Another wedding!

We can’t seem to get enough of KY and Naseem. We went out with them again! This time we went to Shrirangapatna to a resort/hotel on a river. The kids enjoyed the freedom from cars and noise. There were a couple of rabbits in a cage and the kids had fun feeding and petting them.

We had some chai and then we took a walk down to the river and enjoyed the shade and the cool breeze from the water.

Then we went off to another wedding! KY’s co-worker was getting married and Indian weddings are so large and it really isn’t the custom to have a personal invitation so we got to tag along. It is actually a bit of a status symbol to have foreigners at your wedding! We didn’t stay so long this time. We did enjoy a nice meal though. Again it was served at long rows of tables and we sat on stools and ate from banana leaves using our hands. We were served by members of the Brahma cast, the highest cast in India. I guess this is a tradition for many Indian weddings.

This evening we had a Baha’i gathering which included dinner. Afterwards we went with some of Baha’i friends to a coffee shop. Nadim had been hankering for some good coffee and he wasn’t disappointed. It was nice to sit and laugh so much with such great company. The area was air conditioned which made it even more comfortable!

CM

Busy day

We had bought a few things to send to my nephews back home for Naw-Ruz (the Baha’i and Persian New Year), but when we started to put them in boxes we noticed that the sizes were mismatched. So back we went to the store this morning to get the right sizes and then off to the post office to mail the boxes.

The post office here will not accept any package that has not been sewn up in a cloth wrapping! Strange, but true. Of course, parcel sewing shops have sprung up around the post office and will wrap your packages for a fee. We went into one shop and negotiated a price for wrapping 2 packages – we ended up paying half of what they were asking, but I think we still got ripped off! Then the guy patched together a few pieces of what looked like discarded shirt sleeves to make little bags to put the boxes in and sewed them up.

We had read that Planet X, an amusement park near Chamundi Hill, is open from noon to 11 p.m. on weekends. They have go karts, mini golf, etc. So we took a rickshaw there, only to be told at the gate that they did not open ‘til 4 p.m. Aaaaahhhh! The weekend here means Sunday, because schools and offices are open half day on Saturdays as well. So we returned to town and had some lunch, then stopped to visit St. Philomena’s church, which is the second biggest church in India. We went in for a few minutes to look around, and also finally found some postcards of Mysore.

This evening we visited a home for deaf and mute children, and donated clothing and rice. It was so touching to see all the kids there. It is a boarding school and has 96 students from grade 1 to 10. The kids were called into a meeting room and the Baha’is said some prayers. Then we did an action song “Ye are drops of one ocean, ...” a song we sing at our virtues playgroup at home. The teacher said some of the kids can hear the tune and repeat it even though they don’t hear the words. As we sang, we heard all kinds of crooning and monotone sounds. It was kind of bittersweet. They looked so happy about it all. We all clapped and made more noise at the end and they were also very excited to have their picture taken. Khodayar is a dentist and said some of the kids from this home go to his clinic every Wednesday for free cleaning, checkup and any dental work that they need.

Then off we went to Khodayar and Naseem’s home for a dinner party. We had some devotions and music, then had a game of pass the parcel, which is very similar to hot potato. Basically, you pass something around the room while the music is playing. Once the music stops, the person holding the parcel picks out a task that they have to do from a bag. It was a lot of fun.

We had invited an Iranian couple that we had met while visiting Ooty to the dinner and they came as well. They are students in Mysore. I think they really enjoyed the evening, and now we are invited to their home on Tuesday night. We’ve got quite the social schedule these days!

NM

Treasure Hunt

This morning started with a treasure hunt. It has been our tradition for the past several years to do a treasure hunt for the girls for Ayyamiha. So this morning we had them chasing all over the Baha’i Centre to find clues. They found one near an old photograph of a conference that Nadim’s mother and grandmother had attended. Another was with their toothbrushes, another by the laundry scrub stone, and so on, until eventually they came to the end and found some presents.

