Mara and Kara and the Search for the Duplicate Pepsi
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We have had an eventful past week… where to start…
Sunday we were invited to the monthly family meeting of the local chapter of the Y’s Men’s Club, of which Sunny is a proud member. The Y’s Men’s Club (not to be confused with Wise Men) operates something like the Lion’s Club, we think. As Sunny and Gracie are very emphatic that we are their children stand-ins for three months, we were asked to bless the company with a song, as all of the children who come to these meetings usually do some sort of song or dance routine. Originally we had planned to sing “America the Beautiful,” but we quickly realized that the thirty second song wasn’t going to cut it, seeing as all of the other kids had choreographed dance routines that lasted at least five minutes. After a panicked discussion between acts, we decided on “You Are My Sunshine.” However, as Kara was unaware that that song has actually verses, Mara took a hesitant solo on the verses and Kara joined in on the chorus. We hope we didn’t embarrass Sunny and Gracie too much. Afterwards, we ate a simple dinner of perotas and extra spicy chicken, and were invited to a variety of upcoming social events. More on this later.
The next few days at the school were hectic, to say the least. All the kids were preparing for Anniversary Day, and therefore were not in class. Ever. They were either “working on their dances” or playing soccer. Mara and Kara both got several chances to play with some of the boys. They initially questioned our ability as girls to play a sport, but we quickly proved to them we were quite able and tough. We both made the mistake of playing barefoot and sustained grievous injuries to our toes as there is no grass in India, just rocks. Liberal amounts of Neosporin were applied. We were put to work helping the children prepare various aspects of their skits for the big day. We helped the kindergarteners cut out foam letters and wrap them in gold paper for the “Welcome Dance.” We were also recruited to decode the lyrics of an English song that 4th standard was dancing to, entitled “The Butterfly Dance.” To the best of our knowledge, the lyrics are as follows: “Searching for a man/ All across Japan/ Just to find my summer summer rhyme/ Someone who is strong/ But still a little shy/ Come find me I need my summer rhyme/ (Chorus) Ayi Ayi Ayi/ I’m you’re little butterfly/ Wings that can move/ Make the colors in the sky.” There’s more, but we can’t believe what it actually says. Or rather, what we think it says.
After school we went into town to visit the post office and Sunny in his shop. We are trying to plan a trip to visit the glorious tea plantations of Munnar, and we had a few questions for him. We also were wondering where one can get a Pepsi in India (or “aerated water” as KC Cherian calls it). Here, Sunny sat us down and we had The Talk… about Duplicate Pepsi. (On a side note, Pepsi is all over India, but Coke? Practically non-existent. Coke, hello, you’re missing out on a big market over here, and when we say big market, we mean like a billion people). Apparently, there’s a big business here in collecting empty Pepsi bottles and sending them to a factory to be filled with Duplicate Pepsi. (“This is BIG crime!” says Sunny). Sunny assured us that even duplicate Pepsi would be offered at the shop across the street, but alas, it was not. Our quest for even the most duplicated Pepsi would have to continue.
Tuesday night we went to a Hindu convention in Kozhencherry. It is held on the dry bed of the river Pampa, the “Ganges of the South.” There are a variety of shops and food stalls set up, with a large pavilion set up at the end for worship. For a religious convention, this worship area was surprisingly bare of convention participates. Not that you needed to be in the pavilion to here what was going on; Indians seems to like their music and preaching deafeningly loud. Sunny and Gracie bought us sugar cane juice, which was amazing. We also had fried banana peppers and fried cauliflower, which are both much better than they sound. Sunny himself is partial to chili roasted peanuts. Walking through the crowd, especially in the thick parts, felt like being on parade. It’s easy to see the shock registering on the faces around us, they might as well be wearing a sign that says “What are two white girls doing at a Hindu convention?” We might have been mistaken for members of the Russian circus during the night. Don’t ask, we didn’t.
As a side note- Attention all American boys: We rather like the Indian custom of men of all ages holding hands and linking arms. We suggest you pick that up immediately. Show some affection boys.
