One year

Saturday, February 24, 2007

One year in India... and?


India is quite reported about on European papers and TV news at the moment. Biggest democracy in the world, one of the highest growth rates in the world, record salary increases in the middle class, booming consumption…BUT more than 50% of the population is very poor, the economy is still very much dependant on agriculture, lack of infrastructures… Getting the external point of views, and being here, is a pretty interesting experience. The image one has in head of India is something like never ending kitschy Bollywood movies, with thousands of people dancing and singing around, chicken curry, colors everywhere, turban on the head of each and every man, Taj Mahal, dusty landscapes and poverty. Well this is also what I had in mind, and this also what India actually is … amongst other (however I have to say it right now: not every man has a turban on the head – only Sikhs!).

Living and working here gives us a real view of how life is in … Nasik, and most importantly in the middle and high class of the society. We have very few direct contacts with less well-off and very poor people (uneducated people as the “other” Indians often say), because, just as anywhere else, we don’t live with them, and we don’t have/take time to go and meet them. We actually see them live, as they live in the street. One of them main differences with Europeans cities is that Indian cities are always crowded, with thousands of people walking, riding a bicycle, a bike, a chariot pulled by 2 cows, and more and more driving a car. We actually do have short contacts every day, on the street, while driving our car to go to work and come back from work, and when we go shopping… Most of the time we see smiling faces, happy to see someone who looks like the characters of some American movie they might have seen if they have ever seen a white person. Very happy to hear us say something in Hindi because they don’t speak English. And to see us shake the head just as they do to say yes, hello, or show that they agree or are fine (those who have not come over here will most probably not know that, you shake the head from the left to the right, trying to form an eight with your face. Anyway, this part of the society is still a mystery to us after all those months. When we were on a trek in the Himalaya for one week last August, with no shower, no toilets, no ready to use gas facility, I thought a lot about “how do they make it”?

Working in India is also a very enriching experience. I have at work a lot of contacts with Germany, France and Turkey, while sitting at a Indian desk, with Indian conditions, Indians colleagues with Indian habits, and the many different ways of working are sometimes tough to deal with at the same time. Not that I want to fall into the “cliché” trap, but the Indian flexibility and ability to fire fight come in contrast with the sometimes very German “let’s stick to the process” kind of working, which sometimes makes things happen slower over there. I wouldn’t say that Indians are fast worker, but they always find a way to come out of critical situations, most of the times in the last moment. Incredible India! Whereas other cultures are more likely to anticipate problems and have a B plan in case the A plan has not worked (however the B plan is not always the good one… and no C plan is there!), Indian are the kings of improvisation. We Europeans sometimes go crazy when we see that this or that thing is not ready 1 day before an event for instance, but is ready 1 or 2 hours before it is happening. To this extent, you have to have good nerves here. Things also seems very chaotic to a “standard” European person. I also think they are, to some extent. But we cope with it every day, and the results are there: it is working. Business goes on, turnover and benefits are made, growth is happening.

One thing is for sure: it would help a lot if I could speak fluently not even Hindi, but Marathi. This is the language which is spoken here, and I am sure that I am missing so much information, just because I don’t understand informal discussions around me at work. And it would also help in some departments of the company and at some suppliers’ where some people don’t speak that much English. In such cases I tell a couple of words in Hindi and things go smoother, not because they understand what I just said, which is not significant for daily business, but because people are happy that I am taking a couple of steps towards their culture. But then they start telling things which sound very complicated to me – actually just a normal sentence, and I am lost!

Otherwise, we are getting quite used to living here. A couple of things are missing, our families and friends of course, but the rest, only to a certain extent. Non-Indian restaurants, for instance…Movies at the cinema in a language we really understand, “occidental” shopping and bars are not present in Nasik, but somehow we get used to it. We can’t go out that much. But we work so much that we don’t get time to really miss those things.

One of the good sides of Nashik is the weather: nice to very nice most of the year. Ok, the monsoon gets on your nerves for a couple of months, and April and May are extremely hot, but it is nice to hang around in summer clothes 80% of the year. This is now the best time of the year: 25-30° over the day, cool mornings and evenings, mosquitos are still hidden somewhere… but will come to us soon. Another good side is that the city is not too big. Ok, over 1 mio people might sound he for Europe, but in India it is a city with a human dimension. Of course we don’t live in very busy areas, and we are lucky enough to live 5 minutes away from work, this is a real luxury.

The first question of each and every Indian we meet for the first time is “what is your country?”, and then “do you like Indian food?”. So I want to tell them all: YES we like Indian food. Very much. We even try and cook it. And we also like the Indian food we cook! But it is “less spicy” as they say in restaurants: too spicy is killing the taste for us. Actually spicy means with chilly. I like very much the spices which you can find in Indian dishes, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, turmeric (curcuma)… not that much red or green chilly. Deserts are very sweet, sometimes too sweet, thanks god there is always time and space for a good old chocolate cake or mousse, or whatever we can bake or make provided we have all ingredients. We have even got a bread machine for Christmas (thanks, Mum!), and the first trials were quite successful.

Of course in this past year we have had the chance to travel quite a bit. You can see it below, around Nasik, Mumbai, Goa, Himalaya & Dehli, but also Tamil Nadu (South East) with Mamallapuram & Pondicherry (pictures to come!), and also Bangalore. We will travel this March to Kerala and Karnataka. And this is only a small bit! Hopefully we will make it up to Rajasthan this year, and we have to see Agra, Varanasi, Assam, Andaman islands… Too many things to see! All of those regions and areas are very different from one another. The food, language, architecture, history, legends, faith, each and every place is unique.