They unwrapped some spinning tops, pendants, and the next Narnia book in the series that we’ve been reading. They were full of smiles, at least until we started our school work again!
This afternoon we went to Veg Kourt, one of our favourite restaurants in Mysore and had Kaju Masala and Aloo Gobi with roti and naan. I think India has the best food that we’ve had so far. There is so much variety and it’s all very good. Roya is even enjoying the spices these days.

We did some shopping and found some really cute gifts for Baha’i New Year for the girls’ cousins. I hope we can get them in the mail so that they will arrive in Canada in time for March 21st. As we were shopping it was fun to watch the traffic and city life of Mysore. You see cows in the street. Three wheeled trucks, motorbikes carrying loads of this or that. Ladies with their saris flying as they sit sideways on the backs of motorbikes. It’s fun to just watch.

This evening we were out once again for more Ayyamiha celebrations. We are eating very well these days, and with the heat, we aren’t getting so much exercise. Ah well, it’s worth it! Today the power went out with the house full of people, so we sat by candle light with no fan for over an hour. A supply of candles is really a necessity around here.

CM

Happy Ayyamiha

Today was the first full day of Ayyamiha. To celebrate, we had a day off from school work. The girls had bought each other some small gifts and they exchanged those this morning. Nadim and I decided that we should celebrate the beginning of Ayyamiha with a trip to GRS Fantasy Park, a water park in the area. Not only would it be fun, but it would also be a great way to beat the heat for a few hours. They had a children’s play area, larger water slides, a river rapids ride, a huge waterfall and more.

The strange thing about the water park, was that I think I was the only woman in the place wearing a bathing suit. Before your mind goes down the wrong path, I’d better tell you that all the women were wearing either Punjabis, saris, or t-shirts and pants or shorts. There was a group of school kids and they were all going in the pool and rides with their school uniforms on!

It wasn’t very crowded and we were the only non-Asian people there. We did see some people that seemed to be from China, but nobody white. I get a lot of looks even in the city, so I’m not sure if they were looking at me because I was wearing a bikini or if it was just because I look strange to them. In any case I was glad for my wrap when we were moving from one area to the next.

The other strange thing was that many of the attractions were only open at certain times. Then you would show up at the specified time and it wouldn’t be on. Nadim got mad at one guy and so he turned things on. At another point we had to wait for the attendant to finish his chai. Certain things were closed from 1:00 – 1:30 for lunch, and another bunch of things were closed from 1:30 – 2:00 for lunch. We thought that was funny. India’s customer service is not what it is in Canada!

This evening we went out for another Ayyamiha dinner. We also donated another bag of rice and some Baha’i books at a home for the terminally ill. The evening was very nice, once again. The food is always amazing with the wonderful spices that they use here. Everyone eats with their hands, but we’re treated to spoons because they know how strange we foreigners are!

CM

The Heat is on

Today it was too hot to do anything. We managed our school work when it was cool in the morning, but in the afternoon it was too hot to move. The temperature in our room was 35 degrees Celsius. This was almost manageable with the fan on, but then the power was cut for a few hours and I was really miserable.

This evening we, along with a number of other Baha’is, celebrated the beginning of Ayyamiha by visiting an old age home for the poor. It is run by nuns, but people of all religions stay there. One of the sisters gave us a bit of a tour and showed us the good work that they are doing there. The Baha’i community bought rice to feed the residents and donated it during our visit.

We ended back at the Baha’i Centre where the care takers family invited people in for dinner. We said some prayers and then had a bit of a sing-along where Nadim remembered some of the songs they used to sing when he was here. It was fun, but the heat was still getting to me. The food was very good, and everyone enjoyed it.

