India, Part 8

So far you've seen the Riverside school and its immediate vicinity. Let's go farther afield. One morning several of the men, plus our university students who have served and are serving at the school, took off on a hike. I started off with them, but knew I didn't have the energy to head up the hills as far as they were going.  (This is probably where I should add the disclaimer that not all these photos in these posts were taken by me. There are some--as those from this hike--taken by Husband, who is pretty nifty with a camera.)


The intrepid hikers' destination?  This stately banyan tree (above).

On the way, they passed rice paddies sitting dry, waiting for the rains and the planting. At the far end of the padi you see a grove of Areca palm trees.The island where I grew up bore the Malay name for these trees--"Pinang."  The product of these trees is referred to as "betel nut."

As a decorative palm, betel nut is a rather lovely plant!

In northeast India the nuts of the Areca palms (seen here in a hillside grove) are crushed and the paste mixed with mineral slaked lime, then rolled in the betel leaf. It makes a rather powerful and addictive stimulant. Unfortunately, it also ruins people's lives.The oral cancer rate is very high in betel nut chewers.  It reddens the mouth and teeth, and blackens and then rots out the teeth. And the users get very sick.

We went to the market, about 5 km. from the school, and these three ladies had set up a little stall with banana leaves where they were happy to fix market-goers a roll of betel nut to pop into the mouth for a good chew. I conveyed my friendliness and "no thanks."  If you click on the picture and then look at the lady on the left, her teeth hint of the story of many years chewing betel nut.

Speaking of market, the closest market to the school is held once a week by the river. Vendors bring a wide variety of wares to display, from vegetables and fruit to sarongs, to shoes to nasty-smelling salted dried fish, to bright cheap calendars and posters, and so on. It's a good place to go exploring.

The rows at the market are semi-neatly laid out with people wandering everywhere.  The occasional cow or two joins them. As mentioned before, cows have holy status in India, and can go pretty much wherever they please.  You just walk or drive or cycle around them.

It surprised me to see little mounds of only a few vegetables on a vendor's mat. How could they live from selling such meager wares? All seemed well, though.This is the local economy.

I particularly was drawn to the stalls selling colorful spices. I don't know what they all were.  I think the Indians must have the best spice intelligentsia in the world. Our measly little spice racks would be grossly insufficient for the variety they use in their cooking.

And my final picture from market--my favorite:  you can take your fabric or clothing to the tailor with the treadle sewing machine and have mending done, or a hem sewn, or a whole garment made while you wait. Beautiful!