Gina writes:

Last Friday was Diwali, the festival of lights. The Hindu significance has something to do with a god and goddess returning home from battle and the celebration marks their return with lights. Lights of all kinds -- candles, oil lamps, strings of electric lights, and fireworks (or "crackers" as they're called here). We went to the home of our friends (Bijayani, Babee, and Sumita) to celebrate.

The three girls had worked with their neighbors for a few hours earlier in the day to create paintings on the homes' entryways with rice powder, colored chalk powder, and flowers.







There was an unexpected all-day power cut on Friday, which of course had its frustrations. However, it also meant that all light that we could see as we viewed our neighborhood from our friends' roof was from thousands of tiny oil lamps. Beautiful and surreal.





We saw A LOT of crackers -- big ones in the air, bottle rockets, fountains, wheels, sparklers, even palm leaves wrapped around gunpowder.







Eventually, we set off our own crackers.





Here's Corey using a special stick to light the palm leaf gunpowder bomb. Crazy man he is.



The evening ended with a delicious meal prepared by the girls. Interestingly, Babee and Sumita fast every Friday, so they were unable to eat the food that they'd spent so much time preparing! Now that's devotion!

Note: A related article on the TIME magazine site discusses the mixed reaction to Obama's visit to India on Friday. "[In Mumbai], the markets were empty on Saturday - the day after Diwali, and the day of the President's arrival - at a time that would normally witness the year's biggest orgy of consumerism. Bursting of firecrackers was banned in some areas on Saturday and Sunday - which is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas." He might be making progress on the international relations front, but his visit had negative consequences for a lot of people just wanting to celebrate their favorite holiday.

This post was contributed by Brett, husband to Lindy (Corey's sister).

Brett writes:

Continued recap of Lindy and Brett’s time in India:

On Thursday, we visited Onkadeli, a tribal village about 3 hours south of Koraput. We hired a car to drive us around for the day (~$40US) that navigated us through many towns and cities around the Koraput District of Orissa. The ride in the car was enjoyable—seeing all the serene hills and people (and animals) of India.



In the village of Onkadeli we shopped at the market, a place where many rural vendors sell their goods: lots of produce, fish, spices, jewelry, stainless steel, and other wares that they use in their daily lives. We even bought a few things there we had not seen around Koraput or Visakhapatnam. The market is a novel place, even for Indians because of vendors who sell a very strong liquor, scooped from large pots into drinking gourds. Though the aroma of the alcohol was pungent, we watched many people gulp it down. Gina and Lindy were also able to have their photo taken with two women of the Bhonda tribe.



After the market, we drove a short distance to view Duduma waterfall.



Friday, Lindy and I spent “a day in the life of an Indian,” doing the normal daily activities that Corey and Gina experience. We started by doing our laundry by hand in buckets on their back a patio. It was interesting, but out of all the necessary chores, it was my least favorite, and I wouldn’t enjoy doing it each week. It took hours of scrubbing and line drying. Next, Corey and I went into town to get a haircut and shave. All we had to do was find an 8x8 shack with a barber’s chair and mirror and wait in line. About 10 minutes after sitting down, getting my face and neck lathered, shaved, and then applying cooling cream I was a new man and it only cost 50 cents. The next adventure for Lindy and I was going shopping for a list of items needed for our meal. From our previous trips into Koraput, chaperoned by Corey and Gina, we had a good idea of where to go. So it was a fun experience that we accomplished without difficulty, shopping at 6 different places to get about 12 items.

Saturday started with a fantastic, American breakfast of pancakes with a banana and cashew topping. Shortly before lunchtime, we walked to the SOVA offices where Corey and Gina are working. On the way, we passed out Silly Bandz we’re brought from the U.S. to the children in a local village. The magnificent scenery on that short walk made us wish that was our way to work each day. Corey and Gina had invited their Indian and volunteer friends over to a party at their place starting at 6 pm. Lindy had made iced sugar cookies with a red lotus design earlier in the day, and we picked up some fried tiffin (snacks) at a stall in town. 6 pm came and went without anyone showing up. We ate. At 6:30, two people showed up and then through the next hour 9 more people came. We’d been warned that time is a little different to Indians, but it was interesting to have that experience ourselves. Once everyone arrived they ate,we talked and posed for about a hundred pictures, and took a few of our own. Then the real party started! We danced, mostly Dhemsa, an Indian dance that follows the moves of a leader around in a circle.







But our Indian guests wanted to see an American dance. So Lindy and Corey busted out the Electric Slide.