CM

Silk & Sandalwood

Mysore is famous for silk saris. It’s also well known for sandalwood oil and related products. Today we took a rickshaw out to the silk factory. They don’t really give you a tour. They just let you wander around and as you go, a few helpful sorts tell you what each area is about. It was really quite interesting to see them winding, doubling, twisting, and re-winding to form the finest thread. Unbelievable that there is ten strands in each silk thread. Then we saw the weaving and the winding of the gold threads. They actually have real silver and gold in them and so the cost of some of the saris can be up to 175,000 rupees (more than four thousand dollars Canadian). Too bad they wouldn’t allow pictures inside the factory.

In the same area of town is a sandalwood factory so we decided to go there too. This time we had a little tour, but the factory wasn’t operating as they were waiting for a shipment of sandalwood to come in. We saw the areas where they split and chip the wood, where they grind it to a powder and where they compress and crush it to make the oil which then gets distilled. They didn’t really allow pictures, but the guide said, “It’s not permitted, but be quick.” Ya gotta love India.



We ended up buying some sandalwood incense sticks that are made from the by-product of oil making. We also bought some sandalwood soap. It was really an educational day, and I felt like we were doing a field trip for school.

CM

War on the Roaches

This trip has confirmed that I am totally disgusted by insects and other creepy crawlers! I found a couple of cockroaches on the floor of the kitchen a while ago and quickly put an end to their lives. Then, a couple days ago, when we returned from Ooty, we found the nasty creatures on top of the kitchen counter and underneath one of the cups that I had washed and left upside down. That was it – I lost it.

I went over to the store next door and got myself a large can of “cockroach killer” spray, which advertised that it can kill the beasts in their hiding places. Well, I knew that their hiding places are the drain holes under the kitchen sink and the ones out in the corridor. So I sprayed a liberal amount in the drain holes and all around the kitchen floor, especially in the corners and under the fridge. Then I closed the door and left. A couple of hours later, I went back to the kitchen and found 6 huge roaches and a whole bunch of little ones, all dead and dying on the floor. It was a sweet moment! I swept them all outside and scooped them into the dustbin.

I checked the kitchen again after our pizza outing last night, and found a few more dead roaches. This spray thing works great. I love it. I found some more dead ones this morning and sent them packing too. It seems like the number of dead is decreasing, so either the spray is wearing off or the roach community is being diminished or, worst case, they are adapting! I may have to escalate my methods!

NM

Some of you may be aware of Nadim’s hatred of earwigs. I think he is even less fond of cockroaches! Beyond Nadim’s cockroach adventures we got in another trip to the “Big Bazaar”. It was nice to get into a mildly air conditioned space. It’s been really hot here the past few days. We’ve adapted so that we’re fairly comfortable when the room temperature is around 29 degrees celcius, as it usually is throughout the morning, but the thermometer now reads 33 degrees and the power was out this evening so we didn’t have our fan and we were a little warm. The power is back and so is the fan and we’re feeling a bit better.

At the Big Bazaar department store we found a few shirts for the girls. When you’re only paying a couple of dollars for a shirt, it’s hard to resist. I also bought some fabric. It’s cool the way they sell it here. They give you enough to make a long shirt/dress, a matching colour for the pants and a third fabric for a long scarf. I’m planning to make something for the girls when we get back to Ottawa, but I’ll use a style more suited for Canada. I wish I had my sewing machine with me, but it was a little too big to pack!

CM

The Wedding

We set out this morning for the wedding. The ceremony was pretty fluid with people coming and going throughout. It seemed like people weren’t really paying much attention to the ceremony itself. Everyone was talking and laughing, standing around, or wandering.

In the centre of the hall there was a platform and when we arrived a number of women were preparing the bride for the marriage ceremony. They seemed to be throwing rice on her and doing all sorts of things to her. Sometimes she was laughing, but other times she looked slightly annoyed.

The groom arrived to great pomp and ceremony, the kind that we would save for the bride if we were in Canada. Then they went through putting some sort of garland of a holy plant on them. They had to make promises about providing rice to each other’s family and eventually people began to pour milk on their joined hands and toss rice on their heads. This seemed to be something that honoured guests and relatives should do. It went on for quite a while and eventually even Nadim and I and the girls were asked to come and do it for them as well. I think it is meant to give them prosperity.

