First Day, Hyderabad
Dec. 10th, 2019 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiBoy, am I pooped. What a day! Vidya, my friend that I'm visiting, is sick. So am I (sore throat that just won't quit, verging on head cold). And the youngest son has been running a fever and vomiting. And yet, being a 2 year old boy, is also crazy full of energy. They have 2 boys and the house is never quiet while the boys are home! She's not letting that slow her down, though. She feeds me like crazy, and we've been running all around. Today's itinerary!
8:15 AM - Yoga - w/in the complex where they live, there's a class Tues & Thurs - so we went! It was lovely - just the thing
9:30ish to 10:30ish - took a walk, and visited Vidya's sister in law and get fed 6 dosas (OMG, so full of dosas!!) and fresh OJ squeezed right then.
10:30 - called Amma (she sounds so sick!!) and worked on speech to give on 12/15.
11:00 - off and running! Vidya and I went to Shilparamam, a crafts village - I was really excited to find a double ikat - particularly after the first shop insisted that they were selling double ikat, and they weren't - I didn't want to fight about it, but it irked me. But this seller (1st pic) was selling them. They aren't cheap - not even by Indian standards, but I feel happy with the pattern I bought as it's very SCA friendly, and really a beautiful peice. Many of the things here, though, where not what I would call fine examples of Indian workmanship or really preserving the traditional arts, which is what the place is supposed to be. There was a lot of typical high pressure Indian selling and also a lot of misrepresentation. Grr. I really liked shopping with Vidya, though, she's a lot of fun and we were both novices at this particular place.
~1:30 - run home, get lunch! The cook they usually have is sick, so they have the alternate cook. Apparently the last visit, she made the food so spicy even they could not eat it, but today my being around seems to have scared her so much there were NO chilis in the food (honestly, it was a little bland...). It was fun to have a different cook's food, and we had eggplant (it is my duty to try to eat all the eggplant ever.... So far, though, Vidya's family are better cooks - last night they made chicken kebab and chicken curry, and today dosas - and all of that has been really excellent.
2:30 - divide and conquer - I stayed home, while Vidya picked up her own and her sister in law's and friend's kids. That gave me some time to work on some computer stuff that has gotten really crazy!
3:30 - tag team! Vidya stayed home, while I and her sister in law's kids and the driver when to her sister's shop. It turns out, the shop is a Zardozi workshop!!! Vidya hadn't told me, so I was lukewarm on going! But it totally made my day. I probably won't make it to ikat weavers - it's just too hard logistically with the current situation and schedule... but instead I get to see a zardozi workshop and talk to it's owner!!! For those that don't know, zardozi is the embroidery art of putting metal pieces - coils, paillettes, disks, beads and gold thread onto fabric. It's really hard, but these guys are like machines - the work was very good, and they are very fast. Religious tension is a real thing here - Muslims and Hindus don't get along, and there has been violence in the past... but Vidya's sister in law (HIndu) hires mostly Muslim workers, as they are the ones with the skill set to do the work, and also the shop is strategically situated near a big Muslm district. That's a thing that is pretty different about Hyderabad - the Hindu/Muslim balance is a lot more prominent, and there are many more Mosques here as well as distinct Arabic influences.
So I gawked and geeked for a while. I also (hopefully) bespoke some ari hooks, which are the tools used to really speed up zardozi, and they are painfully hard to find in the US. I'm beyond thrilled at this!!!
Also - her sister will make some cholis for the saris I purchased, and also a dress from some ikat by the yard I bought. The dresses here are lovely and quite different - very long, with a circular like skirt, and a high waistline. But they are fitted in such a way that it lengthens the body. I'm nervous about it, because usually a high waist is not by friend, but I couldn't resist trying it. All the women I see all look so lovely in this style.
