devils and gods of electricity

A readymade piece of art if ever i saw it … and one of the many reasons i love India, you never know what you are going to meet around the corner. I guess there is a logic in placing your gods at the source of electric power…though considering the unreliability of electricity in general round here, it’s not working…anyway, i love it!

…and at the other end of the celestial spectrum…these are images of devils and it is customary to hang them outside your house to catch any evil before it gets into your home, you also often see them attached to the wheel mudflaps of lorries…

…and finally this beautiful piece of neon art for the telephone exchange in Gannavaram, i am never here to see it lit up at night in all its glory…check out the old school telephone…

gannavaram and multiconfessional temples…

Took an auto rickshaw taxi to Gannavaram…here are some of the people who shared it…

The ladies of Venus fancy goods store, Gannavaram washing pan leaves. They can be chewed and are a mild stimulant, but they also use them to wraps hand made sweets…

Up the road from Venus…I love this temple, it covers the Christian, Hindu and Muslim faiths…

The sign tells us it’s the Gannavaram temple, the address and it’s benefactors…

sunday sari best…

I visit the catholic church in Gannavaram. Have avoided it for the past 3 years…an hour and a half service in Telegu does not inspire…even with my thirst for seeking out new levels of catholic kitsch.

I was not let down. The church though poor is decorated Indian style in a myriad of colours, lights and flowers.

…and the women…decked out in their Sunday sari best (ladies on one side, gents on the other)…were so beautiful. There was even a live band…one and a half hours flew past…Apparently they pull out all the stops for midnight mass on 24 December…am seriously considering it…

communion at Infant Jesus Church, Gannavaram

walking to gannavaram…

Am back in India, back to Andhra Pradesh and the orphanage and school where i run creative labs for kids and young people…for the third year now…. Right now am overwhelmed by jet-lag and that now familiar fierce heat and humidity that prevails. This year i am really pushing computers (creatively of course!) and especially to the girls in my class, but more of that later, right now i have a few days to acclimatise and to plan my classes…

…i walk to Gannavaram, it’s the nearest town about 5 or 6 km away, i go with a volunteer who is treating 8 small boys to an outing.

they were sitting like that – mirror poses of one another…the stall belongs to the lady in blue…

We walk in fierce heat and are mindful of the monkeys, buffalo, auto-rickshaws, lorries, buses, motorbikes…we are in the countryside but this is Indian countryside and there are a LOT of people around…

requested portrait…yay!

time to head home…

Sun is getting lower, we have an hour of walking ahead of us…and i don’t fancy doing it in the dark (around 6pm here)…so we head home.

pani puri sunday…

Had a culinary epiphany in of all places Gannavaram. A small town near the orphanage which does not normally inspire confidence in all things food related. HOWEVER some local friends highly recommended this little Pani Puri stall and so…

Firstly it had a huge crowd of punters – always a good sign. The puri are light and crispy hollow puff balls of batter that are filled with a hot and spicy broth (like a sambar); the pani.

You eat each pani puri immediately downing it in one, the eating version of a shot of alcohol. It is also served with a little chaat (a spicy chickpea stew augmented with fresh onion, coriander and tomato), although chaat can also mean any kind of small street snack. It was one of those food moments you really remember…when something is so good you lose yourself in the moment in how god it tastes in that moment…or even like some kind of taste out-of-body experiences where you look down on yourself and think “i had better remember this moment” It was light and crispy with a shot of this sweet, spicy liquor that hit the back of your throat and smacked your taste buds around a bit to say HELLO, YOU ARE ALIVE AND THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!.

We ate them one after the other (again like shots) and finished it off with a plate of the perfectly seasoned spicy chaat. I will never forget it…neither will the vendor ( talented man) think we are the only non indian customers he has ever had…meanwhile i am thinking of a franchise!

Pani Puri and chaat for 6 people – cost 113 rupees (£1.60 or €1.80)

meanwhile i tried not to be distracted by the alarming poster on the wall – all unrelated to pani puri ailments….

…finished the whole thing off with the elixir of life, fresh coconut water…cost of 6 coconuts 60 rupees (85p or €1)

other foody posts on this blog:

chocolate con churros

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

braid burn

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano