November 2007
29 November 2007
Pushkar Day 2:
Sunrise, Snake Charmers, Sweet Shops, & Shopping
5
am came really early for the second day in a row. We roused
the kids and dressed as warmly as we could to prepare for our
sunrise camel ride. We gathered with the group and scrambled
to claim our camels--two people per camel. D rode with me on
our camel named Sonia, and I was surprised that he wasn't scared at
all. I could tell he was a little nervous, because he talked
almost the whole time we were riding, but he seemed to really enjoy
it... until the cold set in. We rode in darkness and along the
tree-lined road for the first 30 minutes or so, but when we turned
off road an through the open desert area we would really feel the
morning chill. Poor D was cold and pulled his arms into his
sleeves. Z & B had no problems on their ride, and really
enjoyed the fact that their camel's name was Ali Baba. Dave
and A don't remember what their camel's name was, but their camel
"driver's" name was Saddam Hussein--hard to forget that one.
As we caravanned through the desert, we passed a sun bleached camel
skull lying in the sand. (Is this a set-up? Am I in a
movie or something?) The ride lasted about 90 minutes with a
stop towards the end to see the actual sunrise. It was
awesome, and I really enjoyed riding a camel, so much so that I did
so three more times before we left. When we returned to camp,
we headed to the dining tent for breakfast... I had a hard time
eating
Indian
food for breakfast, but it still tasted good. We ordered our
hot water buckets and bathed before heading to town as a group for
our tour. We took camel carts back to town, passing a rock
band set up amidst the camels filming what we assumed to be a music
video (bizarre), and friendly neighborhood snake charmer; and
wandered through town as a massive group (TOURISTS!) towards the
Pushkar Lake.
It was a beautiful sight, to the left of where we gathered you could
see a very large group of brightly dressed Indians bathing in the
Lake which they believe to be sacred. We were immediately told
by police there to put away our cameras as this was a holy place.
I was upset by the many people who disrespected that and tried to
sneak photographs anyway.
After
the Lake stop we headed back through town towards the temple to Lord
Brahma. When
Brahma decided to take a second wife, his first wife didn't take to
kindly to that. She cursed him that no one would worship him
and there would not be any more temples built for him. To this
day there are only 3 temples for him in all of India. As we
filed through the crushing masses of humanity towards the temple,
there were several times when the "currents" of people were so
strong we couldn't get through, and several times I had to reach out
my arm and "part the sea" to let my children through. It was
quite overwhelming, and we eventually decided not to go into the
temple, but to start our shopping instead. I became really
good at herding my children through the crowds while protecting my
purse from pick-pocketers. One family we knew had several
members pick-pocketed at various times on this trip.
Unfortunate. We found the shopping quite exciting, and added a
great Rajasthani "tapestry," two drums, several sets of bangles,
some necklaces, and a bindi stamp set. We added a puppet
couple and camel when we returned to camp.
Back
at camp, we ate lunch and then Dave, Z, Richard, T & M, headed off
on their adventure to see where to start their early morning hike up
the mountain the next day. While they were gone, the kids got
another short camel ride through the camp. When they finally
returned, Richard, Dave and I grabbed a couple of camels and went
back to town to catch up with Kelly who had an hour head start on
more shopping. As we were riding towards the town, I had a
major moment of surrealism. (Is this really my life?
Am I really in India riding a camel through the desert, and gypsy
camps? Is that really a stack of dried poop surrounded by a wall of
beautiful pottery? Did I really just bath in a bucket in the
middle of the Rajastani desert and was okay with that? Do I
seriously love riding camels this much?) If you would have
told me 2 years ago that I would be doing this, I would have bet my
life that you were wrong. It's amazing how much has changed in
so little time. So, it was dark by the time we decided to head
back to camp and we were looking for a camel cart to take us back to
camp. We happened upon the "upper class" camel cart. It
was all decked out with padding and silk pillows and everything.
We talked the driver down to a fair price and rode back to camp in
style. The rest of the evening was filled with more
entertainment of the same nature as the night before. And, of
course, another fabulous meal. We were beat after another
early morning and headed to bed at a decent hour. And... Dave
and Z had another early start the next day to the mountain top...
Check out Day 2
photos here and Stay tuned for Day 3 and
the ride home...