To Indian music, no less. It was a big hit with our foreign friends. Everyone had a great time and it will be a memorable event for them as well as for us.
Then at 9:30, Lindy and Gina went to Binu’s house next door, where she designed mehendi (henna) to her hands and arms.



Though she couldn’t touch anything, and I had to wash her face for her before she went to bed, she woke up to intricate and striking designs stained on her skin.



Today, Sunday, is our last full day in India and it is hard to think that the experience will soon be over. We have had a wonderful time in the country seeing beautiful places, friendly people, and sights we do not have in America. It is sad to leave after seeing so much, but this trip will be one that Lindy and I always remember. We hope that we will be able to come back in the future.

This week, Corey's sister and her husband are visiting from Pittsburgh. Since his sister (Lindy) is an emerging novelist, we thought she would enjoy contributing a post to our blog, reflecting on the visit so far.So...

Lindy writes:

“Last flight,” Brett said as he collapsed into the red vinyl seat.

“Yes,” I sighed, and sank into my own, reaching for my seatbelt. My wet seatbelt. Then dampness in the seat started to soak into my pants.

“Brett,” I hissed, springing to a crouch and feeling my pants. “I think the last passenger peed in my seat!”

“Really?” He had to feel for himself. “That’s gross,” he said, never offering to trade seats.

I grabbed the magazines, sealed in a Ziploc bag, from the seat back in front of me, shoved them on the wet spot, and sat on them. I buckled my seat belt, touching it as little as possible, and waited for the flight to be over. After all, an hour and a half flight after 36 hours of travel, in the same pair of underwear, was hardly a drop in the bucket.

Not every moment of this trip has been pleasant, but that hasn’t stopped me from loving each and every experience. In a country so different from my own, everything is new and I want to soak in all I can.

The first insect we saw, when we landed in the airport, was not a cockroach, fly, or mosquito as some in the U.S. may guess. It was a dragonfly.

In the short time I’ve spent here, I’ve seen more dragonflies than I ever have before. Swarms of them, drifting with glittering wings on humid sea breezes and on the cooler mountain air over rice paddies. Their jewel bright bodies as vibrant and organic as the saris on the women stooped below them.

The dragonfly is said to symbolize courage, strength, happiness, swiftness, and pure water. Others believe it’s evil—helping serpents and a representation of the devil. Swedish folklore even states that the devil uses dragonflies to weigh people’s souls. In a country with such breathtaking beauty, such a depth of emotion and spirituality in the culture, yet such heartbreaking poverty and pollution, I don’t think I could find a much better symbol of my experience here.

The people laugh at me and then ask to take a picture with me. My pulse speeds as I stand at the open train door, watching the land fall away into a gorge below me, speeding on a bridge over a river. Gorgeous mountain vistas, every view worthy of a picture, and fellow passengers cheering into the dark echoes of tunnels. When I return to my seat, I’m expected to throw the trash from my snack out the window. We enter a magnificently carved temple and though we are not Hindus, they bless us and mark our foreheads like one of their own. We stand in the surf watching gigantic waves crash toward the shore, the water rushing in so fast and far, all our pants are soaked. Sweating and stinking, in a high mountain overlook onto the azure sea, a family asks us to share their picnic lunch of rice and curry with them. I bend down and look an old woman in the eyes, buying a handful of whole, fresh turmeric from her for pennies, and she marvels at the color of my skin, sweeping her hands up her arms and over her face.

Yes, I’ve seen rats, eaten in restaurants with cockroaches on the walls, used a squat toilet, thrown my trash on the ground into the already festering piles, eaten with my hands, drank out of reused glasses, and stepped in cow poop on the street. Does it bother me?

No.

Because India, her people and her places, have resonated in my heart. I will remember this trip forever. I am so thankful that Corey and Gina decided to live here and that we’ve gotten to visit. They’ve helped make this an experience of a lifetime.

I want to remember it all—the good and the bad—every moment.

I will remember dragonflies.

Corey writes:

On Tuesday two things happened: (1) there was a district-wide strike (no work!) and (2) I saw my first Indian movie in a theater. Specifically, I saw Magadheera at the newly reopened Koraput cinema hall. It was a pretty cool experience.

I was just polishing off Mother Brain on my laptop when my friend Prakash called me and asked me to come with him and two friends to see a Telugu film. It started at 5:45, so I should be ready by 5:30. Don't be late. At 5:40 Prakash came to pick me up and we were off. To jail.

Actually we stopped to pick up one of his friends who lives in the police colony, which is right next to the Koraput jail. I hope I never see the inside.

We got to the theater at 5:55 and ran inside. We paid an extra 5 rupees per ticket, so we got to sit in the "First Class" section at the back. The theatre itself was pretty nice. It's been closed for a year and they must have done some renovating. There was no mold smell, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.

