Dressed for Diwali

Here's my handsome crew:

Jet lag and Tinker Toys

The first day back we arrived at 3am, came home and crashed. After a nap in the afternoon, we roused the kids and tried to feed them a snack before going to the pool. The were both LITERALLY sleeping in their food 3 minutes later.

Hannah's tall tinker toy creation: The Leaning Tower of Pisa :)

Out of the mouth of babes: Hannah... and an announcement

(In my past life, this would be on the blog about the funny things our kids say. In the effort to simplify, everything shows up here now. :))

Hannah and Matthew were playing with their plastic dinosaurs and got a hold of my favorite beaded bracelet. They stretched it out around the dinos' necks and now it's too big to wear. When I asked them about it, Hannah said:

1. "Don't worry, Mommy, you have other bracelets."
2. "There's a shop in Minneapolis where you can get it fixed."
3. "Well, your wrists are going to get bigger!" (True, we are expecting #3 in May, and everything will be getting a bit bigger. :))

Cultural currency

During Diwali (festival of lights) it's customary to give gifts (often sweets) and customary for employers to give bonuses (to their Hindu employees--the others get bonuses on their major religious holidays).

We gave our driver, Raju, a big bonus (more than his monthly salary) to thank him for his excellent work for us. He showed us the next day that he'd spent it (and more) on a gold ring with some small diamonds for himself. This is interesting to us... jewelry is definitely a status symbol here. Gold, especially. I guess we were hoping that he would save some (seems to be a pretty foreign concept among working class folks), thinking of his daughter's future, etc. On the other hand, gold is often sold back or exchanged for other things. At times like this, we feel the depth of our cultural differences.

Back to India after a Quick Trip to the US

We've been out of the blogging loop after an all-too-short trip back to the US. We've emerged from the fog of jet lag, traveled to a nearby (?) (8 hour journey) hill station with my mom, bid her goodbye (sob), and are settling back into life here.

I didn't mean to start off on a negative note with the first two posts about cockroaches (in the Tgt cafeteria's food) and crazy roads. Those two items jumped out in the haze of jet=lag, reminding us we are back in INDIA, not "Kansas" anymore.

We were also welcomed warmly by friends here and delighted to leave snow for this balmy clime.

Lots of photos to come,
Lisa

On the road

All these photos were taken from the front seat (passenger's side :))...

To be fair, I will note that we were out of the city for part of the trip (note oxen being washed in a mud hole, women washing and drying clothes in small lake).

The last shots of the rocks lining the paved side of the road: the rocks were placed BY HAND for kilometer after kilometer to keep people from driving until that side had settled and was paved.

Yep, we're back in India

From: Ambiga.S
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 11:07 AM
To: Sanjeev.N
Cc: Shae.M; Raveesh.R; Roopa.R; Shalini.Ba
Subject: Cockroach in Food



Hi Sanjeev,



I found a cockroach in today’s breakfast(Sambar) and this is the 3rd time I am finding it.



And it was not just me, Shalini & Roopa have also experienced the same a couple of times.



And I have also informed Raveesh regarding the same.



Regards

Ambiga
--------------
From: Sanjeev.N
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 11:24 AM
To: Ambiga.S
Cc: Shae.M; Raveesh.R; Roopa.R; Shalini.Ba; Praveen.G
Subject: RE: Cockroach in Food



Hi,



First and foremost my sincere regrets for the experience you have gone through. I will get this investigated through my team and will ensure this is not repeated in future.



Praveen - Take this up with the vendor and let them know that their services will be terminated in this is repeated even once in future



With Regards,



Sanjeev N