28 November 2007
Pushkar Day 1:
Trains, Camel Carts & Gypsies
So,
our adventure to Pushkar began at 5 am last Thursday as we headed
to the Embassy to catch the busses that would take us to the train
station. We (110 other American Embassy group members)
navigated through the train station with our bags and found our
correct car. If you've ever flown on Southwest you can relate
to the feeling of being herded like cattle--well this was very
similar, except most people here have no concept of waiting in line
or being patient while someone stows their luggage, or gets their
child in the correct seat. It's pretty much just push and
shove until you get to your seat. Dave wasn't on the car with
me at this point and I was getting quite frustrated as I had all 4
kids and a very large bag. As I tried to be a polite as
possible while pushing my own way through, a very rude man started
pushing passed. I said something to the effect of "We're all
trying to go the same place." And he replied "Well, obviously
no one is trying very hard, because no one is moving." And he
roughly pushed passed me and my four kids. I snidely remarked,
"Oh, that's REALLY helpful," as he passed. I was so angry.
I turned to my kids and told them how rude he was and I hoped they
never treated people that way. A smiled up at me and said "Oh,
he's a teacher at my school!" (yeah, he was an American!)
NICE!
When
we were finally situated in the right seats, we could start enjoying
our journey. I was a little anxious not knowing what to expect
of our accommodations, or the
Pushkar Camel Fair itself. However, the
train ride was quite enjoyable, despite the absolute filth of the
train. Having so many other people from the Embassy on the
train helped pass the time for the kids as many of their friends
were on the trip also. The bathrooms on the train are quite
exciting. They have a "western" toilet that actually has a
seat, and and "Indian" toilet that is the squat kind. Both of
them open up directly to the tracks below, so next time you feel
like walking down the tracks keep that in mind. I've decided
my favorite part of riding the train is standing by the open door
and watching India roll by. I spent a good part of the trip
out there taking pictures and absorbing the countryside.
Several children started taking an interest and so several mommies
got upset that the door was open while children were there.
Sadly the door was closed and I had to spend the rest of the trip
out there in my seat. (whaaaa!) As you can probably
tell, I'm not a super safety mom. In fact, I'll be the first
to admit that I let my kids hang out of the moving train to feel the
wind and see the sights. (not at full speed, of course).
Our train took an extra hour getting there making the journey 8
hours (ugh!), but we were happy to get there and onto our next set
of busses to take us the last hour to Pushkar.
We
arrived at our camp in the early afternoon, ate our lunch, and got
settled in our tents. The tents were a pleasant surprise.
I didn't get a picture of the inside as I had planned to, but they
were quite large and each had their own bathroom complete with flush
toilet, sink with running water and a tray and bucket for bathing.
We could request a bucket of hot water when we were ready to bath.
It was actually a really enjoyable and refreshing way to stay.
It got pretty cold at night, probably into the high 40s, but the
quilts they gave us kept us plenty warm. Several of my kids
slept with hats on, but we all slept well. After our lunch,
the group gathered for our camel cart rides to the fair. It
was awesome. We passed a gypsy village on the way (it wasn't
that far away, maybe 15 minutes by cart) and the little kids wearing
everything from pants and sweaters to nothing at all would wave at
the cart and ask for 10 rupees... just because. Then the
vendors rolled in trying to sell us whatever they could: camel
bone necklaces,
chess
sets, brass peacocks, and whatever else they could manage. We
even had a snake charmer chase us down with his cobra in a basket.
He assured us that the fangs had been removed and demonstrated by
having the snake bite his arm. (Are you serious?) The
ride around the fair was fascinating. We saw hundreds, if not
thousands of camels, cows, goats, horses, chickens, chickens on
goats, lots of naked kids, makeshift tents, piles of animal poop,
all with the backdrop of an honest-to-goodness carnival with Ferris
wheels and "vomit comets" (as Dave calls them). The kids were
so excited about the carnival, until we let them know that since "OSHA
doesn't live here," there would be NO chance of us letting them get
on a carnival ride in India! We headed back to our "camp" and
enjoyed a fabulous dinner and lively entertainment. They had
some local dancers and musicians perform, and eventually most of the
kids, including my girls, were up there dancing too. There was
a fire eater/breather too. Then there was a puppet show which
was great, but the puppeteer had this "instrument" in his mouth that
made the most annoying sound I've ever heard. But since no one
would understand the dialogue, I guess that had to do something.
