Divya weds Debmalya

The daughter of the chair of the Civil Engineering Department married this week.  The wedding was held at the Shri Gopalakrishna Temple in Mangalore, a city 30 minutes south of the Institute.  A lower floor has a dining room where breakfast was served to arriving guests and later lunch.  The floor above was for the ceremony.  The top floor was the temple. 

The ceremony is a lengthy (hours) process with many rituals that are directed by a Hindu priest.  There is a stage that is beautifully decorated with flowers at the front of the room.  Chairs in front of the stage seat whoever is not on the stage.   Unlike western weddings, the guests do not sit and watch all the ceremony to the exclusion of all else.  Guests socialize, visit the temple, eat downstairs, and come and go.  Family and friends go on the stage to take photos.  A band plays music simultaneous to and usually seemingly not synchronized with the ceremony.  Some of the rituals are familiar: rice is handed to everyone to throw to the couple on stage for good luck. 

The bride and groom are elaborately dressed.  So are family, some of whom stayed at the guesthouse.  I am relieved that the engineering professors who are not part of the ceremony are dressed as I am, like engineers (not shown).  There may be many cultural differences, but engineer attire is not one of them. 



Divya, Professor Shivashankar, Debmalya, priest



That evening there was music and a buffet dinner at a big reception room in one of the guesthouse buildings.  The next day the wedding party moved to Kolkata where his family resides.   

Lunch at the Food Court

The Food Court is the alternative dining spot to the guesthouse dining room.  I usually have lunch there because it is close to my office and it has some variety of vegetarian choices.  Here is the menu posted on the entry wall.  One US dollar is about 50 rupees. There are additional items on a piece of paper at the cashier.  Different items are available at different times and some items may be unavailable.   ‘Food Court’ is actually a single restaurant, not an American food court with several restaurants.  There are ample facilities to wash your hands.

You order and pay at the cashier, who gives you a slip you give to the guy at the counter.  From 12-1 there are no classes and the place is packed with students who chose not to eat at the hostel (dormitory) mega dining room that seats 2000.  I eat after 1PM.  All 6000 students live on campus.  The men are  mostly in several high rise hostels.  Women are 15-20% of the student body and have a separate living compound.

One of my favorite items is a masala dosa, a thin crunchy crepe with a spiced yummy potato and vegetable filling.  A good spicier variant is the Mysore masala dosa that has red chutney spread on the inside.  They are usually eaten for breakfast or a snack and are not available during the afternoon until after 3PM much to my disappointment.  The filling is in the center, so crease the ends with the side of your right hand, fold toward the center, start breaking off pieces, dip in the coconut curry.  It is served with sambar which can be used as a dip or eaten with a spoon. 

The Food Court also serves the basic South Indian lunch (see dinner post), a North Indian dinner (see menu above), uttappa (a flat thicker smaller diameter pour of the dosa batter topped with sauted onions, masala, tomato, or coconut), poori bahji (poori and masala), upma (breakfast or snack similar to thick grits in consistency but made with seminola, onion, nuts, raisens, and delicious spicing), and vegetarian Chinese food.  Lassi (delicious yogurt drink) and fresh squeezed fruit juices are served which I am told are very popular when it gets hot. 

Dinner at the guesthouse

Chapattis and bean curry

Dinner is traditional Southern Indian food from southern Karnataka.  It is simple vegetarian staples – rice and beans.  Dishes are well-spiced but not what I consider hot.  Lunch at the guesthouse is the same as dinner.  Pickle is a condiment that is a spicy hot red sauce that I find too salty.

The first course is chapattis and curry.  Chapattis is a round flat thin wheat bread similar to a thin flour tortilla.  The curry is a thick spiced stew that is a varying combination of lentils, a variety of beans, or potato.  It greatly differs from the curry at Thai restaurants that Americans are  familiar with.  The curry is the only dinner item that is new most evenings.  I have been told that the curry is usually fresh for lunch and reheated for dinner.  The curry is served in a pot with a serving spoon; spoon it on your plate.  The host serves you chapattis fresh from the kitchen by placing one or two on your plate.  With the right hand only, tear the chapattis by holding it down with 2 or 3 fingers and using the other 2 or 3 fingers to grab and pull off a piece. It requires some dexterity. Scoop up some curry and eat.  The curries are delicious and I think this is the best part of dinner.  I usually eat a relatively large first course and follow with smaller courses, the opposite of most guests.