So what do I want to achieve in the coming year, really? Fluent Hindi, notions of Marathi, experienced Indian cooking, visit even more places, and get to know India better on sociological and political point of views. The challenge has just started! You’ll tell me this is an ambitious plan. Let’s see!


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Himalaya


Ô surprise, cet article est en français. Incroyable non ? Je crois que je vais me (re)faire de nouveaux amis. Et peut être décevoir des amis étrangers… Je traduirai, je traduirai… promis !

Oui, oui, cet article est TRÈS long. Un rapport sur 3 semaines de surprises. Alors pour les feignasses qui n'auraient pas la patience d'aller au bout du bout pour voir les photos, je vous donne tout de suite les liens, triés pour que vous puissiez choisir ce que vous voulez voir:

- Cartes/Maps:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/1_Himalaya_-_Where_we_were/

- Voyage/Travel & Himachal Pradesh:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/2_36hrs_train_-_Shimla_Manali/

- Jeep & Rothang La:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/3_Rohtang_La_and_empty_valley/

- La vallée du Spiti / Spiti valley & Bouddhism:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/4_Spiti_Valley_and_Bouddhism/

- Le départ du trek / The trek is starting:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/5_Let_s_go/

- Le col du Parang La/ The Parang La pass:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/6_Parang_La_and_Glacier/

- 3 jours de plat/3 days of flat walk:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/7_Flat_Pare_Chu_valley/

- Tsomoriri:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/8_Around_the_Tsomoriri_lake/

- Retour à la civilisation / Back to civilization:
https://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/9_Korzok_Leh_and_Dehli/

Alors voilà, nous sommes rentrés de vacances dans l’Himalaya il y a maintenant environ 4 semaines. Nous sommes rentrés " à la maison", je mets des guillemets pour insister sur le fait que j'étais agréablement surprise moi même de ma réaction en rentrant, et bien oui les faits sont là : chez nous en ce moment c'est en Inde, et nous nous y sentons chez nous, plutôt une bonne nouvelle non?

Vous allez me dire que nous sommes restés en Inde pour les vacances, oui c'est vrai, mais ca n’avait tellement rien à voir, on a vraiment été d
épaysés. Les gens dans l’Himalaya ont tous l'air de Tibétains. Parce que leurs ancêtres l'étaient, sans doute. Et parce que la frontière n’est qu’à 30 km de là. Ils ont tous les yeux bridés. Sont tous bouddhistes. Très gentils ! Et puis courageux aussi: on est passés dans des villages coupés du monde extérieur pendant des mois en hiver. Pas de routes ouvertes. Déjà en été c'est dur d'y aller (200km = 12 heures en Jeep) ! Greg et moi avons commencé notre périple par 36 heures en train qui se sont finalement bien passées, et vite aussi. Apres un changement réussi a 5 minutes près à Delhi (on avait 2 heures pour changer, mais le 1er train avait du retard...) et 3 trains en tout, nous sommes arrivés à Shimla, assez peu d'intérêt, à part un temple plein de singes (temple d'Hanuman, le Dieu Singe justement). Là, nous avons retrouvé Manu, Nico et Raph, tout droit venus de Lyon.

De Shimla à Manali, ou comment se faire des amis Israéliens
De Shimla, nous avons a pris un bus pour 12 heures, direction Manali (2000m d’altitude) (le lendemain la route fermait temporairement pour cause de mauvais temps), repaire d'Israéliens en mal de douceur de vivre qui viennent perdre dans la marijuana leur désespoir causé par 3 ans d'armée. Ils sont tellement là qu'on en retiendrait presque que ça, de Manali. On aurait pu en profiter pour tester la « gastronomie » israélienne offerte dans tous les restaurants ou presque, mais on a préféré se jeter sur les lasagnes et autres plats "européens" indisponibles à Nasik (en ce qui concerne Greg et moi en tous cas). A Vashisht, petit village à cote de Manali, nous avons rencontre 2 Français qui tiennent une agence de sports extrêmes, appelée Himalaya Extreme Center (HEC .. ??). Ils emmènent qui veut faire du ski de rando l’hiver, faire des randos l’été, dans des endroits peu explorés. Je n’oublierai pas de citer ici « Manu », jeune francais rencontré par nos 3 amis a Vashisht, qui va passer un BTS Tourisme par le CNED à Kathmandou (ca ne s’invente pas), parce que « les gens ne sont plus satisfaits de leurs vacances, il faut inventer un concept qui plaise » (Manu, Raph, Nico, corrigez moi si je me trompe).

Le Rohtang La
De là, départ pour les « vraies » montagnes, pour la vallée du Spiti, via la vallée du Lahaul, en jeep. Premier col à 3.978m , le Rohtang La, premier embouteillage cause par un camion citerne coincé dans un virage mal négocié... On a attendu 2 heures environ que les « secours » arrivent et fassent leur travail, 2 camions de l’armée qui sont venus tirer ce camion de ce mauvais pas. Il faisait beau, le paysage était magnifique, et autant d’indien au travail pour sortir de cette situation c'était un spectacle à lui tout seul.


Et puis des heures et des heures de routes plus tard, après quelques chantiers de fortunes ou des hommes et des femmes réparent la route « à la main » (voir les photos), et des paysages jamais vus de nous 5, des montagnes immenses, oranges-marrons, avec des « demoiselles coiffées » sur le long du chemin, après tout ca donc, nous sommes arrives au coucher du soleil à Kaza, petite ville ou plutôt gros village de la vallée du Spiti.

