Oct 5 2009 List of Necessary Stuff

Every time I come back to India from Canada there is a half a suitcase dedicated to anti-homesick stuff or just stuff I miss when I am here. It is not unlike those Indian travellers that put 4-5 jars of mango pickle and a lot of masala packets into their bags when they go abroad as well. Some things you’ve just got to have.

So I’ve gotten my list down to essentials and luxuries. If my suitcase is overweight I have to take a few luxuries out.

Essentials – Foodstuffs:

• 3 large bars of Neilson Jersey milk chocolate-Cadbury Dairy Milk is available here but rarely fresh and usually sort of crumbly
• 1 large jar of Cheese whiz-Amul dairies has started putting out a cheese spread in a plastic container, it’s ok to drop into an omlette but it tastes well “plasticy”
• 1 large jar of raspberry jam (Smucker’s usually)-lots of good local jams here like pineapple and mango but the raspberry is a childhood favorite
• 3-4 canned hams-if it can be found here it is Tulip brand imported from Denmark and may have been on the shelf or in transit for quite some time
• 3-4 cans of wild pacific salmon-tuna is available at some shops but I don’t like tuna that much
• a couple cans of sardines -fish is not easily available here unless I go to McDonald’s in Dehra Dun and get a Filet-o-Fish sandwich or get some fish pakora at a roadside vendor though the latter is not always available
• 6 granola bars
• large bottle of ground cinnamon-stick cinnamon is available but who wants to spend half an hour powdering it down
• packet of Mexican chilli powder
• bit plastic shaker of parmesan cheese-you don’t get any type of aged or fermented cheese here at all-only paneer which is the curd part of curds and whey (cottage cheese) and really bland
• bottle of pancake syrup-for French toast-though have now found a reliable source for pancake syrup so have left this off last time
• large packet of oregano-you can get little packets of “Italian spice” with your pizza at Domino’s but the oregano in it is quite negligible

Essentials – Non-foodstuffs:

• AAA and AA Duracell batteries-local batteries are available but they last for about 3 hours and go dead
• couple of tubes of fluoride toothpaste-not generally available here
• stick antiperspirant-there are spray and sticky roll ons available here but you have to walk around with your arms stuck out like a chicken for half an hour until the pits dry
• panty-liners-with toilet paper being a rarity and the use of the water and mug for cleaning…well the ladies know what I’m saying…it’s about the dryness factor
• 1 box temporary hair dye-pure vanity-if there’s room I take 2-the only hair dye available here is either permanent type (very chemically) or henna which give red color which I do not want
• step-down power transformer to recharge my electric toothbrush-now electric toothbrushes may seem a luxury but I drink a lot of tea here and it leaves stains on the teeth that are hard to get off with a regular toothbrush and I don’t like to pay my dentist extra for all the scrubbing when I get back to Vancouver for a cleaning. Am fussy about teeth as I have a lot of cosmetic dentistry (on-lays and veneers) from back in the day when I had money for such luxuries.
• replacement filter for the water filter-we use a hand pumped water filter to get drinking water rather than buy bottled water. So a new replacement is always necessary.
• a few books and a couple of magazines and a couple of puzzle magazines

Luxury – Foodstuffs:

• trail mixes
• big block of cheddar cheese, vacuum sealed and put into the suitcase frozen so that it’s still cool a day or so later by the time I can get it into the fridge here
• hot rod sausages-these little vacuum sealed dried beef sausages could fill up half a suitcase if I had room
• bags of Cheesies-sort of like Cheetos but crunchier-a Canadian thing
• sesame snacks-these are crunchy little wafers of sesame seeds and honey

Luxury – Non-foodstuffs:

• kimono style robe- people here rarely wear a robe or housecoat and ladies either wear a “Maxi” which is like a long nightgown or house-dress early in the morning or throw on the day’s clothes right away.  I can’t get a maxi in my size and they don’t look very comfortable to me
• extra head torch-this is like a sleek version of the miner’s lamp-I always bring one but sometimes 2 is better
• lots of books, although I do tend to buy books here when I go to Dehra Dun at the Natraj bookshop or at the English Book Depot both on Rajpur Road

There’s probably more I could add to the lists but these are the most common things that travel nearly every time I do.