Sambar on rice before mixing

The second course begins with boiled white rice.  A large pot of rice is on the table, spoon some on your plate.  Sambar, a spicy soup with some well-cooked vegetables at the bottom of the pot is spooned over the rice.  Mix with your right hand and eat, using finger tips, not the palm of your hand.  Sambar is also sometimes served with breakfast.  

The third course starts with more rice.  Rasam, a thinner differently spiced soup without vegetables served in a pot is spooned over the rice.  Mix with your right hand and eat similar to the second course.  Sambar has more body.  Rasam has a sharper spicing and does not have vegetables. I am not familiar with the spices so I cannot come up with better words to describe the difference.  I looked online and there does not seem to be a consensus on the difference or exact recipes. 

Clockwise: rice, sambar, and rasam

I have a high tolerance for good food monotony (30+ years of PBJ for weekday lunch), but each day I only eat lunch or dinner (usually dinner) at the guesthouse and I alternate either sambar or rasam on consecutive days.  They are good, but even I suffer from rice and soup fatigue.  Rice, I assume leftover from the previous night, is often cooked in an alternate form for breakfast. 

The fourth and final course is curd (yogurt), served in small cups.  The curd is strongly flavored and runny, so I pour it on rice, mix, and eat.  Alternatives are to drink it straight from the cup or eat it with a spoon. 

The Institute provides my meals at the guesthouse.  Other guests pay 30 Rupees for a meal, which is 60 US cents.

The food court where I usually have lunch has a similar meal for lunch and dinner.  They serve poori, a fried puffed bread, instead of chapattis. They add a vegetable side dish and onion cracker but do not serve sambar.  The cost is only Rs 20 but it is not all you can eat.  



Clockwise from 12 noon are rice, one onion cracker,

two poori, rasam, curd, veg palya,

curry (lentil, potato, and pea), and pickle. 

The guesthouse dining room

I love to eat, and overall the food has been wonderful and adventuresome.  It has not been too spicy for me. I am told that South Karnataka food is relatively mild Indian food because the weather is hot year-round.  Or perhaps living in Louisiana in the 1980s prepared me well. 

Each region of India is distinct and it shows in the dining room where visitors from all over India eat.  While eating in the guesthouse for two and a half weeks I have seen two Indians ask what was just put on their plate because they were completely unfamiliar with the traditional food served here.  And, except for the right hand rule, there are variations in how to eat food that depend on region and upbringing.  One older gentleman uses a spoon as much as possible at breakfast.  Curd (yogurt) is drunk from the individual serving cup, eaten with a spoon, or poured over rice (my favorite).  One younger man passes on the local first course of chapatis (flat wheat bread) and curry and proceeds to the second and third courses of soups on a mound of rice.  During breakfast some put the coconut curry in a shallow cup; most of us put it on our plate. 

I usually eat breakfast and dinner at the guesthouse and lunch at the campus food court.  I will have future posts on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Mr. and Mrs. Vitlapur run the dining room.  Here they are in the lobby, where tea is served after breakfast and, if early, guests wait for the meal.  Kannada and English newspapers are provided. She is the cook and usually keeps to the kitchen and does not interact with guests.  He runs the guesthouses and serves.  They do not speak much English but are very nice.  Normally they do not serve on Sunday but I arrived Saturday night and they cooked breakfast and lunch for me my first blurry day.  If I show up during the day to fill my water bottle I am offered a cup of tea.  He showed me the Kannada article about my talk in Mangalore. 

This is the dining room.  Sometimes it is full, other times it is just me.  It is usually quiet -- when served it is time to eat.  Metal cups, purified water, spoons soaking in purified water, sugar, and pickle (hot and salty condiment) are on the table.

This is the room behind the glass in the dining room photo.  To the left is the sink to wash your hands if not washed prior to coming for a meal.  After the meal the right hand is washed off here.  Every eating place has a facility for hand washing.  Serving spoons and pots are handled with the left hand by guests.  Mr. Vitlapur serves with his right hand.  The tap water is not potable, but purification machines like the one to the right are in most campus buildings and provide safe drinking water. 