La vallée du Spiti
A Kaza, nous avons obtenu un permis pour la randonnée, et avons visité de très jolis villages et monastères (encore et encore), risqué notre vie dans une jeep a flanc de montagne (elle penchait sacrément, en tous cas... j'ai fermé les yeux). L’un des monastères était tout petit mais magnifique, avec des statues de bouddhas grande de 50 cm de haut accrochées aux murs les unes au dessus des autres, jusqu’au plafond, et des tentures magnifiques, des « tankas » (voir aussi les photos).

Des moines bouddhistes !!
Ensuite départ pour le village du départ du trek: Kibber. 2eme village le plus haut du monde à route carrossable (merci le Lonely Planet). Arrêt sur le chemin au "Ki Gompa", un monastère dans lequel nous avons dormi une nuit, sommaire mais très bien. Pas d’eau chaude évidemment. Un petit moine tibétain bien sympa nous a cuisiné le diner, s'est assis et a discute avec nous. De religion, de mode de vie a l’européenne, a l’indienne, de notre individualisme et de leur collectivisme, de l’analyse constante que le bouddhisme implique, du stress pour lui d’être l’intendant du monastère, du temps qu’il n’a pas pour prier parce qu’il est trop occuper a travailler, des petites querelles entre les moines, etc… Il nous a demandé quelle était notre part de « social work », ie notre contribution à la vie sociale, notre cause humanitaire à nous, et nous étions bien en peine de trouver une réponse. Il a demandé à Greg et à moi si nous préférions la vie en Inde ou Europe… Comment dire, c’est tellement différent ! Et puis la France, c’est de là que nous venons, c’est la que sont nos familles, nos amis, nos origines….

Le lendemain, prières bouddhistes à 7 heures du mat. Là on a eu droit à un thé de yak (lait de yak (un croisement de vache et on ne sait quoi) et thé, amer et plutôt salé, Humm) et à une bassine d'une espèce de farine à mélanger avec le the susnommé pour en faire des boulettes à manger en guise de petit dej. Miam :o(. Et je peux vous dire que la bassine nous a été renvoyée tant qu'elle n'était pas finie. Merci les poches...Cette heures passée avec eux était très bizarre pour nous… une petite dizaine de moines sont assis en 2 lignes, face à face, dans une pièce sombre, illuminée seulement par un faisceau de lumière provenant d’une petite fenêtre. Tous se balancent d’avant en arrière au rythme des prières que nous pensons « chantées ». Ces prières sont inscrites sur de petites feuilles de papier qu’ils tournent au fil de l’heure. Le Lama mène le rythme. Les prières sont entrecoupées de pauses pour boire le thé et manger les « boulettes ». Le Lama suit le cours des papiers, mais revient parfois en arrière… Certains moines sont perdus, cherchent le bon papier, ne le trouvent pas, font semblant de dire la même chose que les autres, et finissent par se remettre dans le rythme. Super marrant !

En avant, marche!
Ensuite, début officiel de la balade de Ki Gompa a Kibber. Les premiers pas étaient un peu durs pour moi, c'était tellement pentu et on est partis tellement vite que j'en perdais l'équilibre. Apres une pate de fruit de un délestage de sac ca allait mieux. Le soir nous sommes arrivés à Kibber, pour en repartir le lendemain matin, non sans avoir fait connaissance du petit Polpol que d'autres petits enfants voulaient virer de la photo qu'ils voulaient qu'on fasse d'eux. Les enfants sont cruels, même à 4.200m. Le petit Polpol avait l'air reconnaissant quand on a dit aux autres: "une photo avec tout le monde ou pas de photo"!

Bref. Et nous voila donc partis pour 7 jours de rando. Les 3 premiers jours consistaient en de la montée. Le premier jour un peu. Assez tranquille, somme toute. Nous sommes arrivés au camp vers 16 heures, suivis de nos muliers et mules un peu plus tard. Nous avons commencé à monter le camp, puis à jouer aux cartes. Et là, surprise, plus de mules ! Nos muliers sont partis les chercher, pour revenir… 3 heures plus tard, pendant lesquelles nous nous demandions ce qui se passait, la nuit étant déjà bien tombée. Ils sont revenus donc finalement, bien plus tard : les mules avaient commencé à rentrer a la maison ! Je passe sur le riz qui a non-cuit en 45 minutes, qui est un moment que nous n’oublierons pas de si tôt. Autant dire que le diner du premier soir s’est fait tard et la nourriture assez rare !


Le deuxième jour a été plus dur, avec un départ pour une descente qui nous a remis au niveau de départ du jour précédent (dur pour le moral !). Nous sommes descendus donc le long d’une montagne assez pentue et pleine de cailloux (attention ca glisse !), et je dois dire que la descente sur un terrain comme celui la, ca n’est pas mon fort. Sur le chemin, un cadavre de mule qui n’a pas fini le trajet… Le soir nous apprendrons qu’une de nos mules est tombée sur le même chemin, le sac de Greg s’en souvient encore. Apres cette descente donc une vallée très encaissée, nous nous sommes retrouvés en bas d’une pente très abrupte, montée très lentement, pour économiser le souffle. A mi-chemin, et déjà quelques heures après le départ, toujours pas de mules. Encore une fois la question : mais qu’est ce qu’ils font ? Retardés par la chute d’une des mules, ils ont pris plus de temps que prévu. Redémarrage et contrôle de papiers à la même altitude que le plus haut point du Mont Blanc : comme la région est frontalière et jugée critique, l’armée est très présente et contrôle beaucoup les visiteurs. Ce soir-là a été le pire en terme de température et de vent : on était congelés. En arrivant, nous montions le camp, faisions à manger (merci Raph), et allions dormir, non sans avoir joué aux cartes si les conditions le permettaient. Mais ce soir-là, on a tout expédié tant qu’on le pouvait !

