Food

Let's have a look on local food, better to say on what I eat here.
I usually eat out, that's for sure. Partly because it is more convenient, partly because I don't have time as well as equipment to cook myself, partly because of considerable lack of all kind of ingredients that would a European university student need to cook (e.g. oven-ready food), and last but not least because it is the best way to get in closer touch with local cuisine.

Assorted sauces in the south Indian restaurant.

Breakfast
As I've already mentioned in the previous post, breakfast is usually very simple - either toast bread with cheese spread or nothing.
Snack
I don't remember I would have any here:)
Lunch
Lunch never lets me down - either having simple vegetarian Indian dish, or going out for non-veg buffet, it has always been an enjoyable time with my co-workers, or other trainees.
Snack
Well, now I realized I really don't have snacks in India - I guess mostly because of limited availability of snack-like eatables (see the previous post writing about drawbacks of not having a bike or car).
Dinner
Half & half - it is either highlight or disappointment of the day - we often go to nice restaurants on various occasions, but when I have to prepare dinner on my own, it is nothing worth talking about (see the ingredients-and-equipment-availability issue)

"Cheese-tomato" sandwich.
With carrot. Without tomatoes. Fake!:)

One more challenge is technical availability of food - if you want to buy a good breakfast (and are not having a bike or car and enough time to drive to the closest bakery), you have a problem, because all reasonable eating places open at around 11am (9am is my office time). Before that time, you can only buy widely available street food, which is not an option you would be willing to consider. Similarly at night, you get literally nothing after midnight (however the locals will tell you it is not truth - they are right, you can drive for 30 minutes (by bike or car that I don't have) to one of 3 places that are open.

Anyway, these are some of my favorite dishes:)

Assortment of Indian meals and salads on 1 plate.
Butter naan on the second plate & filtered water and soft drinks.

Chicken masala ordered at my office - still in plastic bags.

Indian lunch dish of my colleague + chapati.
(all Indians are preparing their lunches at home
and bringing to work in jars or plastic bowls)

Chicken butter masala with vegetable biryani (rice).

Chinese: Rosy's paneer (cheese) noodles & my chicken noodles.

Footlong at Gopal'z, king of all meals.
On the picture: tomato footlong
Also in the menu: onion capsicum, cheese, mushroom, paneer and pineapple (the best one), chilli paneer, capsicum

South Indian: Plain dosa.

South Indian: Vegetable uttapam.

Indian brownie & strawberry shake.

Delicious mango-vanilla ice-cream at Baskin-Robbins.

Continental: Chicken penne with soft cheese sauce and parmesan.
(at Lazy dog restaurant in Manali)

Thai: Chicken penne with hot lemon grass sauce and bread.

Czech corner
Co se tyce jidla, tak je to zdanlive takova sinusoida - jednou dole, jednou nahore. I kdyz ve skutecnosti je to spise porad nahore i dole zaroven - jidlo si tu uzivam (je vetsinou dobre, chutne a levne, a v ostatnich pripadech alespon jine a zajimave z kulturniho hlediska), nicmene jak jsem jiz psal drive, nektery sortiment tu chybi - nejsou mineralky, uzeniny, maso obecne (krome kureciho a skopoveho, v casto velmi specifickych povrchovych upravach), syry, salaty, ovocne jogurty, kafe, cokoladove rolky, jablecne danise, oblozene bagety. A veskery zbytek je 1. kombinovany s "masalou" (viz nize) a 2. lze poridit jen omezeny cas v prubehu dne. Pak je to tezke:)

V nemocnici, v prubehu otravneho stadia, viz bod 4 nize.

Necha se rici, ze od zacatku pobytu jsem prosel nasledujicimi stadii stravovacich zvyklosti:

> 1. obdobi pocatecni neduvery (prvni 4 dny)
Klasicky jsem si daval dvojity pozor na to co jsem jedl, pozival jsem tablety na neutralizaci zaludecnich stav, pil vodku na neutralizaci indickych stav, a snazil se vyvarovat vsech nehygienicky vypadajicich stav. Toto obdobi bylo ukonceno pomerne razantnim zpusobem, kdyz jsem byl donucen vypit cca 300 ml limetkove limonady po jednom kriketovem zapasu (klasicky ritual... tezko se odmita - hlavne kdyz to pije 15 ostatnich lidi), ktera stala pouze 5 rupii (cca 2 CZK), nicmene podle toho take nalezite vypadal stanek a predevsim mixer, ve kterem byla pripravena.

> 2. tradicni obdobi (cca 1 tyden)
To jsem mival na obed skoro kazdy den nejakou masalu (ve volnem prekladu = smes, typicky smes koreni; v kontextu hlavniho chodu se vetsinou vaze na takovou ridsi korenenou omacku, se kterou se ji bud capati (placka pipravovana na ohni) anebo nan (o neco lepsi placka, pripravovana v troube, volitelne s maslem nebo syrem))

> 3. doba zmatena (cca dalsi tyden)
Pomalu jsem procital a zacinal zjistovat, ze vsechny typy masaly jsou de facto stejne - vice ci mene palive (spise vice) hnedocervene ridke "omacky" ve kterych je bud trochu kureciho masa (spise kosti, nekdy alespon s kuzi) a pomer cena/vykon se zacinal ubirat spatnym smerem...