So, after dinner and the show, we headed to bed early to try to
catch up on the sleep we missed the night before and to prepare for
our 5:30 am sunrise camel ride.
Check out Day 1
photos here and Stay tuned for Day
2...
26 November 2007
4.5 on the Richter scale!
Believe
it or not, there was an Earthquake in New Delhi on Monday morning at
a little after 4:30 am. It was very loud and it woke is up as
our entire bed was shaking for about 5 seconds. There wasn't a
lot of damage in general in the area, but several people were thrown
from their beds and many windows were broken. Our house
received no damage, at least that we know of.
J
But it was quite exciting, and quite a
"Welcome to India" for my Mom.
24 November 2007
"Happy Thanksgiving"...
really?
In my perusal of
blogs of family and friends, it has been fun to see Thanksgiving
being celebrated throughout the World. Because of our trip to
Pushkar, we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving this year--at least in the
traditional sense. In fact, it wasn't until later in the day
as we were sitting on the very long train ride (8 hours that day)
that I leaned over to Dave and said "Happy Thanksgiving." And,
in the traditional sense, that was it. There was no turkey,
mashed potatoes or gravy. There was no pumpkin pie.
There was no sparkling grape juice for toasts of gratitude.
There was no family dinner. Instead, we saw a life of severe
simplicity. We saw India at it's most basic and what
constitutes "real" life for a vast majority of Indians, and for that
matter, much of the World. I'll write up our trip in its
entirety very soon, but for these purposes I'll just say, that the
idea of a massive gluttonous feast, while a wonderful part of our
American tradition, had no place in Pushkar. Several times
this weekend we passed a gypsy camp with very young children running
after our camels or camel carts, either with very little clothes on
or no clothes at all. Their homes were, like so many others,
made of mud and straw, or just makeshift tents. The cool
morning and evening air was filled with the acrid smoke of fires
burning whatever they could to create a little warmth. Their
entire life appeared to me to be about sustaining it: sleep,
build fire, eat, tend camels or goats, children or wives beg for
rupees from rich white tourists, husbands sell for pennies what they
spent all year making... etc. There is a bit of a conflict in
my mind concerning the prices of these goods. The original
price quoted is always exorbitant by Indian standards (i.e. for a
camel bone necklace 500 rupees about $13) We bargain and feign
exasperation until we feel we've reached an equitable deal (3 for
500 rupees), and wait until the next guy approaches us. I know
we always pay more than the "Indian price", say if Manjula were to
buy the same thing, it would have probably been less than 100
rupees. Part of me gets very frustrated with this...why the
dual economy? why the double standard? But there is
another part of me, that part that has shopped at Pier 1 Imports,
that sees the crushing poverty, that has paid the $40 for the same
item in the States, that would rather pay more at the source to
possibly alleviate the absolute crush of wondering if your children
will eat today. Honestly, I struggle with this. I bought
things on this trip that I didn't want, just to "help" someone in
their line of work. I wish I could have confidence that each
"salesman" was full of integrity and fierce work ethic, but I find
myself in each situation wondering how badly I am getting scammed,
and how much worse I am making it for the next gullible tourist
passing their way. I don't see myself finding a resolution in
my own mind during the two years I will be here. And, I find
myself rambling again, as I try to sort it all out, but for the
intents of this entry, I found myself very grateful for the life
that I have. I am grateful for this opportunity to see life as
it really is for so many. My life is unusual to so many, on so
many levels. When you have "salesman" actually say to you...
"you paid lots of money for this trip, why won't you buy my things?"
In their minds, we are rich, greedy, selfish people who spend
thousands of dollars on airfare, dining and accommodations, but
won't fork over 100 rupees for their handiwork. Like I said, I
struggle with this. I am grateful to recognize again that life
is much simpler than we allow it to be. It is so much more
than our home, our car, our clothes, our possessions, and it
is so much less. So, as I momentarily longed for my heaping
plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, I will always
remember the year I didn't have it--and will always be grateful for
that.
21 November 2007
3 weeks and counting...
Check
out the pics to see the condition D returned home from after school
activities in. If you could count them in the photos you would
find 64 bites. Normally, it wouldn't be so concerning....
EXCEPT WE LIVE IN INDIA! They say that most of of the
mosquito-borne diseases take 3 weeks to manifest themselves, so we
will wait and see what cocktail of infections D has acquired.
Let's see: Japenese-Dengue Fever? Chickangunya
Encephalitis? Or my favorite... Japanese Malarial-gunya
Chickan-dengue Fever. Or if we're lucky, they'll just all
cancel each other out and he'll be fine.
This one is for you
Lena!
We're playing 3-in-a-row for FHE! Thanks for teaching us!
19 November 2007
How did I get here?
There is more to life
my life in India than just big festivals and shopping, and so with
Diwali over, I find nothing substantial to blog about. What
that really means is that I've become quite acclimated to Delhi in
all it's splendor and frustration, and things that used to seem
amazing or unbelievable are now commonplace. The kids rarely
mention a cow sighting anymore. Public urination (while it still
disgusts me) is no longer shocking. Overstuffed bicycle
rickshaws, or women carrying bricks or other large bundles on their
heads no longer seems as fascinating to me. Life here is just
life as usual. I remember back to last September when Dave and
I took our orientation trip to Delhi. I remember being
terrified and amazed and overwhelmed and feeling so totally
helpless--How will I ever function or even survive without Dave
to help me with everything? I remember having a fit
of hysterics at the Luther's house one morning and Heather very
compassionately empathizing with me and taking me out for shopping
and Choco La. I remember thinking how much I admired her
strength and independence after only 3 months in country and
doubting I'd ever get to that point. But somewhere along the
way, during the last several months, I've adapted and adjusted.
Friday, Dave came home from school and announced that his first
final exam was scheduled for this coming Thursday, which also
happens to be the day we leave for the Camel Fair in Pushkar, by
train and bus, to sleep in tents. I didn't even flinch when I
realized that I might be going alone, and even more unexpected was
the realization that I never even considered NOT going if he
couldn't go. Hmmm... how did I get here? I can't pin
point a specific turning point, although I'm sure it's a collective
process. This realization is very empowering for me, and I
feel very blessed for this experience.
Book Worm Infestation
Much to my delight, I
realized last night that all 4 of my children love to read. If
I could pick one love of mine to pass on to my children this would
be it. So, as I got ready for bed last night and started to
climb into my bed with my book, I decided to check on the
kids one more time. The girls have a reading light on the
nightstand between their beds and one on the wall above it.
Every night I have to remind them to turn on those lights to
read so they don't go blind--which also means, every night they are
reading books. They are supposed to have lights out by
8:30 pm, but I have a very soft spot if they ask if they can read
longer... I have a hard time saying no. Z, as most of you
already know, is a most voracious reader. In fact, the dreaded
punishment for misbehavior is no reading before bed.
J
That's even worse than taking away his
cell phone. But what really caused me to smile last night was
listening to D read a Dr. Seuss book to himself. I stood in
the hallway for a few seconds and relished in knowing what a
blessing it is to have all my children love to read.
As a mother, I try to
make sure I know what my children are reading. With Z, it's
difficult to keep up, but I try to read several of the series that I
know he has really enjoyed. I've seen many blogs of friends
and family who share what is "on their nightstand" or what they are
reading right now. I love to read books that others have
suggested and also to be able to say "Hey, I've read that too!"
I think I'll start keeping a log here of the books I've read and
really enjoyed. I will
start with a controversial one:
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. The
three books are called: The Golden Compass, The
Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Z and I
read them over a year ago and really enjoyed them. The
catalyst for the controversy is the upcoming release of the movie
The Golden Compass based on the first book. The author is
admittedly atheist, and there are undeniably anti-religious
undertones in the book. The concern, as I understand it, is
that children will see this movie and then want to buy the books.
Hmmmm, this smacks loudly of fanaticism, and reminds me of those who
wanted to ban the Harry Potter series for focusing on
witchcraft. I find that mentality very intolerant and
unthinking. I was surprised by the number of emails I received
from people I love and admire who never read the book, yet forwarded
the warning email to avoid it. How often do we form an opinion
based on the opinion of someone we know? How often do we
really find out what we are actually basing that opinion on? (With
an impending election, I find that quite disturbing.)
Anyway, I digress--back to the books. Not only was the story
original, it was fascinating and captivating. These were books
that I had a difficult time putting down. And having read them
around the same time as Z, they were a great catalyst for our own
conversations comparing the ideas in the books with our own beliefs.
16 November 2007
Can
we call this progress?