Le Parang La : du bleu et du blanc à perte de vue
Le lendemain était un grand jour : passage de col a 5.580 m, le Parang La !! Réveil a 4:30, triple couche de vêtements parce qu’il faisait froid. L’ascension a été pour moi un peu difficile, les effets de l’altitude s’étant manifestés sur mon petit bidou. J’avais bobo. Après 3 heures de marches (pour moi) nous avions monté (mille merci a mon chéri d’avoir eu la patience de faire tout le chemin avec moi, et aux autres de nous avoir attendus en haut) les 300m fatidiques qui nous amenaient au (presque) toit du monde. L’arrivée était émouvante, toute ensoleillée, et c’était tellement bon d’arriver !! Mais qu’est ce qu’il faisait froid !! Le séjour la haut a été de courte durée. Une petite pate de fruit, quelques photos, accrochage de petit drapeaux de prières tibétains, et hop on était repartis… sur le glacier. Sur lequel nous avons pu marcher avec des chaussures de rando classiques. Pas besoin de crampons, c’était de la neige plus que de la glace. De la neige en Inde, incroyable, quand on pense que peut être, je ne sais pas moi, 99% des indiens n’ont jamais vu de neige…

La monontone Pare Chu vallée – quand est ce qu’on arrive ?
Au glacier a succédé une longue longue marche (7 heures 30 ce jour-là) le long de la vallée de la rivière Pare Chu vallée de peut-être 1 km de large, entourée de montagnes immenses, pour atteindre le plus beau camp depuis le début du trek. Premier loup observé à la jumelle, première vraie possibilité de se laver aussi, mais un vent tellement frais ! Heureusement que le soleil était là.


Les 3 jours qui ont suivi ont été de la marche à plat le long de la même vallée, par un temps correct à très beau. Parfois beaucoup trop chaud. Parfois nous croisions d’autres vallées vers la droite et vers la gauche, aussi vides que celle dans laquelle nous étions. L’avant-dernier jour, nous avons bifurqué vers la gauche dans l’une de ces vallées, cette fois marécageuse et plutôt verte, vers le nord, vers le Lac Tso Moriri, but de notre ballade. Au bout d’une heure ou 2 peut -être, nous avons commencé à voir le Tso Moriri, que nous croyions proches. Mais qui n’en finissait pas d’arriver… Apres 4 heures nous l’avons atteint, et nous sommes installés « au bord » du lac.

Le Tso Moriri, le lac qui n’arrivait jamais
Le dernier jour était plein de surprise : nous avons longé le Tso Moriri sur 20 km (il fait 90 km de circonférence). Magnifique. Des airs de Méditerranée, à certains endroits. De l’eau claire comme je n’en avais jamais vu. Un bleu parfait. Avec des sommets à plus de 6000m, derrière. Sur « la fin » du chemin (car comme le Tso Moriri la vielle, notre objectif, le village de Korzok s’est longtemps fait attendre, nous l’avons cru « derrière le prochain virage, c’est sûr ! » au moins 3 ou 4 fois avant de vraiment l’atteindre), il y avait des amoncellements de pierres saintes avec des écritures bouddhistes, des « constructions » religieuses. Un berger et son troupeau nous ont aussi fait l’honneur de leur visite.
Et puis Korzok est arrivé. Mmmm…, une verrue dans le paysage. Des gens pas accueillant, un endroit sale, pas beau… Quel dommage. Non sans efforts, et après avoir discuté avec tout ce que le village comptait de touristes (surtout français !) susceptibles de nous emmener à Leh, capitale du Ladhak, et de Jeep et véhicules en tous genres, Nico nous a trouvé une jeep, occupée par 2 belges fort sympathiques, qui l’ont partagée avec nous. Manu et Raph sont restés à Korzok, mais pas pour la beauté des lieux : objectif 2 sommets à plus de 6.000m pour les gaillards.

Retour à la civilisation
Les 3 autres en avaient assez de la marche, des pâtes, du riz et des pâtes de fruits, alors zou, nous voilà partis pour Leh, 3500m d’altitude, 7 heures de Jeep de Korzok, via la vallée du Rupsu.
À Leh nous nous sommes beaucoup reposés. Rien foutu quoi ! On a beaucoup mangé pour compenser les "privations" de treks. Fait plein de shopping, un peu visité (mais vraiment un tout tout petit peu alors). Un bonheur. Le chemin du retour, on ne l’a pas fait par la route, comme à l’aller. On a pris un vol Leh-Delhi, et avons pu admirer le K2, point culminant de l’Inde si je ne m’abuse, au nord de Leh. Et puis les montagnes, les montagnes, les montagnes… Puis les plaines ! Greg et moi avons atterri à Delhi, qui fut une agréable surprise, considérant que beaucoup d’indiens nous avaient dit que Delhi, « c’est l’horreur » (rectification après le voyage : « ah non mais pour une journée ca va ! » Ah, on se disait bien, aussi…). En fait on a trouvé ca super, pour une journée. Des airs de Paris Bobo dans certains quartiers qu'on a visités. Bon on n'a pas tout vu, c'est sûr.

Et voilà. Apres ca vol Delhi-Mumbai, puis train Mumbai Nashik, et retour à la maison mercredi 13 Septembre au soir. Depuis, reprise du boulot, du petit train train bien indien auquel on s'est bien habitués ! Il fait très beau, la mousson est presque finie, il ne pleut plus ou presque…


Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Goa? ... Again?


Long week-end, cheap flights, "short" journey... Yes, we flew again to Goa in April, although we were there in February already.

Do you know how it feels to be on an almost empty beach for 3 days, doing nothing, enjoying the heat, the sun, the sea, fresh fruits and fish?

