Usaacha Ras

Another summer speciality is usaacha ras (fresh sugarcane juice). One of the best ways to beat the 40s, its a great relaxant. You gulp in some complex carbohydrates and thus beat the chances of simple dehydration. It is what sugar wants to be, but it wishes :-).

Usually (as in cities and bigger towns), they squeeze out the juice using tools of modern civilization ... that is, electric motor machines. While in villages, the civilization is left a bit behind ... and so you have the above: a simple gear-based configuration pulled by an ox (or oxen, or even men in some cases). The juice it seems is that much sweeter; we found it just okay ... but it was like godsend for us thirsty souls after a tour of the gorges.

The great thing about the above is that a very similar configuration can be used for many other things: to squeeze oil out of seeds (like groundnut, sunflower), to pull water out of wells, to separate the husk from the grain, so on and so forth.

We owe a lot to civilization, to gears and to oxen.

World's Only Swirl Canyon

Around 85 kilometers from Pune, near a village called Nighoj, are what could be termed as the largest natural potholes in Asia :-). Its basically a thin but long gorge, with around 2 kilometers of black stone (most probably basault), shaped by the river into all swirly shapes imaginable. The local geological people also say its world's only "swirl canyon". Unlike Grand Canyon, which is created by the flow of the Colorado river digging top to bottom and which is also GRAND, the canyon at Nighoj are created by small hard pebbles that vigorously swirl in the river flow, grind the basault base and create circular holes in it. You can see a sample of the swirly effects in the pictures above. And yeah, the thing is not grand ... less than 100 feet deep may be and less than 3 kms long. But its is a sight to watch ... to see how some tiny stones and a [huge] chunk of water can make an otherwise dull and barren landscape look very interesting and ominous.

We could see the swirls in stone because its summer, otherwise we were told that in monsoon the place is full of deep swirling water, and putting foot in the water is more fun than suicide. As is always the case in India, people habe built a temple at the place where people flock to see the gorge and thank the goddess that they are not inside it.

Terrible Mornings

Sanju has to give a well-researched presentation middle of this week. She has been fighting it out for the last few weeks, but things have really come to head since the last 3-4 days. This weekend was especially terrible for her, both days she went to sleep at 1 am and woke up for intensive googling at 4 am. I have been helping her out with the slides, googling etc, but mine have been more or less the usual 17 hour days :-).

So, I don't have to tell you who is Jon and who is Garfield in the comic-strip above :-). Umm, though the smile on Garfield's face in the last box could be more sarcastic ;-).

On the home front, we have shifted all our stuff into the new furniture. The book-case especially makes me feel real proud; I didn't know I had these many books, many of them unread :-|. The wardrobe is also quite full; we didn't know we had these many clothes, none of them unworn :-|. The house now looks more like a home and less like a hostel-room. I miss the piles of clothes and books and other smelly stuff though; after these many years its goodbye to picking your clothes randomly and getting happy for finding coins at the bottom of the heap :-(.

Furniture Saga: Rest is also done

Thats the book-case-cum-computer-table and the study table. I should be the happiest person in the world right now, to finally see my beloved book collection in the place it belongs, instead of rotting in oxidizing steel almirahs and sogging cardboard boxes.

Sanju is also happy she gets a nice little table for studying; though with a little complaint: the TV would be above her head and sadly she is one of those people (like me) who wants the TV on while studying. And while she'll be studying, I would be happily lying on the comfy new bed, reading a nice book and ... watching the TeeVee :-).

Summer Rain

Yesterday started off like any other summer day, with the sun beating down people into sweats. By mid-afternoon it was cloudy enough for us to venture out into the same sun for an after-lunch walk. Like it is on any cloudy summer day (or like every day in Bombay ;-), the heat was dampy and there was almost no wind, what is called tufaan ke pehle ki khamoshi (the lull before the storm).

Thus and hence, it rained in the evening. And since Sanju had forgotten her keys at home, both of us enjoyed our first getting-wet-in-rain routine. The rain started off small, but soon it grew wild as you can see in the pics above. It rained for hardly half an hour, but the force of it at the end was quite good. Some tree branches tore off in the neighborhood and a poor man's shanty was thrown asunder.

The result was a cold night and clear shiny morning. The rain somehow brings down all the pollution with it and the view gets all clear as in blue. To top it off, it again rained today. Indeed, a welcome relief from the hot 40s (degrees that is).

Furniture Saga: Done!

The furniture is ready! After a month of nail-on-ply and sandpaper-on-wood noises, which irritated us to no end, the wardrobe and the bed are finally done. For the last 2-3 days, we were getting impatient (and nervous) ... but now that we can see it just like we wanted to see it, it feels good to see it you see. The book-case should be ready within a day or so, but its already looking good. We spent a day wiping the glasses and mirrors and the floor squeaky clean, our hands smelling of kerosene and soap. We should start moving our stuff in its place this weekend. Tee-hee :-).

We have also ordered the kitchen wall-unit. Its that italian modular kitchen thing, with the electric chimney and all, and should arrive by the end of this month. With that, the bedroom and kitchen will be all set.

Other than that, its been a routine week. Days are getting very hot, but nights thankfully are nice. The greenness of spring is slowly giving way to the brownness of indian summer, with tar roads floating in the afternoon sun and sweats rolling into already wet clothes. Both of us had a small bout of sunstroke, with our tummies going gud-gud and heads rolling in-place, but now we are fine and enjoying ice-candies every noon and night.

Green Mangoes

Summer is finally here. After a rigorous weekend in Dajipur, we decided to stay home this weekend. It was hot enough to boil our blood, just literally. For last few days the evenings have also been quite warm. Thankfully Pune has cool nights and it should be fun sleeping on the terrace.

Summer is also time of ice-creams, ice-candies, cold juices, watermelons, and ... mangoes. Since its just the start of summer, the mangoes are still green. And yet, Indian cuisine is full of choices; we made green-mango chutney (aamti aka methamba) and soon we'll have pannha (sort of a juice made from steamed green mangoes). Yumminess.

Its a real pleasure looking at and smelling the soury sweetness of the mango trees, blooming with dense flowers and the tender green fruits.