Monsoon

Sometimes its very easy to forget you are in India, the doors are closed and the aircon on, some (a lot) traffic noise, but that could be any city, anywhere, then you open the door and step outside and the smell of  curry cooking hits you, then you remember where you are, lucky we like curry!

The monsoon finally arrived last week, which means for us cooler temperatures.  So instead of having a heat index of 130F/55C its only in the 100F/37C range.

Life has been reasonably uncomplicated the last couple of weeks.  Looks like we will be moving into a larger apartment the week after next, but as with anything here you only believe it is happening when you have actually moved in.  We were encouraged today because whilst walking the dogs Chris saw workers in there putting up curtains and doing whatever else they do,  so maybe it will actually happen.  The only thing we will miss about our current apartment is watching the world go by, this is also why we want to move as the noise is 24/7,  our new place is in the middle of the complex, but it does have good views of the airport so I will be able to give Chris weather reports before he flies in.

We have been doing some experimenting with Indian cooking. I found a great recipe for a chicken curry, which would also be good with lamb.  But alas I have failed with Dal.  I need to get someone to teach me.  My attempt was awful, tasted as bad as it looked.  There are so many different types of lentils that have to be cooked at different times its very confusing, plus I am not great with a pressure cooker.

Chris has been to visit our local fruit and veg shop.

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The produce is a lot fresher and a lot cheaper than the supermarket.  Today he got some beans and carrots for RS20 which is just 40 cents!

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I think in a previous post Chris had said one of the good things here is the eggs, apparently we are protected from Bird Flu and they have a security hologram on them, why I don’t know.

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We have discovered in our supermarket frozen mutton, which says its lamb (instead of goat), it tastes pretty good and smells like lamb so we are assuming that’s what it is.  The other night we got some fresh hamburger buns and made lamb burgers, holy crap they were good.  We also got some cubed lamb that I am going to try in my new curry recipe.  We have been having some issues with the fresh chicken we have been buying, we have had to toss quite a bit of it as it wasnt edible.  The problem is you don’t know how long it sits out before its packaged and refrigerated.  We haven’t got the courage up to go to the local market and buy a true fresh chook, we don’t know how we will cope with seeing it killed, plucked and then sold to us.

Another example of how cheap things are here.  I had run out of allergy pills.  Whilst living in Chicago and Colorado I developed really bad allergies, and now have to take something everyday, especially here with the really bad pollution.  So we have discovered that you dont need a prescription for anything here, we found this out when getting medication for the dogs.  Last night we went shopping and our driver Dipenka took my pills to the local hospital pharmacy to see if he could get me some pills.  I take Zyrtec and its normally about $US25 for a 45 day supply, last night we got 49 pills (all they had) and it was only about $US3.50, exactly the same pills made by the same company just different packaging.  Apparently you can get almost anything, just not the really bad stuff, whatever that means.

I think the cat has decided that he doesnt particularly like India and is ready to go.  This photo is funny because George would never willingly get into his carrier.  In all the years that we have had him he has done a lot of travelling and hates it, normally he sees his carrier and disappears.

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Life here never seems to stop.  This pic is in front of our apartment today, could you imagine moving all these bricks by hand in the 100F heat, plus you know they already had to load them this morning.  I got the cow in the pic for fun, he was eating some fresh cut grass he found.

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I have booked a trip to Australia for August.  I am very excited, not just to get away from India but also to catch up with people.  Its been two years so its time.  Its funny when you read about and talk to expats living here in India, most travel every couple of months out of the country to keep sane, Chris and I can both relate to this.

Most people are against having full time servants living with them, but we have decided that maybe we should have someone that can look after the dogs for us so we can start doing some traveling. While I am away in August we are hoping to try someone.  When we lived in the guesthouse, Salim, the houseman, his son was working there and he got on very well with the dogs so we are hoping that  he might work out.

Chris is away again this week for three days, so another quiet one.

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