Cool and Phool

That title is a lie. "Phool" means flower, but I'm actually going to talk about fruit, or "phal." It just didn't rhyme as nicely.

I am currently sitting in my friend Marena's apartment in Orakhan, Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is in the Himalayas, so I am surrounded by gorgeous green mountains right now. I came up here to hang out with some NGOs. ...But to be more honest, I am using the NGO visits as an excuse to escape the heat of the plains and the pollution of Delhi for a bit. And the cool weather and clean air have been sooooo nice. Definitely the break I needed. Returning to the mountains feels oddly like returning home, thanks to my stint in Shimla. For some reason (probably the natural beauty), I always seem to feel happiest up here in the Himalayas.

view from near an NGO

The area around Orakhan is home to many different types of fruit trees (apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, etc) and Marena is determined to take full advantage. She taught her host mom how to make peach jam (but her host mom made it a bit too sweet, with a 1:1 sugar to peach ratio--meaning one kilogram of sugar for each kilogram of peaches) and fried up some apple pie samosas with her coworkers. Nom nom nom. Marena should open a phal ka dhaba.

(I'm very tempted to bore you with details of Himachal Pradesh's successful fruit and fruit products business that has basically lifted the state out of extreme poverty (along with hydropower) and how it would be smart for Uttarakhand to replicate this. However I will restrain myself, as I have given you many boring development-related blog posts recently.)

Marena chomping on a peach tree.

The cool, clean air, delicious fruit concoctions, and beautiful mountain views have rejuvenated me, and now I'm prepared to do some serious field work in Jharkhand. More to come.