Dinner time

After days of being in lethargy of the deepest kind, I finally went to clear out my desk at my work place. It was a task I clearly underestimated because I only got so far as to sorting out which papers to shred and which resources belonged to which classes.

I did get paid today though. The past week, I have had to restrain myself from going on a trip to a northern province because I was running out of money. Turns out, the money had been lying in the office the whole time. Anyway, so I decided to celebrate pay-day by buying some chicken. Mina and I then went to Naviangkham market, the one close by, and bought some vegetables. I also spotted an enormous live gecko and its dismembered dearly departed on display at the market place.

I decided to cook an elaborate meal for the girls, and for myself, since for the past few days I hadn't really had a proper meal. More because of my laziness than the kitchen not being stocked. And well, 'elaborate' for my standards, considering how seldom I cook. So yea, as the girls watched one of their many Thai-dubbed Bollywood movies, I busied myself in the kitchen.

I made a jhaal sabji- the one with aloo, tomatoes, chillies, etc. I added a brinjal too. Then I marinated the chicken in some garlic, worcestershire sauce, vinegar and some salt, and then fried it after a coating of a flour and Knorr (seasoning) mixture. Sa, who is about 5 years old, Linda's younger sister who's here on a visit, was on her best behaviour and helped me fry the chicken. I made a simple salad with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions mixed with the squeezed juice of a lemon, some sugar and salt as the dressing.

On 'elaborate' dinner nights, we usually like to eat outside where out landlady has set a table and some chairs. Our house, being on a hillock, gives us a good view of the surrounding hills and a few ranges behind, and the famous Phousy Temple up on the Phousy Hill. So, we get to enjoy the meal with the lovely view of the setting sun.

We enjoyed the meal, yes. And after several days of eating, sleeping, doing things on our own timings, it felt good to eat together again. Amber's been away for over a week now and the household has been running a little differently, this being vacation time.So, it was good to have a meal together with the girls again.

It could have been my hunger talking, but as we fried the chicken, I thought that nobody should be denied the joy that fried chicken can bring. Well, tonight our household sure didn't get denied nor deny any.

Day One

I'm now officially jobless.

Work came to an end last evening with the last of our English Camp classes. I still have to clear out my desk and all, but this is it. Everyone being exhausted, teachers and students alike, it was more of an anti-climax than the usual end-of-term buzz of excitement. But well, we have had our share of outings, class parties and farewells in the past few weeks.

Day One of the holidays and I'm bored out of my wits. All my team-mates have left- some for meetings/ holidays in Bangkok, some to the States. I'm home alone, the girls having gone back to their village. I've cleaned my room, done my laundry, sorted out my wardrobe, made some fries with a mayo dip, ate them with some carrot sticks and a glass of water for lunch.

17 more days until my parents and sister arrive here. What a wait. I hate waiting.

We plan to go to a few places once they get here. A trek to a village and some sight-seeing around here and then we'll be off to Vietnam.

Vietnam excites me. Hanoi Old Town Quarters have charmed me already, reminding me of Old Delhi. I can't wait to let Ha Long Bay take my breath away. We'll then go to Cambodia.

Cambodia saddens me. The thought of Pol Pot's prison Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh has robbed me of a night's sleep already. Siem Reap with the Ankor Wat will probably be more... serene. I'm excited that I have seen already the part of the Ankor Wat that extends into the Lao border, down south in Champasak.

I wish we could've gone back to Phuket. But Bangkok will be our last stop. I hope I won't have a fit or seizure out of excitement. It has been a long time, a really long time since I've had a shopping spree or been in a mall.

My folks will fly straight to Kolkatta on a morning flight, while I'll have a few more hours on my own before I catch my flight to Delhi.

Delhi after over a year makes me nervous. Much has changed. I haven't seen Delhi after her Commonwealth Games face-lift. And knowing that people will have changed, it is a bittersweet feeling, as much as I have been learning to embrace change.

Coming to think of it, I think it'll be a great summer. Like most good things in life, I bet it'll be worth the wait.

