India -Karnataka Region 2008
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Assortment of Scoots Typical array of scooters, new and old. On the left is a typical Bajaj Chetak (I like the 12 v, which might be wrongly interpretaed as 12 valves. That would be a helluva feat since it's a 2 stroke scooter). The other is a "Priya". |
Yet another Bajaj Bajaj in a color that is vespa-inluenced. |
Royal Enfield Bullet 350 The big bike in India is the Bullet 350. Basically, the British company started an India branch way back, then it folded ... but the Indian Royal Enfield continued with the same design. I saw a couple 500s too, but that is like a super bike here. Most are 135cc and less. |
Omnipresent Auto Rickshaw A typical 3 wheeler, 2 stroke type |
What died for this? Ultra furry comfort. I think this owner might have killed a Sleestak to make this. |
OMG, it's a Vespa. This was to be the only actual Vespa I saw on the whole trip. Or was it a Bajaj with a Vespa logo? I am not expert enough to know. Looks vespa to me, like a small 90 or 125. |
The Mighty Ape Piaggio (Vespa) Ape cargo vehicle, awesome. |
Gotta Love the Ape Why are these illgal in the US? What a great vehicle for slow roads (wouldn't take it on the freeway, never!) |
Democracy Festival English-speaking democracy festival. Seriously, some limited time here makes one think this place might benefit from a small revolution, even if it's just in the culture sphere. The media is pablum, so any alternative is probably good. |
Evening Fun Cotton Candy, the international classic. Pink, delicious, totally un-nutricious. That's what fun is made of. |
Classic Street Dogs of India No. 2 Better start numbering the dog photos. The fact is, this one has the exact body of our dog Francy, but it makes francy look fat. Long neck, pointy nose for rooting in trash, whip-like tail, short coarse hair. |
Balloon Reverie A quiet moment with balloons. |
Barista Coffee Another big chain besides Cafe Coffee Day is Barista Coffee. Their "Guilty Pleasures" sign seems oddly out of place to an out-of-towner like me when there are homeless sleeping in every nook, and within 50 feet of the sign. It's probably something you don't notice after a while. |
And across the street ... Sure, adults use children to beg, but it's not like she rakes it in, taking her loot back to a nice home (or any home at all). And yes, this was less than 500 feet from the Guilty Pleasures sign. |
My favorite sign Across from the hotel we stayed at was Loot Mart. I guess Loot means something other than a. stole merchandise b. other ill-gotten gains or c. to smash a store windows and empty out all the contents! |
The Main Event The evening culminated in karaoke spectacular. I saw this from where we were eating in the hotel, and had to go down to check out the talent. |
Sihkmaster K The first act I caught was this guy, who I am sure would have had all the girls swooning except for the fact that there was roughly 3 girls in the whole crowd. I think this was happening after the "girl curfew hour". |
Indian Elvis Next up was this joyless wonder. Seriously, he made the first guy look like Justin Timberlake. He didn't move, at all, not a bit. It was like he was reading a term paper. In the foreground is the screen he was reading his thesis from . |
A girl out after 9 pm? It made it even more odd that she simply danced, and was kinda shakin' her groove thing with not another woman in sight ... when out of nowhere ... |
Grandma Jams With Junior This woman who was 70 (or so she said after) jumps on stage for a spontaneous get-down. People went wild. But I must say, I think it was all planned by these two as part of their shtick. Anyway, they pulled the plug because it was 9:30 ... it was enough for me though. |
Another Early Morning Session The next morning I awoke ridiculously early again, 4:30am, and walked the streets taking pictures until breakfast would be served. It's so quiet in town, but surprising too how many little things are already going on. I photographed the classic Indian bike, the Atlas. |
Cute Danger Sign No.2 The happy skull, not very intimidating. |
Hindu Shrine You can see that the Hindu pallet is bright, very bright, even in the dark it lights up. |
Hero Bicycle Shop Just a nice store front for a bike shop. There's lotsa business in bike and motorcycle repair. |
Egad - another creepy waste basket In the city park, another lobotomized specimen. |
Jurrasic Park Well, fosilized park. This area had scentarios of plaster animals, supposedly all representing true local wildlife ... but come on, those antlers must be exagerated. |
Bovine Friend As the sun started to paint the morning sky, wandering cattle cruised the street looking for edibles, with their bird friends mounted on their backs. Cattle often wander unattended through even a large city like Bangalore and Pune, and I guess their owners know where to find them. Being sacred and all, I guess nobody messes with them. |