Some
randomness about me: Hindi classes are still happening twice a
week for me and while I am still totally overwhelmed and feel lost
most of the time, I find that I am understanding a lot more of what
Dave is saying to everyone else now... yeah for me! I started
playing tennis a few weeks ago with Kelly. I am horrible--but
it's proving quite fun and a great workout--I actually won our first
set yesterday (okay, it was only because she kept missing her
serves, but it still counts). And the funniest news of all, is
that I am "teaching" piano lessons. (yeah, I know...
hysterical laughter)
I
don't really know theory or really anything else for that matter and
I can't play super well, but I'm teaching 3 of Kelly's kids.
It's more like giving direction and providing the fear factor
required for practicing at home (I'm really good at that). But
I thought I'd share, because to me... it's pretty funny. Did I
mention that I am the "best" piano player in Relief Society each
Sunday, which means by default, I get to play in front of people
each week? So, you're welcome for the huge laugh you've all
had at my expense...
14 November 2007 Hindi
fonts
I just realized,
idiotically, upon checking the website on someone else's computer,
that my Hindi font isn't translating on anyone else's computer and
therefore, looks totally ridiculous. For example. The
title of the previous post says Diwali -- Festival of Lights and
then I see really cute Hindi characters, what the rest of you
see is ridiculously large green letters. DUH! Well,
selfishly, I'm going to keep the font, because I like the way
it looks. If you want to get the font downloaded too, click
here. I'm hoping
this allows you to download the file. If not, try
this page and
click on download Jaipur font in the top center section. If
you want the font that looks like Hindi writing, it's called
Samarkan and it can be downloaded
here for
free.
11 November 2007
Diwali -- Festival of Lights
divali
mubarak ho
Happy Diwali...okay
it was Friday, but it was awesome. As I said earlier,
Diwali is the
Hindu equivalent to Christmas: you decorate your home with
candles, lights, oil lamps, flower garlands, etc; wear new clothes
(I like that part), give gifts and sweets to your friends (I like
that part too); keep your door unlocked so Lakshmi--the goddess of
wealth can bless you; and blow up a ton of fireworks. Our day
was full of fun festivities. We started with lunch at the
Dangwal's home. I didn't know they had invited others to join
them, so it was quite surprising to have almost 30 people in their
home for lunch and to celebrate Prashant's 17th birthday. The
food was delicious--chicken briyani, pakora, salad, raita, and
birthday cake. We visited for a few hours and then headed home
to get ready for our dinner appointment with Davender.
Davender is our new driver, who we hired a few weeks after Baldev
took the job at the Embassy. He has been a great addition to
our family--we've learned a lot from him. He lives about 30
minutes from our home, and it was amazing that Baldev was able to
navigate the labyrinth of streets to get there. (We also
brought Baldev and Billy Jackson, our house guest and member of the
family from whom we inherited our wonderful help.) Davender's
house was very inviting as were his family and friends. Sunil,
is one of Davender's best friends from childhood, and as it so
happens, was the DAO driver
that
picked us up from the airport on our very first night in Delhi last
June. We had a fabulous night. The kids lit off several
sparklers, and other small fireworks as we waited for dinner.
Davender's son, Pyush, was adorable and fascinated with my digital
camera. After overcoming his initial shyness, he insisted (in
Hindi) that I take pictures of "this" and "that" and him doing all
sorts of things, and had to see them on the little screen after each
shot. Personally, I thought he was so cute, but Sunil,
Davender and his mother, all referred to Pyush as Shatan (literally
Satan) indicating that he was quite the little hellion. Finally, we
ate dinner... some of the best Paneer I've had in India, some other
stuff with chick peas, and some white saucy stuff, with chapattis.
(Sorry I can't remember any of their names, and I've asked several
times). It was all delectable. Baldev seemed to have
adopted another adorable little relative of Davender's who sat in
Baldev's lap almost the whole night. We had such a great time
there. As we started leaving, Pyush started crying
hysterically. As we got to the car, I asked Davender what the
matter was. He was sad that we were leaving... Awwww!
It pulled on my heart strings. I will have to visit again.
We
were late leaving and so late getting home for our own celebration
with the Seiperts and a small arsenal of fireworks. I called
Manjula as we left Davender's home to tell her when we'd be back,
leaned over to Baldev and asked how long he thought it would take to
get home. He replied casually, "Maybe 15 minutes," and then
giggled the way only Baldev can. I chuckled a little, relayed
the information to Manjula and double checked my seatbelt.
