Macho macho man!

Homosexuality is still banned in India. Men to men holding hands in the streets are not being naughty. It’s a sign of friendship!

I don’t mind other girls hugging me, but I know this boy MEP volunteer who gets really uncomfortable when guys come to hold close!! Hahaha!!!   

Family banquet

This father and daughter caught my eye at 7 in the morning. Charming!

Take a chance on the bird

“Just a few rupees and know your future! Tarot card coco reader , expert in the secrets of Kaballah, match-making, herbs and their recipes. It was he who predicted that Indian would win the cricket against Pak!” 

Month and a half

After a few free days spent in Mysore, I’m back home babies! It’s badly raining in Coonoor, veeeery cold, but it’s nice to carry the day-to-day effort again!

Surprise surprise: Moosoon in Coonoor comes with electricity cuts. Hello candle lights! And mass o’clock was at 5 a.m this morning… eugh!!

Character building, darling!

Bits and bots of Hinduism

I’ve read the Mahabharata, been to a few temples, mixed with Hindus but still know little about this religion. What I really learnt is to be careful with the fundamentalists! They want to (re)unite India all the way through Hinduism, and get rid of the “foreign sources of all Indian problems”, the Muslims and the Christians…

In Chamundi Hill an old half naked beardy Hindu has showed his fist to me, while the Indians around him advised me to please go away. Love and peace?!

Apart from this little incident, they are very friendly and nice, especially in the Tamil Nadu!

Paisa please! Paisa please!

It’s heartbreaking to deal with kids begging in the streets. So cute, barefooted, dirty… They grab your trouser and don’t let go, awwwwwww!! Have you ever seen the cat perform in the Shrek movie? !

Some of them are really poor. And some are sent by their parents to get money. Which makes them professional beggars right from the beginning.

So I usually tell them to go to school, plus buy big packets of biscuits and give gem a few. But these little buddhas don’t want them, they want money! Clever clever. What to do?!

Ama, Aita, you’re gonna love this!

Tudaaam! 10 rupees is what I call a good deal!

(Before you heart attack, don’t panic, it’s only a fake one!!)

The Vache-qui-rit

Every night at the Little Sister’s the elderly get a glass of milk – as in from an actual cow.

“-Are they not sacred in India?” asked the innocent European girl. Haha! Fact of the day: some cows are sacred, some are milked!

“-So how do you make the difference between sacred and secular cows?”

“-You make the difference!”

Clever Indians!

In Hampi we actually saw a cow stepping through a front door. The housewife set out a nice plate of “human” supper and served the cow outside as if it was a family member!

According to Naveen, a friend from Bangalore, the cows belong to no one; they are normal citizens!

“Our ways are not your ways”

So many times they try to cheat me up!! Because I’m white… Outrageous ! For Indians we are like animated gold mines.

Also in a shop I once asked what currency I could buy an item with. “-Whatever smells money madam!!” haha, you cash-hound !

Elephant king of the jungle

In all sizes and shapes, colors and materials, real and fake! I’m always a bit on edge when I shoot an elephant photo. Such a huge living thing!! Scared than it might knock me out or stand on my petit feet!

Buddha Bar in Paris and Elephant Bar in Gudalur Natural Reserve

Ganesh the elephant god

Veggie’s paradise

Rain, rain, rain. Worse than in the Basque land!! Never thought our (anti-tourists) bad weather could be beaten!

The good side of the heavy precipitation is the luxurious Indian vegetation! All kinds of vegetables grow nicely. Even beetroot unfortunately. Funnily I’ve realized there are no mushrooms and no snails.

Ceci n’est pas une pipe…

…but a contemporary Indian fountain!

Raindrops keep falling on my head

It’s raining men, Alleluia! Are you not feeling warm and dry behind your computer screens?! Monsoon season has officially started!! The roads are turned into waterways, and it’s been 4 days since I put my clothes outside to dry…  still soaked! A new excuse to go shopping!    

Mother’s feast

The Mother of all the Little Sisters of the Poor of India came for visit and a fabulous feast got organized for her. The residents and the Sisters have spent 2 months planning her reception, and they were really excited about it!

The elderly prepared really good quality Indian dances, hilarious sketches, a play about the Wise Kings (please appreciate the homemade very funny costumes!!), and I dressed up as a Sister (my laundry bag as a veil and dhoti as a gown) to sing out a poem. Even the gardeners, gatekeepers and cooks took parts in the feast. Fun fun times!!!

