Organic vegetables, Indian style


June 5, 2010

It is fun to shop at vegetable markets in India, and Gandhinagar has a very nice one in the heart of the city called Sector 21. We buy most of our vegetables and fruits there. There is a reason to believe that Indian vegetables are very safe in terms of residual pesticides and herbicides. Please look at the picture of the spinach we bought the other day. It has lots of weeds, mostly of grass species, among the spinach leaves. It may account for roughly 10-15% of the total weight of the vegetable. Also, insect damages are common on leafy vegetable. Okras and cauliflowers usually contain several worms hidden inside the vegetables. A big problem for vegetarians, but I take it as a sign that Indian vegetables are grown with no or only minimal amount of insecticide and herbicide. I hope my view is correct.

Gandhinagar vegetable market. Spinach leaves with the weeds.
Gandhinagar vegetable market. Spinach leaves with the weeds.

Monsoon 2010


June 2, 2010

I did not expect to stay in India to witness the onset of this year's monsoon. The first rain arrived here shortly after a sudden sandstorm.

In a short time, the sky was filled with yellow sand. The fine silt also came into our house through window gaps and settled on the floor. The wind was strong enough to strip off a metal sheet from a high-rise condominium next to ours. The thin but sizable metal sheet hit the ground with a speed of a meteor. Fortunately, there was no one there at the time.

The rain that followed the storm was not substantial but only wetted the ground, but the temperature fell sharply after the arrival of the cold front that brought the storm and the rain. The extreme Gujarat summer season is over.

A sudden sandstorm. Rain that followed the sandstorm.
A sudden sandstorm. Rain that followed the sandstorm.

Adalaj Ni Vav - A Stepwell in Gujarat


May 29, 2010

Adalaj Ni Vav is a stepwell located just south of Gandhinagar. It is only several kilometers west of where we live, so we visited the stepwell the other day. The trip cost us only Rs. 50 each way, yet we were able to experience a different world. For those who are not familiar with Indian stepwells, they are wells that are not just a deep vertical pit. Instead, the underground water is made accessible by stone steps. Many stepwells are multistoried in structure and highly decorative.

Such stepwells are found mainly in Western India where the climate is very dry most of the year. They must have served a role of oases in ancient times, where people can meet, gossip, or just escape the extreme summer heat. But why are these stepwells found only in this region of the world? Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that stable governments existed here that made the construction of upscale structures both feasible and practical. The second reason is that the superior architectural technology was necessary to make the stepwells happen. Both were found in Western India at the time of the stepwell construction.

This was our second visit to Adalaj Ni Vav. We visited the place in 2007, but since then, I heard that the government was renovating the stepwell as a state park. So, we wanted to see the new look of the place with a possible entry charge. A pleasant surprise was that there was no fee charged. It was still free for everyone. To see Rani Ni Vav in Patan, I had to pay Rs. 100 in 2007, although Indian citizens pay only Rs. 5. The down side was that I didn't see any improvement, either. It is a very important historical monument that requires protection. It was sad to see grafittis and red marks of betelnut on the walls and pillars. Mr. Bachchan, you are now the Gujarat tourism ambassador. Please bring more tourists to the state so that they can generate funds for the protection of monuments like Adalaj Ni Vav.

Entrance to the stepwell. Beautiful peacock design at the entrance of the stepwell.
Entrance to the Adalaj stepwell. Admission is still free for everyone. I found this beautiful peacock design at the entrance of the stepwell.
Inside the majestic Adalaj Ni Vav. Green pasture above the well.
Inside the majestic Adalaj Ni Vav. The pillars and walls are decorated with exquisite carvings. There is a green pasture above the well. We took a brief rest under one of the trees.

Ahmedabad in the 19th Century


May 20, 2010

Google is currently scanning numerous books in public libraries and has made them available on line. Many of the books are in the public domain, and therefore we can download and read them free of charge. In this Google collection, I have recently come across an interesting book titled "Indika -The Country and the People of India and Ceylon" authored by John F. Hurst in 1891. It is all about India; geography, history, etc. from the 19th century perspective.

