Marcelo and Kaori's Pune International Marathon
Today was a marathon in more ways than one -- we completely outdid ourselves. We got up at 6:15 in order to have breakfast and get to the start line by 7:30 AM. Breakfast was awesome as usual, and I had an especially big appetite. You are all familiar with most of the things (plain idli, creamed corn, papaya, pineapple, poha, banana pancake, vegetable cutlet, and medu wada). The only new item today was the aloo paratha, which was stuffed with potato -- there are no words for how good it was.
The theme of the day was being in the right place at the right time. One of the race volunteers was in the lobby, so she gave directions to the start line to the rickshaw driver for us. This was our first time in a rickshaw and it's not nearly as scary as it looks. It's like being in a golf cart/carnival ride. They are everywhere, so it's the most convenient way to travel. But, since rickshaws are so small (the steering mechanism is like a moped), the drivers tend to weave in and out of traffic and go through red lights, kind of like bicycles do. But, like I said, it's surprisingly not scary. To view a short video of our ride, see it on YouTube here.
There were tonnes of people both participating in and watching the marathon. The race began at one end of a bridge crossing the Mutha river. There were military-looking guards keeping people from walking across the bridge to watch, but he sweetly let us through. We made it in time to see the first start (wheelchair division), which was closly followed by the men's full marathon. Many of the runners were running barefoot. I got a short video clip of the front of the pack as they ran across the bridge, see here.
There were several different sub-races going on: women's half marathon, men's 10k, women's 10k, under-19 8k, under-17 5k, under-15 4k, senior citizens' 3k, as well as the enormous AIDS Charity Run. Marcelo and I stood and watched people cross the start line for 30 minutes and then we gave up -- they just kept coming and coming and coming. The paper said that there were 30,000 runners in total across all events.
We made our way through the streets on foot to get to the finish line at Nehru Stadium. This is the first time we actually walked around and it wasn't bad. One thing I absolutely love in India is the stray dogs. No one is threatened by them and they are allowed to roam free in the streets. They are skinny, but not unhealthy and they have such a relaxed attitude. They'll sleep anywhere (including in the street) and they don't beg for food. In North America, they would be stray dogs, but here they're just dogs.
We managed to find our way to the stadium. The entrance was way too narrow and there were so many people. We met one of the officials by chance when we went the wrong way around the stadium and he led us in. It was the worst crowd situation I've ever been in. People were packed tightly together and it was all I could do to keep up with our new friend. If it wasn't for him, maybe we wouldn't have gotten in at all. At certain points, the forward movement stopped but people kept pushing, so I started to think of the message that the hotel would have to send to AudienceView and our families along the lines of 'sorry to inform you, Marcelo and Kaori were crushed at Nehru Stadium'. Don't worry. It really wasn't that bad.
The stands held 20,000 people, but we weren't allowed to go up there unless we were in one of the races. So, we staked out a spot on the lawn that was blissfully spacious. The first finisher came across the line at about 2:20. I couldn't make out the announcement, so I don't know who won, but he looked African. The finishers were staggered quite far apart. I missed the winner, but I got some footage of some of the top 10 runners, see here. Some official-looking young security guards lined the last leg of the race for the first 4 runners, but after that they dispersed and not many people were paying attention to the runners anymore. The focus was really on the party in front of the grandstand where a band named Asma (?) was playing and a radio personality was entertaining the crowd. Everyone was milling around there, so it was relatively easy to slip out.
We set out again on foot for a little bit. I bought a strange fruit snack from a street vendor for 7 rupees. I think he totally fleeced me, but we're talking about 20 cents here. The fruit looked like a green apple, but it was soft inside kind of like an avocado. He cut it up for me and sprinkled spicy chili powder in it. It was interesting.
We caught another rickshaw (we're old hat at this now) to the Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, which is a swank 5-star that was totally booked when Marcelo was arranging our travel. It's definitely fancier than our hotel, but I like ours better -- more homey. We wandered around a bit and then had lunch at the cafe. We ordered fresh lime sodas (exactly what we needed) along with wada pav (deep-fried potato croquette on a white bun), mini samosas (our first samosas this trip), and aloo tuk (deep-fried potatoes tossed in spices). Everything was so good. The wada pav was like a little Indian burger. If you look at the picture of the aloo tuk, you'll see what looks like a green bean on top of the potatoes. I had thought this was a green bean, but actually it is a deep-fried green chili pepper. I popped the whole thing in my mouth and ate it in one fell swoop. The error of my judgement quickly took over my mouth and I had to leave the table and regroup in the bathroom. It wasn't that bad though. Could have been much worse with a smaller chili.
After lunch, the intention was to do a little walking/window shopping. This quickly turned into me spending a whole lot of cash, but I think it was worth it. First, we popped into the Nike Store and I bought an official India cricket practice jersey for Darcy as well as a t-shirt with one of the national team's player's name and number. They look cool. Then, and this is the really disastrous part, we popped into a store selling pashminas, silk scarves, blouses, jewelry, and rugs. I started by looking at the blouses and bought a nice one for myself. 