When I say that I think Baldev could be a NASCAR driver, I do not
jest. In fact, I KNOW he could compete and WIN! He has
skills behind the wheel that would make Jeff Gordon green with envy.
And while I didn't actually time the drive home, I know from the
fingernail marks in my palm that we made it home very quickly.
I only screamed out loud twice.
J
As we pulled up, Manjula was waiting for
us. She had lit all our lamps and sneakily cleaned up the
house while we were gone. The Seiperts arrived and we headed
to the roof for our "danger fest." I'm not exaggerating when I
say that it sounded like WWIII outside. Both Kelly and I were
seriously jumpy with every boom, even yelling in surprise as the
"bombs" went off unexpectedly. Baldev, Richard and Dave
started us off with a few fountains and the kids went through the
sparklers like candy. Baldev had a fountain explode in his
hand, but luckily there was no injury involved. T. Seipert on
the other hand ended the night with a bloody hole in his arm and a
chunk of singed hair. Battle scars to be proud of. Our
show was quite impressive and the "boys" had a blast putting it on.
Their creativity knew now bounds as they actually used a Diwali lamp
to launch the large bottle rockets. Don't know if that's culturally
sensitive, but it was fun! I have decided that I will invite
Baldev to every function we have just to enjoy his enthusiasm and
addictive giggle. He was the biggest kid out there. The
downside to Diwali is that we probably raised the temperature of the
earth by a least one degree--the Global Warming activists have yet
to make their presence felt here. The haze of toxic fumes was
deleterious and we are all breathing a little heavier two days later
as a result. The Delhi "crud" we've been coughing up for the
past few weeks has definitely burgeoned into more of an obnoxious,
gurgling hack which I fear will not be resolved until March, when
people don't need to burn garbage anymore to stay warm. I have
also discovered that warm is a relative term. I noticed the
other day that one of the guards who comes by several times a day to
check on the house was wearing a jacket and knit hat. It was
80°. I have a feeling, cold here will be much more pleasant
than I've been lead to believe. So, all in all, Diwali is a
huge "thumbs up" in my book and we're now that much more excited to
celebrate our own Christmas here. In face, I have no qualms
about setting up the decorations and breaking out the music this
week. We'll see if I can manage that. Check out more
Diwali photos!
10 November 2007
Appy Fizz
My
kids have been talking about this drink for months now... buying it
themselves at the school kiosk and so when Davender offered it to us
at his home I just had to try it. It was delicious! It's
very similar to Meier's sparkling cider, but a little more tasty.
I will blog about the entire Diwali events very soon. Let's
just say it was awesome and I LOVE DIWALI! We are already
planning a bigger...better celebration for next year. If
anyone should care to plan their trip to India over that time frame,
you wouldn't be disappointed.
In other news, Zac was supposed to
get braces this morning... more evidence that nothing is simple
here. His friend Morgann went in for a dental visit, and came
home the same day with braces. We are on our third visit and
not only DON'T have braces, but will be getting a retainer for 4
weeks prior to braces. This poor kid has been freaking out
every visit thinking he'll get them on, only to be pushed back
again. However, I'll stop complaining now, as I will have
saved several thousand dollars in the end.
|
Oh... and
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
DAD!
|
 |
8 November 2007
Shopping
on Christmas Eve? ...that's nothing!
We
all know what it's like to wait til the last minute to do our
Christmas shopping. Well, procrastination is universal...as is the
last minute rush. Tomorrow is Diwali, the "Christmas" of
Hinduism. I had to go out yesterday to Sarojini Market to get
Dave and the kids our new clothes to wear (I really like that part
of the tradition) for the festivities. It was INSANE!
Traffic both on the road and pedestrian was unbelievable. Some
of you may already know, but this is the same market where a bomb
went of during Diwali season in October 2005, and previously in
1998. The security was very tight... you could no longer drive
on the road through the market, and they had police everywhere even
on bamboo guard towers erected for the occasion. But even that
didn't unnerve me as much as the sheer mass of people everywhere.
Later that evening, we got a call from Baldev to say he would be
late as he was stuck in traffic at Connaught Place--he ended up
being stuck for over 4 hours. The passengers in his car had
long since left and walked to less congested places to hail a cab.
Check out this
article. Needless to say, I will not be going out today at
all!
