INDIA

Food || Music || People

People

India is particularly cool, because the music is so extremely highly developed compared even to Bach and Beethoven, the food is so advanced and healthy. The philosophy is so profound, the fashion is mindblowingly beautiful. And the striking thing is that the people are so humble. For example, when I go to Paris, someone will tell me "we have the best coffee in the world." In South America someone will say "we have the best coffee in the world." Go to Starbucks in the USA an you might hear "we have the best coffee in the world." But in India the coffee is every bit as delicious or even better, but they never ever brag about it. I had no idea the coffee was so delicious in India. I had no idea the superlative width and breadth of the music in the Indian homeland. I had no idea about many, many wonderful things about India... and I believe that's because of one more wonderful thing: THE PEOPLE ARE HUMBLE! :-)

Food

1-23-00 8:39AM
Yo! I definitely recommend a career in music! :-)     This sh*t is dope! In Madras, I had the breakfast of DOOM at the hotel. It was the obligatory buffet breakfast, but totally different. Slammin'... I have never had a buffet like this any where in the world. Potatoes sliced with onions with some totally distinct flavor I have never tasted including coconut and CLOVES(?) Totally delicious!

I ordered scrambled eggs which were delicious. I also tasted the bacon, which I did not care for (fat, thick, greasy), but I found a great fruit juice... for health reasons I chose the CANNED juice, because the Lime juice I had had the previous nite which was fresh, did not agree with me. I have been forewarned not to eat uncooked things in India, because the bacteria etc. might not agree with my American internal system. (I guarded myself against serious disease by avoiding the ever present mosquitoes and by getting a complete physical including some inoculations before I left Boston). The Lime juice had a kind of fermented taste to it. The canned Mango juice was fantastic!

Lessee... I had sautéed chicken, excellent consistency and flavor baked beans (and I did not fart from it) IDYAPPAM (a rice derivative which tastes like coconut. It looks like a round patty of thin thin noodles).

On 1-24-00 10:02AM I had another slammin' buffet breakfast. Here's what I feasted on:

Rawa Uppama: a millet-like carbohydrate food, nice pleasant tasting with little seeds I couldn't identify plus onions and stuff. Very diverse... you can't touch this. Nice.

Veggie Omelet: I have been told that the insistence on the sanctity of the cow is traditional, but many people do eat beef and other meats in India. I opted for the vegetarian omelet in this case: This was the most familiar food I had in my stay in Chennai. Although I still could not identify each component of the omelet, it tasted pretty much like any other omelet from the States. The omelet I had included red peppers, green peppers, onions, and other little stuff. Nice! :-)

Idli: This stuff is carbohydrate bread-like stuff. I had some at my friend Prasanna's house in Boston, auspices of Shalini, his wife. It was great then and it was great in Chennai, too! It is shaped like a simple flying saucer and tastes a hell of a lot better! (I am convinced).

Sambar: This is a red sauce that goes with the Idli. It was so nice, not too salty, had a calming effect on me. I felt soo peaceful. I was as happy as an idly bidly baby. (Uhh whatever, itty bitty baby)

Coffee: The coffee in India is fantastic! Whomever is arrogant about the quality of their coffee should taste this stuff with an open mind! This stuff is really really great! This is as good as any in the world. France, Israel, Italy Starbucks(?) .These coffees come to mind, but the Indian coffee is relentless. Nobody does it better. I was surprised. I had no idea they were this good! :-)    The coffee is rich in flavor, never even a hint of bitterness... never even a hint of water, never weak. I had the distinct impression that each nuance of the flavor of the coffee was distinct, yet consistent in quantity throughout each sip of the coffee. MMMMM! :-)

Porridge: I think this is the same stuff that the three bears ate in the fairy tale. Mine was kind of like the Mama Bear's porridge... too cold. Happily there were no wolves in the High Time restaurant I ate at. This porridge was indeed delicious, though.

Poori: This is that nice flaky, Indian bread that the Indian restaurants in the States serve. Nice. Mine was ever so slightly hard. I wouldn't dream of complaining, though. Never let it be said that I am an ugly American (well if I look in the mirror, that is debatable, I admit) lol!

