Day 9: Guns and gardens 1/1/14

Day 9: Guns and gardens

Wednesday

We were in the hotel at 8am when a man from last night’s party came by asking me if I would like to see some photos. I said sure, so he pulled out his Nikon and started flicking through my dancing moments interspersed with pics of his daughter and single women.

That was when he showed me that photo of the leopard. Here was his story:

“I was walking in the forest when all of the sudden I saw ahead of me about ten dear looking and acting startled. So I began snapping photos as fast as I could. Then, all of the sudden, one dear started sprinting. Then all of the sudden a leopard leaped onto the road and went after that dear. Then, all of the sudden, I picked up a rock and through it at the direction of the leopard. Then, all of the sudden, I pulled out my AK-47 and shot the leopard (then he starts laughing furiously)”

I have no idea why I gave that dude my email.

Ooty is an interesting place. Imagine a metropolitan city that is in the desert that has stopped all construction and now people are livin in slums on the pavement and all the shopkeepers are selling the same food and poverty levels are higher than ever before. Got it?

The first place we visited was the Gardens of Ooty. The park was well manicured and very well populated. Families from all over were coming here to play, relax, and eat homemade lunches that were brought from home in a bushel basket. I was talking to one family. They were from Bombay. I talked to another family they were from Bangalore. The gardens seemed to me as a reserve for middle class people who were visiting Ooty over New Year’s Holiday. One thing that struck me about people here is that every person was well dressed. The women wore beautifully colored Saris with massive amounts of jewelry and perfume. The men wore beautifully colored shirts with massive amounts of jewelry and cologne.

The Ooty market was an extremely interesting spot. The roof was tarp. The food was fresh. And all the food was the same. Mango slices with chili. Coconuts. Bananas the size of your thumb. Grains and coffees and teas-all the same type. You would think that if someone came out with a variation of these things then they would be more productive than they are by simply selling the same thing that the guy next store sells. But those people would beg to differ.

For lunch we went to an interesting restaurant. The five of us (mom, dad, jack, heather-her kids left for the hotel) smushed into the back of a tiny restaurant that was packed. There we played dad’s favorite game. It’s called “how much revenue does this place make per year?!!” We guessed that the owner of the restaurant was the king of the slums or the middle class of the non slummers.

In total, for the five of us, the meal cost 94 rupees. One dollar is about 63 rupees. You do the math. Actually, I’ll do it for you. That meal cost 1.5 USD.

Here is the current exchange rate

Today’s museum was interesting. It was a tea museum. Actually, I guess I should actually say that it was a tea factory that had a small diagram that explained the different processes. I would say that I didn’t learn much, but it was interesting seeing something going from a leaf to a delicious beverage.  I read somewhere that tea is the second most drank liquid-second to water. That’s odd. I thought I was the only person in the world who liked tea.

The tea drinking in India is interesting. If you ask for tea, what you end up with is an extremely sweat beverage with cream and very little tea content. I am not complaining, I’m just pointing it out. In fact, I have never drank more tea in my life.

That night I ate the best chicken I have tasted.