Over one week with stomach problems I am almost starting to dream about western food because the thought of Indian food make me ill. To find western food is not that hard but the Indian food is normally half the price. The longing for home-made food has lead me to talk to Pelle a guy from the team about food almost every day. Yesterday we decided to make something out of it. Together with Ellen another Kaospilot we are going to write a book of food that we come to talk about here in India. I reckon this will the saving for longing of the western kitchen.
April 10, 2008
April 9, 2008
I will get my shoes cleaned
Sometimes this country touches my hearth so hard. I was walking on the street today and there was a guy that came up to me. He asked me to clean my shoes for 2 rupis because he thought they were dirty. It was not a good time to have my shoes cleaned so I sad no. He said, “Please mam, I am very hungry and need to get some food”. To get a greater understanding I asked him if he can do it tomorrow for 10 rupis instead and asked if that wouldn’t be better. He said that he preferred to do it today for 2 rupis. Ended up that I told him that I would be here for two months so he would probably meet me again and then he would get 10. I really hope I will meet him again and then he will get 50 rupis for cleaning my shoes. No question about that…
March 26, 2008
Safe and woman in India
One reflection is that I need to stop caring about the mindset of the Indians on their way of looking at women. It makes me angry, laugh and amused. It seems like I am always ending up in a conflict with one or another man surely because of my opinion about men here. Yesterday it happened on the train when I was standing in the door together with my good friend Irja. A man asked to pass so I thought that he wanted to go stand in front of us on the steps but no, he just wanted to take my place and stand where I was standing. So I asked him if he was just going to stand there since I was standing there before, he only said yes and laughed a little bit. So walked over to stand in the other door for a while and laughed a little bit. But I could not let it go so I went over to him again and asked how come he wanted me to move, if I had missed out on any Indian norms or anything. After discussing with him for a while and him laughing a little bit on and of like he was uncomfortable talking to me he told me that he had asked me to move because of the it not being safe to stand in the door and because I am a women. I cannot more then help to think that this country is far from equity.
Train Goa- Mumbai
Traveling from Goa to Mumbai is quit of an experience. The landscape is not was fascinates me but the people traveling, the restaurant and the way of selling food on the train. I would recommend traveling in second class where you get your own “bed” at a coupe with 8 beds. During the twelve hours ride men are passing by all the time selling coffee, chai, kebab and all other different types of food. And since the kitchen was allowed to enter I had to check it out. Hugh pots, lots of spices and big frying pans full of oil. With the train swinging pretty much from one side to another I cannot help wondering how many accidents there are in those restaurants. The heat was almost unstandable and the pan with frying oil looked like it was going to fall in any second. Seeing this it did not seem very remarkable that the man were walking around with heavy boxes and buckets during the whole ride without falling apart. On the other hand it seems like people in general here in India are caring around their things. Another thing that amazes me in this world is their smoking rules. On the platform when waiting for the train you are not allowed to smoke even though it is outside. But you can smoke on the train if you open the doors, yes, you can open the doors while the train is driving. Another thing that is good to keep in mind if you have problems going to “Indian style” toilets (which means a hole in the ground), then you can find one or two “Western style” toilets. But on the other hand it is quite funny to try to squat while the train is swinging and suddenly breaking.
March 5, 2008
Fall in Australia
At the moment I just feel like going to Mumbai, do some work there and go back home. I will try to find some interesting work during the summer, gain some money and aim for Australia. In fall I have world wide practice at the Kaospilot and at the moment I feel like going to Australia during that time. It depends on how everything will proceed with my business during the summer. But I am longing to see Australia…
March 4, 2008
In chains?
Trying to imagine my self with people all around me for three months. After what I have heard the men in Mumbai are crazy about the women. They follow them, scream at them and touch them. That scares me off a little bit because that can drive me crazy. People that I have talked with that have been there give as a recomendation to always as a woman to walk together with a guy. I am so curious to find out what it is like, NOW!
February 25, 2008
Accounting, all over me
Starting to get a little bit stressed to be honest…. I am leaving for India in a week and since I will be there for three months I need to get some things sorted before. I wanted to start to work with some foundraising today but no time for that. Have a year of salary to register and send to the tax- office first. At the moment there are a lot of accounting and paper work that need to be solved for my mum’s business before I can do something else. Going back to work….
February 21, 2008
Time to open up
Eating dinner yesterday reminded me that the way you order your food is not the same everywhere. I should have learned from living in Spain, but no, I ordered a plate with turkey and got only turkey, no potatoe, no salad, nada. Only meat… Actually getting a little bit angry at my self and my narrative way of seeing the world.
I have also learned that Minsk has been renamed twenty times… sounds like a lot of unecessary work to me.
And after ordering lunch at a restaurant pointing at what I wanted and the waiters weighting my plate of salad I am amized by the way things work here….