Then he showed me the handmade silk scarves and I just had to have 4. Then he showed me the pashminas. First he took out the cotton ones, then the cotton/wool ones, then the 100% Kashmir Pashmina wool (from the beard of a goat only) ones, then the 100% Kashmir Pashmina wool with embroidery. I've never felt anything like this Pashmina wool in my life -- it is other worldy. I ended up buying 4 of the most expensive kind. Vijay, I think they fleeced me here, but I couldn't say no. 
You'll have to tell me how stupid I was when I get back. The great thing with a foreign currency is that you have no idea what you are spending. I wouldn't let Marcelo tell me until we'd left the store. The people working there were so grateful; they gave Marcelo and I free jewelry boxes and small vials of saffron.
Today was a marathon in more ways than one -- we completely outdid ourselves. We got up at 6:15 in order to have breakfast and get to the start line by 7:30 AM. Breakfast was awesome as usual, and I had an especially big appetite. You are all familiar with most of the things (plain idli, creamed corn, papaya, pineapple, poha, banana pancake, vegetable cutlet, and medu wada). The only new item today was the aloo paratha, which was stuffed with potato -- there are no words for how good it was.
The theme of the day was being in the right place at the right time. One of the race volunteers was in the lobby, so she gave directions to the start line to the rickshaw driver for us. This was our first time in a rickshaw and it's not nearly as scary as it looks. It's like being in a golf cart/carnival ride. They are everywhere, so it's the most convenient way to travel. But, since rickshaws are so small (the steering mechanism is like a moped), the drivers tend to weave in and out of traffic and go through red lights, kind of like bicycles do. But, like I said, it's surprisingly not scary. To view a short video of our ride, see it on YouTube here.
There were tonnes of people both participating in and watching the marathon. The race began at one end of a bridge crossing the Mutha river. There were military-looking guards keeping people from walking across the bridge to watch, but he sweetly let us through. We made it in time to see the first start (wheelchair division), which was closly followed by the men's full marathon. Many of the runners were running barefoot. I got a short video clip of the front of the pack as they ran across the bridge, see here.
There were several different sub-races going on: women's half marathon, men's 10k, women's 10k, under-19 8k, under-17 5k, under-15 4k, senior citizens' 3k, as well as the enormous AIDS Charity Run. Marcelo and I stood and watched people cross the start line for 30 minutes and then we gave up -- they just kept coming and coming and coming. The paper said that there were 30,000 runners in total across all events.
We made our way through the streets on foot to get to the finish line at Nehru Stadium. This is the first time we actually walked around and it wasn't bad. One thing I absolutely love in India is the stray dogs. No one is threatened by them and they are allowed to roam free in the streets. They are skinny, but not unhealthy and they have such a relaxed attitude. They'll sleep anywhere (including in the street) and they don't beg for food. In North America, they would be stray dogs, but here they're just dogs. 
We managed to find our way to the stadium. The entrance was way too narrow and there were so many people. We met one of the officials by chance when we went the wrong way around the stadium and he led us in. It was the worst crowd situation I've ever been in. People were packed tightly together and it was all I could do to keep up with our new friend. If it wasn't for him, maybe we wouldn't have gotten in at all. At certain points, the forward movement stopped but people kept pushing, so I started to think of the message that the hotel would have to send to AudienceView and our families along the lines of 'sorry to inform you, Marcelo and Kaori were crushed at Nehru Stadium'. Don't worry. It really wasn't that bad.
The stands held 20,000 people, but we weren't allowed to go up there unless we were in one of the races. So, we staked out a spot on the lawn that was blissfully spacious. The first finisher came across the line at about 2:20. I couldn't make out the announcement, so I don't know who won, but he looked African. The finishers were staggered quite far apart. I missed the winner, but I got some footage of some of the top 10 runners, see here. Some official-looking young security guards lined the last leg of the race for the first 4 runners, but after that they dispersed and not many people were paying attention to the runners anymore. The focus was really on the party in front of the grandstand where a band named Asma (?) was playing and a radio personality was entertaining the crowd. Everyone was milling around there, so it was relatively easy to slip out.
We set out again on foot for a little bit. I bought a strange fruit snack from a street vendor for 7 rupees. I think he totally fleeced me, but we're talking about 20 cents here. The fruit looked like a green apple, but it was soft inside kind of like an avocado. He cut it up for me and sprinkled spicy chili powder in it. It was interesting.
We caught another rickshaw (we're old hat at this now) to the Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, which is a swank 5-star that was totally booked when Marcelo was arranging our travel. It's definitely fancier than our hotel, but I like ours better -- more homey. We wandered around a bit and then had lunch at the cafe. We ordered fresh lime sodas (exactly what we needed) along with wada pav (deep-fried potato croquette on a white bun), mini samosas (our first samosas this trip), and aloo tuk (deep-fried potatoes tossed in spices). Everything was so good. The wada pav was like a little Indian burger. If you look at the picture of the aloo tuk, you'll see what looks like a green bean on top of the potatoes. I had thought this was a green bean, but actually it is a deep-fried green chili pepper. I popped the whole thing in my mouth and ate it in one fell swoop. The error of my judgement quickly took over my mouth and I had to leave the table and regroup in the bathroom. It wasn't that bad though. Could have been much worse with a smaller chili.