Here's to Haen's!

I've lost count of the number of times I've gone over to Haen's house and stuffed my face with some of the most delicious food my taste buds have ever been treated to. Haen's an amazing cook. And so are her sisters, Phone and Thong. Their family owns a guest-house which is a Lonely Planet-recommended backpackers' cozy home-away-from- home of sorts. It's called Oudomphong Guest-house, after their family name. Haen and her sisters basically run the place. Their mornings are busy but they're practically free the whole day. So, besides attending English classes and going cycling or for aerobics classes, they cook. And they invite people like me who are ever-ready to rsvp with a 'yes'.

Here are some photos of a few of the stuff we've eaten together. Most times, I was too busy eating to be taking photographs.

bomb shells seen strewn here and there

Nong Khiaw- Strewn boats by the riverside.

Nong Khiaw- the guest house

Taking Chances

(I just finished writing this for the Delhi Ao Students Union Magazine. Reused a few stuff I've written before too)

"I want to take a year off". It must have sounded really vague. In many ways, it still does. Highly suspicious words of an about-to-graduate confused escapist trying to weasel out of life's "big" pressures of decision-making. No wonder my parents flatly refused. Two more years later, I found myself mouthing the same words. I had my reasons. Quite a list but two words (three, perhaps) might sum it up: to grow (up). Not that I was expecting for this to happen in a year but I was being hopeful that it would be a conscientious move towards it through the act of setting some time aside to learn, give and serve. I imagined it’d be quite an experience but imagining it was one thing, experiencing it has been quite another.

Last August, I packed my bags and left for Phuket, Thailand where I took a grueling ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher training course. I found it absurd that I was slogging away at a place where people from the world over come on holiday. I had always fancied the idea of being a teacher but being an ESL teacher was not high on my list. However, there was a reason behind it. It was my ticket to Laos- the country where I was to teach.

I honestly didn't know much about this country. I found out that it ranks as one of the world’s poorest countries. It was only when I did some research on the internet that I came to know that it's the world's most heavily bombed country. It's not uncommon to see unexploded ordnance being used as decorative showpieces here and there. Besides this infamous claim to fame, it is fast-becoming a major South East Asian tourist destination. Laos is beautiful. I doubt any heart will leave here without having been won over. The reasons can be subjective. It could be the interesting blend of the colonial remnants of French architecture with the ubiquitous Wats (Buddhist temples), or the Mekong, or the waterfalls, or the food or the culture. For me, it was all these but it was the people that tipped the scales. As I began to live and interact with the people here, there were times when I’d wonder how people could be so lovable. No kidding. As I began to teach and got to know my students better, it felt like these bonds were the beginnings of something different.

Being away from the comforts of things familiar can do strange things to us. Once the novelty of it wears off a little, it can challenge our perspective in ways we'd never imagined. It did mine. Living in a non-English speaking country was harder than I thought it would be. Communicating through speech can come to a stop after some time. With basic vocabulary learned over the span of just a few months, there's only so much one can say. There's only so much to talk about. There's only so much miming and gesturing that one can come up with. So, frustration can set in. But that's when I found that simple things like being taught how to dance a traditional dance by some girls- feet keeping the right pace with them, hands moving to their delicate rhythm, bodies swaying to the humming of a half-remembered song can become ways through which we still try to communicate. Living with people who have had lesser privileges in life can trigger off many self-evaluations. It’s hard not to think about the opportunities that you’ve had and how you’ve (mis-) used them or let them fall into disuse. And then there are those moments you thought you'd never have- Moments when something like the Past Perfect Continuous Tense can get you teary-eyed when you hear it being used correctly by the students, or when your heart wells up with so much joy to read and listen to the students' talk about dreams for their futures, their dreams for their people, and their dreams for our world. Small though it may be, it's for things like these that I don't regret having taken a break from "formal education", when I feel that a small difference in someone’s life is being made. Pretty valid reasons, I’d argue.