Friday brought the day of the Big Anniversary Show. Since the program didn’t start until the afternoon, we lazed about all morning and had a long lunch with Gracie. She made us “smashed potatoes” which were amazing (our new craving is pizza). After lunch she helped us get into our uniform saris, which took a while. We then went down to the school to help the kids finish getting ready. We had been informed the day before that we were to also participate in the celebration (we suspect a certain Y’s Guy, C.P. Abrahams ratted us out, as he is also a member of the MMM school board). So when the event began, directly following the Bishop’s address and benediction we sang “If I Had A Hammer,” because there is nothing like a little Peter, Paul and Mary to make India more bizarre. To say the day progressed without a hitch would be more than a little optimistic, but the kids were excited to finally show off all their hard work (we are mostly excited to see how the school functions when it is not busy with dance rehearsals). The foam letters we made for the “Welcome Dance” turned out very nicely, even though at alternating points in the dance they either spelled “WELCOME” or “EMOCLEW.” Too bad ‘welcome’ isn’t a palindrome.
After this program, we traveled with Mr. KC Cherian to attend a rival Anniversary Day celebration put on by the Santa Maria school. This was one of the invitations we received at the Y’s Men’s Monthly Family Night. We can’t decide what moment best highlighted this event, the roller-skate Creation dance, the Compute-Box Head Dance (exactly what it sounds like, remarkably enough), or the snacks they served at intermission. We got home a little later than expected and were very tired all the next day.
Saturday we were again disappointed to hear that Dr. Thomas was unavailable. We suspect that he might hate us. Or fear us. On our way home, we stopped at a store to buy a broom (Gracie claims our purchase is not actually a broom because it is only to be used outdoors, and she requested an indoor broom) and we stumbled on what we suspect to be not Duplicate, but original Pepsi. Quest completed.
Returning home only long enough to eat lunch, we set off for the Konni Elephant Shed (apparently the only place in India where elephants are trained). Upon arrival, we found that ripping off foreigners can indeed be made official as long as there is a note on the price board that says “Double for Foreigners.” Nevertheless, we paid up and got to enter the compound and ride the elephants. The biggest surprise was finding that elephants are coated with course wiry hair. Who knew? So we rode around on the elephants behind a rather touchy-feely Mahout. It was fabulous. Gracie and Sunny refused to ride the elephant (so did the driver Jose, to our dismay) but they enjoyed petting and feeding them. Feeding consists of placing a sticky ball of rice and oats the size of a small child’s head directly into the throats of the elephants that stand, mouths open, waiting at the door of the Elephant Kitchen. This only cost us a few extra rupees into the pockets of the mahouts. We have now concluded that elephants are some of the best things ever and would bring one home if they wouldn’t put us just a little over the airlines’ luggage weight requirements.
On the way home from the elephant shed, we were delighted to make a few stops. The first was at the house of Sunny’s brother. His brother was not there but his mom was. She is the cutest 90-year old woman we have seen in India. While there, we were also able to frighten yet another small child to near tears. The second stop was at a chicken park, which unfortunately is not a place for chickens to run around and play. While Mara was excited when the friendly and bloody chicken butcher man let her hold one of the birds, Kara was more interested in the actually eradication (which, when done by the apprentice chicken butcher boy, was not a clean job). It was, at the very least, an interesting photo opportunity.
Little Adventures
-A priest pretended to punch Mara in the face.
-We saw a scarecrow that consisted of the wings of a crow tied together and hung from the ceiling. Because apparently crows are intelligent enough to comprehend this warning.
-Drunkards at the Hindi convention tried desperately to feed us peanuts.
-We learned all about the “wows” that made Gandhi so “lowing.” In India, the letter V makes only occasional appearances in the pronunciation of words. Dr. Manni is a classic example of this.
-When we adamantly refused to throw our trash on the ground, like everyone else does, Sunny let us know “Take it to the house, or take it back to America.” Kara jumped out of the car and picked up the trash that had already been thrown out the window. Well done Kara.
And with that, we conclude the report of our first month in India. Try as we might, we cannot fully convey our true experiences and how much fun we are having through words alone. You’d just have to be here.