7 November 2007
A Reception Report
So
Kelly's housekeeper Prabha's daughter was married the end of October
in South India. Prabha is also one of Manjula's best friends,
so we were invited to the reception Sunday night by both Kelly and
Manjula and since I hadn't been to a wedding yet I was excited to
go. Kelly and I both wore saris for the occasion. The
festivities took place in a tent raised in a local park for the
occasion. Did I mention the tent was pink with silver
sparkles? We arrived all together as the only white people
there, and if Manjula and Baldev hadn't been with my I might have
turned around before entering. This isn't my wedding...why is
everyone staring at me (or
us)? Luckily, Kelly being the "madam" was grabbed by Prabha and
whisked through the crowd to the stage at the front of the tent to
meet the happy couple (although it was difficult to tell if they
were happy because they didn't smile all night, even for photos).
Eventually we all made it up to wish the couple well and were
blinded by a video camera spotlight that reminded me of my Grandpa's
first video camera in the early 80s. Notice the silver thrones
in the background on stage. We stood there, posing with the couple
for photos for several minutes (AWKWARD!), and by the time we were
finished they had cleared out the front row of seats for us.
(Gosh, I really don't like that kind of special treatment) We
sat there for maybe 20 minutes talking to people and meeting both
Manjula's family and Prabha's and Mutua's (Kelly's cook), and were
served an unending stream of Coke, Limca and water (unfiltered, of
course)
which
I drank to be polite. Then, I was approached by a very nice
gentleman who insisted that I start the buffet with the line "Ladies
are first!" Are you serious? Then why are Kelly and I
the only ladies in line followed by all the men in the tent?
Not only did I have a personal assistant to inform me what each
menu item was, they also escorted me to my seat. Okay, I'll
admit, it's nice to be treated like a princess once in awhile, but
this was so totally against everything I believe about human
equality, it really upset me. But, being a gracious guest
I smiled and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible in a tent full
of people staring at me. The food was delicious, although it
was so spicy it could strip the paint off the road, which in turn
caused me to drink more unfiltered water (luckily no harm done).
There was dancing, but I couldn't convince the boys to go, and as I
was informed, the ladies
dance later. We had several people come up and take pictures
with US, which totally took away from the celebration of the
newlyweds and was quite embarrassing. We talked for several
minutes with Manjula's father who was slightly lubricated and
expressed his gratitude to us for taking care of his daughter so
well--going so far as to cry and tell us we were "gods" to him.
What? How do you respond to that? Ummm... thank you?
Now I command you to stop worshipping me! Really
uncomfortable! But I'm glad to have met him. He was in
the Army and was a champion boxer. So many interesting lives
here. We finally made a gracious exit, but not before being hit up
by the caterers for bakshish (a tip for their services).
Manjula was quite upset that we were even approached, but Dave
donated to the cause, especially since everyone was his new best
friend thanks to his Handy Hindi skills. It was quite the
event, and although it was so incredibly uncomfortable, I do it
again for the experience...hopefully with a family I already know
and have a relationship with.
4 November 2007
A wedding invitation ...really?
It's not everyday you see a
swastika on a wedding invitation! I'll fill you in on the reception
next time.
3 November 2007
Happy Birthday Marines! HOO-AH!
I
have limited computer access (long story) lately, so I haven't been
able to catch up on the latest happenings, but I'll try to fill you
in on the big events sans details. Saturday night was my very
first Marine Ball. I'm pleased to report that I was able to
fit into a dress that I bought in 2002 for TPS graduation but could
never wear because I was too big. HOORAY for me! The
evening was really nice, very patriotic. The Marine Ball is
held every Fall to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corp.
There was a few guest speakers and a really nice video
presentation. I always get a little emotional when it comes to
patriotism (Okay...I get emotional for a lot of things but
particularly patriotism). The food was fantastic and we
enjoyed dancing the night away and checking out all the fantastic
dresses the women were able to have made here in Delhi. There
were even several celebrity dresses that were copied quite well.
Gotta love India! It was fun to get all dressed up for a
change. The girls were "star-struck" with the fact that we
were going to a ball--like Cinderella, with gowns and fancy jewelry
(fake, of course) and sparkly shoes and Daddy in a tux. It was a
fantastic evening and we were happy to celebrate the Marines and
their accomplishments and to pay honor to their sacrifices on our
behalf. I love being a military wife!
