What I learned after Meeting Richard

Newly painted home

Richard Ivy and his three team members came from US, Arizona here in Madhavpur, Chitwan for about a week. It was a week's stay in which they have finished painting the Nabin Children’s Home in a week’s time. This kind of fast act and work is almost unthinkable for average Nepali, unless; it's the work of ginie.

In his team there was one not too old couple, Robert and Debbie, who looked in their mid fifties, and a college student Rene Chavez. Rene helped painting the house while Robert and Debbie Kiel was busy praying whole week. When I sat down with them over a lunch on the last day, Robert said, during this time he had seen some miracles of people being cured from disease that seemed unrepeatable. Robert made it more easier for me to understand it; saying they were ‘emotionally healed’. I believe in healing that takes place in church or under tent organized by Christians. I believe you too will believe in emotional healing, if you are familiar with the term psychosomatic disorder.

Research shows 80% people who are in hospitals, are there; because they think - all the time - they are sick. More you think about your sickness, more it gets you. This is called psychosomatic.

When all the other People were excited about the new paint in the house, Richard was thinking beyond the new look and paint for the house. His prime focus was to treat the roof first, He had observed that it leaks during rainy seasons. He knew water seepage, spoils ceiling, decays the house faster than its time. He wanted to stop it all.  He also wanted to treat the roof for the accumulated moulds from years which he thought was absorbing heat so much from sunlight that was making the children home hotter in part of the country like Chitwan.

He went to the market looking for a chemical called borack [?]. When we did not find that chemical in small city like Narayanghat, he managed to get it done by vinegar. The workers poured about 20 liters of vinegar on the rooftop, once it was scrubbed properly with steel wire to get rid from the moulds. Vinegar, will stop moulds reappearing anytime soon. After that they painted white weather coating to stop the leakage and also to reflect the sunlight to stop absorption of heat. I asked the store owner how much temperature it reduces ? He said about 5 degree Celsius.

His focus was not just the paint that our eyes see instantly  but to protect the home from future seepage, heat  and decay also. I have not heard Sukdev talking about all this not even for his new home.

How come you know so much about painting ? I asked him. Because I have made mistakes many times while painting my house that's why I know all this, was his prompt response.

Project was Under budget : at the last day of project, he said he is under budget now, when there was plenty of work to be done.  First, time when he went to the market he realised he had sufficient money with him, as he had got the quotation on highest side.  But, once the work started he was surprised that people add so much water on paint and they go for double coating, instead of single like in US. There was no plan to paint doors and windows but new paint on the wall automatically demanded the fresh paint on doors and windows. And the  kitchen counter needed properly tiled to protect the newly painted wall.

without paint

Another reason for this under budget is use of nonprofessionals to paint the house instead of   professionals who were needed to do this work on time.

Richard did not like the color my  brother choose to paint the house. He went three shade darker than the color I do not like. Richard and I seemed to go for the softer color whereas Sukdev preferred  darker color mainly for exterior look.  Here the Richard’s take on it helped me to get things a lot better than being control freak for things that is not going as you wish.

Its his house, let him have it; his way, he said. My response was it's not his house its children’s home [ it was his home before they shifted to new home about seven years ago].

There were so many things that was not going as it was expected before. Even then the house   painting was almost done and it looked beautiful.

I asked him looking at what you have in front of you are you happy now ?  Yes, I am happy; his response was fast. Do you think it's worth coming here and doing all things ? he said, yes with a big smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

Back in his homeland Richard is a very successful architecture. He runs his consulting company  with the help of a dozen team members. At 70 year his physical frame may look frail but he is as active as a man in his thirty and his brain runs faster than a computer when  it comes to seeing a big dream for this children home my brother runs here in Madhavpur Chitan. He is scared at times. Maybe, just maybe; he might lose the race against time when it comes to doing all the things he wants to do here for this children home before he dies. He says there is a lot to do. His fear may have something to do with his mother, who died just a week before he landed in Nepal. He has a father who is 93 year old and lives in Virginia. When he returns to US, he has to go back to virginia to see his father and then take back four days road trip to be in his hometown in Arizona. Before, he left for Nepal, his hectic time schedule kept him busy almost breaking his back.

He goes to Two Rivers Church in Arizona where around four hundred people visit  in a week. It was his church who had help him to raise funds for this painting and then sent him here as a leader of the team.  

The Team from US & Richard is with Red T-shirt

Where you put your focus makes the whole difference in life, in short term as well as in long term. His focus on roof was beyond the new painting on the wall that our eye can see instantly, it was much more than that.  Let it go. The marigold painted house of somebody you know is not something we should take seriously and personally. Losing someone you love so much doesn't mean you waste time crying for the loved one. He was too busy working for others who were less fortunate than him in so many ways and all  he was thinking how can he make it better.  This is living in true sense.

