Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans

As promised in my previous post, here some more about how I did tackle the saree issue at this mushroom plant.
Harvesting of mushrooms has to be compared to working in a hospital, strict hygiene rules and we have to avoid contamination IF there is somewhere a moldy spot or whatever.
Clothing has to be rather tight and no sweeping baggy sleeves, long open hair, and surely no long sweeping sarees should be seen.
Far better than a saree would be a kind of pajama, a North India type of clothing.
To convince the harvesting crew, I did propose to let one of the supervisors wear my jeans for a day, to check it out and to get the feel of it.
Since I had only one pair of jeans with me at the location (more in the suitcases left in Delhi at the office...) the only solution would be to swap!

So I got outfitted for the day in a saree, that Krishna lend to me as she did wear my jeans...

Getting dressed by the Tamil ladies into a saree...
A cropped short sleeved saree blouse on an under skirt...

Krishna starts draping the many yards around me.

Here I am, the blue eyed Indian in saree.
Krishna seen to the right in this photo and she did wear my jeans for that day.

Blue eyed Indian in saree with blue eyed husband.
A pity that I don't have a photo from the fresh hair flowers they did pin on top of my braid...

This crew wanted to be captured on camera with me.
Krishna the one that dressed me and will wear my jeans, holding my hand...

Oh, it was not easy to move about and to climb up on the steps wearing this restricting saree but I managed for that day.
Management did provide them with the special pajama pants so they did switch to different outfits!
It was a pleasure to work with these ladies, they were quick learners and hard working!

Quite touching when you get presented something like this writing, on the final day on March 16 of 1990...
We always left feeling emotional; such a beautiful country and very warm and caring people.
As for the food, I am in heaven when eating Indian!

Stay tuned for our very special trip on Sunday, March 11.

Thanks for your visit and comment!

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Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me

Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project

You now know from the previous post where we are staying for the 11 nights that we will be working here in India.

Now let's look at the actual mushroom plant location in south India in the Nilgiri mountains at an altitude of 2,000 meters (or 6562 feet).
The reason that you find most mushroom plants high in the mountains is for the more favorable climate of cooler nights and often cooler days as well. No need for using expensive air-conditioning for maintaining the optimum climate for mushroom growing but instead using the Lord's natural air-conditioning!
You could see how the area looks like, from watching that remarkable video from the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, winding though tea estates and through Eucalyptus woods... from my previous post.
Also here you see how we traveled daily from the Savoy hotel to the location Needle Industries where the mushroom plant was located.

On Monday, March 5 of 1990 when I came first to the mushroom plant to work with the harvest crew, my blond braid went through numerous hands... my arms and hands got caressed and they liked my skin. They only wanted to know what those freckles on my arms were... I replied that it was my 1% of India genes. My blue eyes got approved and that was it.

Yes, complete with Bindi on my forehead.

We did a LOT of walking and climbing, remember this is at an altitude of 2,000 meters or 6562 feet!
Both of us never owned a FitBit...

At the entrance with the security people.

You can see that we are high up in the mountains at 2,000 meters or 6562 feet.
They are still constructing lots of new growing sheds.
ALL excavation is done by hand!
Women are even aiding in the construction, making mortar and carrying it in a basket on their head up on the scaffolding.
Man-height boulders are being chiseled into small pieces and carried in baskets on their head.
Even the soil for filling in the tens of meters difference in height; everything is hand labor!

Same spot as the photo above but a bit more from a distance.

Compost is made of straw + chicken litter, water and mixed with a pickaxe.
Women were distributing the dry chicken litter!
Working in those countries makes you SHUT UP FOREVER about magnified so-called problems we encounter here in the Western World! Good grief...

It is such a lovely area...

In the back you see the compost pasteurization tunnels being constructed.

Here you see a concrete ring where they catch the runoff water on the compost slab.
You can see those men working with the pickaxe.

Here you clearly see  the excavation of different soil layers in progress.

In addition some airco units for adjusting certain growing conditions.