5:00 - the driver took me to Charmidar - it's a very famous, iconic mosque in the city. Around it is a dizzying swirl of vendors and shop keepers - it's like a street festival every night. Really crazy - and I was glad to have the driver there as it was a bit daunting. No one did anything violent or threatening, but I'm a big white target here, and I can tell by the way the sellers and beggars zero in on me - everyone is hoping to get something from me... it's a lot to handle, even if the intent is neutral to friendly. The vibe here is much different. Bangalore or Mysore can be just as boisterous, but the Hindu/Muslim mix makes a different energy - you know the Muslims, because the women are either wearing hijabs or full face veils and very modest clothing, and the men wear caps an have quite distinctive beards (most of the time). That mixed with the typical Indian seller agressiveness (of any religious affiliation) and it's all mind blowing. Took a risk and got a pomegranite - because they were SO beautiful - red and split open, just like a scroll - and sugarcane juice (pressed from a sugarcane). I like tender coconut better, but I seem to be having coconut logistics problems.
I did a bit of Burlesque shopping - the stalls here feature a lot of glitzy, glittery, but well priced things. Most of it is not high quality materials, but great for stage use.
6:30 - head back, and grab biryani on the way. High on my bucket list here was to have chicken biryani in the heart of biryani - it's a Hyderabad speciality. We bought from a well-reputed shop, that apparently does "Old City" style biryani. Gautam (Vidya's husband) tells me there are 4 styles and this is one of them.
Back by 8:00 and watching the antics of the boys - who are 2 and 4 and boisterous. The little one is sick so apparently he's only at 50% boisterous. Wow.
Had the biryani, and also had some of the special fruits you can't get in the US - one kind of looks like an asaparagus and an artichoke had a big round baby and it's called a custard apple, sweetsop or (if you are Telegu) sita phalamu - but it's wonderfully sweet, with big black seeds. Eating it and spitting the seeds is almost as much of a production as pomegranates - but because it's all very juicy/slippery - the seed spitting is more like watermelon spitting because it's so easy. I really like these! I'm so glad I tried them!! The other, a sapora (seen in the pictures of a plate of fruit), I also had in Bangalore. It looks like a potato, but the fruit is a cross between a pear and a plum. It also has seeds, but far fewer.
And now - to bed! I really need to practice, but I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm still feeling a bit sick. Promising myself I will do in the morning, first thing before taking a bath. Maybe before breakfast. Dancing on a full stomach just doesn't seem fun.
(technically, I'm posting this a day later... as I was writing, the home network disappeared, and everyone had gone to bed already. I'm certainly not going to wake people up so I can blog... I will say - I DID get a morning practice in!!!)
8:15 AM - Yoga - w/in the complex where they live, there's a class Tues & Thurs - so we went! It was lovely - just the thing 9:30ish to 10:30ish - took a walk, and visited Vidya's sister in law and get fed 6 dosas (OMG, so full of dosas!!) and fresh OJ squeezed right then.
10:30 - called Amma (she sounds so sick!!) and worked on speech to give on 12/15.
11:00 - off and running! Vidya and I went to Shilparamam, a crafts village - I was really excited to find a double ikat - particularly after the first shop insisted that they were selling double ikat, and they weren't - I didn't want to fight about it, but it irked me. But this seller (1st pic) was selling them. They aren't cheap - not even by Indian standards, but I feel happy with the pattern I bought as it's very SCA friendly, and really a beautiful peice. Many of the things here, though, where not what I would call fine examples of Indian workmanship or really preserving the traditional arts, which is what the place is supposed to be. There was a lot of typical high pressure Indian selling and also a lot of misrepresentation. Grr. I really liked shopping with Vidya, though, she's a lot of fun and we were both novices at this particular place.
~1:30 - run home, get lunch! The cook they usually have is sick, so they have the alternate cook. Apparently the last visit, she made the food so spicy even they could not eat it, but today my being around seems to have scared her so much there were NO chilis in the food (honestly, it was a little bland...). It was fun to have a different cook's food, and we had eggplant (it is my duty to try to eat all the eggplant ever.... So far, though, Vidya's family are better cooks - last night they made chicken kebab and chicken curry, and today dosas - and all of that has been really excellent.
2:30 - divide and conquer - I stayed home, while Vidya picked up her own and her sister in law's and friend's kids. That gave me some time to work on some computer stuff that has gotten really crazy!