I had stared at a blank Word document for the longest time wondering what to write. I told a friend about my predicament (!) and we had a conversation about it. He himself has been living here with his family for a few years now. He told me, "Life's meaning is locked in a community chest and it takes more than just one person to turn the key." For him, service is an act of giving of ourselves to those who are not in a position to give back. This, among other things, has been a gradual lesson during my stay here. Maybe taking a year off isn’t really the point. Maybe going away to some place new isn’t the point either. Using the analogy above, I think we all need to take turns in turning the “key” whenever we find the chance, wherever it may be, as part of our social responsibility; to give a leg-up (or be given one) when someone is in need of it. The idea may not be novel, but the experiences certainly are.

The Bicycle Diaries

I've always bordered on the dorky side. And growing up, I was a total girly-girl: the Barbie-playing, house-house playing, pink-loving, love-all-things-frilly kinda girl. Predictably so, I never learned how to ride a bicycle. I never had one of my own. Never did 'cause I never wanted one and therefore, never asked, and therefore, never got nor had one.

I did have half a bicycle though. My crafty brother wiled me into "lending" him 500 Rupees (and this was many years ago!) from my post-birthday gift money savings. Of course, I never got the money back and never really claimed ownership over the bicycle. I remember a time many years later when I began to show some interest in learning how to ride one. But by then, the bicycle was way past its glory days. An unrepairable chain problem. So that was pretty much where my interest stopped. Anyone who's from Kohima would say that it's not really the ideal place to cycle. Sure we have our share of scenic beauty, but what with the traffic being a state, only the skilled would perhaps manage to cycle around unharmed.

All this talk to make my point that all my life I had been up against some odds- inherent, social and well, geographical.

When I joined JNU, it seemed like a great place to cycle around. In fact many students did. But my friends and I never really gave it much thought. We preferred walking. It was pretty much the only exercise we'd get on some days- days when we'd wake up way too late to make it to class, spend the rest of the day mulling around in lethargy of the deepest kind, and only with the onset of dusk, we would go out for a stroll to good ol' PSR (Parthasarthy Rocks) and perhaps (!!!) stop by the pan shop to buy our ermm, stock. So yea, there again, I never quite had the will to learn how to ride a bicycle.

Luang Prabang is a lovely place. Oh, such an understatement. However, the point here is that it's sort of like an ideal place to cycle around. And when I got here, I hadn't really thought of how I'd commute to work daily, or how I'd get around town, and so on. Having lived in Delhi, I just assumed there would be public transport in plenty like autorickshaws. Sure enough, there are tuktuks. But there didn't seem to be as many as autos. And also, it seems like it's an okay thing for a tourist to do, but not for a resident. So I being a resident always got laughed at when my answer to "Oh, how did you come?" or "How do you get around?" was "Tuktuk."

Optimism told me that I should buy one. So I did! A few months ago. Last year. Person after person tried to teach me but I was incorrigible. I was so desperate to learn that I even practiced with tons of school kids watching me in fascination and laughter. After a few more tries, I gave up. And my cycle was at least being saved from disuse by Mina, one of the girls who I live with, because hers broke down, or something.

I often remembered that episode from FRIENDS. The one where Phoebe can't ride a bicycle and Ross buys her one and tried to teach her. Ross tries to (mis)use her naivete (for her own good) by telling her that if the bicycle is not ridden, it's spirit will die. Of course there is loud recorded laughter when Phoebe whispers to the bicycle,"Please don't die!" Well, atleast my bicycle's spirit has been kept alive all this time.

Earlier today, Haen, one of my friends here had invited me over to lunch. She also told me that she will teach me how to ride a bicycle. Lunch excited me because her family owns a guesthouse and she's an amazing cook and there's always food, glorious food at her house. But the part about the bicycle didn't exactly interest me. I knew it'd be yet another disappointing attempt. Yet another person unable to teach incorrigible me.