This is the inside of a growing room with mushrooms ready for harvest.
They grow in bags of 12 kg or 26.5 lbs of pasteurized compost on racks of bamboo instead of nice aluminum.

Addressing the saree problem with the manager.
 Those long saree dresses can cause contamination as they sweep over surfaces.

Stay tuned for my next post where I do tackle the saree issue.

Thanks for your visit and comment!

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My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post my me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me

My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter

On March 2, 1990 we both traveled from Atlanta, USA (yes we had moved back from Italy) to Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 8 hours on a KLM Royal Dutch Airline flight.
There we had a layover of some 8 hours.
On days like that it is priceless for having an airline courtesy card with access to their business class lounge. For reading, writing and relaxing. We also did make phone calls (old fashioned coin machine) with the family in The Netherlands.
We left again on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for Delhi, India and on Sunday, March 4 we arrived early morning in Delhi at 6:00. 
Through customs and checking in for the flight to Madras (now Chennai), the capital of the state Tamil Nadu.

A representative of Pond's India Ltd. did meet us and drop us off at the Trident hotel in Madras. 

We were exhausted and slept till 19:00 and had some room service as food and by 22:00 in bed for the night.

On Monday March 5, we got up at 3:30 and re-packed our suitcases for an early flight at 6:15 to Coimbatore. We would be going on to Indonesia for living and working there. So we packed only our work clothes for the job here and the other suitcases stayed behind with Pond's.
In Coimbatore we were met by a person from Pond's India mushrooms. 

A very dusty but interesting ride up into the Nilgiri Mountains, to our destination in Ooty.

The first time that I saw an elephant in one of the villages, donkeys, buffalos and lots of monkeys alongside the road.
Passing palmtree woods and eucalyptus tree woods.

We arrived at the Mushroom plant by 11:30 and we got garlanded as a traditional welcome.
We filled that first day till 18:00 - we were very tame by then...

It had been a long day, since we got up at the Trident hotel in Madras...
Waking up at 3:30 in the morning in order to go to work!

Just to show you the luxury of hotels in India. Elegant setting in a garden; indeed!
But we hardly could indulge as we were there only for 1 short night.

So here we are now at the Savoy Hotel Cottages in Ooty.
For 11 nights, so we have now a base to start from and don't have to pack every day...
The Taj Group's Savoy is one of Ooty's oldest hotel with parts of it dating back to 1829.
These 19th century cottages are surrounded by 6 acres of landscaped gardens.

Such lovely garden and this huge Orchid cactus lived in a tree.
We took a starter home from this...
Ooty is called the Queen of Hill Stations, a former British Resort area and it is nestled in the Nilgiri hills (can be translated as The Blue Mountains). Eucalyptus trees grow in this area and also the Neelakurinji flower turns the hills blue, every 12 years! Click on link that shows the Neelakurinji in the bordering state of Kerala.
Ooty Udagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund and abbreviated as Udhagai or Ooty (click link for more and for photos).
Just to give you an idea how we traveled to our work during those 11 days.
There is a famous Botanical Garden and they have thousands of Roses...
So much to see and explore but as usual, we were not there as tourists! 

~
One morning in our 2nd week, we did ride the Nilgiri Mountain Railway from Ooty to Ketti station.
Actually a Toy Train...
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2005. Click the above pink hyperlink to learn more.
Nilgiri Railway was made famous through cinema first in 1984 with David Lean's 'A Passage to India'.

This is a short video about Nilgiri Mountain Railway and at 10:44 you can see the Ketti Station where we got off.
Quite an experience!

Ketti station is at 2,109m or 6919 feet altitude and it goes till Fern Hill at a height of 2,193m or 7195 feet, the highest point on the railroad. Shortly before Ooty, the line dips downhill.

Now you also know why the Palace, where husband Pieter dined during his solo trip, is called Fernhills Palace, once the Maharaja of Mysore's summer residence. (see post below about Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India).

We both worked with pleasure at this mushroom plant high in the mountains.
Very nice staff and also my group of harvesters and supervisors with whom I worked rather intense.

Stay tuned for more in my next post and thanks for your visit and comment!

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Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me