Well have a look at that, pictures will tell more than I could.

Check fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Goa_April_06.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Let's go crazy at the colony

This is it, we have moved to the MICO colony. The Bosch Village. Well, the place where most expatriates at MICO Bosch settle when they come to Nashik. It is a very nice area, very green, beautiful gardens. 7 "bungalows" have been constructed around a way forming an oval ring, in the center of which palm and mango trees dominate everything. A pool, a tennis court and a fitness room make the place to a perfect Club Med! Even if this is not really India anymore, this is a great place. It is very different from where we used to live before (see "our nest").
But it is also nice to live there. Definitely a feeling of security. At the moment the colony is moving at the rythm of the world cup. We invite each others for games of the French, German, Brasilian teams. If we are lucky at 8.30 pm, if not, at… 00.30 am!


The house is which we moved is quite big, and is new. We live on the first floor, whereas the Kleissner family will move into the ground floor. It is actually far too big for us, but let's not complain: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big living room and dining room, a big kitchen, a cold or storage room, 3 verandas (one of them is the typical space you need in India in the entrance to receive guests which you would not let enter the house yet, another one is planned as a laundry, we made a "breakfast room" out of it, and a third veranda with sight on the colony, in which we decided to make THE bar of Nashik :o)). A "servant" room (I hate this word) including another bathroom was built up a little aside of the rest.

So enough space to receive you all whenever you want to come to Nashik!! We had the chance to be able to influence the design of all furniture in the house as we had them done by a friend of ours, Adwaid. Most of them are in dark teak wood, quite simple but still exotic. I think pictures will be self explanatory (they'll come). The tiles in the bathrooms are spare parts from the swimming pool (dark-bright blue mosaique) - groovy! Only a couple of things are still missing, like curtains, and deco stuff. The rest is great!

I thought the south of France was hot...


... but I was wrong.

Hot season in Nasik: one of my most hardcore experience over here until now. From the 1st of May until the first rains, in the first week of June, I realized what is real heat. Constant heat. And constant movements from AC rooms (18 degrees) to outside (35-40degrees). I couldn't do anything. I was so tired all the time, it was incredible. You go out and you are literally surrounded by a hot blanket. Your body gets overwhelmed within a second. And you hear Indians telling you: well yes, this is hot, but go to Napgpur (500km east of Nashik, in the middle of the country) and you will get to know hw 47 degrees feel. No thank you! That was enough for me.

Everything around is very dry. The countryside is brownish-orange. Fields look desperate. And you feel like you are 20 years older than you are at every movement you do!

And then comes the first rain. It met us while we were having a party outside, for Alex's birthday. We could hear thunder and storm far away from us and didn't think it would be with us so fast. And within a second it was raining cats and dogs! We had to leave the place very quickly but went all wet anyway. The rain had the smell of summer rains in Europe. And it cooled down the temperature immediately, bringing them down to an "acceptable" level.
So we thought: wow, this is the monsoon. BUT: no, that was not the monsoon. From that day it rained a couple of days long at the same time for the same time, but it stopped again. The weather became warm again, but not as hot as before. The monsoon was late this year. From what I could see and what I can understand (which is not always obvious here), I think the monsoon is starting now. One week ago we had violent rains at night, and now there are days when it rains for several hours.


And with the monsoon comes a litteral "metamorphosis" of the landscape. The surroundings of Nashik look very different now. No more Brown, no more orange, no more dry fields, no more killing sun. Now the sky is either grey or deep blue with deep big clouds. It is funny to realize how happy you are to see a cloud when you haven't seen one in months. The nearer the rain, the darker and the lower the clouds. This is the background. And down on the ground, green green green. Fields, trees, grass, mountains, everything is deep green. So far it has rained in a shy way I think. The Indians are used to much more than that. They say in the middle of the Monsoon the fields are submerged with water. The streets are flooded, if you want to step out of your car you fill it up with water. We'll see.
´

Even if Indian do not want to experience the same Monsoon as last year (some of you might have seen pictures of Bombay floded), they all pray for at least a "regular" Monsoon, necessary to a healthy and prosperous year to come (on an economical and social point of view). No rains would be a catastrophe!

More pictures? Try fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Dry_summer_-_to_Trimbakeshwar and fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Dry_summer_-_Bicycle_ride

Growing Nasik


As you might have read before, Nasik is a "small" Indian town with over 1.5 mio inhabitants. The figures vary; but for sure, the population is steadily growing.

All Nashikites you will ask how much the town has changed in the past few years will tell you that there was a tremendous evolution. Most of them will start with the climate: Nashik is becoming warmer every year. It used to be considered as a hill station, kind of space where people were happy to spend a few days to escape the heat of Mumbai for instance. But now that more and more cars are overwhelming the streets, now that the industry are developing tremendusly, they say the climate is not the same anymore. Heavy monsoon one year, delayed monsoon the next year… They will also tell you how many beautiful trees there used to be in Nashik which were cut for the sake of roads…

All kinds of "western" shops have appeared in the last few years in a specific area of the town: Big Bazaar is proudly settled on College road. It is the only shop in town which is similar to our supermarkets in Europe. Mac Donalds opened this year! A LG shop has come, a furniture shop with an IKEA-like concept is there, a Sony shop is coming… For our European standard a lot of things are missing. Somehow you get used to it, and Nashik is not so bad, after all. I said earlier that I would die for a piece a beef or any meat… It seems that I got used not to eat anymore of it.