After lunch, the intention was to do a little walking/window shopping. This quickly turned into me spending a whole lot of cash, but I think it was worth it. First, we popped into the Nike Store and I bought an official India cricket practice jersey for Darcy as well as a t-shirt with one of the national team's player's name and number. They look cool. Then, and this is the really disastrous part, we popped into a store selling pashminas, silk scarves, blouses, jewelry, and rugs. I started by looking at the blouses and bought a nice one for myself. 
Then he showed me the handmade silk scarves and I just had to have 4. Then he showed me the pashminas. First he took out the cotton ones, then the cotton/wool ones, then the 100% Kashmir Pashmina wool (from the beard of a goat only) ones, then the 100% Kashmir Pashmina wool with embroidery. I've never felt anything like this Pashmina wool in my life -- it is other worldy. I ended up buying 4 of the most expensive kind. Vijay, I think they fleeced me here, but I couldn't say no. 
You'll have to tell me how stupid I was when I get back. The great thing with a foreign currency is that you have no idea what you are spending. I wouldn't let Marcelo tell me until we'd left the store. The people working there were so grateful; they gave Marcelo and I free jewelry boxes and small vials of saffron.
Lastly we went to a very North American-like department store called Central. There were multiple floors of men's clothes, women's clothes, shoes, housewares (lots of pressure cookers), and food. Marcelo bought some Indian sweets and I had the most delicious samosa.
By this time we had been out for 9 hours, so we grabbed another rickshaw back to the hotel. At one point, the driver had us smack in the middle of a huge intersection with traffic about to come in all directions. People are very alert here though. I haven't seen any accidents since that first night in Mumbai.
We had grand intentions to take a rickshaw and have dinner somewhere else in the city, but after relaxing at the hotel for 3 hours, we didn't want to go anywhere. Instead, we went back to Puran Da Dahaba, the traditional Indian restaurant on the first floor. The food here is exceptionally good -- we are lucky it is in the hotel. We started with the usual peanuts, pappadums, and appetizers (lentil soup, fried fish with vegetable slaw, and mutton liver). The mutton liver was great -- I'd never had it before. It was in a sweet, slightly spicy sauce. The soup was amazing -- fragrant, but with a latent spicy kick.
It was the manager's wedding anniversary, so he sent each of us a piece of pineapple cake. I don't have a photo because I inhaled it without thinking. It was a very light, moist sponge cake with whipped creamy icing and fresh pineapple -- best cake ever, I'm serious. I saw the same cake in the carousel in the other restaurant on my way back up to my room. I couldn't totally eat a whole one for dinner.
I was taking notes on the names of the buffet items, so the corporate (executive) chef, David Gomes, came over and explained EVERYTHING to me. Here are some of my notes:
Vegetarian
- paneer amritsari: a cottage cheese dish from Punjab.
- subzi khada masala: subzi = vegetable (cauliflower?), khada masala = whole spices. Khada masala comprises spices like cardamom, cloves, and ginger.
- kalonji ke baingan: kalonji = onion seed. This dish has onion and eggplant.
- sarson da saag: made from mustard leaves.
- rajma masala: with red kidney beans.
- dal vegetable shorba: this soup starts with vegetable stock made from cooking vegetables with khaga masala. After boiling for 2-3 hours, ginger, garlic, and chilies are sauteed together, then then vegetable stock is added. Sometimes white flour is also added, along with salt, lemon juice, and coriander leaves.
Non-vegetarian
- patayali shahi gosht: patayali = place in Punjab, shahi = royal, gosht = mutton.
- gosht biryani: rice with mutton and khada masala.
- dahiwala kukkad: dahiwala = curd, kukkad = chicken.
- gosht shorba = mutton soup.
Fruit (all of these fruit grow in India)
- pineapple
- papaya
- pomegranate
- sweet lime (very mild lime)
- bananas
- guava (this is what I had on the street!)
Desserts
- cham cham: milk-based spongeydessert from East India. Topped with pistachios and edible silver.
- pedha: small rounds made of milk and saffron.
- chawal kneer: chawal = rice. Rice with nuts.
- gajor halwa: grated carrot with pistachio.
Some other tidbits from Chef Gomes:
- khada masala spices are good for strengthening your immune system
- curry powder is not curry
- no preserved foods are used in his restaurant
He also let me watch them make a piece of naan and cook it in the tandoor. There was a tray of little balls of dough covered with cloth on the counter. The cook pressed it onto a disc, flipped it around a little, and then slapped it on the wall of the tandoor. It puffed up in no more than 10-15 seconds and he removed it with metals tongs. Chef Gomes says you should always have butter with naan unless you're allergic (suits me!). The naan is so good here. We get to eat it as soon as it comes out of the oven. Again, we're so spoiled! Marcelo and I both had two orders each tonight. I hope we can fit in the economy class seats on the flight back. I took a tonne of pictures in addition to the ones you see here, so if you want to see them, click here. Well, it's been a full day and it's back to work tomorrow. Hope you are all well! Goodnight.
posted by Kaori @ 4:50 PM
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