While all of this was going on, many of the guests went down to start their lunch. There were over a thousand guests so I guess they had to get them going. We waited around because the original plan was to have the Baha’i ceremony directly after the Hindu ceremony, but that wasn’t to be because people began to come up to the bride and groom and offer them their best wishes and give them their envelope containing their offering to the new couple. So we went down to eat first.

In the lower level of the hall, they had long lines of tables and stools. They served us on a plate made from leaves that were stitched together. I think they had run out of banana leaves. First they gave us the plates. Then they splashed some water on them so we could wash them off. Then they scooped handfuls of salads, then scoops of rice and curries. There were no spoons so we had to eat with our hands. The food was really quite good and we managed quite well with our hands. We washed up at a row of taps at the back of the hall and went back upstairs for the Baha’i Ceremony.

The Baha’i Ceremony is very simple. There were a few prayers and the bride and groom said their vows and signed the certificates and before you knew it, the ceremony was over. There were of course lots of photos of the event as well.

My overall impression is that the wedding was very informal. Some guests were dressed in beautifully embroidered and beaded saris, but more were dressed in much more common clothes. We felt almost overdressed. The traditional man’s dress is a shirt worn over a cloth that looks like a long skirt, but can be folded up so that it is above the knees too (this is called the loongi). Over the man’s shoulder is a scarf or cloth that often matches with the trim on his loongi. I found it funny that many were wearing colourful scarves that looked like towels to me. I wore my silk kurta, Nadim wore a Kurta too and the girls wore their Punjabis (see the picture from earlier this month).

We were quite an attraction again. Many of these kids don’t see foreigners that often. The girls were shy and quite happy with a hello and some smiles. Some boys apparently have seen their share of foreigners because they came up to us asking for 50 rupees. It really saddened me. Nadim told them they should stay in school, get jobs and make their own money so they don’t have to depend on others. I am not sure how well that was received.

We made it back to the Baha’i centre by late afternoon and are planning to go out for pizza later this evening with the same couple we attended the wedding with. We haven’t had a pizza in a while (since Krabi, Thailand) and the girls are pretty excited.

CM

Return from Ooty

This morning we really, really, enjoyed our hot shower. We haven’t had hot running water in almost a month and this shower was not only hot, but had good water pressure. It was sooo nice.

We joined a tour bus and they took us around Ooty and Cunnoor to some pretty spectacular viewpoints. It’s really amazing to see the side of the mountain terraced and in some places the front door of one row of homes looks out onto the roof of the next row of homes.
We went to the highest peak in the south of India and stood 2.6 km above sea level! You could actually see clouds below and even with us. While at this peak we got some fried munchies. One was a battered and deep fried pepper. The one end of the pepper seemed okay – a little spicy but bearable, but as I got to the other end (I guess it was the end with all the seeds) my mouth was on fire! Still yummy though.

We went through several other viewpoints and of course they had to stop so that we could buy spices or tea. We had already bought ours the previous day so no commissions off of us today.

One of the spots we stopped was a tea plantation. Almost as far as the eye could see were tea bushes. Apparently they harvest the top three leaves from the bushes every two weeks! I can’t imagine how much tea that amounts too!

The girls were getting rather bored with us, but thankfully the last stop had a garden and children’s play park. They enjoyed the swings and climbing structures and rid themselves of enough energy that they were bearable for the rest of the afternoon.

We changed buses for the trip home and endured a crazy ride home. Thankfully we had given Roya her anti-nausea pill. Nadim, Yasmin and I felt a little queasy for the couple of hours that it took to descend the mountain, going down hairpin turn after hairpin turn. A few people on the bus had to hang their heads out the windows. This made us even more queasy, but things settled down once we finally reached the bottom. We arrived late after a four and a half hour trip. It’s incredible to think that Ooty is only 165 km from Mysore!