Young world

The clergy in India is so young that priests retire at the age of 60. Not like in Europe.

Sister Justina is 24 years old, and has already spent two years for the novitiate.  She’s been to school, college, one day followed religious vocation, and really happy of it!

Long long long

Wasn’t there the tale of a captive princess who escaped from a tower throwing her curls down the balcony? 

In India women’s beauty lies in their hair. The secret tonic is coconut oil to make it grow longer. The Sisters keep pouring lots of it into my hair hoping it will grow back quickly. A bit too greasy to me like!

Mother superior

A true Indian woman who has been serving the elderly in India, France, Africa…

She is not that attractive, but she happens to look beautiful and lovely when she is with the aged!!  

Poor Mother has many many responsibilities, and if it wasn’t enough, now she has to put up with moi! Haha. We actually get on very well! That is: if I respect the timetable, don’t go out visiting poor Indian villages, and don’t try feeding the monkeys around the convent again!

Tata darling!

It’s the old resident who fails to remember using his body: Parkinson. At meal times, he takes the spoon to his lips but forgets to open his mouth.

He uses a walker for some exercise steps around, my hands grab his feet behind him to push them forward, and I have to repeat “Tukéééé, Tata, tukéééé!” to make his knees and legs move up.

The other residents help him a lot and it’s so nice to see that!

Every other day I massage his knees. He puts his glasses on and opens his eyes, just like a child!

One Sunday he was nearly walking around, by himself! And I manage to have a conversation with him! It made my day. “-You’re on great form today Tata!!”

“-Its because… yesterday I didn’t see you… but today… you’re here…”

So cute! It actually was my Saturday day off!!

Day 37

Been up in the Nilgiris for a month now, nighttime starts to get chilly!! 

The locals have gathered I’m staying in Coonoor for a bit, they are so friendly! Give me fruit, sometimes biscuits (mmmmh… even if they look dodgy it’s rude to say no!), invite me for tea, and call my name from the distance!

Also, it seems that my cheeks are stuffing. The reason is the old ladies squeeze them all day long! That’s how they express their love. Don’t worry too much for me: I’m practicing the palm-to-cheek self-defense move!

It was so easy at home!

“How many times a week do you wash down the floor of your room?”

Mmmmmmhh…

That was the tricky question. And because I laughed, the Sisters are coming for room inspection. Booh and hooh!! “I make my bed, do my washing up -by hand- sweep around…”. Not sufficient!

This is the face I get from Sister Maria-Selvie when she spots my cuisine apron is dirty, or that my clothes are not ironed…

Helping Augustin…

This old resident asked me to get him a particular cream next time I’d go down town. I can’t describe the face the pharmacist pulled when I requested and bought a “Fair and Handsome” pot!!

45 rupees  for Augustin’s white dream.

Also: cant find no fake tan in town!!!!

Sister act!

1. Convents are not famous for their funky-groovy moods.

 But once the services, prayers, meditations, therapies, washings, blessings, cookings, roastings, singings, sewings, ironings, sweepings, readings, collectings… are over, everything makes us giggle!

The Sisters can’t hold their rolling-on-the-floor-laughing, alas I haven’t been quick enough to shoot a photo!

Take this wine, all of you, and drink from it!

Sister Josephina holds an old bottle of gin to provide you a shot of homemade wine!!

So far I know that the Sister’s top secret elixir includes carrots, ginger and beetroot! Tastes like heaven!  

Anna wintour goes Indian !

Women have a unique way to combine materials and colors. Pink, orange and green are the navy blue of India!

They are very feminine; wear beautiful sarees, the red pote on their face, and lots bangles even if they are cleaning or gardening. No wonder I traumatized them with my converse shoes, blue jeans and boy hair!

So I’m trying to adapt a little bit more! The first step before wearing a saree is trying a charudee: XXL big size pants, a long gown and a foulard.

The Snow-whites and the Little Dwarf!

So much white feels intimidating! When I’m alone with the Sisters I look like a peacock, or the ugly duckling with the white swans.

I support the color power! White shades are too hard to keep clean!

The love of the monsoon!

If you see many dragonflies in the morning, rumor has it that it’s going to rain rain! It starts with a few drops, and suddenly it’s the big shower time! Any cover serves as shelter, and the streets are deserted for as long as it lasts!

I had an hour long tea break with the Indians I was hiding with, the good way to make friends!