Yakshanaga

Some of the Department staff invited me to a Yakshagana performance at the staff quarters on campus Saturday night.  Yakshagana is a South Indian drama most similar to opera in the west that tells the story of good, represented by a Hindu God, conquering evil.  There are many troupes that travel around Southern India staging performances during the dry season. My friends Ivan and Yanesh joined me.  Before Yakshagana there was the pooja which is an offering of food to the God by the devotees (not Ivan, who is Swiss, or I).  The grounds outside feature about a 50 m circle delineated with lighted arches.  Inside there is a stage and at least a couple of hundred chairs.  Outside the circle are a large tent for pooja and a food serving area.  Once the pooja is done, everyone is served annaprasadam (dinner) beginning about 9PM and the troupe begins the initial show which I am told is primarily to entertain while everyone eats.  There are 1-4 percussionists, a narrator/singer, and 0-5 characters on stage at any time.  There is a mix of dialogue, dance, and music and the characters are elaborately dressed.  Men play the roles of women.  It is amplified and very loud.  This is a photo of the stage and an audio clip.

I learn that being a Visiting Fulbright Professor has its privileges: without asking the security chief moves us to the front of the food line shown in the photo.  The meal is traditional South Indian: pickle (hot and salty condiment), dahl (lentil curry), palya (spiced vegetable), rice, and rasam (soup/sauce for rice).  I’ll have more on food in later posts.  Find a seat and dig in with the right hand.  Dessert is laddu, a sweetened flour (probably chickpea or seminola) with coconut and nuts shaped as a ball and fried, and warm sweet wheat and rice pudding.  We don’t get dessert at the guesthouse so it is a treat. 

The main story begins about 1030PM when dinner is done.  The audience is large and attentive.  A little after 11PM two new characters make a dramatic entrance with full percussion, a band, the narrator/singer, fireworks overhead, and fire torches on the stage.  I just missed video of a flame thrown in front of the stage.  Here is a short video a moment later.  Everyone but Ivan and I is familiar with the story, which is told in Kannada.  Various people kindly try to keep us apprised of the plot.  We depart about 1130PM.  Yakashagana continues until about 6AM, a total of about 9 hours.  I occasionally hear the narrator until then in my room which is a 10-minute walk away.  At about 5 or 6 AM I was reminded that Indian society is composed of many cultures -- the nearby mosque’s first call for prayers was playing simultaneously with the finale of Yakshanaga. 

Is my name spelled correctly?

I gave a talk to the Mangalore Local Centre of the Institute of Engineers this week.  The meeting started with a snack of yummy fried chickpea balls and coconut curry and tea.  After a blessing for learning,  I was introduced and spoke for the requested 30 minutes mostly on California's water transfers and problems.  The 40 or so engineers in attendance were interested and we had a good discussion afterwards.  I was given a thank you gift wrapped in Christmas paper of cashews, a local delicacy. Someone had mentioned that a reporter was there.  I am told that this article in the 18 January Mangalore Udayavani newspaper summarizes my (English) talk about water transfers and some of California's water problems.  The article is in the local language of Kannada.  Signs here are a mix of Kannada and English. In 2001, one-quarter of all Indians speak more than one language and urban Indians were more likely to be multi-lingual.  English was India's second most popular language with 125 million speakers. Kannada was India's 8th most popular language with 51 million speakers. 

Are you ready for some cricket?

There are a couple of English language newspapers in the canteen lounge.  They have not had one word about American football. I went to nfl.com to see that the San Francisco 49ers won their first playoff game in thrilling fashion.  It may be big news in Northern California this week, but here there is zero coverage of the NFL here.  Cricket is the most popular sport and they are very upset about the test match results this month in Australia where India has been completely humiliated.  The fourth and final test starts January 24 in Adelaide.  Cricket terminology is a metaphor for all the things that go on here that I don’t understand and don’t need to understand to enjoy.  My favorite article from the Hindi News is below. 

Another bleak forecast for India

India's bowlers recaptured the spirit that had animated them in Melbourne to fight back on the second day of the third Test here at the WACA.

But such was the cumulative effect of their batsmen's failure, on the first day, and David Warner's balanced belligerence, spread across two and a half sessions, that despite managing 10 wickets for 155 runs, India trailed Australia by 208 on the first innings.

India had a session to bat on Saturday evening. And that's when the wretchedness of this tour, as if it were possible, grew even more miserable. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and V.V.S. Laxman left in such a hurry — hustled by pace and bounce, worked out by swing and control — that the mortifying possibility of a two-day finish loomed like a foul-smelling troll. India kept it at bay, only just.

Rahul Dravid (32 batting) and Virat Kohli (21 batting) took the touring side to stumps on 88 for four. Another 120 is needed to trouble Australia to bat again.