CM

Ooty

We left early this morning for Ooty. We went on a tour bus. It was supposed to be a bus that had been retrofitted with eighteen seats instead of twenty-two for comfort, but it still had all the seats and it was pretty squished. There were twenty-five people onboard and we bounced along the roads to Indian pop music playing a little on the loud side.

The drivers are a little scary here. They seem to play chicken with each other and just at the last moment somehow they squeeze past each other. It seems like half the time the bus is on the wrong side of the road or at least half on the wrong side of the road as they pass motorbikes, cows, carts, or other vehicles. There is a countdown for the thirty-six hairpin turns that lead the way up to Ooty which is a hill station.

Along the way you see all sorts of terraced hills. Tea is one of the main crops and we stopped at a tea garden. We drank some chai. They let us taste chocolate tea and red tea and of course we had to buy some. Then we went behind the shop to see the tea plants. I thought they might have more of a smell, but the small bushes with the shiny, tough leaves don’t have a strong smell to them.

We finally made it to the top of the hill and headed straight to the lake. There were some amusement rides there and the girls and I had a ride on the Break Dance. I felt a little unsettled after that, but still managed to eat a samosa.

We had a slight disagreement with the bus driver. He was supposed to drop us at the hotel, but instead he wanted us to take a rickshaw from one of the tourist areas. We argued about it because it wasn’t what we agreed to, but in the end we did take the rickshaw. You win some you lose some.

After settling in and dropping our bags at the hotel we went to the Botanical Gardens. The flowers weren’t all that spectacular. They would probably be better just after the wet season. It was however a fun place for us. We were asked several times to be in a picture with some Indian tourists, and a number of times people came up to us to ask our names and where we were from. We’re feeling famous again.

A couple of little girls came up to me and gave me flowers that they had picked. I was touched at the gesture, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. There is a Rs. 100 fine for picking the flowers! Once they were out of sight, I put them in my roomy sweater’s pocket, away from the eyes of the park rangers!

It’s pretty cold here, or at least it is for us. The temperature was okay during the day, probably about 25 degrees, but when the sun set it got cold quickly. They say the temperature usually goes down to around ten degrees at night.

CM

Cheap Labour

Labour is so cheap here. This afternoon we went into town for lunch and then to do some errands. Along the way, I saw a shoe stand/shop at the side of the road. My well-worn, Naturalizer sandals are holding up quite well, but they have a small Velcro fastener at the side and it was not sticking so well anymore. We showed the man who spoke a bit of Hindi, but not much, and he nodded that he could fix it. They kind of wobble their heads here to mean yes, or okay, or sometimes we’ll see.

So I sat barefoot on a little stool while he cut, glued, and stitched on the new Velcro and then polished the leather straps. This took about 15 or 20 minutes and Nadim went across the street to the post office to drop a few things in the mail. And the cost for this repair and cleaning? It was Rs 30, which is the equivalent of 75 cents!

We had our last day with the kids at the boarding school. We played games, did a bit of dancing, and singing too. We exchanged addresses so that we can drop them a post card at some point on our travels. We also told them that our friends would be starting something with them in the new school year and they seemed to be quite happy with that.

Nadim has run out for a haircut. We had borrowed some clippers from the other fellow who is living in the centre. They weren’t very powerful and half way through cutting it, the darn thing quit on us! So Nadim’s been walking around with half a haircut for the last day or two. At least it quit after I had done the sides fairly symmetrically. Yasmin said he looks like he has a Mohawk, but it really wasn’t quite that bad! I pushed him out the door for a cut because we’re off to Ooty tomorrow for an overnight stay and will return late the following day and the next morning we are off to the wedding so there will be no time. Crazy guy doesn’t seem to mind walking around this way, but it’s me that has to look at him so off he went!

