When I first came to India I was afraid to cross the street. I would wait on the side of the road for a break in the cars that never seemed to come. Everyday when I got home from work I would immediately shower away the collected dust and retire to my air conditioned bedroom. I only ate food I thought was clean enough and made sure to wash my vegetables in filter water before I cooked them. I took my malaria pills dutifully every night. And then things started to shift. I’m not sure if there was a moment when this became my home, or if everyday I settled further and further into India. A few weeks ago I saw two middle-aged Americans stranded on a boulevard in the middle of one of the busiest
A stuffy 45-minute bus ride south of the Rajasthani desert town of Bikaner lies the Karni Mata Temple, more colloquially known as the 'Internationally Famous' Rat Temple. As you approach the Temple, the streets are lined with the usual smattering of stalls selling street snacks, floral arrangements, framed idols and traditional jewelry. I left my sandals with a shopkeeper (keeping my socks on for this one - to be disposed of later) and headed towards an elaborate carved marble gateway in front of a large pink building. Elegant floral designs were carved into the marble, as well as various Hindu deities. But in addition to the normal Ganesh images were rows of marble sculpted rats making thei
High Tea at the Elgin in Darjeeling, West Bengal Celestial Seasonings, the Colorado-based tea company, has a flavour (my very favourite tea flavour) called Bengal Spice. Two years ago, when I was just deciding to come to India, a friend of mine would come over and we would sit on my couch in Vancouver, talking over what it might be like. Bengal Spice is a delicious tea, strong and sweet and a little bit spicy when brewed with boiling boiling water, and I would drink it and imagine myself in India. Street chai at a roadside stall in Calcutta, West Bengal Fast forward four months. I showed up to Big Bazaar, India’s favourite chain supermarket, wildly excited to stock my new Indian kitchen with