The core center for shopping for tradtional Nashikites is old Nashik. There you can find all typical Indian things, with a street dedicated to each "corps de metier": jewelliers, kitchenware, sarees, mens clothes, spices, vegetables market…

This is a very lively and loud place, gathered around the most important place in Nashik: the Godavari river.
This is one of the main holy rivers in Nashik, where every 12 years millions of Hindu pilgrims from all over India gather 12 days and 12 nights long for the Kumbha Mela.
It is a place of prayer for many Nashikites and it seems that the life of the town has naturally found its place there.

To come back to Nashik's evolution, the industry is booming. The main companies here are Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the biggest car makers in the country. MICO-Bosch (where I work) is quite important with probably over 3000 people. Thyssen Krupp is there, EPCOS, ABB, Samsonite (around Nashik). And many many midle sized and small Indian companies have settled here and keep the industrialzation pace in the region. Renaut is starting its Logan at Mahindra and Mahindra (probably under a joint venture kind of allinace, but I am not too sure), which will bring some French families here. So we won't be anymore the white exceptions in town!

Nashik is also THE vineyard of India. I know of 3 wineries around the town, and I think there must be even more of them. This industry also brings a couple of French Wine consultants here, who are requested to come by Indians in order for them to stabilise there process. One of those wineries is settled right next to the town, along the Gangapur dam. They have a terrasse with sight to the fields and to the moutains around, it is beautiful. And it is the only bar in Nashik! The wine is fairly good, I have to say, and even if I am not a wine expert anyway, I find it pretty good. It gives us a flavour of "at home"!

More pictures? Try fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Nasik



Holy Trimbakeshwar

In February, when Greg's family was with us, we went to Trimbakeshwar. It is a small village which you reach after 20 minutes drive on a good road north west of Nashik. When you get there it seems to be the end of the world, as the village is surrounded by moutains and you don't know what is behind. Trimbakeshwar is along with Nashik a holy city for Hindus. Many of them come for a pilgrimage at least once a year. It is said that the Godavari river's source is there! The village as such is very lively, full of people, markets, shops, temples...

Once you have passed walk the village, you reach the mountain situated behind it, which you can start climbing provided the weather is not too hot. When we were there in February, it was quite warm but still ok. We climbed up the mountain and reached one of the highest spots of it, to discover that the world is not finishing behind it, but that a beautiful landscape is there, a plain or plateau which seems never to end.


The way to the top is a challenge: you meet monkeys and believe me they are scary! They were blocking our way while waiting for us on the side of the path, staring at us, making strange noises. But the moment Greg threw his bottle of water to them, they left us alone. They were more attracted by the shining item more by us!

When you reach the top you find a Hindu temple, aim of the Hindus of all ages who climb the mountain every day. You see many many people up there, some of them very old, and then you think that those people must be very fit, and very dedicated to their god. Have a look at the colourful pictures, thanks to the sarees of the women climbing there.


At the temple Greg went to the priest, sat in front of him and repeated word by word the prayer in sanscrit. Strange feeling to watch this!


On the way down we stopped by to drink one of these very sweet Indian teas at a family's house. If you call them early enough they can even cook for you. Very kind people, never ending smiles on their faces, children watching us as if we were directly landing from Mars… Usual picture here!

More pictures? Try fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Trimbakeshwar.


Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Where are we?




We live in Nashik, a town of Maharashtra, counting about 1,5 mio inhabitants, situated 185km north east of Mumbai.


http://www.nashik.com/


Goa!


Ahhhhhhhhhh Goa. Some say it is the Ibiza of India. Well I have to correct them straight away and tell you: even if it is true that Goa used to be a hippy spot and is still somehow in some areas a party place, you know, a kind of a Costa Brava where silly European people (l’élite de l’Europe!) come to smoke hashish and drink cocktails, you can still find very nice and quiet areas, like Palolem, where we went after visiting Panjim (or Panaji) and Old Goa.


We were twice in Goa already. Bouh... some of you will tell us, why already twice in 3 months, whereas there are some many things to see all around India. See Goa is quite easily reachable from Nasik. And we went once with Greg's family, and another time to meet up some firnes who finally couldn't come, as they couldn't leave Bangalore because of riots in the city as a very famous actor died on that day. Anyway. We went once in February, and once for Good Friday.

The first time we drove from the airport to Panjim. Panjim is a very nice Portuguese styled small city, with Indian people inside. Strange impression. A flavor of the landscapes I had seen in Brazil, with the people I had seen in Nasik. Hum… After that we went to Old Goa. Anybody interested in bent trees, cathedrals and Christian religion should go to Old Goa. You can find there the biggest Christian cathedral in Asia. See?

And then we drove to the south to Palolem and stopped over at a very interesting spice farm, worth visiting. They show you a number of spice trees, how spices grow, what they are used for, what they are good for on your body, etc…
The drive to Palolem was quite long and chaotic, as we were the 6 of us in a car where 5 normal people fit. One of us had to sit on the floor at the rear, and to hide him/herself when the police was around.

We also stopped over at some famous Hindu temples (Shri Shantadurga Temple and Shri Ramnath Temple) where some ceremonies were going on. Those temples are surrounded by a beautiful landscape, very green, with among others rice fields.



And finally we reached Palolem.

Beautiful beach, extremely nice people, Indian women swimming in sari, great weather, lots of backpackers, a few hippies, gorgeous sunset on the sea… and cows on the beach. Tens of them! And dogs. Dogs playing around, fighting with one another, sitting on your towel… We spent 3 days doing nothing. Going to the beach, eating seafood and fish twice a day, shopping, sleeping, and jogging (yes we did!). Another real holiday! (Again a flavor of Brazil). I won’t spend to much time telling about this boat trip we took to see the dolphins, which you can imagine turned to be the tiny part of the back of one single dolphin at the end of the 60 minutes of the trip (the guys taking us to the tour were happy, they had told us “no dolphin, no money!!”).


