same is true for the chilli powder. Choose one that suits your preferred level of heat. It shouldn't be overwhelming in the dahl, just a slight hint of warmth.

Once the lentils have started to soften, add in the tomato and onion, along with more water to give the mixture a more soup-like texture. Give the dahl a good stir and then leave it to continue boiling until it has reduced. When it has reduced about halfway to the point that you prefer, add in the curry leaves. These are  important as they have a huge impact on the final dish. However, it would still be delicious without them as they might be hard to find in some stores. Crush them a little bit in your hands to release the flavors and then add them in.

Tomato and onion goes in

You can leave the dahl simmering for as long as you like to get it to the texture you prefer. Ours was almost like a thick sauce when we decided it was finished. The tomato, onion and garlic should have all melted into the dahl so that when you taste it, you can identify the flavors but wouldn't be able to see actual pieces.

Nearly finished! See how everything has melted together?

Final verdict: DELICIOUS! I plan to make this at least once a week in London as its very economical, makes tons, and would go with just about anything. Scrambled eggs and dahl? Delicious. Dahl and crackers? Delicious. Leftover veggies and dahl? Delicious. Seriously, the flavor is tasty but mild enough to not overpower other components in your meal. If you get a chance, give this a try!

Leftover mushrooms, potatoes and garlic were a perfect accompaniment 

Research, Volunteering, and Publishing - Oh My!

I know, I have been a very bad blogger lately. Things have been absolutely insane here as my research gets into full swing while I juggle my volunteer duties at ECO Kitchen with academic pursuits back in England. But, you know what they say... absence makes the heart grow fonder... right, lovely readers? So, now to update you all on my activities of late.

Friend I made while waiting for an auto rickshaw

First up, my research. The main goal of my time spent here in Chennai is to collect data for my PhD research into HIV/AIDS here. To that end, I am interviewing HIV-positive women who live here in the city, focusing on the different obstacles, issues and experiences they've had as a result of their positive status. My interviews are designed to be semi-structured, so I have a sixteen starter questions that are designed to lead to the participant opening up about their personal experiences. I intentionally left the questions vague because I'm interested in what they choose to share with me as this can be quite telling in terms of how they prioritize different issues in their lives or what they feel is the most important element to share.

Interviews with HIV-positive local women will be conducted in Tamil, and as a result YRGCARE have kindly organized a team to help me. One of their ethnographers on staff will be conducting the first interviews with my inputs in order to ensure the participants don't change their answers to what they think a foreigner will want to hear (which has been a problem in the past). These interviews will then be translated into English and transcribed by a local translation service. After I review them, I can then ask to meet with the participants for a follow up interview with a translator. The first interviews are hopefully going to get started this week and we'll be meeting with the rest of the research team (myself, the interviewer Manjula, her boss Thambu, and my mentor Krishnan) to discuss them and see what needs to be adjusted in order to get more data on specific subjects. Crossing my fingers everything goes well!

The quiet street that leads to ECO Kitchen's headquarters in Injambakkam

After the first interviews come in, I'll have a better idea of the types of obstacles facing these women. Armed with that data, I can then move on to interviewing members of the YRG staff, such as the counsellors and doctors who interact with local patients daily. These interviews will be in English and I'll be able to handle them on my own. I thought this would give me an opportunity to flush out issues that were mentioned in particular interviews in order to ascertain how common they are amongst the HIV-positive community. So, overall, pretty exciting times in my research at the minute!

The other distraction has been my volunteer work with ECO Kitchen here in Chennai. My current project is the creation of a training course designed to get the servers who will be working buffets in corporate settings ready for their roles. This has been a really interesting experience for me as it is completely different to the sorts of experiences I have with my research. I've had to fall back on my waitressing experience during university to try and see the food service stations from both the employee and customer stand points. So far, the course is complete with five modules: Safe Food Handling, Personal Presentation (hygiene and uniform care), Customer Interaction, Food Service, and Problem Solving.

So green and lush outside of the city center! 

After I finished putting together the course (it will then be published into little booklets to use during training), we had a pilot session with some of the managers on the program. Luckily, they seemed to be very positive about my work! I was obviously feeling relieved after that! Now we're working on the handouts and activities for each section. The deadline we've given ourselves in June 8th, which is when we hope to have the completed course in booklet form and ready to be used. In the meantime, we need to work on the power point presentation to go along with it and set up photo shoots for some of our activities. For example, the Personal Presentation module activity will be a spot the difference exercise. We're hoping to have sets of photos where, in the first one, the employee will be appropriately dressed (for example, not wearing jewellery on their hands) while in the second photo, they will have lots of jewellery. The participants will be asked to circle what the incorrect element is and then explain why that was not appropriate in the food service setting. I'm hoping we can have at least five pairs of photos so that will take some time to organize. Really looking forward to seeing the completed version of the course!

Pretty flowers that are everywhere right now

And finally, the last distraction has been a really good one. I had my first article published! It was an opinion piece for an online magazine. A friend of mine in my PhD program back in London contacted me and asked if I'd be interested. The hardest part was finding a subject to write about! I ultimately chose to look at the impact HIV-status is having on dating websites and match making here in India, a subject that I think is really interesting. The article can be found here:

http://www.bioethics.ac.uk/news/A-Positive-Question-HIV-and-Indian-Matchmaking-Services.php

Overall, it's been a busy few weeks! Apologies again for the lack of communication, I'll try to be better in the future as I have a lot of interesting elements of life in India to share!