CM

Breaking story: I just got back from the barber shop, and cheap labour confirmed – I got a nice haircut for 30 Rupees (75 cents). I asked the barber to clean all his tools with cleaning solution before he got started, and he cleaned everything right in front of me. I did not want to bring any “friends” home with me. I think I will get another haircut before we leave India, so I won’t have to pay European prices!

NM

School, no sick day!

Nadim’s cold has spread to all of us now, but he’s feeling much better. I’ve been sniffling and dealing with a painfully sore throat. Yasmin is coughing a lot and has a bit of a runny nose too. Roya is the least affected, but I do hear her coughing occasionally too. Hopefully we’ll all be over it as quickly as Nadim was.

We did make it to the school and I had brought the camera again. All the kids are very excited about getting their picture taken. A group who had seen our camera last time were asking “Photo? Photo?” so of course I stopped to take their picture. Before I knew it there was a bunch of kids running to be in the picture. They all wanted to see the result so I showed them on the display and there were all kinds of excited ooohs and aaahs.

We went in to see our regular kids who are boarding at the school. We played a card game with them, and we played another memory game with clapping and numbers. We also played Simon Says and had a lot of fun with that too.

Today is Wednesday and they get to wear white skirts with coloured shirts instead of their regular sky blue uniform. Their shirts are red, yellow, grean, purple, or blue. I took another picture of the group and it turned out quite colourful.

Tonight we made burritos again. Nadim had to take a picture of us. You can see us in the kitchen that we worked so hard in to make spotless. You can also see a tin plate and cup in the background. These are very typical to India. We have our chai in those cups all the time. They do get hot, so you have to hold them by the rim. Takes some getting used to, but I’m no longer burning my fingers. Yasmin and Roya are also enjoying chai in these cups and have learned to handle them properly. They wait until the chai is cooler before drinking though.

The power went out just after this shot and we had to finish cooking our meal by candlelight. We ate by candlelight too, but it came back on just in time for dishes!

P.S. The girls wish Kendra a Happy Birthday!

CM

Visiting

This morning was school work as usual. While I was working with Yasmin and Roya, Nadim helped Anapurna (the high school student we had helped previously)with physics. Nadim has a degree in physics so it should not have been too difficult, but Anapurna’s English is not so good so much of the terminology had to be translated with an English/Kannada dictionary.

Yesterday Nadim had a sore throat and a bit of a runny nose. This morning wasn’t much better and by afternoon he was feeling worse. He had a nap in the afternoon and that seemed to revive him enough to go out to dinner at Naseem and Khodayaar’s home. They are some Baha’is that we had met a few times, most recently while helping clean up the Baha’i cemetery.

Their home was a small apartment, but very cozy. Naseem’s mother is Persian, but her father is Chinese. Tonight she made some Chinese vegetables, sweet and sour chicken and rice for us. The girls were quite happy because it wasn’t spicy at all. Yasmin and Roya are doing quite well with spicy food, but I think they enjoyed the break from it.

After dinner they showed us some pictures of Maldives, where Khodayaar grew up. It looks gorgeous with its white powdery beaches and clear blue water. I guess that will have to be another trip. They also showed us some pictures of Haifa where they had visited the Baha’i World Centre. We are planning a trip there in early 2011 so it was nice to get a preview.

Roya played with their son who is a year and a half. Yasmin seems to have caught Nadim’s cold too and was a little quiet tonight. Hopefully she will feel better in the morning.

CM

Around the Neighbourhood

We’ve been eating pretty much as vegetarians since we got to India. We’d read that the meat quality can be questionable and with most of the population being vegetarian, most of the grocery stores don’t even carry meat. The food has been awesome and there is a lot of variety of vegetarian curries. We’ve been enjoying it so much that I thought I’d better get a little exercise this morning to counter the effects.

We were up slightly earlier than usual and we all set off on our walk so that we could return by 9:00 in time to start our school work and to avoid the heat of the day. It’s a nice neighbourhood with some very nice houses and others much more modest. There doesn’t seem to be much zoning in India so you have some shops, and other things in what would otherwise seem like a residential area.

