Elephants, Wild Boar, Long Tailed Monkeys, and Wild Peacocks: What's not to Love about Ooty

Yesterday was my first full day in Ooty and despite starting off very slow and relaxing, it was very eventful. The kids at this home are very shy and start school later so they are older despite being in lower grades. I did not get to spend much time with them since once they came home we left. I did get to go see a Tribal Settlement though! It was quite a surprise since I didn't know that was where we were going. I didn't get to spend much time with the children there either but they were all very cute and had a ton of questions for me! (Including asking why my earrings were that shape!) I was also surprised by how many cows there were!

After the visit, we drove through a Tiger/Elephant/Peacock/Panther Reserve. It was a nice drive and very pretty. I got to see lots of wild boars, wild peacocks, monkeys, wild chickens, and a few elephants. The elephants I saw weren't wild however, they were chained up. Some people (mostly Tribal people) live inside the reservation and the elephants are used not only to help transport large amounts of timber, but also as protection against wild elephants coming into the village. I got to see the Peacocks and the Monkeys very closely though which was exciting :) :)

So, all in all, I am really liking Ooty and the Nilgiri Hill Districts (since we are traveling quite a bit between towns). It is a bit chilly compared to Madurai and I have to wear a sweatshirt but there are no lizards or mosquitos, the internet is faster, and it is beautiful.

MORE MONKEYS :D :D :D

There are lots of tea plantations here. They aren't really what I expected but they are very beautiful

I got to visit a Tribal Settlement and see a bunch of the children. This little girl kept walking around us and when it was time for us to go she said "Ta Ta"

The town

Sunset in Ooty

The Tribal Children's home

Another view of the home's garden/backyard. It is very different from the Children's home in Madurai! Much greener!

I can't tell if that's a baby elephant or not! It looks like one on my computer so I will pretend it is! I also saw some elephants that had been captured by the people living in the forest/jungle/reserve.

OOTY: And Another Recipe!

After a long day of driving, we finally arrived in Ooty, at the Tribal children's home. I didn't have much of a chance to interact with them yet since I came right before they started eating dinner and then they went to bed right after. I'm not too sure what the plan is for tomorrow but they do seem like very sweet children. They were all very shy though which reminded me of the children I've started referring to as "my children" back in Madurai. Initially they too were quite shy towards me but now that they have opened up, I am going to miss each and every one of them.

Getting to the children's home took HOURS. We also had to go up and down a few mountains and I saw some more monkesy! This time I was able to get pictures unlik the last time I saw Monkeys in India.  I also got to see a bunch of tea plantations and some coffee trees. My favorite image of the day however was watching the sunset behind the mountains! I'll upload more about the rest of my trip later. For now, Goodnight :)

COOKING WITH ESTHER AMMA: 

Here is one of the meals I had recently. There are two cauliflower side dishes and one tomato sauce, all served with rice

FRIED CAULIFLOWER

First, Wash the cauliflower and then cut it up into smaller pieces before boiling it in water.

Meanwhile, make a mixture out of gram powder, egg white, and a little salt.

Then add some curd to the mixture. Mix very well.

Then add a little tamarind powder to the mixture as well

When the cauliflower is done, add it into the mixture .

Fry the cauliflower mixture in oil. Esther Amma uses sunflower oil, but any will do. It is DELICIOUS

 CAULIFLOWER SAUCE OPTION 2

Wash the cauliflower before boiling it in water with a little salt.

Fry mustard seeds in oil and then add onions and garlic and stir. Then add the cauliflower. If you would like you can add egg to the mixture and scramble It is delicious either way

 TOMATO SAUCE

While the mustard seeds are frying in oil, cut up tomatoes and onions. Then add the onions to the mixture.

Add garlic and the tomatoes to the pan. (As well as ginger if you want)

Add a little salt and pepper to taste and then add Tamarind Powder. (Seriously, Esther Amma adds this to everything). Once cooked, you are finished :)

Non Ooty Pictures

Kartik gardening. The boys are very proud of their garden and all want me to take as many pictures as possible of all the flowers. It's very sweet but sometimes I think they use too much water!

Radiku

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Meenakshi Temple and More Than You Ever Needed To Know

These past few days have been kind of quiet, and I am enjoying them. I haven't gone into Madurai for a while and have been spending more time talking to Esther Amma, helping her cook, and spending time with the children.

