I walked around the fruit and vegetable market in Mysore. To someone that's used to the ordered shelves and clean aisles of a Publix grocery store, this was total chaos. Stalls were stocked randomly and haphazardly, and stalls and people and fruits and vegetables and flowers were all on top of one other. But in spite of its chaos, it had a rustic charm and beauty. And prices were straight-from-the-farm: a banana cost me four cents.
One kid followed me around and asked where I was from. As soon as he heard "America," I had a supernatural glow around me. His friend assured me that I looked like Leo from Titanic. When I asked about a certain leaf that was being sold, he told me to wait and then took off running. He came back and assembled a betel nut package for me (above). Betel chewing is apparently a big tradition in India at important ceremonies like weddings. You mix lime (quicklime, not the fruit) with crushed betel pepper nut, and wrap it with a betel leaf. You chew it in the side of your mouth like dip (but its flavor is nutty, and nice). An interesting side effect is that it stains your mouth red, and it's a tradition to spit the red juices (called, interestingly, "beetle juice").
I walked around the fruit and vegetable market in Mysore. To someone that's used to the ordered shelves and clean aisles of a Publix grocery store, this was total chaos. Stalls were stocked randomly and haphazardly, and stalls and people and fruits and vegetables and flowers were all on top of one other. But in spite of its chaos, it had a rustic charm and beauty. And prices were straight-from-the-farm: a banana cost me four cents.
One kid followed me around and asked where I was from. As soon as he heard "America," I had a supernatural glow around me. His friend assured me that I looked like Leo from Titanic. When I asked about a certain leaf that was being sold, he told me to wait and then took off running. He came back and assembled a betel nut package for me (above). Betel chewing is apparently a big tradition in India at important ceremonies like weddings. You mix lime (quicklime, not the fruit) with crushed betel pepper nut, and wrap it with a betel leaf. You chew it in the side of your mouth like dip (but its flavor is nutty, and nice). An interesting side effect is that it stains your mouth red, and it's a tradition to spit the red juices (called, interestingly, "beetle juice").
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