Now, I know a lot about painting a house and to care rooftops. I rarely meet a man who is warm, wise, knowledgeable and kind hearted  at the same time. I truly admire the man like Richard.  

How to make meat as Dashain Delicacy

 

Boar's meat

Dashain is incomplete without the meat delicacies. I love cooking meat and pickles for dashain. I am a huge fan of hot spices which we add in our meat during festival times. I like it, if the scent of food please our nasal senses first, long before we eat it. Plain meat which do not have aromatic scent fails to impress me. The whiff of aromatic food do have a strong power to remind us that there is festival going on. There is something good going on. I love that scent; of festival and of good feelings and mood that comes from the food that is being cooked. Aromatic food do have power to make us feel good and boost our mood; about us, about the life that has to offer all the good thing with it. We are healthy and we can enjoy and digest the heavily spiced up food.

I think this aromatic meat takes me back in my memory lane and all I am trying to do is to bring back my childhood and relive the childhood as an adult. Where Dashain used to be a big event in the year. I do not think anyone was living the moment when they prepared great food. Everyone who prepared such lavish dashain food in that moment left me a deep impact, a very good memory in life, which never vanish from my  mind laste in our taste bud for decades after the childhood is gone.

I know now I make meat differently than they used to make it when I was child. If not all, there are many spices that I choose not to add in my meat. I do not know but I have come out my own five hot spices; which includes, green cardamom [sukumel], clove, nutmeg, staranish and jaipatri. Timur is another spice which I use to get rid from the natural scent of the meat. Yes all meat not just buff or goat’s pungent scent. And yes, without bay leaf my work is incomplete when I make meat. These are the spices I use almost every time I cook meat and do not wait until Dashain or another festival to enjoy the well scented food. Good scent is one major part of the food I cook.

Yesterday I have five kg of domesticated boar's meat. When there is this big meat at home during dashain, I am given the department to cook it better and I love that part. So, with the cook I prepared it like this. I like marinating meat before I cook. Sometimes I really do not have much time so at least ten minutes is better to marinade it but in general you should keep it aside for about half an hour. My time to marinade is for about six hours and sometimes I leave it in fridge for more than 12 hours to marinade.

My favorite five hot spices

Receipe : Before marinating I add spices like this. this is for five kg meat which is enough for 15 people. I take 15 timur and grind it with sea salt. Before grinding it I remove its black seed or else it will give you that uneasiness in  your mouth later on when you stay to relish the meat. Then in that same mortar where I just grinded about 15 timur, I add five green cardamon [we call it sukumel here], ten cloves, one third of a nutmeg, one and half cover of a full jaipatri and one and half star anise. Grind it all in mortar and try to make it as fine as you can.

Then spread it over the big bowl where your meat is finely cut and cleaned. I recommend you not clean meat more than once. Then I take two medium size whole garlic, chinese is better. About 30 grams of ginger, five medium size onions,  finely chopped. Add chilly and salt as to your taste. I like hot, so I add about 10 - 12 Akbare chilli that is small but it's very hot, to give it a spiced up taste. Now you can use your grinding machine or mortar to make fine paste it all. Again, spread all that paste in that big bowl of the meat. Now spread five teaspoon of mixed cumin and dry coriander dust, one and half teaspoon of turmeric powder for good color. At last add 100 grams of mustard or sunflower oils, and then marinate it with your hand. I keep it aside about an hour or so for marination. This is my minimum time. My normal time is six hours for marination.

When it's time to cook it, I heat a big pan which we call karai here, over gas and then transfer all the meat on that karai. This is the right time to add about five bay leaf. Stir it for some time and then cover it, In the beginning high heat is needed and after fifteen  minutes lower the gas heat and bring it to medium heat and let it cook with its cover for about twenty minutes. Once the water dries out, let it covered up for about ten minutes and then it's ready to serve.

Black Timur

If you like tomato add about half kg just when all the water dries out and  then cover it up for ten minutes. However, festival meat is better off without tomatoes on it.

Timur [Sichuan pepper] cures my boredom and anger. The moment I bent on the mortar to grind it; all my anger, irritation and boredom vanishes in an instant. It is also believed that this also kills bacteria from food as well as inside our belly. Its ability to add the strong smell in meat makes it my number one spices to keep in meat. I cook not just I like cooking but I know it as a lasting impact to make in the mind of people even after years pass by. Cook for a reason, cook for a memory and cook for a festival.

No more vomiting during long distance traveling

I was one of that person who used to feel sick from the time I rode bus for a long distance travel. I vomited all the way to the home of my brother where I normally go to spend my holidays. This is just a five or six hours driving distance by bus or 21 minutes far from air travel.   Did I tell you I vomited in that short travel  also.

