Floating Flowers

Some floating flower arrangements from the entrance to my office. They are changed every second day with different flower and petal varieties. Very colourful and beautiful - a great decoration tip we can borrow from the Indians.







All photos by Arek

Rickshaw Ride

With a pounding heart of 150cc pushing 7hp of raw power to the wheels the Indian Auto Rickshaw is engineering at its... well perhaps not its best. Driving a 'tuk-tuk' or a 'rick' as they call it here might not be the fastest thing you'll ever do, but by goodness it is an experience. Loud, uncomfortable, prone to breaking down and completely useless at protecting you from anything at all, they are really not your best, but sometimes your only choice to travel around the city. No, I'm not a big fan of rickshaws. And here is why.





After a small farewell party our friends threw last weekend before leaving India we hired a rickshaw back to our place. It was about 10PM and dark and that's when things began to get interesting. Halfway home, the rickshaw hit something in the road (probably the unmarked road divider) and we did what I can only describe as a somersault. The driver lost control over the vehicle, we hit the curb, the back end flew up into the air, turned us over and the vehicle landed on its side.

I recall being upside down and instinctively curling myself up into a ball for protection... Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as it always does in these situations... we came to a stop.

Arek: Are you alright?

Me: Yes, I'm okay... are you?

The rickshaw was lifted from us and a crowd of men started to gather around out of nowhere, they seemed unsure what to do now that the rickshaw had been safely removed from these very dishevelled and dazed looking foreigners. Very luckily we were not hurt with the exception of some minor bumps and scratches, but we saw the driver curled up on the side of the road, holding his heavily scratched hands in front of him, his mouth bleeding an open wound on the back of his head. When we mentioned the word 'hospital' no one seemed very enthusiastic about it and the driver stood up and started to slowly move the rickshaw away from the road.

We started to walk down the road thinking about the way to get home. Finally we had no other choice and hailed another rickshaw (this was the last thing we wanted to be in... but needs must), we climbed in and went back to our apartment. So now we can not-so-proudly call ourselves rickshaw accident survivors.



This was another adventure we had here in India. I keep wondering what's next. But very hopefully the saying is true... lightening never strikes in the same place twice! Afterall we still have to go around in these little 3-wheelers - for about 2 months more.


This is the other rickshaw driver who took us home after the accident. He made a point of being photographed and asked us to send him the picture by post

All photos Arek

It Makes You Wanna ... Paint

I'm growing a little tired of the subject 'India' at the mo - I figure so are you, so here is something different for a change. A very inspiring video - it's like a boost of creative energy!

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG

Pepsi MASALA

One of the most fascinating things in India is its cuisine. Another even more fascinating thing in India is the attention food is given in this country. It literally starts with people asking you if you have eaten instead of saying 'hello'!


This is how fruits are sold everywhere

Women cook fresh food for each course of the day and you wouldn't believe how complicated and time consuming the proper traditional procedures of cooking are, how rich the ingredients and how varied and unusual the combination of tastes is. A woman - who normally is the one who cooks for the family can spend the whole day in the kitchen in order to cook enough food for the day to feed her family. It is common she would have someone come to clean and wash up, but the outsiders are normally not trusted with the food. After she cooks all the food she is also the one who serves it. And as she does this, she is not supposed to eat herself. So she would make sure all the family is fed, gets to try all the various dishes and is full. Only then would she grab a bite herself.


Photos by Olga & Arek

Most people eat with their hands in India. Many say the food tastes better this way as there is no contact with inferior objects (cutlery). Some others insist that it is even more hygienic to eat with hands than when using the utensils - hands are more clean and natural. You would imagine it is easy to eat with hands? Don't be misled! There is a special way to hold the food with all the 5 fingers and then to help it to your mouth with the thumb! It took me a couple of meals to learn to do that - with locals watching me and having real good time :) I think we are not used to touching our food, so mixing it with fingers and spreading around on the plate is quite a weird feeling. I tend to want to use a napkin every five mins when I eat with my hands and end up with a pile of used napkins beside my plate, while Indians neatly finish their meal with their right hand, wait until a bowl of water with a piece of lime is brought in – for better smell - and then wash it.

