mettadventure

I keep name-dropping geckos left and right, and by now you might...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:28:02 -0500

I keep name-dropping geckos left and right, and by now you might be wondering why the lizards in question have not gotten any face-time on here. Well, they are shy during the day and nocturnally bold, keeping to the ceiling-zone for the most part, which makes them camera-shy. But this big fellow did not manage to evade me in my bedroom the other night!

This chair, directly outside of my apartment, sees a lot of good...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:22:21 -0500

This chair, directly outside of my apartment, sees a lot of good times. Scoops and Blue sleep in it each night, geckos frolic above it, and various humans read books or play ukulele in it.

Dosas are made in a special pan using lots of oil and love and...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:16:17 -0500

Dosas are made in a special pan using lots of oil and love and magic.

Jamming out!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:14:35 -0500

Jamming out!

I had some of my 5th grade students over on Sunday to teach me...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:08:39 -0500

I had some of my 5th grade students over on Sunday to teach me how to make dosas and coconut chutney. This was beyond the yum-factor! Non-food related fun included them playing my ukulele and me learning how to dance Indian-style.

I think there should be a magazine like National Geographic that...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:46:00 -0500

I think there should be a magazine like National Geographic that is dedicated only to dog smiles from around the globe. This would be the centerfold.

Dog-cat-love is universal all around the world! Here are Scoops...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:37:00 -0500

Dog-cat-love is universal all around the world! Here are Scoops (my new dog true-love) and Blue (her best friend in kitten-form) lovin’ it up on the steps of my apartment building. These two play all day and sleep together at night.

This is the street I live on. Some of what you see here is...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:30:00 -0500

This is the street I live on. Some of what you see here is debris from the recent cyclone. But the trash is an everyday sight—nothing unusual here. I hate to say this, because I really love India, but it is a dirty place. It’s just a fact. Between the cow dung all over the streets and other places you walk (They roam freely, and thus poop freely as well and I’ve often thought that it’s a pity dogs cannot live off of eating cow dung, because it is a plentiful resource and sadly there are starving, sickly street dogs everywhere you go here.), the heaps of garbage scattered throughout, the exposed sewage, and then all of the dustiness, at first it can overwhelm the senses. I’m pretty used to it now, though, so for the most part I do not feel grossed out walking down the street (as I used to). That said, I have to wash my feet each night before I get into bed because I have what I’ve come to call a “dirt tan” on them, where all exposed areas of skin not covered by my flip flops (the only thing I wear on a daily basis because of the heat and also the fact that you must remove your footwear before entering shops, schools, homes, etc…) are dark brown. I’ve come to really enjoy the evening ritual of lovingly massaging them with a fine smelling soap and then rinsing them with the cold tap water (there is no water heater, so all bathing is done with cold water!) in my bathroom, as small geckos watch from the ceiling.

Peacocks are wild and free in India—jazzing up every place...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:21:38 -0500

Peacocks are wild and free in India—jazzing up every place they go.

Here is my friend Sandra unaware of the greedy paws behind...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:15:00 -0500

Here is my friend Sandra unaware of the greedy paws behind her…. What do you think this monkey has on its mind? (My guess starts with an ‘s’ and ends with an ‘s’! See earlier post for further clues!)

There were a number of things I was afraid of having run-ins...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:00:40 -0500

There were a number of things I was afraid of having run-ins with in India that I had, prior to this trip to Tiruvannamalai a couple of weeks ago, not encoutered. They were: scorpions, cobras, and aggressive monkeys. So, in full disclosure, I have still not encountered a cobra anywhere in India yet, which I am perfectly fine with. I will gladly return to America in 4 weeks without that particular anecdotal gem under my belt. However, I kept expecting to see scorpions, and on some level felt disappointed by the idea that I might come all the way here to India and never once encounter one (from a safe distance of course!). Well, as you can see from the above photo, on our hike back down the holy mountain my wait was over! We were very hot and decided to sit in the shade. My friend Nava (She is Vanji’s mom, and an amazing 1st grade teacher who cooks the most incredible vegetarian food I’ve ever eaten) went to make space for me on the boulder where she was sitting by moving a smaller boulder out of the way. When she lifted it up, this scorpion was asleep underneath. The first photo I took of it was pretty much a failure, because a sleeping scorpion so well camouflaged with the rock below it basically doesn’t have much wow-factor. However, Vanji was so excited to get a good photo of it, that he threw a pebble at it to rouse it from its slumber (what, if anything, do scorpions dream of I wonder?) and get it to strike a proper pose. Voila! (No one got stung, by the way.)

These two monkeys were sweetly grooming one another in front of...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:50:49 -0500

These two monkeys were sweetly grooming one another in front of the cave, seemingly oblivious to the marvelous view behind them.

After a very hot walk of about 40 minutes, we reached the cave...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:45:00 -0500

After a very hot walk of about 40 minutes, we reached the cave where Sri Ramana Maharshi meditated for 7 years. There was a breathtaking view of the city below, and it was utterly teeming with monkeys! I took my sneakers and socks off in order to enter the cave and left them with numerous others by the gate. I went inside, which was crowded with people, and was able to meditate in the very inner chamber in which Sri Ramana had so many years ago. When I came back out, I was told by my traveling companions that a monkey had absconded with my socks, but that Vanji, my 10 year-old Indian friend (whose mother is a teacher at my school here), had saved the day! Though I had missed all of the comical action with my own socks, I got to witness and capture this sock thief in action with some stranger’s socks! I love the very serious old-man look on his face.

The holy mountain, Arunachala, behind the ashram, is a place...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:39:58 -0500

The holy mountain, Arunachala, behind the ashram, is a place many religious devotees make pilgrimages to. It’s supposed to bestow good luck on the pilgrim if he or she climbes around the mountain barefoot. We decided to climb with our shoes on going up (though I took mine off on the way down). This very large monkey, who reminded me so much of a Dr. Seuss character come to life, greeted us early on in our hike up the mountain. He had a very dignified and chilled-out way about him.

A couple of weeks ago I went on a trip to Sri Ramana...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:35:39 -0500

A couple of weeks ago I went on a trip to Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Tiruvannamalai. We passed this incredible fortress on our way there.

These 4th grade boys insisted I take this photo :).

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:24:26 -0500

These 4th grade boys insisted I take this photo :).

And here is the lovely beach, whose water is warm and full of...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:30:00 -0500

And here is the lovely beach, whose water is warm and full of mysteries (among them: squid, crabs, gregarious fish, various critters that live in fancy-shaped shells, and (supposedly) human waste pollution from nearby Pondicherry). I am choosing not to think about the final item in that list…

This is what it’s like to ride in an auto rickshaw (which...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:19:11 -0500

This is what it’s like to ride in an auto rickshaw (which is like a big tricycle with a cab on top). See how the driver is holding handle bars and not a steering wheel? The horns on these things sound like a baby’s toy—very high pitched and comical! It is unusual for there not to be cows in the road in this particular area. Two friends and I were piled into the back of this auto rickshaw headed to the beach, which is about a 5 minute drive away.

Photo

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:11:32 -0500

More goats and gods max’n and relax’n in the noon...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:33:41 -0500

More goats and gods max’n and relax’n in the noon day sun.