The experience of the film was also nice. People were talking and there were noisy fans blowing, but none of that mattered because it was LOUD. The volume was cranked up to that point where the highs and lows break the speakers. But it was good. The plot wasn't too complicated, and it had lots of action. People cheered when the hero did a stunt. The only moments where I really missed things were the jokes. It's a weird experience sitting in theater with everyone laughing and getting the joke but you.

There was an intermission, which I think we should bring back in the US. We went outside and got spicy salty roasted peanuts from the snack shack. We drank water from bags.

When it was all over we went home. I can't wait to go back!

Corey writes:

Yesterday I sipped Bacardi like it's my birthday, because it was. Twenty-nine. On the verge. Last chance for a nose piercing.

As with every other holiday here in Koraput, the celebration centered around eating. The main event was a carrot cake worthy of Carrot Top himself. Gina used our new (used) blender to grind up the carrots to a perfect size. The chunks were big enough to see and taste, but they were perfectly cooked and surrounded by eleven herbs and spices and flour. Just look at it:

The cake took about 2 hours to bake in our EZ bake oven. During the 2 hours both Gina and I were electrocuted by the oven. We need to have a sign: "PUT ON RUBBER SHOES BEFORE TOUCHING OVEN".

Gina initially planned to make two cakes, us eating half of one cake on my birthday. Half a cake quickly became one cake. Our coworkers are lucky there's any left of the second cake.

I made a Spanish tortilla for lunch. This was something we ate a bunch of on our honeymoon in Spain. Happily, the little shop across from our front door carries all the supplies: eggs, potatoes, onions, and a bunch of oil.

Then, this morning we went to the Raj Residency for breakfast. When we first arrived in K-put, we lived at the Raj for a week. During that time I became hopelessly hooked on their masala dosas. Today I fed that monkey on my back.

Finally, today at work, we brought the carrot cake to work to share with coworkers, since it’s customary to bring sweets to office for any personal celebration. At the last minute, Gina thought to purchase Indian sweets from the market to supplement the carrot cake. Since the carrot cake has eggs, it’s not vegetarian by Indian standards and the majority of people at work are “veg” some days and “non-veg” other days. For various reasons, today was a day for most people were veg, so the Indian sweets were a good idea…plus it meant carrot cake leftovers for us!

We also celebrated with non-food things too. Gina gave me my gifts: tongs (YES!!!), a whisk, coffee, and three of these certificates:

I think they're too pretty to use.

Gina writes:

Yesterday was my birthday...according to the English/Gregorian calendar. If I were a Hindu, I'd celebrate according to the Hindu calendar involving constellations and the Hindu months. The process is detailed here, but I'll summarize.

1. If you draw an imaginary line from you to the moon on the day you were born, the line passes through one of 27 star constellations (nakshatra). My constellation is Hastha (hand).
2. The Hindu calendar starts on March 22 and has 12 months of 30 or 31 days each. July 8 correlates to the month of Asadha.
3. For this year, during the month of Asadha, my star constellation is most visible (or something) on the day that corresponds to July 17 on the Gregorian calendar. So that's my Hindu birthday!

For my FIRST birthday, I think Corey could have come up with some great surprises or activities, but I had some ideas in mind, so I just gave him a list of things that I wanted.

First on the list, a hot bath in my kiddie pool! We were home from work on Monday (all of India was on strike) and it was a rainy, cold, lazy day. Perfect day for a bath. Corey boiled pot after pot of water to fill the pool (partway) and set me up with candles and wine and a good book and left me alone in bliss for an hour. Amazing!

Second on the list, he somehow agreed to do crafts with me for a night! I came up with the idea of filling the outline of an animal with scraps of fabric to make a patchwork animal wall hanging. Corey chose the frog from the designs I found and we started snipping. Here he is, deep in concentration, doing an incredible job of not letting me know how much he was loathing the experience!

The other gifts were easier, just took a little preparation. I wanted an ice cream sundae, so Corey brought back a HUGE container of "chocolate dressing" from his recent trip that was SO tasty on top of a big bowl of ice cream, with bananas and peanut butter and nuts. I was also hoping that he could convince the powers that be to arrange kheer (Indian rice pudding) to be made at work. Hot sweet goodness, with cinnamon and cashews, yum! Satabdi, who's in charge of the planning, actually arranged ALL my favorites, paneer chili, channa masala, and potato chutney!

As for celebrating at work, I knew that I was expected to bring sweets to share with the office. Instead of going to the sweet shop and getting Indian sweets that are only mediocre to my tastes, I made two loaves of banana bread. I've brought it in before and it's one non-Indian treat that is universally accepted and loved by everyone, so it works well as the "treat from the foreigner."