The plates and dishes here are normally made of steel, rarely ceramics, although now it starts coming into fashion. It is not common to have a dining table in a typical Indian home as families usually eat sitting on the floor.


Learning how to eat :)

It seems India is a home to most vegetarians in the world. It is very common for most of the people here not to eat meat, but also egg and milk – for religious reasons. India offers a whole variety of 'veg' (as opposed to 'non-veg') dishes - the choice of vegetables and fruits is incredible, but the cuisine has also been constantly developing and adjusting for the vegetarian needs of its inhabitants.






Food is often served on banana leaves which replace plates



selling coco nuts as food and as drinks


this is how black pepper grows

If you want to go vegetarian - move to India! Just make sure you can adjust to the local spice levels, which for me still remain a bit of a challenge. Food can be so spicy that I struggle to feel any taste at all with my mouth on fire.


leftovers of our non-spicy breakfast


Indians can't imagine their food without spices. Otherwise the food doesn't taste good – or rather simply doesn't taste at all. So here it is where you come to the extremes of very spicy food, or very sweet - or very salty. For example lemonade - or Fresh Lime Soda, as they call it locally, is made with lime, salt, sugar syrup and masala - it is extremely fresh and tasty – a great combination of salt and sugar mixed together. Fruits sold on the street are also smeared with masala, salt or green chilly sauce. This way you can buy salty pine apple, guava masala, chilly mango, wood apple with something extremely sour, etc.



And apart from that Indians love pickles - any small fruits or vegetables extremely sour and spicy at the same time, unfortunately too strong for my stomack.


Indian pickles - spicy and sour gooseberries


Indian sweets made of milk and cahsew nuts

And last thing is on Indian breads, which are a wide variety of flatbreads and crêpes and are an integral part of Indian cuisine. Their variation reflects the diversity of Indian culture and food habits. Different varieties of Indian bread include: Chapati, Phulka, Puri, Roti, Paratha, Naan, Kulcha, Bhatoora, Baqar Khani, Appam, Dosa, Luchi, Puran Poli, Pathiri, Porotta and many more. Some varieties depend on the kind of grain used to prepare them, and others depend on the fillings they contain.


It's true, this is Pepsi masala - a regular Pepsi mixed with salt and spices. A very peculiar taste!

All photos by Olga&Arek

Edakkal Cave

Edakkal Caves are two natural caves located 1,200 metres above sea level in the Wayanad district of Kerala in India's Western Ghats. They lie besides an ancient trade route connecting the high mountains of Mysore to the ports of Malabar coast. Inside the caves are pictorial writings believed to be dating to at least 5000 BC, from the Neolithic man, indicating the presence of a prehistoric civilization or settlement in this region. The Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from south India.

We visited one of the caves on the way back from Wayanad. Still I was most fascinated by the tropical forest all around us - stunningly green, fresh and beautiful.










Photos by Olga & Arek

Bandipur Adventure

It is around 9PM, completely dark and raining.
We are going through the Banipur forest in our TT mini-bus, the road is bumpy, there are no other cars in sight.
Suddenly someone in the car shouts 'Elephants!' and the driver stops to a hault.
In the lights of the car we can see a huge elephant with large yellow tusks - he calmly watches us with his big beautiful eyes, his skin darkened by the rain on the top of is head and spine.
Then he slowly starts to walk away to the right side of the road where we also notice other elephants - clearly a female and a little elephant, it seems there are more elephants in sight.
I open my window to have a closer look at them - these unique creatures, caught wild in their natural habitat.
The big elephant finally steps away from the road and we are free to go.
The driver starts up the engine and quickly accelerates and we all watch in some sort of a trance how all of a sudden the elephant rushes at our minibus trying to smash it.
He is not fast enough and then tries to reach it at least with his trunk, but also fails. The driver is fast and we drive away into the night right in time before our car becomes a toy for this huge animal.
My window is still open...
We can't stop talking and shouting at each other in the car...
The driver is shaking.
It didn't even occur to anyone of us to grab a camera and take a shot.












































Photos by Olga & Arek