A good thing in Goa for us is that you can hang around in any clothes you like. Unlike the rest of India, in Goa you can show almost any part of your body. Otherwise the country is extremely conservative. I never show my shoulders and my legs in Nasik!

More pictures? Try fotos.web.de/cam_in_india/Goa_Feb_06

On the road




Driving on the left hand side of the road was one of my challenges when I came here. Driving in the city was one of the first things I did on my first day in Nasik. Ok, I already talked about it to some of you in my few previous emails, but I have to say that I am so proud of being able to drive:
A. on the left hand side of the road, and
B. in India, that it is worth repeating it.


I could never have imagined how it is to drive in this country. If you want to be successful you have to understand and remember a few basic rules:
1. the biggest always wins
2. horn if you want people to see you (!) (it is written on the back of each and every truck here)

Once you know and use those rules, you will be fine on the road. If you happen to be nice to a two-wheeler, like if you stop and want to let him pass before you, the guy will be so confused that it can get quite dangerous. He won’t know what to do, will hesitate, and the guy behind you will get angry at you, horning like hell. So here you have to be self confident enough to take the decision to go in situations in which you would just stop in Europe. Even more dangerous is to drive at night, as most bicycles and of course people walking don’t have a light, and cars put on their very bright lights, I don’t know what they are called in English, it would be “plein phare” in French, Fernlichte in German I think…. So you are like blind. The “good“ thing here is that most of the vehicles on the road don’t drive too fast. So if an accident happens it will happen slowly, and probably won’t be too serious, at least if you are in the car and not on the bike.

The streets are like a kind of a scene in this country, a theater, and as a European you don’t spend 5 minutes there without being upset by the way people drive. I am not kidding. As long as you can’t put yourself in the skin of an Indian you go crazy here. You have to expect what is for you non-expectable. You have to accept that vehicles coming towards you use your lane, that they take a left or a right and don’t bother what is coming from behind, that they make a U turn as of a sudden… The most impressive thing you will notice here is the phlegm of the people on the roads. Even if you horn like hell because 4 people walk on your lane and you don’t have space to drive by, or because two two wheelers have a nice chat while riding there bike and take the whole space on the road, they will keep quiet and will not move until your car is 2 centimeters from them (and you are lucky if they move even then).
Here you can see people sitting along the streets in a very dangerous way. If you take a right and a vehicle comes from your left and takes itself a right, it won’t wait until you are finished and gone, it will just pass by on your left, which should obviously not be. So you have to transpose the references you have in mind. Normality on the road takes a new dimension: normality here is what you find suicidal.

The roads are full of people walking, cows, cars, very big trucks, rickshaw (2-wheeler taxis) bicycles carrying things twice as big as them (e.g. gas bottles, stairs, etc...), crowded buses, trucks full of workers. In times of weddings you also see a horse once in a while going to the groom who is going to ride him for a few minutes. We even saw a huge elephant in the middle of Mumbai (the picture is not quite good, I hope you see it anyway)!

In India, a bike, I mean a motorbike is sometimes the vehicle of a whole family. So you will see 4-5 people on the bike, the father is driving, the mother is the last behind, between them both, a child, and just before the father, another one or two children. It works! They don’t have a choice anyway. They can’t afford a car, lucky enough to afford a bike, and if they have to go from A to B, they need their own vehicle. Ok, you can take a Rickshaw, a funny scooter with 3 wheels, driver in the front, and behind him a seat for 2 to 3 people in a European environment, where 5 to 6 Indian people will fit without any problem if they have to.


More pictures? Try http://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/On the road



Our nest

The first week I spent in Nasik back in February 2006 was a quiet week, during which I could make myself comfortable in our house, far too big for the 2 of us but so nice! For the moment we live outside of the so-called “Bosch colony”, where all expatriates have in theory the possibility to live, if a house (they say bungalow) is available. We wanted first to stay outside of the colony, to experience real Indian neighborhood, people… The house planned for us is anyway not ready yet. It is still being built for the moment. So we live in “Anandwalli”, an area of Nasik, near the MICO-Bosch plant. We drive 5 minutes to work. Anandwalli is a nice area with a few houses like ours, but also smaller and much smaller houses and a few low buildings with appartments. There are rich and poor people. The area is quite open, meaning not crowded with buildings. We have a beautiful view on the small mountains surrounding Nasik…

There are fields around the houses and gardens. Some cows (but this is obvious here) and dogs (very loud at night). Most of the people here don’t speak English, so we try and use the basis of Hindi we have learnt. There is a small shop to buy last minute things like eggs, millk, bread, etc… A guy near the house has a very small hut in which he can iron your shirts and bed sheets if you want to “delegate” this task to him. Of course he gets paid for that, 2 Rs per shirt, which is around 0,04 € (…).