I took interest especially in the chapter on Ahmedabad, simply because it is where I am now. I have to admit that I had thought I knew the city quite well as a foreigner, but a paragraph in the book changed my view.

Tree of Life - AhmedabadAbout the latter half of the sixteenth century, Ahmadabad was one of the largest cities in Western India. In the splendor of its architecture and the wealth of its citizens, it was the Hindu Florence. From 1573 to 1600, it was "the handsomest town in Hindustan, perhaps in the world." Sir Thomas Roe declared it "a goodly city as large as London."

I know Ahmedabad is known as Manchester of India, but the book's author likened the city to Florence and London. And it was the most fashionable city in the world in the 19the century! This will surely make me want to explore more of the city

The book has some very beautiful line drawings and here I have reproduced one of them. It is a great book for anyone who is interested in India.


Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), Ahmedabad


May 19, 2010
An Ahmedabad BRTS bus. People at BRTS station.
An Ahmedabad BRTS bus. People waiting for the bus at the BRTS station.

Last year, a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was started in Ahmedabad. The other day, my wife and I used the BRTS bus to visit our relatives in Maninagar. We boarded the bus at the system's northern terminal of RTO and traveled to the end of the line, Maninagar Railway Station. The first impression was, it is fast. It runs on a special bus only lane and the bus operation is not interrupted by the chaotic Ahmedabad traffic. The bus was not air-conditioned in the 45°C heat, but the constant wind that was coming into the bus kept the inside relatively comfortable. A/C would hike the operational cost, so that is not a bad thing for a bus system meant for all the city folks, rich and poor. The fare was Rs. 15 for the 20 km route, which is probably reasonable. The stations will be equipped with IC card readers for fare deduction in the future, but at present, it was not operational yet.

It is a big improvement over the conventional transport systems in Ahmedabad, and it is hoped that the network will be expanded. But for the city of 6 million that is rapidly growing, I feel that a rail transit will be necessary, and the BRTS will play a supplementary role where rail construction is not physically or economically feasible. The success of Delhi Metro should be replicated in this affluent city of Ahmedabad.


Indian Mangoes


May 16, 2010
A mango stand on the street. Mango sellers in the Gandhinagar.
A mango stand on the street. Mango sellers in the Gandhinagar vegetable market.

I am in India now, and it is May, in the middle of the mango season. So, I thought it was fair enough to share how much I appreciate mangoes here. The quality of Indian mangoes is unparalleled anywhere else in the world, and there are so many varieties of them.

This is not the first time I lived in a mango growing area. I lived in Kenya in the 1980's and I enjoyed mangoes sold locally in a tiny village where I taught science at a secondary school. The local people told me there were two kinds of mangoes, good ones and bad ones. The good ones are small and sweet mangoes that were eaten as a snack, or more often, as lunch by the students. I think the "bad" ones that the locals were referring to were actually the variety used for pickles or something, but I'm not sure. In any case, the point here is that there wasn't any choice of mango varieties that I could buy there.

In India, things are different. Mangoes come in many subtle differences in taste, shapes, and prices. A common variety available here (Ahmedabad) is Tota, that looks like a parrot's beak and has a subdued sweetness. Another variety, Badam, is round shaped and sweet like pure cane sugar. These varieties are relatively inexpensive. Tota costs about Rs. 30 per kg, and Badam is about Rs. 50 per kg.

An expensive, but sinfully tasty variety is Alphonso. Its meat is deep orange and the texture is creamy. It is very flavorful and extremely sweet. It is the king of mangoes, so to speak. It sells for about Rs. 75 per kg. Another high-profile variety is Kesar. Its flesh is more smooth than that of Alphonso, but it is no less sweet and has a very strong flavor. Both are my favorite.

Mango season is short, so you have to visit India at the right time to enjoy them. Unfortunately, the right time for mangoes may not be the right time for traveling (hint: heat).