3:30 - tag team! Vidya stayed home, while I and her sister in law's kids and the driver when to her sister's shop. It turns out, the shop is a Zardozi workshop!!! Vidya hadn't told me, so I was lukewarm on going! But it totally made my day. I probably won't make it to ikat weavers - it's just too hard logistically with the current situation and schedule... but instead I get to see a zardozi workshop and talk to it's owner!!! For those that don't know, zardozi is the embroidery art of putting metal pieces - coils, paillettes, disks, beads and gold thread onto fabric. It's really hard, but these guys are like machines - the work was very good, and they are very fast. Religious tension is a real thing here - Muslims and Hindus don't get along, and there has been violence in the past... but Vidya's sister in law (HIndu) hires mostly Muslim workers, as they are the ones with the skill set to do the work, and also the shop is strategically situated near a big Muslm district. That's a thing that is pretty different about Hyderabad - the Hindu/Muslim balance is a lot more prominent, and there are many more Mosques here as well as distinct Arabic influences. So I gawked and geeked for a while. I also (hopefully) bespoke some ari hooks, which are the tools used to really speed up zardozi, and they are painfully hard to find in the US. I'm beyond thrilled at this!!!
Also - her sister will make some cholis for the saris I purchased, and also a dress from some ikat by the yard I bought. The dresses here are lovely and quite different - very long, with a circular like skirt, and a high waistline. But they are fitted in such a way that it lengthens the body. I'm nervous about it, because usually a high waist is not by friend, but I couldn't resist trying it. All the women I see all look so lovely in this style.
5:00 - the driver took me to Charmidar - it's a very famous, iconic mosque in the city. Around it is a dizzying swirl of vendors and shop keepers - it's like a street festival every night. Really crazy - and I was glad to have the driver there as it was a bit daunting. No one did anything violent or threatening, but I'm a big white target here, and I can tell by the way the sellers and beggars zero in on me - everyone is hoping to get something from me... it's a lot to handle, even if the intent is neutral to friendly. The vibe here is much different. Bangalore or Mysore can be just as boisterous, but the Hindu/Muslim mix makes a different energy - you know the Muslims, because the women are either wearing hijabs or full face veils and very modest clothing, and the men wear caps an have quite distinctive beards (most of the time). That mixed with the typical Indian seller agressiveness (of any religious affiliation) and it's all mind blowing. Took a risk and got a pomegranite - because they were SO beautiful - red and split open, just like a scroll - and sugarcane juice (pressed from a sugarcane). I like tender coconut better, but I seem to be having coconut logistics problems.
I did a bit of Burlesque shopping - the stalls here feature a lot of glitzy, glittery, but well priced things. Most of it is not high quality materials, but great for stage use.
6:30 - head back, and grab biryani on the way. High on my bucket list here was to have chicken biryani in the heart of biryani - it's a Hyderabad speciality. We bought from a well-reputed shop, that apparently does "Old City" style biryani. Gautam (Vidya's husband) tells me there are 4 styles and this is one of them.Back by 8:00 and watching the antics of the boys - who are 2 and 4 and boisterous. The little one is sick so apparently he's only at 50% boisterous. Wow.
Had the biryani, and also had some of the special fruits you can't get in the US - one kind of looks like an asaparagus and an artichoke had a big round baby and it's called a custard apple, sweetsop or (if you are Telegu) sita phalamu - but it's wonderfully sweet, with big black seeds. Eating it and spitting the seeds is almost as much of a production as pomegranates - but because it's all very juicy/slippery - the seed spitting is more like watermelon spitting because it's so easy. I really like these! I'm so glad I tried them!! The other, a sapora (seen in the pictures of a plate of fruit), I also had in Bangalore. It looks like a potato, but the fruit is a cross between a pear and a plum. It also has seeds, but far fewer.And now - to bed! I really need to practice, but I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm still feeling a bit sick. Promising myself I will do in the morning, first thing before taking a bath. Maybe before breakfast. Dancing on a full stomach just doesn't seem fun.
(technically, I'm posting this a day later... as I was writing, the home network disappeared, and everyone had gone to bed already. I'm certainly not going to wake people up so I can blog... I will say - I DID get a morning practice in!!!)
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Date: 2019-12-11 12:12 pm (UTC)