Ganesh Chaturthi - Festival to celebrate Ganesh's Birthday

GANESH CHATURTHI

Another festival has begun in Mumbai.  This one is loud and exciting and lasts for 10 days.  It is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Ganesh (the elephant god you see above).  The festival began Tuesday night, Sept 18th with lots of music, drum beats, fireworks.  The city was ablaze with noise and activity.   Wednesday morning, the actual festival begins with even more drum beats and music parading around the city, escorting the numerous Ganesh statues to their temporary temples (pandals) for the next 10 days.  I took a drive with my driver to catch some of the excitement.  We went to the  area where the largest Ganesh in Mumbai is located.  I read that it is visited by 1.5 million people daily! Above and below are some of the pictures that i caught driving around the city.

I wish i could have captured some of the music to play for you.  It was like a caribbean drum sound - very exciting.

The Ganesh are all around the city, many in individual homes and many in temporary structures built just for this occasion (see one of these pandals in bottom picture). Ganesh is worshipped for 10 days, and "on the 11th day, the statue is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, and fanfare to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees. " (Wikipedia -sorry)  

(One problem with this festival is that the Ganesh statues are left in the water, causing pollution in the waters.  Many Ganesh in the past were made with plaster of paris, but now many are being made with papier-mache, more environmentally friendly. Another note: not all areas in India celebrate this festival to this extent. Our state, Maharastra, puts on one of the more elaborate celebrations.)


A bit about Ganesh, abstracted from 'About.com:Hinduism":

Parvati created Ganesh out of the dirt of her body and gave him the duty of guarding the entrance to her bathroom. When Shiva, her husband, returned he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati broke down in utter grief and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his squad (gana) to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops. Hence his name 'Ganapati'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture.

Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) 

Actually, the preparations for this event started many weeks ago.  The Ganesh statues are made every year out of clay or papier-mache, the temporary temples are constructed (below) and many poles are erected for hanging lights along the streets and alleys.

Food, Glorious Food

"Food, glorious food,
eat right through the menu..."

Fortunately, unlike Oliver Twist and his fellow orphans who sang that song, we don't have to dream about glorious food - we are having it here in India.  We do have a cook, as is very typical here, and she comes 6 days a week to cook dinner and do some cleaning around the apartment.  (I can tell that i am not going to get much sympathy from you on this point...)  She has been with us for one month. During that time we have eaten exclusively Indian cooking for dinner, and we have loved it!

Tina is incredibly quick, making dal (like a soup made of lentils) and rice in half an hour.  We have had at least 5 different varieties of dal - masoor (red lentils), mung (mung bean), toor (yellow pigeon peas), chana (chickpeas), rajma (kidney beans).   

From Wikipedia: 

"Dal (also spelled Dahl or Daal, or Dhal) is a preparation of pulses (dried lentils, peas or beans).  It has an exceptional nutritional profile. It provides an excellent source of protein for the Indian subcontinent, particularly for those adopting vegetarian diets or diets which do not contain much meat. Dal is typically around 25% protein by weight, giving it a comparable protein content to meats. Dal is also high in carbohydrates whilst being virtually fat free. Dal is also rich in the B vitamins thiamine and folic acid as well as several minerals, notably iron and zinc."

Most every meal for us consists of dal over rice, vegetables and roti (or chapati).  We probably have meats or fish every other meal, if that.  She makes fresh roti for us every meal (the kids love it!). We tear off pieces of the roti and use it to eat the vegetables that are part of the meal - we wrap the piece of roti around a bit of the veggies and pop it in the mouth.   The kids also have requested luchis (or puris) about once a week; these are fried roti that you absolutely must eat hot.  They puff up when they are heated.  Below is a picture of luchis/puris with chana (chickpeas).  Sam (our peanut butter and jelly eater for the first n years of his life) actually requested this meal.  And he loved it - chickpeas and all.  

The kids' favorite meal - puris and chana! 

There are so many different fruits and vegetables here that I don't recall seeing at my local Stop and Shop.  For example, we have had many gourds (squashes), most of which don't look like the zucchini and summer squash that I am used to.  Here is a picture of some of the gourds as well as taro root (arbi) currently sitting in my fridge (bought by Tina, but with my blessing).  

New vegetables in our repertoire 

The  big one is called lau (in Bangoli), dudhi, bottle gourd or calabash.  Evidently, it was one of the first cultivated plants in the world, grown for use as a water container, not as a food.  If you let it mature and dry out, then it can be used as a bottle, utensil or pipe (like the gourds that we think of as decorative items).    The consistency is like a squash, but it's not as bitter as zucchini.

The little green ones are called tendli.  I can't remember when we ate them - probably in a mix with potatoes or other vegetables - but they must have been good.   Lau and tendli do have a very bitter cousin, called karela or bitter gourd.  It is incredibly ridged, so it would be impossible to peel, but it is supposed to have many health benefits.  We won't find out about that because this was one food that we just didn't like - very bitter; edible, but not enjoyable for us.  

The root on the plate above is actually taro root which I have heard of and seen in the States, but I don't think that I have tried it - there or here.  I will let you know after we see it on our plates.  Emma took a picture of our dinner plate a few nights ago.  It is not our typical meal because we didn't have dal that night - we had prawn pulao (rice dish) instead that night, accompanied by cabbage, roti and a tapioca dish called sabudana khichdi (a Maharastran breakfast delicacy).  