> 4. otravne stadium (prvni tyden v cervnu)
... tak jsem zacal experimentovat s ne-indckymi kuchynemi. Kontinentalni evropska kuchyne neni dostupna (prestoze je ambiciozne uvedena ve vetsine mistnich menu), thajska na kterou jsem si brousil zuby take ne, a proto jsem vyzkousel alespon cinskou ala stary dobry Cinan na Veletrzni. Ale po experimentu s kureci ryzi jsem ulehl na nemocnicni luzko s otravou jidlem.

> 5. etapa nudli a "foot-longu" (skoro cely cerven a cervenec)
Nad inkriminovanym cinskym fast-food retezcem jsem definitivne zanevrel, ale nad cinskou kuchyni obecne nikoliv. Syrove a kureci nudle jsem s takrka zeleznou pravidelnosti obden prokladal evropskym fastfoodem typu KFC nebo Subway. Na indickou kuchyni doslo prevazne pri vecerich. Minimalne 2x za tyden jsem vsak navstevoval oblibeny retezec Gopal'z za ucelem konzumace vybornych oblozenych baget "foot long" (viz obrazky).

> 6. jihoindicka faze (posledni tyden v cervenci)
Nudlim a foot longum odzvonilo, a nastal cas na utapam, parantha a dosa - placky na 1000 zpusobu. K snidani si take zacinam objednavat omelety s chlebem.

> 7. recese a deziluze (zacatek srpna, posledni tyden praxe)
Tlak vznikajici priblizujici se dobou odjezdu ve me probouzi snahu o vyuziti casu na maximum, a to i v kontextu s jidlem. Vracim se tedy k foot-longum, tavenym syrovym pomazankam, jihoindicke kuchyni, fast-foodum, a verim ze do konce praxe dojde jeste alespon jednou na ty nudle...

Po celou dobu jsem zustal verny pivu Kingfisher, mango dzusu, osvezujicimu napoji "fresh lime soda" a rajcatum ke kazde snidani!

Birthday

It was already the second time I was celebrating my birthday in India - and the day was pretty special again. Similarly to unforgettable train journey from Varanasi to Gaya on my last birthday, I will be probably remembering the most crowded bus ride I've ever taken that I had a chance to experience this year. Apart from transportation, the day was pretty special in terms of celebration, too.

Group picture with some of my colleagues.

I was given a cake - but unlike what I've been used to, everyone was supposed to grab a portion and either smash it all to my face, or smash part and eat the rest. The smashing is just inevitable:)

The cake...

... and the smashing part! ;-)

As a matter of coincidence, there was a big company lunch held on this day, on the occasion of successful completing of other quarter of the business year. They served a non-veg buffet in one of nice restaurants in the city centre. I was also allowed to have a beer (most of people do not drink, the rest is not expected to drink during working hours, and actually everyone was invited for the lunch by the management, therefore ordering an extra beer would not appropriate - but I managed to get an exception and enjoyed a chilled Kingfisher.

The left wing of our table: me, Nisha (my coworker in multimedia department), Rosy (intern), Meeta (we used to share a cabin/office in May and June)

In the evening we went for the dinner, I had my favorite dish at that place (paneer footlong) and Rosy gave me another cake - brownie with candle... nice surprise!:) Before the dinner I also managed to get a power nap, to eliminate the sleeping deficit I was suffering from during previous weeks. So at the end, it was pretty efficient day as well! Thanks to all who got involved and celebrated with me!:)

Chandigarh - City beautiful

Chandigarh, officially referred to as the City beautiful, is situated less than 300 km (5 hours by car, 35 minutes by plane) to the north from Delhi. When it comes to administrative division, it gets fairly complicated - Chandigarh is an union territory, which means it does not belong to any state (is governed by federal government), but at the same time it is technically the capital city of 2 other Indian states: Punjab and Haryana. A good thing is that it apparently works.

The Open hand, symbol of Chandigarh.

Map of Punjab (state) & India, including Chandigarh.

The city is said to be the cleanest, best-planned and wealthiest city in India. Let's have a look.

1. cleanest
The city is undoubtedly the cleanest Indian city I've seen so far - unlike in other cities, they use dust bins and waste containers, which helps a lot:) However, it still doesn't look like a typical European city - the "problem" is in an inconsistent landscape. In Europe there are shops, office buildings, apartment blocks, detached houses, malls, squares etc. In Chandigarh it is the same (I mean it is a proper city, not just a big village, as you could say about some other Indian cities), but whereas in Europe these structures are usually surrounded by paved areas or gardens, here you can also find uncultivated fields, cow yards, slums, meadows etc. Yep, it is India.