Sunday we were invited to the monthly family meeting of the local chapter of the Y’s Men’s Club, of which Sunny is a proud member. The Y’s Men’s Club (not to be confused with Wise Men) operates something like the Lion’s Club, we think. As Sunny and Gracie are very emphatic that we are their children stand-ins for three months, we were asked to bless the company with a song, as all of the children who come to these meetings usually do some sort of song or dance routine. Originally we had planned to sing “America the Beautiful,” but we quickly realized that the thirty second song wasn’t going to cut it, seeing as all of the other kids had choreographed dance routines that lasted at least five minutes. After a panicked discussion between acts, we decided on “You Are My Sunshine.” However, as Kara was unaware that that song has actually verses, Mara took a hesitant solo on the verses and Kara joined in on the chorus. We hope we didn’t embarrass Sunny and Gracie too much. Afterwards, we ate a simple dinner of perotas and extra spicy chicken, and were invited to a variety of upcoming social events. More on this later.
The next few days at the school were hectic, to say the least. All the kids were preparing for Anniversary Day, and therefore were not in class. Ever. They were either “working on their dances” or playing soccer. Mara and Kara both got several chances to play with some of the boys. They initially questioned our ability as girls to play a sport, but we quickly proved to them we were quite able and tough. We both made the mistake of playing barefoot and sustained grievous injuries to our toes as there is no grass in India, just rocks. Liberal amounts of Neosporin were applied. We were put to work helping the children prepare various aspects of their skits for the big day. We helped the kindergarteners cut out foam letters and wrap them in gold paper for the “Welcome Dance.” We were also recruited to decode the lyrics of an English song that 4th standard was dancing to, entitled “The Butterfly Dance.” To the best of our knowledge, the lyrics are as follows: “Searching for a man/ All across Japan/ Just to find my summer summer rhyme/ Someone who is strong/ But still a little shy/ Come find me I need my summer rhyme/ (Chorus) Ayi Ayi Ayi/ I’m you’re little butterfly/ Wings that can move/ Make the colors in the sky.” There’s more, but we can’t believe what it actually says. Or rather, what we think it says.
After school we went into town to visit the post office and Sunny in his shop. We are trying to plan a trip to visit the glorious tea plantations of Munnar, and we had a few questions for him. We also were wondering where one can get a Pepsi in India (or “aerated water” as KC Cherian calls it). Here, Sunny sat us down and we had The Talk… about Duplicate Pepsi. (On a side note, Pepsi is all over India, but Coke? Practically non-existent. Coke, hello, you’re missing out on a big market over here, and when we say big market, we mean like a billion people). Apparently, there’s a big business here in collecting empty Pepsi bottles and sending them to a factory to be filled with Duplicate Pepsi. (“This is BIG crime!” says Sunny). Sunny assured us that even duplicate Pepsi would be offered at the shop across the street, but alas, it was not. Our quest for even the most duplicated Pepsi would have to continue.
Tuesday night we went to a Hindu convention in Kozhencherry. It is held on the dry bed of the river Pampa, the “Ganges of the South.” There are a variety of shops and food stalls set up, with a large pavilion set up at the end for worship. For a religious convention, this worship area was surprisingly bare of convention participates. Not that you needed to be in the pavilion to here what was going on; Indians seems to like their music and preaching deafeningly loud. Sunny and Gracie bought us sugar cane juice, which was amazing. We also had fried banana peppers and fried cauliflower, which are both much better than they sound. Sunny himself is partial to chili roasted peanuts. Walking through the crowd, especially in the thick parts, felt like being on parade. It’s easy to see the shock registering on the faces around us, they might as well be wearing a sign that says “What are two white girls doing at a Hindu convention?” We might have been mistaken for members of the Russian circus during the night. Don’t ask, we didn’t.
As a side note- Attention all American boys: We rather like the Indian custom of men of all ages holding hands and linking arms. We suggest you pick that up immediately. Show some affection boys.