Carnatic music concert

After a sunset beach walk I ran into a friend at the guesthouse who told me there was a concert on campus so we went.  It was Carnatic folk music, traditional music from Southern India.  There were 4 musicians sitting on the floor of the stage playing from left to right percussion, a mouth harp (also called jaw or jew’s harp), flute, and a South Indian violin,   I enjoyed the music; play the audio clip.  There is a detailed history to the development and organization of the music, which the musicians referred to between songs but meant little to me.  There were perhaps 50 people at the concert and my friend said it was poorly attended because it was not publicized.  He found out about it from the musicians who were staying near him at the guesthouse.  Normally the 200+ seat auditorium is packed for such an event.  Most of the attendees were young ~20 year old engineering students at this top rung technical school with western clothes and smartphones.  They seem to embrace both technology and their culture and traditions.  Just after we leave the students stage a huge week long cultural festival on campus that draws thousands of students from around the country. 

First week highlights

In roughly chronological order:

·       Concluding travel to NITK and sleeping

·       Walking on the beach: see 'The beach' post

·       Skype: After breakfast (9AM) I get to see and talk to Kathy (730PM).

·       Meeting the faculty: they are dedicated, smart, friendly, jovial, and helpful.  I enjoy tea with them after morning lectures.

·       Meeting the students: they are curious, respectful, hard working, and helpful.  0.1% of undergraduate applicants to NITK are admitted and attend, so they are appreciative of the opportunity they have.  For comparison, 10% of UC Davis applicants are admitted and attend. 

·       The sign above my office is cool.  See 'First day on the job' post.

·       Settling into the guesthouse: I spent the first week figuring out a routine/lifestyle that works for me.  I’ll write more on food later but the campus is entirely very vegetarian, not too spicy, breakfast is the best meal, lunch and dinner essentially are the same and do not change,  but late in the week I figured out a good alternative and a source for fruit.  I am healthy and clothes, room, and I are clean.

·       Tea with milk: really good and social, I have it after breakfast, after morning lectures with the faculty, at the start of seminars and meetings, and when the opportunity arises.

·       Shiva festival: see post

·       My first weekend: after a whirlwind 10 days, it has been nice to relax and regroup in a now familiar place.

Shiva festival



An Applied Mechanics post-graduate student who is temporarily housed in the guest complex and taking his meals at the canteen I go to invited me to walk with him to a nearby temple for the Hindu god Shiva.  There is an annual 5-day long festival there.  Shiva resides in the temple (a gold figure I believe) and is brought out once a year at the festival to meet the people.  After dinner, about 9PM, we were walking to the temple next to the highway and heard a procession coming from another temple, so we waited for it to pass.  They take up one lane of a 4-lane highway.  There are about 100 people, 4 fire batons twirling in the front, 2 bands, fire crackers, an occasional fireworks fountain, a decorated jeep with flood lights, and a few other items of special significance: a crate carried on top of a man's head, torches with fire, and a 1 meter diameter gold and cloth emblem.  Drums and horns consantly play -- hear audio below.  They enter the temple gounds, fireworks go off to welcome them, and they slowly proceed up into the temple building.  At the open ground outside the temple there are hundreds of people, vendors, 2 small stages, and a bunch of plastic chairs. 

Occasionally there is a short skit on one stage telling part of the story of Shiva.  And there is an occasional aerial or fountain firework set off.  We wander around and eat some delicious warm wheat pudding.  The procession comes out of the temple, still playing, and goes to the other stage where the elders perform a ceremony while the bands play to the ceremony.  My video of the crowd watching the ceremony was poor so for those of you with slow internet (I feel your pain), the photo below will play audio only.

The main event is yet to happen and is scheduled to last until 2AM, so I walk back to my room.  My host, being gracious, joins me.  At 545AM I wake up to hear the procession heading back to their temple along the highway, horns and drums still playing.  The festival was fun.  The combination of ancient religious customs and modern lighting (and likely behind the scenes cell phone communication) seems to symbolize modern India. 

Shiva's carriage.  The wood base has intricate carving.



Shiva temple



The beach



The NITK beach is a 5-minute walk from my room.  The gate is open for sunrise 6-8AM and sunset 5-7PM.  There is a guard.  In the morning he has you sign in and out.  I usually have a sunrise and sunset walk.

A full moon sets while the sun rises and local fishing boats and a sandpiper forage.  Fog or haze are common at sunrise and sunset.



The Arabian Sea is to the west. During the monsoon season waves are constantly 1 meter or higher and the beach erodes away. A narrow strip of mangroves is behind the beach.



