Tandoori Turkey

Sorry for the back to back posts, but I figure you all need extra distractions as you ease back into work after thanksgiving anyway. I am happy to report that we hosted a very successful potluck on Thursday, complete with some thanksgiving classics, some Indian classics, and some random items that make every potluck complete. We had about 15 people at our humble abode, and just as they did at Plymouth Rock all those years ago, we settled down to a meal with the Indians. The menu included naan, paneer, dal, rice, and samosas to give it some Indian flavor. Then there was the pasta and pizza, not totally traditional for thanksgiving, but fairly American none the less. We rounded out our tour of global cuisine with guacamole, salsa, and hummus, just to make sure Mexico and the Middle East felt included. Jack managed to bake a pumpkin pie in the toaster oven, which turned out remarkably well.

And last but not least, there was even turkey. Keep in mind that about 40 percent of Indians are vegetarian, so even finding meat can be a bit of a challenge. In addition, pretty much the only types of meat available are chicken and mutton. Jack and Aakash managed to track down some turkey at a market, and while we debated attempting to chop it in half and squeeze it into our toaster oven we settled on the more stereotypically correct answer and outsourced the cooking to one of our favorite restaurants. They promptly told us no way they had never seen a turkey before let alone cooked one, but with enough coaxing (aka rupees) they agreed. While at the restaurant, Jack called his mom in Illinois to see if she had any suggestions for the novices. She then asked the New York Times, who put it on their food blog (scroll down to just below the picture of the potatoes) The result was a tandoori turkey, which Aakash, Jack and the other non-vegetarians tell me was delicious. Even with all these other vegetarians running around, India does not do Tofu, much less Tofurkey, but let’s be honest that wasn’t really a big loss for me.

All in all it was an extremely successful thanksgiving and we kept the most important tradition - no not getting together with good friends and thinking of all that we are thankful for - having enough leftovers to last through the long weekend!

The roomies (Jack, Monisha, yours truly, and Aakash) with the Tandoorified Butterball

The India. (Shoulder Shrug)

Back in college every time something happened that was totally stereotypical of college my friend and I used to cheer “collllleeeedge!”. Someone does a keg stand and then runs outside to puke: colllleeeeedge! Everyone gets super excited because the dining hall has chicken parm…colllleeeeedge! Here in India I’ve decided the equivalent is the India. (shoulder shrug). The India. (shoulder shrug) can be used to describe most situations one encounters here. For example: my roommates and I all applied for ATM cards when we got here in the summer. Four of us received our cards within a few weeks as is often the case when one applies for an ATM card. It is now four months later and Aakash is still waiting for his and still goes to the bank every week to see if it’s there. Each time they reassure him it will be here within a week. India. (shoulder shrug).

November brought about the start of wedding season here, and apparently the banquet hall at our apartment complex is literally booked seven days a week all month for weddings, which means that at night as I sit in bed working on my grad school apps I hear a marching band go by outside my window followed by fireworks every single night. India. (shoulder shrug). In addition, a white horse is part of the wedding parade. I’m now fairly used to seeing livestock wandering the streets of Delhi, usually horses, goats, and of course cows. Note – for my first few weeks here these were a bizarre enough sight to warrant an India. (shoulder shrug.) But these days it’s just business as usual. The other day, though, I was sitting in an auto rickshaw at an extremely busy intersection between two huge roads, when all of the sudden this guy just goes galloping right through a red light waving a yellow flag like a madman signal all the cars to stop and let him through. India. (shoulder shrug.)

Apparently the breathalyzer also has not yet made it to Delhi. Last night, we were on our way back from a bar when our auto rickshaw was stopped at a police check point. The policeman asked the driver to blow on his hand, then smelled it to see if it reeked of vodka. Luckily for us our driver only blew a .0001 and was deemed safe to drive. Sucks for the cop who gets the guy who ordered extra garlic in his curry. India. (shoulder shrug).

Lastly, it is now officially fall here in Delhi, meaning that the nights are chilly but it still gets up into the low 80s during the day (or the high 20s as we Celsius users like say). The cooler temperatures have been accompanied by a change in Delhi fashion. Apparently men in Delhi are aware that the practicality of the sweater vest (I mean it really is just too warm for those bulky sweater arms) greatly outweighs the general nerdy qualities associated with it. One out of every two guys I pass on the street is wearing a sweater vest, and I’m not talking your basic cable-knit either. The most popular version is this weird shag-carpet style knit that occasionally has some glittery threads thrown in for some added flare. Unfortunately I haven’t seen any women bust out the sweater vest/sari combo, but I’m thinking I may just have to introduce that here. At that point it will be everyone else’s turn to bust out the USA. (shoulder shrug).

Visiting Villages

Finally, after four months of doing computer analysis, I am out in the “field” as we in the development field call it. For 10 days I have been visiting villages in Madhya Pradesh, the state where we are conducting our surveys, to test out our next round of survey instruments. We are staying in a hotel in the district capital, and then each day we drive out to the villages and talk to doctors there and conduct pilot studies of our survey forms. I totally feel Julia Roberts’ pain. Every time I step out of the jeep a huge crowd gathers around and follows me everywhere I go. In some villages the kids tried to be sly about it and would walk back and forth by me as if they were doing some task that required them to continually walk 10 feet, turn around, and walk back. But in others they just went right ahead and sat down next to me and never took their eyes away, even when I was just sitting around for an hour, they just sat tight and kept staring at me. I feel like I should come up with a dance or magic show or something to keep them entertained as they stare.

We’ve gone to both private doctors and public health clinics, and it’s a tough call as to which provides better care. You would think the private doctors would be better, because they charge money whereas the public clinic is free. Because they are private, though, they don’t need to have any qualifications so many of them have never done any medical school or formal training. In the public clinic, the doctors have all been to med school, which is always a good thing, but as we have learned even though they are open from 9 am to 5 pm the doctor only comes from 10am to noon. So people arrive at 10 and get in line, and each one gets 20 seconds from the doctor, in which he asks them what is wrong and writes a prescription, usually for an antibiotic. He never does a physical exam, as that would waste too much time and rarely asks a follow up question. After two hectic hours he closes up shop and heads home.

In some ways, India has a strange way of preserving the status quo. The good news is they avoid things that could be detrimental, the bad news is they don’t improve things. For example, the doctors prescribe antibiotics for everything, which you would thing would be a bad thing. But, since 95% of the medications here are fake anyway, it ends up being ok that they are handing drugs out like candy. We noticed that none of the doctors had sinks which means they aren’t washing their hands between patients. Seems like a bad idea. But, then you realize that none of the doctors ever touch any patients, so once again it manages to work out.

On a totally unrelated note, we are staying in a hotel with a tv, and yesterday I was flipping through channels and came across a local gymnastics meet that was on. I have to say the skills they were doing were not exactly impressive…but I don’t think gymnastics is very big here. Then they randomly started showing the floor final from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. This Indian guy was narrating the meet as if it was on live, but all the signs in the background clearly said 2000. They showed it for about 10 minutes and then moved on to another show. It was so random! And now every time we watch sports here we aren’t sure if what we’re watching is from this year or some championship from 1999.