Friday brought the day of the Big Anniversary Show. Since the program didn’t start until the afternoon, we lazed about all morning and had a long lunch with Gracie. She made us “smashed potatoes” which were amazing (our new craving is pizza). After lunch she helped us get into our uniform saris, which took a while. We then went down to the school to help the kids finish getting ready. We had been informed the day before that we were to also participate in the celebration (we suspect a certain Y’s Guy, C.P. Abrahams ratted us out, as he is also a member of the MMM school board). So when the event began, directly following the Bishop’s address and benediction we sang “If I Had A Hammer,” because there is nothing like a little Peter, Paul and Mary to make India more bizarre. To say the day progressed without a hitch would be more than a little optimistic, but the kids were excited to finally show off all their hard work (we are mostly excited to see how the school functions when it is not busy with dance rehearsals). The foam letters we made for the “Welcome Dance” turned out very nicely, even though at alternating points in the dance they either spelled “WELCOME” or “EMOCLEW.” Too bad ‘welcome’ isn’t a palindrome.
After this program, we traveled with Mr. KC Cherian to attend a rival Anniversary Day celebration put on by the Santa Maria school. This was one of the invitations we received at the Y’s Men’s Monthly Family Night. We can’t decide what moment best highlighted this event, the roller-skate Creation dance, the Compute-Box Head Dance (exactly what it sounds like, remarkably enough), or the snacks they served at intermission. We got home a little later than expected and were very tired all the next day.
Saturday we were again disappointed to hear that Dr. Thomas was unavailable. We suspect that he might hate us. Or fear us. On our way home, we stopped at a store to buy a broom (Gracie claims our purchase is not actually a broom because it is only to be used outdoors, and she requested an indoor broom) and we stumbled on what we suspect to be not Duplicate, but original Pepsi. Quest completed.
Returning home only long enough to eat lunch, we set off for the Konni Elephant Shed (apparently the only place in India where elephants are trained). Upon arrival, we found that ripping off foreigners can indeed be made official as long as there is a note on the price board that says “Double for Foreigners.” Nevertheless, we paid up and got to enter the compound and ride the elephants. The biggest surprise was finding that elephants are coated with course wiry hair. Who knew? So we rode around on the elephants behind a rather touchy-feely Mahout. It was fabulous. Gracie and Sunny refused to ride the elephant (so did the driver Jose, to our dismay) but they enjoyed petting and feeding them. Feeding consists of placing a sticky ball of rice and oats the size of a small child’s head directly into the throats of the elephants that stand, mouths open, waiting at the door of the Elephant Kitchen. This only cost us a few extra rupees into the pockets of the mahouts. We have now concluded that elephants are some of the best things ever and would bring one home if they wouldn’t put us just a little over the airlines’ luggage weight requirements.
On the way home from the elephant shed, we were delighted to make a few stops. The first was at the house of Sunny’s brother. His brother was not there but his mom was. She is the cutest 90-year old woman we have seen in India. While there, we were also able to frighten yet another small child to near tears. The second stop was at a chicken park, which unfortunately is not a place for chickens to run around and play. While Mara was excited when the friendly and bloody chicken butcher man let her hold one of the birds, Kara was more interested in the actually eradication (which, when done by the apprentice chicken butcher boy, was not a clean job). It was, at the very least, an interesting photo opportunity.
Little Adventures
-A priest pretended to punch Mara in the face.
-We saw a scarecrow that consisted of the wings of a crow tied together and hung from the ceiling. Because apparently crows are intelligent enough to comprehend this warning.
-Drunkards at the Hindi convention tried desperately to feed us peanuts.
-We learned all about the “wows” that made Gandhi so “lowing.” In India, the letter V makes only occasional appearances in the pronunciation of words. Dr. Manni is a classic example of this.
-When we adamantly refused to throw our trash on the ground, like everyone else does, Sunny let us know “Take it to the house, or take it back to America.” Kara jumped out of the car and picked up the trash that had already been thrown out the window. Well done Kara.
And with that, we conclude the report of our first month in India. Try as we might, we cannot fully convey our true experiences and how much fun we are having through words alone. You’d just have to be here.
2 comments:
Hi Kara and Mara,
Sounds like our weeks continue to be full of adventures and now you have achieved one of your goals for the trip - to ride an elephant! Erin likes likes the part about making kids cry and drunkards feeding you peanuts.
To refresh Kara's memory of Nature shows on elephants...here is a link to a comparison between Asian and African elephants :) http://www.elephantconservation.org/elephcompare.php
By the way....Erin and I feel your pain and will drink an extra diet coke for the two of you!
Erin and Mom
There used to be puppy sized elephants, but guess who killed them off... humans. Why do we kill all the good species!
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