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Pictures from India December 2002 - February 2003

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I had two aims on this trip. As usual, I planned to gather ideas for recipes wherever I could find them, but last summer my daughter, Oxana, started a four year course in Chennai, so Sveta and I combined our wanderings with a four week family get-together in Tamil nadu. We still did lots of travelling and I got a chance to try out some recipes in Oxana's house.

Before going to Chennai, Sveta and I went to Naniltal in the North of India, not far from the Nepalese border. It was a very beautiful place though it was quite cold. We spent a lot of time exploring the surrounding forests and mountains. The picture on the right was taken from Snow View Ridge. You would have been able to see a 300 km long stretch of the Himalaya in the distance if my camera had been any good but it wasn't. My beloved Minolta Riva, which I had for years, started to fall apart so I bought another make of cheapo camera. I'll never use it again.

The countryside around Nanital is surprisingly similar to more northern regions. I was reminded of Scotland and Sveta thought some of it looked like Siberia. There were of course differences too, as this picture of a cactus growing in amongst the pine trees illustrates.

We spent Christmas in Nanital and had planned to have Christmas dinner at one of the smarter hotels along with the other tourists, who were mostly from Delhi. What happened though, was that for four days all the shops and banks were closed because of increasingly violent student demonstrations (Some poor boy set fire to himself as a protest and his friends were unable to extinguish the flames. His death lead to three days of rioting). We spent Christmas day with only forty rupees and very few opportunities to spend it. We did however have a bottle of vodka, which we had brought from Kazakhstan, and we had Star TV in our room, a growing trend in India these days, even in the cheapest hotels. The room was freezing but the vodka warmed us up and I made a foray down into the town centre and picked up some cheap potato cutlets with green peas from one of the few street vendors who was willing to risk doing business. We weren't in the mood for serious partying after the events of the previous days, but we did manage a celebration of sorts.

After Nanital, we went back to Delhi and caught a train all the way down south to Chennai to join my daughter and her husband for New Year. My daughter is studying a classical Indian dance form called Bharat Natyam.

Here's a couple of pictures of Oxana in her training kit, doing some of her dance moves. Sveta and I got a chance to sit in on one of her lessons and we were both very impressed. The training seems very demanding both physically and mentally. There are thousands of hand positions to memorise and the body positions require a great deal of strength and stamina. Oxana said her teacher was much gentler with the class because we were present.

Both of the above pictures were taken on the balcony of Oxana and Steve's flat. The location is great, overlooking the sea (though you can't see it in the pictures). We only stayed there for a week but Sveta and I managed to do some exploring in Chennai.

We visited Guindy National Park which is one of the smallest national parks in India and the only one located within city limits. Permission to visit has to be requested in writing but it is readily given, even on the same day as the request is made. The park is so quiet and peaceful it's hard to believe you're in the middle of a city with a population of over 10 million, and there's no litter anywhere. The picture on the right shows Sveta sitting under a banyan tree in the park. She's got more sense than me. When we're out walking in the countryside, she usually takes a break under a nice shady tree while I get my nose fried out in the sun looking for birds (It's quite a big nose too - I should take more care of it).

I cooked paneer with tomatoes one evening and everyone was quite impressed so I put the recipe up on the site. Here's a picture of me in action. I also had cauliflower and potato going at the same time.

We all went on a trip round Tamil Nadu for three weeks and visited some wonderful places - hill stations in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri Hills, magnificent temples and some fine beaches. I would have included some photos but unfortunately my new camera let me down all the way. I really should append a few more negative adjectives the next time I mention it. When I developed the film I was, to use one of my granny's favourite phrases, fair scunnered. This is probably the best photo I took in Tamil Nadu - the window of our hotel room in Rameswaram. Quite artistic, isn't it?

After we left Chennai, Sveta and I went to Puri which is further up the east coast, towards Calcutta. Here's a picture of the beach with lots of pretty boats. What you can't see though, are all the dead turtles which I think might have got caught in the fishermen's nets and drowned. I counted over twenty enormous carcasses, discarded to rot in the sun. I don't know what type they were but I suspect they were olive ridley turtles. If they were, and if they did drown in nets, it makes it a rather ironic fact that there's a national nature reserve just along the coast which was set up to protect the turtles' breeding grounds.

Puri is a rather unusual village in that you can quite legally and openly purchase marijuanna at any of several government bhang shops. Needless to say I didn't get much work done there.

To finish off this page, here's a picture of another couple of vegetarians we met on the road.

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