At the Laundry

He works in booth #16 – a cubicle of cement with foot-thick walls about eight feet apart, a cement wall at back and open in front. He stands in water up to his ankles. Against the back wall is another vat of water at the height of his thighs. Here is the method he uses over and over:


He picks up the towel (or whatever article) from the pile. They have been pre-soaked, wrung out and lie in a pile ready for the next phase. He flops it in the water at his feet and plops it on the knee-high slant board folded in half. Now he rubs it quickly with a bar of soap and scrubs it lightly with a hand-sized brush; flips it over and does the same on the other side, putting a little muscle behind it. Next he swishes it lightly in the water at his feet, and now the fun begins. He swings it over his head and thwacks it against the slant-board repeatedly, with great force, exhaling audibly.


Finally he swishes it in the upper vat and folds it in half lengthwise, then presses the cloth into a ball against the slant, as if kneading a ball of clay. He holds it up and folds it lengthwise, making a thick rope which he will twist and twist till it is semi-dry.

Trip to the Backwaters near Kottayam - Part 10

During this meal Smitta taught me the effective method of eating with the hands, which I have always wanted to learn. In the past I have been mystified by the fact that Ethiopian people can eat so gracefully with their hands, while I feel like an uncoordinated baby. This method eliminates the indignity of opening your mouth and tilting your head back like a kid trying to catch snowflakes.

Here’s the trick:
1- Pack the food together into a little pyramid on your plate (or, in this case, leaf)
2- Pick it up with your fingers and thumb, then turn your hand palm up, with your fingers still cupped
3- Now – move your thumb back behind the little pile of food on your fingers and use it to shove the food into your mouth – BRILLIANT! Your thumb is a little pusher. It really works for this kind of food. Thankfully we had spoons for our delicious vermicelli with creamy sauce, flavored with cardamom and nutmeg, our dessert.


Later:
On the shore of the lake, a man and woman untangle the fishing net together. Below them a beautiful ebony-skinned woman in scarlet and gold dress sits in a gondola-like boat, waiting. Our boat slips silently along. Other tourists behind me murmur quietly among themselves. The water sparkles in a path of sunlight; I am mesmerized by the gentle rocking of the boat, the dancing ripple of the waves, the occasional splash of the pole as the valakaren lifts if from the water. I am rocked in my cradle and have returned to babyhood. I hardly have a thought in my head, let alone a care.

Trip to the Backwaters near Kottayam - Part 9

After a while the larger boat on the other shore started moving towards us, and we were amazed to see that just one man poled it all the way to our shore. We piled on with our fellow tourists and were soon deposited on the opposite shore, where we enjoyed my favorite meal while in India. I think one reason I enjoyed it so much (aside from the fact that it was delicious) was because this was what most people in the villages eat – well, maybe on a feast day.


We sat on plastic stools and took turns washing our hands in a basin (while lovely Smitta poured water over our hands). Next, a beautiful section of banana leaf was placed on the narrow table in front of us, where we sat on three sides of a square. The roof overhead sheltered us from the sun, but the sides of the building were open. The temperature was perfect due to a high cloud cover and a slight breeze off the water.


The above photo has refused to lie horizontally, so for the moment I am letting it have its own way. To get the true effect you willl have to have a laptop and turn it on end:)
In the photo you see the succession of dishes: fat white rice that had the largest grains I have ever seen, spicy hot chutney, vegetable curry poured over the rice, and then thoren, a cabbage, coconut and mustard-seed dish, followed by aviyal, a delicious wonder which was a combination of the following: drumstick (not chicken, this is a vegetable), snake gourd, ash gourd, brinjol (eggplant), elephant foot yam, plantain (not sweet), cucumber, potato and finally carrot. Also there was the crunchy papadam - YUM! Of course I found all this out later by interrogating Thampi, who was a jack-of-all-trades and one of the people serving the food.


Here you see a shot I took from our dining area of our awaiting boat with the European contingent already on board.