Besides that, I was just expecting a lot of comically formal handshakes from coworkers with a serious "Gina, happy birthday to you. Many happy returns." I can't figure it out, the formal holiday handshake is a mystery. However, I received gifts from a few coworkers and friends. A orange and yellow scarf that I'm wearing right now, a nice ceramic coffee cup, a little jewelry box, a bird figurine that lights up and plays music, two anklets that are ANOTHER part of traditional Indian jewelry, and a pair of earrings!

The day ended with a dinner at the most expensive restaurant in town, the Raj Residency. The other Koraput volunteer, Binu, Corey, and I ate a nice dinner for about $10 total. Then we went back to our house for sundaes! (Except there was some confusion because Binu didn't know what a sundae was, so was confused about why we were having an ice cream sundae on a Thursday!)

Birthday #1 was great, I can't wait for birthday #2!

Gina writes:

Deomali is on the list of "tourist destinations" of Koraput district. It's the highest point in the state of Orissa. Since it's right in our district (only 35 km away from Koraput town), we put it on our list of places to go on a free day sometime.

A friend from SOVA organized a trip there this past Sunday. When he first mentioned it, we only half-expected it to happen, since coordinating a bunch of people is difficult in any country and maybe even more so in India. However, he developed a budget, hired the vehicle, made the list of supplies needed, and got 10 people to come on the trip! I was really impressed.

We're in the beginning of the rainy season, so there was a chance that it could rain or be too muddy to drive and/or hike, but it's been raining mostly at night lately anyway, so we thought we'd take the chance. When we woke up on Sunday morning, not only was it not raining, but it wasn't even overcast, just a few bright white clouds in the sky!

Shortly after 6 a.m., we headed out. We had to wait around for a few people to get ready (hey, it's India, did you expect punctuality?), but the drive to Deomali was actually pretty short. There were eleven people in the vehicle, so we were packed! Since it's been raining pretty regularly, the scenery is more gorgeous than ever. Rolling hills and field in dozens of shades of green.



The road leading up to Deomali was in fairly good condition, but was steep in places and had a lot of switchbacks, so we did have to all get out at one point so the vehicle could continue. At about 9 a.m., we reached the end of the road!



We had to hike/climb the rest of the way. The first quarter was fine, just a gently sloping grassy hike. Then we unknowingly veered off the trail and ended up picking our way over boulders for a long time. It wasn't really dangerous, since it wasn't a super-high slope, but it was exhausting!

We eventually crossed paths with the proper trail. It's a little difficult to see it in this picture, but I was standing on the path when I took this photo and you can see it marked all the way to the top. Amazing "trail" isn't it?



It only took about an hour total to reach the top, but we were so tired at the unexpected effort. Some of the others, especially the girls, don't ever do any physical activity, so it was hard for them, but I was proud of those who made it to the top!





After Deomali, it was picnic time! The biggest difference between and Indian picnic and an American picnic is the food. Indians bring a portable gas canister and burner, pressure cookers, and everything needed to cook a complete 3 or 4 course Indian meal. Also, the guys do most of the cooking (similar to American dudes “manning the grill” I guess). Strangely, I only have a picture of a girl cooking!



We had originally planned to have the picnic right near Deomali, where the vehicle was parked. But some bulls were taking a nap in our water source, so we drove down the road a bit to a natural spring instead.

There was a pool of spring water that was clean and cool and I really wished I had brought a change of clothes so I could go swimming. While the food was cooking, we played some games, danced to Hindi music (well, I watched, they danced), and ate snacks. Here's Corey daring Masi to drink water from the pipe. You can see the pool in the background.



Due to a slight failure in the planning, there was only one burner and 5 pots to heat, but snacks and fun held us over until 3:30 when lunch was ready. We sat down to a hot meal of mutton curry, egg curry, mushroom curry, rice, and daal (lentil soup).



Right after lunch, we cleaned up and headed home. Corey and I both made the mistaking of not thinking to bring sunscreen, so the 3 hours or so in direct sunlight gave us both bad sunburns, especially on our faces, so we were absolutely drained. What an incredible day!

Corey writes:

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary. Gina and I decided to make a big deal of it because it gave us something to look forward to and plan for, which is a way to combat the six-month blues that we're experiencing. We started brainstorming a month ago and came up with the following ideas: Our celebration would center around a meal, an American meal: cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes. This idea was further refined to be cheeseburgers but no fries, and Oreo Dark Fantasy milkshakes. (We always giggle at the Dark Fantasy box, which reads "Bite into the outer crust made of the darkest finest cocoa..." see the link for more).

