STREET FOOD

Another scorchingly hot day and the dust seemed inches thick, coating my flat shoes in a thin layer of grey.  The coconut stand stood in the shade of a dusty tree, the green coconuts stacked up row upon row.  To my surprise, when I asked for a coconut drink, the stall owner lifted the coconut out from a bath of water - a very clever way of cooling it.  Lopping off the top with a huge knife, he put a straw into the small hole and handed it to me.  The coconut juice was refreshingly cold - one of summer's little compensations and more thirst quenching than a coke or fanta.


Street food is a part of the urban landscape.  Carts on wheels are quickly set up at around 6 p.m., cheap artificial lights cast their bright blue-white light over the impromptu 'restaurant' and people pull-up in their cars, scooters or bikes and stand round in sociable groups, eating the quickly prepared Chaat -  crisp pancakes with various masala toppings and chutney or Bhel Puri - a puffed rice with 'sev' mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, green chilies and coriander - Pani Poori is made of  little crisp puffs made out of flour and filled with mashed potato, onion, etc. and then filled with spicy water or Pav Bhaji - a bread roll with potato and vegetarian filling!!  All these snacks are delicious and are served on a little paper saucer which you have to support with your hand to stop it from sagging.  Some of the street food vendors on the bigger arterial roads, provide tables and chairs and crowds of people sit out late into the night in family groups enjoying the 'al fresco' food.

By day there is a kind of hierarchy amongst this street fraternity -  from young boys operating the sugar cane press, which requires them to walk round and round turning a long pole, while the attached mangles squeeze and press out the sweet juice into glasses - to old men selling bananas, in what looks like a 'retirement job' - low in stress, but providing an interest.  Cash outlay for the entire stock is probably only 500rs and any leftovers are eaten for dinner!  

MOVIES

The line up of movies at our local cinema showed the usual list of Bollywood titles, but just out was the "Men in Black 3".  The cinema is an excellent way to beat the heat of summer in Gujarat - reclining seats and air conditioning - what could be better?

Chatting later to a friend in London, on the phone, I urged her to see 'Men in Black 3' - interestingly she replied: "...it's not out here yet" !  Here in India, we get to see certain Hollywood movies long before they are viewed in the West.  Seeing ''The Avengers"  with an Indian audience was quite an experience, shouts and clapping greeted every move the super heroes made, groans and gasps with every protracted duel with the baddies and huge gasp of relief when the foe was vanquished !!

A MEASURE OF CHANGE

Change at the supermarket cash till, is still offered in a mixture of rupees and toffees....occasionally, when I have dashed in quickly to buy something, not having eaten lunch, it's a relief to know that  at least I can eat my change !

Three years ago super markets were very basic offering cleaning products, pickles and spices and then there were the bins of basic food stuffs, rice and legumes with someone on standby to measure, weigh and price.  But as a sign of the astonishing progress India has made in the years from 2009, the supermarket shelves are a very revealing indicator of what is afoot.

I looked at the shelf which normally carries a few expensive imported food items for foreign clientele such as tinned peaches, olives and tabasco sauce.....now to my astonishment, there were three rows of shelves stocked with such unheard of items like tinned tuna, Nescafe gold top, Pringles Crisps, Schweppes Tonic, Schweppes Bitter Lemon and Nutella !   On TV much advertising has been devoted to this new fandangled western social convention of coffee drinking, with well known Bollywood stars drinking coffee with obvious enjoyment and savouring the aroma of the coffee beans.  Chai is being relegated to the lower classes who drink it in little cups on the side of the road from their local chai wallah.

Wandering on to the glass and crockery section, there was further evidence of change - gone are the items of plastic tableware which we had to put up with in the past - replaced by actual breakable china !  Previously, it was practically impossible to find dinner plates in anything but melamine !

The streets are being swept and I see more and more Indian women wearing western clothes.  Soon cows will be banished and I haven't seen a camel for months.  The last elephant walked past a year ago.  India's change from an agrarian economy to an industrial nation is happening with breathtaking speed !  What would Gandhiji have made of this ?  Anyway Gujarat is still a 'dry' State - we're all stone cold sober !