To close the house chapter for the moment, we will move to the colony when our house there is finished, not before end of May, most probably mid June it was first planned for end of March, but never mind). We’ll see. One of the main reasons why we will move is that Anandwalli is an industrial area, in which there is no electricity on Saturdays, which is our sole fully free day over the week. The reason for that is that power has to be shared in Nasik, as there is not enough for all. Power cuts are very common over here. So some areas do have power on certain days of the week, and no power on certain other days. This means no fridge, no music, no TV, no AC, no nothing electrical. Ok, we could get adapted to that, but this is not really convenient. On top of that, we have had already quite a few problems with the house, the water pump was down for 2 days, with the 5 of us in the house (Greg’s family was there at that time), and if I agree that electricity is not a must, no water can turn to a catastrophe. I had never realized how important water is in your everyday life! It is the kind of things you have to experience to understand them. Now the pump is repaired, but it happens to do crazy things again and again… So anyway, we will move to the colony. The house being built at the moment looks great. We are preparing the furniture (“home made”) as it will be empty and we didn’t bring any furniture with us. Over there you have the benefit of the security, there’s a pool, a tennis court. So I don’t want to complain, because I know that we will live over there in far much better conditions than 95% of the population, but the context will be for sure very different even though more than ok.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

An exception in the landscape



One thing you have to be aware of in India, and you have most importantly to accept if you want to make a living here, or even spend a holiday, is that there will constantly be people around you not only looking at you, but staring at you. Except in big towns like Mumbai and in tourist areas like Goa, you are an exception in this landscape. You are definitely something different, sometimes something scary, sometimes something worth looking at in details. Especially if you go out of Nasik for instance, and you go to some small peaceful farmer village, then you are probably the event of the year. One weekend we went to this small place, 60kms away from Nasik, with Pritam, an Indian friend of ours. 10 to 15 children were following us all the way long, as we were walking towards a Hindu temple at the other end of the village. They just followed us, and sat down when we stopped, stared at us all that time, saying nothing. If you look at them in the eyes, the boys will sustain your look and at some point you will be the one looking somewhere else as it is getting quite uncomfortable for you. The girls will not dare looking at you too long. From the moment you look back at them, they will turn their back to you, talk to each other and laugh and smile.
But if you try and speak in Hindi to those people (which I can’t much for the moment, but Greg is quite good at it), they will be surprised, and/or enthusiastic, and they won’t stop start talking and talking and talking to you in Hindi too, which you mostly (still) won’t be able to understand. It ends up with laughers and smiles, showing there was a successful contact, even if it was not, say, “productive”.
However, in 90% of the cases when I smiled back to those eyes I got a wide, white enthusiastic smile from them. Here you will find people living in conditions you have never imagined in your worst nightmares, but still, they will smile. This is probably one of the biggest differences I can tell so far between the Indian way of being and ours...


More pictures? Try http://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/Cam_in_india/Todi_Village/

How it all started - Mumbai train

On the 9th of February 2006, I took the AF134 plane to Mumbai, Bombay, if you prefer. My 27kg-heavy luggage was not held back by Air France in Charles de Gaulle, they just loaded it into the plane. Actually you would be surprise how few this is! I arrived in Mumbai at around midnight, and Greg was expecting me, even if he not supposed to be there, as he was supposed to be working in Nashik at that time (at least on the day after). Great surprise! We spent the night in Mumbai and took a train on the next day for Nashik.

Nasik is located about 200km from Mumbai, to the North East. You can either take a plane, which can be cancelled anytime (there’s only one per day), drive by car, on bumpy and quite dangerous roads, or take a train, quite punctual (serious!) and cold (too much AC). So we took a train, happy enough that we could take it at a terminus station, where we knew exactly where our coach was. Indeed, it is a nightmare to take a train in a non terminus station here, as you have something like 2 minutes to get into the train with your big luggage but no indication on the platform about where you are supposed to wait for your coach. We experienced that a few weeks ago in Mumbai. Our platform was the same as many regional trains (like S Bahn, or RER), so there was constantly a train in front of you, and you had to ask yourself whether this train has a chance to be yours or not. Up to you! Well, one of the main hint is that if you see people literally rush into a train coming (while still moving), and still rush once the train is leaving the station again, then you know this is most probably not your train to Nashik. People just step on one another to get on board. So you would think women have no chance to get in, as they are in general weaker than men. But India organizes it in such a way that women have their own allocated coaches. So that women step over women, and men over men.


Another hint is the way people stand at the open door of the train whilst the train is driving at its highest pace. Quite a dangerous way of taking the train, but that’s just the way it is here. Too few space inside if the train, so you don’t have a choice but to stand and hang at the door, half your body outside of the train.
On that day we were lucky enough to find a guy talking English on the platform, able (unlike the Indian railways employees…) to tell us about where our coach would stop.
So anyway, back to my arrival in Mumbai and departure to Nasik, on that day we took this for 3 and half hours long train from Mumbai to Nasik. Actually you could think this is not a train, but supermarket. Just like Brazilian beaches, but this is not our topic today. Every 5 minutes a guy passes by to sell you things you think you know (like coffee, tea, tomato soup, crisps, etc…), as well as things you have never seen in your life and of which your wonder whether you should really eat them or not. Then if you are in a kind of a dormitory coach you will get bed sheets and a blanket, to have a nice nap. Ok, we took the train to Nasik, which is quite near to Mumbai. Some people take the same train to reach the other end of the country, traveling for sometimes, I don’t know, something like 24 hours!

The arrival in Nasik is of course an experience for you, especially if you have never seen the train station by day (by night is also not bad) of a “small” Indian city like Nasik (around 1,5 mio people), but it is also an experience for the local people who don’t see that many white and fair haired people every day. Of course we are not the only ones here, as there are many German people from not only Bosch, but also EPCOS, Thyssen Krupp, but still you can tell that you don’t look “normal” in the eyes of some of those people. A child once asked me which soap I am using to wash myself. I am so white!

T Zero



Well, this is it, I am on the web. To share with you my impressions of India, as I will be there for a few years from now...


I arrived in Nashik, Maharashtra, on the 10th of February 2006. I came here to live my life with Greg, to share with him this experience, the best and the worst of it, and to make our dream come true.

Within 3 months it looks like we have experienced so many things that it is difficult to report about everything. People, traditions, langages, culture, religions, society, casts, work, traffic, markets, restaurants, lanscapes, movies, music, shopping, clothes, weather... Everything is amazingly different!