However, recently I went back to Meenakshi Temple, partially because it is one of the few things to do in Madurai besides eat or shop, and also because it really is beautiful. I decided since this was actually my third visit, (although just walking around outside of it), I should learn a little bit more about the temples.



Interesting Facts :)

• Meenakshi isn't a goddess, she is an avatar of the Hindu Goddess Parvati.

• Most Female Hindu Goddesses/Avatars don't have their own giant temples, so hers is pretty rare.

• Meenakshi apparently means FISH EYED. (mina = Fish Aksi = Eyes)

• Just as Parvati is a consort of Shiva, Meenakshi is assosiated with Sundareswarar, Shiva's Avatar. However, at Meenakshi Temple, Meenakshi is the main deity while in most temples, Shiva (or his Avatars) are the main deities while Parvati (and her avatars) are the "supporting deities"

• Meenakshi's brother is the God Vishnu

• Meenakshi Temple is one of the largest temples in Tamil Nadu and one of the few to have four entrances, each facing a different direction.

• They used to keep green parrots in the hallways and they were trained to say Meenakshi

• There are around 50 priests at Meenakshi Temple who perform rituals both on a daily basis and for festivals. Some famous festivals include, the Meenakshi Thirukalayana, Navrathi, and Shivrathi. Meenakshi Thirukalayana is the most important one, it is the "Divine Marriage of Meenakshi" and is celebrated every April. The celebration brings together not only Meenakshi worshipers, but also Saivas, (Shiva Worshipers) and Vaishnavas (Vishnu worshipers).

The girls during their "super cleaning" Arunadevi is ontop of the shelf.

On This Visit, I was "invited" to see Meenakshi Temples from a higher viewpoint. A tailor started following me around because he was fascinated that I knew some basic Tamil and insisted that I go to this place to see it from a rooftop at "no charge." He took me to a store and I quickly went to the rooftop, took some pictures and left. All in all, it was an experience :)

Another of my rooftop pictures :)

Viji

I bought a beginners guide to Hinduism (more like an illustrated children's book, but hope to learn more about it. Perhaps I will take a class while at college :)

COOKING WITH ESTHER AMMA!

How to Make Lassi

As anyone who has ever visited the Children's home can tell you, Esther takes great pride in her cooking and is always trying to make you eat more.  If she sees that your plate is nearly empty she fills it right back up again, even if you were done eating. I think most people assumed I would lose weight while in India, while in fact I've been having a hard time trying to NOT gain weight from Esther Amma's cooking! 

Together, Esther Amma and I have watched Tamil cooking shows and cooked together. Recently, in preparation of my going home, Esther has been making a lot of my favorites and I took advantage of that to write a lot of recipes down. No one here uses measuring instruments, they all seem to just know the correct amount. However, I hope you enjoy learning about this, and maybe someone might be willing to try :)

LASSI:

Sugar! This is the first ingredient. From what I can tell you just add enough for it to taste as sweet as you want. If you want it sweeter, just add more!

 Add Cardaman Seeds

Add Curd (again, estimate amounts)

Final Step: Blend it all together and then put in the refrigerator to chill. Then ENJOY :)

Look Forward to our next episode of 

Cooking With Esther Amma!! 

I thought this was one of the cutest things ever. Raja,the boy in the center, is the oldest boy in the home. On either side of him are the youngest two boys, Muttupandi and Marudupandi.

 A store selling JUST bananas!

I spent one morning just walking around outside of Meenakshi Temple. Some people liked getting their photos taken, such as this couple, while some of the girls were shy and hid!

He Boy or Your Boy

I've been teaching a lot recently, everyday classes during the normal study time for the kids and then  occasionally teaching the older girls after they finish eating and while the younger kids are sleeping. Some groups are definitely easier than others.

For example, teaching 10th standard is definitely the easiest and they are by far my favorite group. (Don't tell!) They are all a close group of girls who tease each other yet know when to focus. The five of them have to study very hard since this is the year they have their exams which will determine if they can go on to complete their high school education. If they do well they can continue on to 12th standard, so the girls all realize how important it is to pay attention and learn as much as possible. I like them because even though they have so much stress and pressure, they still joke around and enjoy themselves on their days off which are limited. I don't have much time to teach them since they usually come back as the kids finish eating and then have to start their homework after the younger kids are in bed. They also have school every Saturday so they only get Sunday off. I wish I had more time with them!!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, as much as I love the boys and enjoy playing with them, sometimes they, as well as the youngest girls group, can be pretty frustrating, although for different reasons.