DINNER PLATE - Prawn Pulao, Cabbage and Sabudana Khichdi

Some of the fruits we have been enjoying - apples, bananas, pineapple, pomegranates (they are cheap here), and, a new one for me, the custard apple.  It breaks open when ripe to a soft center of black seeds coated in white "pulp".  You spoon out the white custard-y meat, eat it off of the seeds,  and then discard the seeds.   To give you an idea, here it is:

Custard Apple - opened

Tina is here, and we are going to have the taro root tonight, along with dal, rice and roti.  

ENJOY YOUR DINNER!  We are!

Why I don't plan to drive here

Tuesday Morning in India.

A rainy morning after a rainy night, but really, the rains haven't been bad.  More like Florida rains - it's nice for most of the day, then a sudden downpour comes.

The roads are relatively clear right now at 8am because rush hour doesn't start until about 9-9:30.  The shopping mall just down the road from me doesn't open until 11:30.  That's a bit later than most stores (10 am is standard), but the work day is definitely shifted to a later hour. Dinner is normally eaten between 9-10pm.  (We are happy to eat our dinner around 6:30-7:30 because then we have it fresh from our cook Tina.  Tonight, it will be hot luchi (puri) with chana (chickpeas).  Luchi is a flat bread like a tortilla (chapati or roti) that is fried, and then it puffs up.  You have to eat them straight from the stove top!)

Driving in the city is an art, and not one I plan to learn.  Very rarely can you see the line markings, but that is mostly irrelevant because even if there are 3 lanes, there are almost always 1-2 more vehicles on that same spanse.  And by vehicles I mean the following: private cars (mostly driven by drivers), taxis, public buses which appear very wide, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, occasional bullock carts, occasional brave bicyclists - often transporting cylinders for the gas stovetops, as well as auto-rickshaws.

 Auto rickshaws are the standard, very cheap way to get around in the northern half of Mumbai.  They are 3-wheeled, open-air vehicles with a cover over the top, around the back and a tarp kind of curtain on the passengers' sides.  The driver is positioned right in the middle of the front, and you can fit two people easily in the back, but quite often you will see four people wedged in, sometimes five.  In the areas where they are permitted, they comprise about one-fourth, up to one-half of the total vehicles.  Some trips can cost as little as 60 cents, and that's for 3-4 people being transported!  Their engines make a buzzing noise, almost like an amplified locust sound.  Hannah had a great time traveling around in them with friends on Friday after school, going from shop to shop to dinner (shwarmas).  She was astounded by how cheap and plentiful they were.

Of course the motorcycles whip through this maze with what looks like great ease - even with a family of four on board.  (It seems they all have great balance; the woman on back is often riding side-saddle in a sari.)  Add in to the mix the pedestrians walking across the road at any given time.  It's no easier to cross the road at an intersection due to the volume of "vehicles" trying to turn in addition to those cars that are ignoring the traffic signals.

Please know that i write all of this (the waiting, the complications, the traffic) with a smile on my face because it is all part of the amazing experience here in India.  And, of course, as a westerner we are only privy to some of it!

I am attaching a little video to capture the sounds and sights of the roads here.  This video is a somewhat mild one since we are in the northern, less populated half of Mumbai.  What's amazing is that you see or hear very few collisions.

(Well, i wanted to add a video, but I couldn't seem to make it work.  I will try another day.)

One thing you do hear is horns - and often.  Horns are just part of driving here.  In fact, many of the trucks have "Horn OK Please" written on the back.

Luckily, I am saved the danger of hitting a pedestrian, scraping against a car so close you worry about your side mirrors, or doing a three-point turn in the midst of jammed traffic because we have Ranjit, our driver.  He glides us through the busy streets with patience - especially considering he has to answer all of my questions along the way...

Driving Directions

Wednesday Morning ---

Our shipment arrived yesterday, and almost all is intact.  So, we are pleased and feeling a bit more at home in our apartment.  (We finally have coffee mugs!)

Of course, we didn't send much furniture, or at least not much practical, usable furniture for sitting or sleeping.  Hence, we have been doing a lot of shopping - furniture and otherwise.  In the States, the shopping is fairly straight-forward - you head to any number of shopping malls, plazas, large supermarkets, and you buy what you need.  It's not quite that simple here.  Part of the difference is really just due to this being a large city: it's not as easy to get around NYC to go furniture shopping as it is Framingham/Natick.  However, a large part of the complication around here is not just the traffic, but the driving directions and addresses.

Almost all addresses are given as

Place
Building #1
Street Name, only sometimes a block number or letter
Opp Building name #2  (meaning opposite building #2)
Region of Mumbai

But, this is not enough to get you to many of the places.  You also need to know another landmark as well as the two or possible three phone numbers attached with the place.  (Most people have 2 mobile numbers and most businesses seem to have 2 landlines - I guess due to coverage issues.)  In one area, the local landmark is the "KFC Corner".  Well, i don't know what happens when Kentucky Fried is no longer popular here...  Our landmark for our 2 towers (tallest buildings in Mumbai in 2011 - which you would think would be landmark enough) is A/C Market.  It's not because they sell A/Cs there, but i was told it was because it was an air-conditioned market - and advertised that way.

But if landmarks are enough, keep those 2 or 3 phone numbers handy because if your driver can't find the building by its name and street and landmark, then the shop owner will usually ask to speak to your driver to give him directions.  Often it takes 2 or 3 calls to finally find the little alley or road that you drive down to find the furniture shop in the basement of the building.  Some places even advertise their directions as "when you get to X spot, call xxx and we will give directions to your driver".   When you go to coffee at another person's home, quite often they will say "have your driver call my driver to find out where we are".

Thus, me, the map reader, is completely reliant on my driver to get me to many of the tucked-away places where I have enjoyed looking at furniture.  Thank goodness he is a patient and kind man!

We are really enjoying our time here; there has been plenty to experience!