Pushing His Luck This fellow was standing in the middle of the street for a long while, immovable, as cars and scooters zipped fast. These daredevil bovines crossed highways, but seemed to know instinctively how to negotiate the cars swerving around them. |
Early morning traffic geometry In a way that few people from the US would quickly understand, traffic can cross each other in so many directions, like a pile of pick-up sticks in a pile. The bill boards often contrast the street life greatly. |
Black Panther Proactive Clothing As a brand, it wouldn't work so well in the USA |
Dr. Ranade, Michael, The Guru Now down to business - here's the group I traveled with, and the reason for coming. Dr. Ranade heads the consulting company that supports coffee farmers (and other crops) who want to improve their crop. They make targeted, customized micro-nutrient fertilizer to improve plant health. Michael helps to market the coffee these farms in the "group" produce under the Karnataka Coffee Plantations name, and the Guru, well, he's just the Guru! Everyone in India has a Guru. I was very interested in our hosts, their structure, their purpose ... so through the course of these photos it will become clear. |
The Group Pt 1 In the group were 7 of us of fairly different backgrounds. Brian (R) owns Milanos in Vancouver BC Canada, Mark owns Kaladis in Denver, Sean owns Seattle Roaster Company |
The Group Pt 2 Paul (R) is GM of Ravens Brew in Washington, Miguel is in Minnesota at Paradise, his family business, and Sherri Johns is a coffee consultant from Portland. |
The Old Ambassador Here's a vintage Ambassador that was the car owned by Dr. Ranadey's father and is still a car he takes out for weekend drives. |
Dr. Varma and Ms Anita In Pune, the Ranade Group has a labratory where they make soil and leaf tests for coffee farmers, and provide strategic approaches to improving the plants. |
Lousy but important Image This is the core of their program, that the approach to fertilization is wrong, that farmers dump too much of the most basic fertilizers (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) and don't feed plants a more restrained and balanced load of lesser compounds that coffee needs. So doing research on soild contents and leaf contents, and developing a specific forumla for each case means the plant gets what it truly needs without over-fertilization. I like this idea, and it is opposite to the massive doses of the 3 base fertilizers that are produced largely by artifical processes (petrolium based etc) and lead to environment contamination. |
Fertilizers aren't evil, but their misuse is, yet the relationship between
production and cup quality is tricky in coffee, so I have some reservations.
But Ranadey argues that this careful selections of mirco-nutrients are
not heavy in Naptha and Petrolium based fertilizer (if they have any),
and by improving plant health the whole spectrum of
pesticides do not have to be employed (which are truly nasty chemicals).
Micronutrients are trace elements the plant requires, minerals and some
fertilizers, all in balance.
Climate map for Karnataka Karnataka has most of the key coffee growing areas of India in the Western Ghat mountains, while there is also a good amount of production from Coorg area. |
Gas Photospectronomy One of the most important test instruments is the Gas Photospectrometer. This is needed to accurately analize chemical components in plant material. The principle of this targeted fertilizing brings into play the conflict between the fertilizer and pesticide industries, whose interests can sometimes be at odds. Fert. is dominated by huge N-P-K (base fertilizer) makers that use petroleum-based processes. So Randade says they are quite different than this type of supplier. |
More of the Lab The lab in Pune seemed built for use, not loaded with equipment like the Coffee Board facility we saw later (they are flush with cash). It's a simple and effective set-up designed for exactly the testing they need to do. The use UV photospecronomy a lot for analysis. |
Crowded Conditions in Pune Bikes and motorccles and buses, it's a crazy mix on all Indian roads, and you wonder how there cannot be more accidents. |
total insanity Cars and auto-rickshaws cram the street, oncoming trucks, and a family with a small infant - it's typical and completely crazy. I noticed too that when there are helmets, the man is wearing it, not the wife, not the kids! |
Hindu Swastik It's very odd to see the reverse "swastik" sign of the Hindu faith around |
Hindu Insurance Again, the odd hindu swastik, but this time on the ads you see on motorcycles, a funny place to place an ad for insurance and doctoring, but I suppose it's appropriate placement in a way; As you sort throught the wreckage of an accident, you might need to call one or the other just at that time. |
Coffee Bus At the Coffee Board of India, their bus has a funny ad for coffee painted on it... |
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