Both groups have a tendency of hounding after me during their play time to ask me which group is going today. At first I thought it was cute that they all wanted to have it be their groups turn. I was flattered that they enjoyed the lessons and wanted to keep going. But then whenever I told them the order, some of them would get mad if I ran out of time and didn't get to finish the whole lineup. I promised that I would make it up the next day, but after a few of them kept getting angry, I decided not to tell them. That didn't work well either. Most of the kids stopped after they realized I wasnt going to answer but I still have a small but determined group of kids chasing me around asking whose turn it is!

It's not too bad though and I am happy that they all want to learn so much and that they all enjoy the lessons I plan. I like teaching them because I get to spend a lot of time with them and have gotten to know them all really well. I have even found a boy who reminds me of my brother Wyatt and one whose smile and attitude reminds me of Ricky. (Sorry Chas). The kids are all super sweet and nice and all make a huge effort to try and practice their English, although sometimes in their enthusiasm they forget the lessons and revert back to their previous English.

One boy who always does this is Kartik. I really do like him. He is pretty loud and very active and when I first met him I was actually a little worried that he might be a bit of a bully because he was bigger than the other boys. After I got to know him though I realized how nice and funny he is and how he just LOVES when you pay attention to him. His english however could use some work. For example, no matter how many times I correct him, he always refers to other boys as YOUR BOY. I keep telling him it is HE not YOUR BOY. And he finally stopped saying your boy... except now he sometimes says He Boy which sounds like a superhero or comic.

Anyway, this has been a pretty long post so I will end it for now. However, I've been getting lots of requests from my family for more pictures! Nearly every email and phone call has a reminder to upload more pictures. So: MOM THIS IS FOR YOU!

One of the girls, Kamali, hanging Esther Ammas sarees out to dry on the roof. She is one of the hardest girls to get a picture of! She runs away or turns away every time.

  

This is Viji. She is the youngest of the girls and is no where near as sweet and innocent as she looks!  She is one of the girls most likely to get mad at me if I cancel class or say its the boys turn! She does have her adorable moments though.

I am not going to miss the lizards when I get home. This one was bigger than average and reminded me of the even bigger one i had to CAPTURE it and as I'm sure some of you already know, it was quite the experience.... hopefully one I don't have to repeat.

This is Muttupandi and I. I am going to be so sad about missing him. He is definitely one of my favorites. When I first arrived, he was so shy he would run away and hide from me but he has completely warmed up to me now. Just tonight he waited until I finished eating and then followed me outside to show off his "magic trick", which is really him pulling a handkerchief out of his sleeve, and to look at the stars. I will miss him so much!

This is an old picture from my first week in India. Its nice to look back on but it already seems like such a long time ago!

Here is another picture from Kovalam. If anyone has a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. It's beautiful. While I was there I kept thinking that I couldn't wait to take my parents. (I'm still debating whether or not the boys can come!!)

One Month Left

Yesterday was January 27th, which means I have exactly one month left in India before starting my journey home.

 I'm extremely excited to go home. I miss my family and friends as well as some more materialistic things, such as having a hot shower or laundry machines. (Did I mention we haven't had running water in 3 days now?) I am also looking forward to hugging my puppy and being able to go off on my own, wether that be just on a walk or run or to someplace a little farther without worrying about being able to communicate and getting lost. Having a faster internet and a cell phone with better reception won't be bad either.

On the other hand, I am really going to miss it here. I like teaching the kids and playing games with them. I have really learned to step out of the box here by trying new foods and different ways to get my point across. I've learned new games and how to make an Indian broom and how to tie the flowers the girls put in their hair. Don't even get me started on how much I'm going to miss Esther Amma and her delicious tea. There is so much I will miss, but for now I am just going to enjoy the month I have left. :)

Esther amma cooking while Nandini looks on.

Sofia and Mutumina

Marudupandi on top, Anand in the middle, and Muttupandi on the bottom. Three out of many little goofballs :)

Our resident Superman

An unusual flower design!

Marudupandi

Marudupandi showing off his temporary tattoo! It was fun explaining how to do them with the kids although they all still call them stickers!

Lakshmi, Nandini, and Myself.