PODCAST - INDIAN SUMMER

ON THE GARDEN WALL

WELL I NEVER

The smell of plastic was overpowering, as was the line up of cheap shoes.  With little choice, I selected a pair......paid for them and took them home.  But no, they really wouldn't make the cut - back into the box they went and the next day I was back in the shoe shop.  "Madam we don't give refunds, but you can have a credit note valid for a month"

A week later I was passing the same shoe shop, when one of the 3 young assistants came running after me, "madam, madam please could you come into the shop?"  I wondered what this could be about and followed him.  "Madam, we are so sorry that you didn't like the shoes, so we have discussed it and agreed that we three are going to pay you out of our salaries at the end of the month - we'll share the cost amongst the three of us and refund you" !  I looked at the young man in front of me, his earnest face full of sincerity......in complete disbelief !  I looked at his two colleagues, who nodded in agreement - this was quite the most amazing act of generosity I had ever encountered in my life - I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing......and then I shook my head.........."no of course you mustn't do that, I can't accept that but thank you...."  

FINAL STUDENT ART EXHIBITION

I'd been invited to view the Final Year Art Exhibition - many years previously the annual show had caused a national controversy about freedom of expression, with a student being arrested and a senior academic leaving the campus.....for good !

The campus is a mirage of dappled sunlight with Banyon Trees providing a canopy overhead.  The studios for Painting are large and sprawling, as they interact with those of Sculpture, Photography and Print making.

The exhibits are manned by the students themselves, so they are readily available to discuss their work.  The subject matter is generally biographical - most students of a certain age are wrapped up in themselves and their place in the world and perhaps their favourite vehicle for expression is through Surrealism (an early 20th century art movement, invented in France).  Some of the work dealt with the theme of 'litter' and some with the environment, expressing concern over India becoming an industrialised nation and moving away from the agrarian ideal of Gandhiji.  But this was a safe show - nothing remotely controversial here.

It's disappointing that there is no platform for really experimental ideas any more.  Art, like everything else, is a commodity with a price tag, so it must conform, it must be salable.  Students demand disproportionately high prices for their work.  It is strange that in a student show such as this, there is no reference to the great tradition of Indian painting.  One struggles to find a connection to the fabulous illustrative techniques of the Moghuls, or the contemplative art of Ajanta, or the vibrant decoration of Mudubhani art, or the sensuousness of Khajuraho.

A senior Indian artist once commented to me that most people are bent on survival and only have time to look at the peacocks in life.  Perhaps that is the matter with art - unless it is in the style of a famous international art movement, it isn't worth pursuing .....?

GREEN TECHNOLOGY OR ANOTHER USE FOR A BICYCLE ?

THAT TIME OF YEAR

They were holding a puja (prayer session) in the adjacent road - plastic chairs were grouped in rows, under an awning, in the heat of the midday sun.  The sound of their chanting wafted across, as it rose and fell, in an endless monotony of enveloping sound.  I hoped the rewards for this sacrifice, would be immense for all the participants.

The heat is unbearable - every day the mercury rises up through the 40s C and you move from one AC to the next or alternatively from one overhead fan to the next.  The climate strips you of all artifice - hair has to be swept back into a pony tail, whether it suits you or not, make-up melts, so there is no point in wearing it - lipstick has to be kept in the fridge.  Jewelry has ro be removed, it burns rather than decorates.  This includes the wrist watch which causes an unsightly rash as the heat and sweat combine with the leather to cause an allergy.  

Recumbent forms are draped over every horizontal surface as people choose to sleep through the heat of the day.  Cows lie down in whatever shade they can find.  And women walk slowly with their saris pulled over their heads, hiding their faces.  In a couple of months the monsoon will come.

SCIENTIFIC BRUSHING

"We start with 'scientific brushing'".....she said.  I was immediately interested....this was a lesson in Indian Head Massage and I was about to learn something fundamental to the art......she picked up the brush and began brushing my hair back from my face - this continued for a few minutes.  It dawned on me that this simple every day action, was being given a special significance just through the way it was presented "

She then rubbed some geranium oil on her hands - this is a pungent, aromatic oil - she closed her eyes momentarily - "you see there is an outer energy and we are all part of it - this fragrance should relax you"  She went on to explain that she wouldn't rub the oil directly into my hair, as that made such a mess but a suggestion of it would linger.....more illusion I thought.  Interestingly, they use a number of oils, including sandalwood, which is very expensive, but never lavender oil which is not considered Indian - it's seen as essentially from Europe.

The massage continued and afterwards as I wafted out of the salon on a cloud of geranium oil, I reflected on the experience as being essentially Indian, in its illusory nature - it is what it is, it's what you make it.  You can't really pin it down in a series of sub titles, after all how can you define the energy of a moment of bliss.