Baji: This is yet another carbohydrate, potato based food. As is the case with most of the delicious dishes I ate in India, there is much diversity in the baji. I couldn't identify the subtle tasting ingredients of this dish, I received energy from this food.

Keerai Vada: This is a fried dish made potatoes and other tasty ingredients. The consistency was crunchy, but definitely NOT hard. This was ALL GOOD!

Avial: This is a pancake like bread. I have tasted Ethiopian bread auspices of Jonas Hellborg in an Ethiopian restaurant in Lund, Sweden, which tastes like this Avial. It is used in place of the western fork to eat with. It is bland and beautiful. It doesn't interfere with the other tastes which engulf the taste buds in the Indian style cuisine. The Indian people do NOT hesitate to enjoy their food entirely with their hands! MMMMM!

Adai: I die for this Adai! It has a light, light green color. This is a smooth sauce which goes with the avial nicely.

Baked Beans: Boston eat your heart out: although this is not the American traditional baked beans I am used to, it holds its own in terms of flavor. It actually tastes quite similar to the Boston variety, with a vague hint of the fresh taste of mint ! mint! mmmm! Also, these beans are never bitter!

Devil's Mince: This is kind of reminiscent of the ground beef one might finding a chili sauce. For my taste, unlike what the name suggests, this stuff is good. :-)

Canned Orange Juice: This juice had a flavorful quality which I find superior to American canned juices. One Indian gentleman described it this way: The Indian food here on the continent retains its flavor while some other foods have merely their taste.

Fresh Grape Juice: Woo hoo yo, this juice is a shocker! Delicious! Wow! this drink is totally worth exposing myself to the few foreign bacteria! Wow! The pulp is delicious the juice is sweet and grapey. Sorry Boston, even Trident booksellers and "The Other Side restaurant don't have grape juice this good! Dag!

Rice Kheer! Again, I sing the praises of this Indian food! This is a sweet tasting dessert with soft bits of rice husk. I do not wish to lose my credibility by praising all the Indian food so freely, but: I call 'em like I see 'em. Almost every single dish I ate in India was as good as any food from any country. Three cheers for kheer!

Hard Boiled Egg: OK I spoke a little too soon. The German equivalent of this hard boiled egg is nicer for my taste. This style of boiling the egg leaves the food a little sticky in consistency (Paste-like glue- like) Definitely not horrid, at all, just not my favorite.

Overall it was high time I visited this "High Time" Restaurant very very nice! Three cheers for flavor instead of just taste. The materials are home grown and the flavor is subtle and homemade! Really incredible overall. The service was attentive if slow at times. Nice personalities these guys have. A survey was done in such a personable way I felt like I was meeting a new friend! Nice! I had to ask for salt and pepper, but one waiter even took the time to the time to remove my one plate and put the boiled egg in front of me where I could enjoy it. Whew! I ain't complainin'.

What stands out for me is the diversity. India's food has diversity of flavors in each individual dish. This must be next to impossible to duplicate! The people are diverse within themselves. The city is colorful all the way down to the diverse life forms found in the roads of the city (cows, monkeys, deer, etc., etc.). Totally!!! :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to India and I leave this country healthy, happy and looking forward to going again and again. If you ever have the opportunity to travel, I wholeheartedly recommend Madras!

Music

India Concert Review

Indian Solfeggio System.

SA RI GA MA PA DA NI SA
SA NI DA PA MA GA RI SA

Note the various scales which we call modes divide the octave into 16 parts according to Prasanna. The sa ri ga ma pa da ni sa syllables are used for every mode. Much like European classical soffegio system does when chromatics are sung.

For example
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C, IN TRADITIONAL Classical solfege would be intoned as follows, if the performance tempo is FAST:
do do re re mi fa fa sol sol la al si do

In the Indian style that same chromatic scale would be intoned as: sa-a ri-i ga ma-a pa -a da-a ni sa
or, for example each of the 7 modes would be pronounced
SA RI GA MA PA DA NI SA.

The Indian system uses quarter tones and eighth tones to get a system of 16 notes per octave including the octave (here we must consider the quarter tones, such that the upper octave is not always the same note as the lower octave.