Making the burgers was a bit of an odyssey. We had to go through our illicit beef dealer, which is a bit like buying drugs. We utter our order in hushed tones to our "contact." Cash changes hands. We wait anxiously in our house for the delivery... What was that? Was that the sound of an elite police force readying a battering ram outside our door, weapons drawn? No, just the landlord. Finally, the "stuff" arrives, and we get our fix. Seriously though, making ground beef is a pain in the ass. Luckily, our friends Margaret and Jan lent us their blender. YOU try making ground beef from a 2 pound roast using only a blender sometime. Hold on tight! To contribute to our burger adventure, Gina made some hamburger buns FROM SCRATCH. Sometimes I feel like I'm one of those people that lives "off the grid" in the US. In the end, the burgers we made looked really good (see the above photo) but were not very good tasting. Too much gristle. However, the tomatoes, mayo, cheese, and buns were very good. After this (and one previous experiment) I think we've come down to stewing as the only possibility for the beef here.

In addition, we would exchange gifts. Coming up with a gift idea for Gina was not very hard, as she's been on a quixotic quest to take a bath (as in submersing herself in water) since January. We've asked our friends and the shopkeepers in Koraput for a container big enough to hold a human and also several liters of water. Giggling and then a shaking "no" head was the only response. So I took the quest on the road this month when he went to Delhi. With a little help from Liam, I found what I was looking for in the very first shop. Delhi, you may be smelly, hot, and crowded, but you gots what we need. I brought the item back to Koraput and tried to hide it from Gina, which lasted about 36 hours. But Gina was still giddy once she got to hop into her very own kiddie pool.

I made no special requests for a gift, but Gina succeeded in wowing me nonetheless. She composed a love song for me. It was very sweet and unique, like Gina. She sang it to me complete with a fantastic slide show of pictures from the wedding.

Finally, we decided to share our celebration with our coworkers by commissioning our very own sheet cake.

We were really impressed at the quality of this cake, and it just goes to show what is possible even in "rural" India. The only problem with the cake was that we got it on Sunday and needed to keep it safe from ants (and mice) until bringing it to work the next day. For a minute I thought ("please please please") that we would just have to eat the whole thing ourselves before the ants got to it. But Gina looked at the still set-up kiddie pool and uttered the sentence that has never been spoken before in human history and will never been spoken again: "We need to put the cake in the pool." CAKE MOAT!!!!! Brilliant!

Even Sango joined in!

Corey writes:

About two months ago, the fair came to town. That's right, a good ole-fashioned county fair. Everyone at work was talking about it. So when our friend Satya asked if we wanted to go with him, we jumped at the chance. "When are you free?" he asked. "How about 5pm on Sunday?" we said. "See you then."

As it happens, 5pm on a Sunday is the worst possible time to go to Mina Bazaar. While it was technically open when we arrived, most of the booths and rides were still being set up, and there were a total of six people there including us.

Satya dutifully led us around the empty fair to look at the empty booths. I kept waiting for The Joker to pop out of somewhere, it was a little creepy in the late afternoon sun. We did get some Mathura Cake, which are essentially fried mini-donuts that we have at fairs in the States.

That was also the day I tried my first Koraput lassi. Four thousand later, I still want more of those babies. I'm going to cry the day that we walk in to town and find the lassi shops have turned back into Christmas shops, or whatever they turn into before Christmas shops.

To sum up, our first attempt at the Mina Bazaar was less than awesome. Fast forward to this week and we heard that the fair was back in town. This time, we decided to go at 6:45 on a weekday with our friend Binu. The place was hopping.

We went straight for the rides at the back of the fair. We had our choice of four fair-type rides: a Ferris wheel, a spinny ride (like the Scrambler), a giant swinging boat, and a dragon going around a flat oval track. Having seen the way buildings, roads, and cars are maintained here in Koraput, I was determined not to go too near any of these rides. Binu and her cousin-sister went on the big rocking ship, and Gina and I did the parental "We'll take pictures from here" thing. They shrugged, got on, and had a fun time without anyone dying.


Maybe bolstered by the lack of fatalities, Gina taunted and goaded me into agreeing to go on the Scrambler thing. "OK, but I'm going to be mad if we die!" I said. We went and lived. "I think I enjoyed it more because you were scared." she said, teasing me.


Then we treated ourselves to more fried donuts and browsed through the booths on the perimeter. In addition to the standard fair crap of cheap purses, jewelry, toys, etc. you can also get cups, plates, cookware, and cooking utensils. This time was a good time at Mina Bazaar.