This is a crowded stretch of beach at sunset. On a warm and humid evening, most people wear shirts and long pants and some women wear a saree or salwar kameez.  Not your typical North American beach scene. Few people get their feet wet and no one swims, partially due to hazardous currents.  The water is warm. 





The faint light to the left is one of several ships awaiting a berth at the port in Mangalore.



 















First day on the job



My office includes a window, tall ceiling, and ceiling fan.  These are all needed because the building is not air conditioned.  In the afternoon when temperatures exceed 30C (high 80s) and it is moderately humid by American South standards the office is hot but manageable with the fan.  The power went out for a bit Monday afternoon which made me appreciate the fan.  This is on the first floor above ground level (second floor in USA) but I was told to close the barred window when I leave for the day because snakes could come in via a tree next to the window.



I returned from lunch on my first day at work to find a worker standing on a table and just finishing the sign above my door.  The order of the names is typical here.

I will be teaching the 6th semester students (all 102 juniors in Civil Engineering) one hour a week, probably about climate change.  I will be using San Francisco Bay as a case study while teaching Postgraduate water students in Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics (which teaches hydraulics, sediment transport, and coastal engineering) two hours a week.  Monday the Departments had a joint meeting to formally introduce me and discuss my teaching and our common interests.  We drank chai (tea).  Earlier I had met the Acting Institute Director, Deans, and the Registrar. Chai is typically offered, and it is impolite to refuse, so I drank a lot of chai.  Fortuneately, it is really good here. 



First 19 hours

You know you are a long way from home when you fly over Iraq to get somewhere.  After 27 hours in transit I landed at the Bangalore (Bengaluru) Airport at 1AM on Saturday January 7.  I stayed in a hotel for a few hours and flew on to Mangalore in the afternoon and settled in to my room at the NITK Guesthouse at 8PM.  Here is a list of initial experiences and observations:

Happiness is: being very tired and walking out of the terminal building and amongst the 100+ people with signs for arriving passengers finding one with your name on it for transport to the hotel.

Do it with labor: 2 young men picked me up, one to stay with me and one to get the car.  Arriving at the hotel/resort, small and not fancy or Western, 2 more young men, I think the night guards, help unload and carry bags.  A receptionist is waiting at 2AM.  I think only one other party was staying there that night.  5 people for one customer.  In the morning there are several ladies sweeping the grounds with palm fronds to pick up the leaves before an afternoon event (Microsoft employees family day). While in the US labor is expensive and reduced as much as possible through automation and efficiency, India has 1.2 billion people and is expected to be the most populous country in 2-3 decades, so labor is relatively cheap. 

Everything will take longer to do than you expect:  This warning from the books is certainly true.  The society does not have a western focus on time or efficiency.  It took 2 receipts and 3 phone calls to confirm that I had prepaid the hotel room.  A courier was supposed to pick up supplies I brought for a colleague of a colleague before 1PM, but never showed.  Three signatures and four forms were needed to check out of the hotel.  But it all works in the end.

“You will be treated like a god”: The hospitality extended to a visitor is tremendous.  I am met at the Mangalore airport by Dr. Shrihari, my main contact at NITK, and Mahamood, a scholar (PhD candidate).  The flight is late and they have waited 2 hours.  Everything is arranged, they want to make me comfortable in every little way and are very understanding that I am tired.  Rattnakara is the attendant for the wing of the guest house I am in and he embraces his job of taking care of his guests.  I feel very welcome here.

Driving:  They have hired a taxi to take us from the airport to the University.  The airport is east of the city, we drive 30 minutes into the city then north to the University.  Highlights include driving on the left side, no stop signs or traffic lights or seemingly traffic control of any kind (and this is on surface streets, not freeway), lots of traffic (but no major slowdowns), lots of pedestrians, and using the horn and lights a lot to communicate.  Roads in Italy and Mexico were calm compared to this.  It all works, it is just very different.

5 right fingers: We stop at a restaurant for a light dinner.  We eat in the vegetarian room rather than non-vegetarian; each has its own kitchen.  There is a little room for washing your hands because fingers are used rather than utensils.  We each have dosa, a large crispy crepe filled with potato curry.  I had these a couple of times before the trip and was never sure how to eat it, now I learn how to eat it with the right (clean) hand only.  I am slower than my companions, but manage to keep my palm clean.  Hands are washed after dinner.  

My room at the Guesthouse


Happiness is: landing in the guesthouse and after 19 hours in country, a working air conditioner, and getting a good night’s sleep for the first time in 3 days.  

Next: Mahamood and David's excellent adventure