Dolly has spent a day in terror, and now we have eggshells placed strategically around our room. Last night we saw our first chipakali, or wall lizard. They are similar to the "iguanas" I had as pets as a kid, and they don't bother me at all. They are harmless and eat bugs, and are even considered to be lucky. Dolly, on the other hand is terrified of the sight and thought of them, and we have spent the past 24 hours trying to figure out how to deal with the chipkalis.

I have tried to talk her through her fear, which is based on the thought of them falling on her and walking across her. I have told her that they have no interest in messing with an animal 1000x its size, and that they eat the insects which we really don't want around, but that has been no help. At least she no longer believes that they are poisonous. The Internet, her mom, and the neighbors told her that eggshells repel them (something about the smell), so now we have eggshells under the bed, on shelves, and hanging from nails. It may be true; shortly after placing the shells in our room, a small black chipkali which we had seen run under the door earlier came scurrying out, where I swept it up and tossed it outside. Hopefully, she will be able to sleep tonight.

Chikus, on the other hand are small fruits which I had never encountered before. They are a little bigger than golf balls and taste like strawberry shortcake, like the poundcake soaked in strawberry/sugar juice. We eat lots of fresh food and fruits. In the last 2 days I have eaten chikus, pomegranate, fresh pineapple juice, apples, and lots of mango. Deepika tells me not to eat too much mango, as it is a warming food, but we visited two of Dolly's cousins yesterday, and both offered mango. I accepted from both, and ate Dolly's as well at the second house.

Food is a lot fresher here in general. I have had only small amounts of sugar, a little bit in tea, and a few mango popsicles and small bottles of soda. I don't think I've encountered any preservatives. Food is made fresh, and a curry will usually last a few meals before it is gone. The staple of the diet is white rice, which seems a bit unhealthy to me, especially in the quantities in which it is eaten. From what I know of nutrition, white rice doesn't add much to a diet except calories and a high glycemic load, but its what a billion Indians eat every day. Its probably due to the fact that white rice stores better than brown rice, especially in heat, coupled with generations of tradition. Piles of rice are eaten with small amounts of curry - one curry at a time, at least in Hyderabad. The curries are flavorful enough to infuse the rice with taste, and the neutral taste of the white rice may be another reason it is preferred.

Meat is not a priority in the diet, and it seems like most protein comes from dal, a lentil or bean dish cooked to a mushy consistency. I am allergic to dal, so Deepika had only made it once.

The fruits and vegetables themselves are a bit different here as well. The lemons and limes are the size of cherry tomatoes, the tomatoes, potatoes, and onions are not much larger. The pomegranate I ate was a quarter of the size of the ones I am used to seeing. I assume its a combination of smaller scale, less industrialized agricultural practices and consumers not expecting baseball-sized bright red tomatoes.

Also... an update on the chicken curry from the first post: Deepika thought it needed more salt, more chili, and needed water to make it more tender (I usually add water and tomato paste for gravy... no tomato paste, so I didn't add water). Yesterday she made some chicken curry that kicked the butt of my chicken curry. I will have to learn her secrets, if I can wake up early enough.