Main square, sector 17 market.

Uncultivated fields randomly appear between houses.

As far as a pollution is concerned, it is kind of OK. On the one hand, the city is definitely more polluted than for example Prague, but on the other hand, it is within acceptable limits - you can notice it only when driving in a rickshaw (especially when waiting at the traffic lights), or crossing a street.

The city is clean, but waiting at the traffic lights in a rickshaw makes you realize that could be cleaner, and "more green".

2. best-planned
The city was entirely designed by a French architect in 1950s. Although it doesn't look French, it also doesn't look typically Indian. What makes the biggest difference is the sector structure. The city is divided in many (ca. 60) sectors, which are organized in a way of structured rectangular grid. Every sector has its outer market (at the sector-dividing road), inner market, school and some other standard facilities. There are couple of major roads going through the entire city, connecting all important sectors. One of them (connecting Panchkula with the center of Chandigarh) is called Madhya Marg, a significant landmark, my favorite one (I'm spending ca. 40 minutes in rickshaw on it every day).

Map of Chandigarh. Check out the interactive version.

Sector 17 - there is the main city market, as well as my office.

All the houses have their specific house number, unique in respective sector. To make it easy to locate specific house, sectors are usually divided into 4 segments (A,B,C,D), and on the other hand, clustered in sector areas (e.g. northern sectors etc.)
The system of streets is also interesting - there are usually round-abouts at the intersection of sector dividing roads, from which you can enter the sector and continue your ride on inner roads that go along with dividing streets. At first it seemed to be just a complication preventing you from entering sector in convenient locations, but the intention has probably been to reduce the traffic within sectors and rather keep it on wide dividing streets. And it works.

BTW, the official website seems to be well-planned, too... which cannot be said about the website of Transport department.

This is how all orientation signs look like - sectors all around.

3. wealthiest
There is supposed to be the highest average monthly income of citizens in the whole India. It sounds good, however, I'm not sure how this can be measured, as there is obviously too many people without regular income - both, slum people and poor class in general making their living on daily basis, as well as the elite class with literally unlimited funds. In either case, there is really a lot of people from middle class, and they do have money. Therefore, you can find many European-style facilities in the city, e.g. cinemas, malls, shops of world-known brands, fast-food chains, bakeries.

You can come across people from the middle and upper classes very easily (not only) in the city centre.

At the beginning of my internship, I was told I could find everything in Chandigarh. Despite the previous paragraph, it is definitely not true. I'm not speaking about beef and pork, which is not available in the whole country, but you cannot get even a proper cheese or proper baguette (except for Subway), or find a reasonable choice of pasta or fruit yogurts. And I'm particularly missing all of these. To be precise, it is probably available somewhere in Chandigarh, but it is only 1 or 2 shops in the whole city that are not reachable without car or bike - unless located close to your home or office (which is usually not the case).

The only fridge in the whole Chandigarh where you can find European-style baguettes (no beef, no pork, of course).
Unfortunately it is too far for me to go there.

Rock garden & Sukhna lake
... both located in the outskirts of Chandigarh, are the major attraction for local people as well as the tourists. Rock garden is a leisure site/park with many sculptures and other different pieces of artwork made from garbage. Sukhna lake is situated just next to the Rock garden, and is a common weekend pastime destination. Both places definitely have their specific atmosphere.

Me and Rosy (2nd intern in my company) in the Rock garden.

Rock garden - sculptures made from garbage.

Some Indian guys posing.

Another Indian dude posing.

Me posing (trying to catch up with the Indians).

Young Indians having fun.

Indians at the Sukhna lake.

Treadling seems to be popular even among Indians.

Trip to Shimla

On Sunday 28th June we went to Shimla, former Indian "summer capital" (the British were governing the country from here during the hot season only). Shimla has a reputation for being a cool place, both the temperatures are really cool (below 30°C, and not so humid, which is significantly milder climate compared to Chandigarh and neighbouring cities), and that's why the city is just "cool".
The official website is not very appealing, so you may want to check another one for more information on this region (or just go to travel wiki). Big attraction is a traditional train that is going from/to here, but it is always impossible to get in without a reservation - so we went by bus both ways (2x 4hours). Despite bumpy and maybe a little bit dangerous journey, we had nice relaxing time in Shimla! Now, let's see some pictures.

Annika, Lia, me and Colins in the cab. Going to a coach terminal.

In the bus.

Street people on the rails.
This is where the traditional train is going.

In Shimla. British influence is fairly obvious.

Yeah, right... this really is not typically Indian building.

Lunch.

The Ridge. Notice the catholic church.

People enjoying the cool climate.

Shimla, the "Queen of hills".

Indian handicrafts.

In the bus, on our way back. It was a tough ride.

Our bus had a big wheel.