Well, anyway, I went. And yes, the food was great. After eating, I kind of tried to evade the topic. In fact, she even got a call from some other friends for some other activity. I kind of hoped she'd go. But well, she was determined to teach me. So at first, we tried in the narrow cobbled lane in front of her guesthouse. My unsuccessful attempts amused some old men sitting nearby. After a few more tries, she decided to take me to a place nearby with more space. So we did. We tried a few times. I just couldn't get it right. I would put my right foot on the paddle, and pushed, but I couldn't get my left foot on the other paddle. She tried to push me to get the momentum going. She said I moved my upper body way too much. So she kept shouting "Don't move your body! Don't move your body!" After a few more tries, I could suddenly ride to a short distance without her holding the bicycle from behind. But I kept losing the balance 'cause I "moved my body like a snake" (ew!)

Many failed attempts later, we tried reverse psychology. "Move your body! Move your body!" And what to say, I managed to keep my body straighter and paddle better and in a few minutes time, I was riding the bicycle around that place. I felt the wind in my face and I felt the rush of adrenaline (though only faintly, yet very much there), and remembered the many times when I had thought I would never ever learn how to ride one.

Of course I crashed into a parked truck, a tree, jumped off the bicycle a few times 'cause I forgot the brakes were for stopping the bicycle. Besides these, I think I did really well, and made my new teacher very proud.

So here is the post I had been dying to upload. The post that along the way, I almost felt I'd never put up. The post that would be about one of the many wonderful things that coming to Laos has made possible. Thoughts of cycling around Luang Prabang's pretty streets, along the Nam Khan river and the Mekong had become fantasies, but now, after a few more times of practice, I think I will finally be able to!! Oh the joy, the joy! Long overdue, or maybe right in its own time. And what's more the bicycle I practiced on today was a lovely shade of pink. Life's small hidden ironies!

Tutoring Boram

It's been a few weeks since I started tutoring Boram. She's originally from South Korea but studies in China. She arrived here in December, right when our busiest weeks were about to begin. So things were pretty haphazard- a class today, canceled tomorrow, classroom interruptions, etc. Like a lot of non-native English speakers, she too has a pretty good grammar grounding. In a written test, she'd probably score high. But putting that knowledge into speech is where the problem is. She's here for just two months, so is really looking for a crash course. Owing to that, we haven't been able to work through a "normal" text- normal meaning one that's designed to be studied over a course of 4 months or more. So we just rip things off from a text here, a text there and ESL stuff on the internet.

The other day we practiced sentences she might say if she goes shopping to a big mall. Stuff from "Excuse me, where is the ladies clothing department?" to "Do you do alterations?" These few weeks being my precious weeks of break time before another term begins, teaching isn't high on my to-do list. However, of late, I've been beginning to enjoy my daily two hours with her. There are little things that happen in these two hours that I have begun to look forward to. For example, her Korean candies. Boram has a sweet tooth. Oh yea, I told her what "sweet tooth" means. Anyway, everyday she brings two candies. Sometimes more. Sometimes yummy ones like pumpkin candy. Or some hard-to-distinguish flavoured candy which had "Good for Women" written in Korean on the wrapper. Sweet moments, really. Pun definitely intended.

We learned some prepositions yesterday. She said they will be useful. So I thought I'd give her some more. Secretly weaseling my way out from lesson-planning. Our time of meeting being post-lunch, she was drowsy and the prepositions weren't really helping. So we just sat and talked. Of course, as we chewed on the yummy pumpkin candy. I then asked her about her favourite childhood memory. This was after an explanation (with a diagram, stick figures et al) of "childhood." Once she understood, she immediately said her favourite childhood memory is from when she was 5 years old. She hadn't begun school yet because back then kids in Korea weren't sent to school until they were 6 or 7. So for a year, her family lived in the countryside. She began to draw a diagram as well as she tried to articulate her memory. She drew two houses and some fields. Rice fields, as she later specified. With her limited English vocabulary, she told me that living there by the rice fields where after the rains she would see rainbows, which she said were really big. Predictably I was drawn in to her telling of her memory. And for a few seconds, we sat there with silly grins, staring at her scribbly drawing of what was supposed to be the rice field and their house. Silly moments I seem to thrive on. Silly moments I seem to live for.