I travel for couple of reason a week or a ten day off from my work in city. A reason to seek a way out from concrete jungle.

I used to talk about my sickness to everyone who used to travel in bus. I encountered many people who were not affected by travelling sickness and many who were like me, who threw up heavily. The thought of riding a bus made us sick to the stomach. Some suggested eat before traveling, I tried that and it did not worked out. Some said, do not eat before travelling. I tried that and that also did not work out.

There were times I was less sick or vomiting. And there was time I vomited heavily that made me more sick. When it comes to making me sick it also made the others on bus to feel sick with the kind of smell that comes out from food after remaining certain hours inside our belly. No wonder, I also blamed rough driving  as one of the reason that made me sick when I traveled.

Any kind of scent that came inside and outside used to make me sick. The scent of diesel passing from the end of bus made me sick. The scent of petrol traveling in the annals of pipes and ending up as smoke made me sick. Scent of tarpaulin made me sick. Mix scent of many people inside the bus made me sick. It could be of sweat, hair oil, or the deo they sprayed in the body. The bad taste of music played by driver made me sick. Food I eat on the way decided to come out after five minutes of staying inside my belly. And when I drank water that also came out.

If there was a drop of spit inside my intestine that also used to come out. And until it came out, it troubled me. It made me throw up so much that my belly could not hold anything, not even water that I drank to give me energy to travel; as I avoided eating due to high risk of throwing up any way. It was less embarrassing. Seeing even  the water coming out game me an idea to detox myself.  So, what I did was; I used to drink lots of water once there was nothing left in my belly, which anyway came out within minutes. It was that time I thought I am  detoxing myself, a very cheap mode of detoxing. It would have cost me hell if I  had to do this in hospital but riding a bus made is so easy and affordable.

The ghost of traveling made me so sick that I avoided traveling more. More I am not exposed to traveling, more I was sick of it. There was also time I returned to Kathmandu from Chitwan and smell of bus kept  me sick for a week even thinking about it.

Do I have to say it now. it was embarrassing to the max. But , just because I was embarrassed does not mean the vomit will not find its way out. The sound I made was even more uncomforting. The combination of both was mother of all embarrassment, which I faced for more than 12 years.

If you are suffering from travel sickness you must have heard and then tried many stupid ideas to avoid vomiting. I have to admit taking avomine was one of the most uneasy way I have tried once. Sure it stopped the vomiting but it made me more sick. It made me more sick afterwards than letting it go of what was trying to come out.  Needless to tell you, I tried it once but never took the avomine again. The most absurd idea of avoiding vomit came from another man who himself suffered from travel sickness. Some body told him to sit on  the half cut coconut shell during travel. I forgot to ask him did you hear it from a madman ? Some suggested, keep a coin inside your mouth during travel. Just recently, somebody shared with my brother keeping a coin on our naval and tapping it might work. He insist there were some whom it worked.

Thank God, even in sickness I keep my sanity  intact and did not tried those absurd ideas. But, yes I did try  eating before traveling, which did not work and not eating before traveling which also did not work. 

 

Sometimes eating on the way did worked ! mostly all those decided immediately to come out just when the bus picked up the speed.

Last year before heading the talk of my travel sickness came while talking with a group of young friends.  Ishmita, a college girl recommended, if you suffer from travel sickness why not you try tatura. Titaura is like pickle which we can eat anytime in a day. Somewhat I like this idea and bought a packet of titaura after riding a mini van heading to Chitwan. We have all kinds of titaura available in market. Titaura and pickle is our specialty here in Nepal. What I can say of this small thing called titaura is, if France has 3000 varieties of cheese; we have as much the variety of titaura available in our market.

However, I bought a gravy tamarind titaura. This is something you can make a small hole in one side of the small packet and suck it, without spoiling your hand during travel [Some sure prefer other kind of titaura that is suitable to their taste buds]. I did not like the smell of it, yet eat it knowing; anyway it will go out in couple of minutes. But, eating it saved me from throwing up. Then after more than an hour later also I was not vomiting. Then I realised it worked. It was first time in my life I had not vomited while I was on long distance travel route. Do I have to tell you I tried it this year also and again it worked. This is my second year without vomiting in bus and making it to my destination. This year the small packet titaura was made of lapsi pulp, tamarind and lemon. The mix combination of all acidic fruits which I love too much was so good and tasty. And suddenly it was better than a medicine that help me to avoid vomiting.

When I don't vomit I can know the name of places I pass by in bus and then can chat with the person who sits next to me and the enjoy all the beauty of  scenery that some beautiful place offers me. So, this small favour from titaura will not be undermined and I am going to recommend all those who  suffer from travel sickness to take titaura of your taste to avoid yuking.

Thank GOD ! at least it helped me !