India is a land of contradictions. You see fine new cars on streets that also have cows and ponies. You see the ever present rickshaw. Nadim says they haven’t changed in thirty years. Even the meters are the same, except they now start at Rs 14 instead of Rs 5. You see women in saris and Punjabis talking on cell phones.

We went back to the school this week. We’ve been meaning to take a picture of the rickshaws loaded with kids and their school bags. It looks funny to see them coming down the street. It makes our school buses look like luxury vehicles. Normally the back of a Rickshaw sits three adults tightly. When our family rides in them one of the girls has to sit on one of our laps. I’m not sure how they do it but they must squeeze a dozen kids in them for the ride home. It’s so funny to see the school bags hanging from the side mirrors and hooks and the kids all squeezed in!

We’ve learned that this will probably be our last week with the kids because next week they will be busy studying for their final exams and after that they will be heading home for a couple of months. They return in June and we spoke to the Mother Superior about some of the local Baha’is beginning a youth group with them. The local Baha’is had suggested that they could continue working with the kids. She seemed very interested in beginning that in June so I hope everything works out.

CM

Day of Service

Today we joined the local Baha’is in caring for the Baha’i cemetery. With the decline in the number of Baha’is in the area, I think the cemetery came into a bit of neglect. Nadim’s dad and some other friends had built the wall around the cemetery 30 years ago, and it was still standing! We started our day by saying a few prayers at each of the three graves. As we walked from one to the next our steps were filled with the crackling of ankle-deep leaves.

Everyone was anxious to get to work, so we began to rake. We didn’t actually have rakes. Instead we made do with brooms and branches from coconut trees. The branches actually worked quite well, and we formed pile after large pile of dead leaves. From time to time we stopped for chai or for bits of coconut and sugar.

There was no wheel barrow or some such thing that we would use in Canada. Instead we used a big tarp and swept our piles of leaves onto it, dumping it when full in a large circular bin for composting. The girls had great fun jumping in the leaves to help pack them down.

We wiped the dust from the graves and laid some roses on each one before we broke for lunch. They really pile your plate full here. I couldn’t eat the last few bites of mine. I’m not sure how they manage to put it all away!

We then sat under the shade of a tree and had a discussion on the Baha’i Faith and the administrative system. Many of the Baha’is had questions on how things worked in Canada or other parts of the world. It was interesting and it was nice to hear from another woman, Naseem, who is from Malaysia, to see how it is done in that part of the world too.

Some of us ended with a trip to the ice-cream parlour. We were all pleasantly tired and I’m sure we’ll all sleep well tonight.

CM

We got a late start as Yasmin and Roya prepared Valentine’s Day cards and we slowly got going. Then we had a bunch of laundry to do so that took up most of the morning, even with us all helping out. It’s a good thing they have a few lines that we can use to hang our clothes.

The girls and I headed to the store for milk and cheese, but before we left, I snapped the following photo because I thought they looked so cute in their new clothes. Again, they loved playing with the scarves. They seem to like play acting as Muslim women with their faces and hair covered.

This afternoon we were very slow moving. We drank lots of chai and chatted a lot with Vijay, who is always happy to chat about this and that. He was happy because he and his family have been asked to be the new care takers of the Baha’i Centre. There will be lots of work involved in cleaning and removing some of the assorted collection of benches and chairs that have accumulated over the years and are no longer needed. I think he has big plans to really reorganize and straighten some things up. Good for him.

Yasmin and Roya enjoyed playing Barbies and Polly Pockets in our room for much of the afternoon while Nadim and I enjoyed the common area. It’s so nice for us to all have our space. We enjoy the peace and the girls enjoy being allowed to play more freely.

CM

More Shopping!

The girls gave their science presentations this morning. I was really impressed with them. They were able to stand up and talk about their flowers for about five minutes and then answer questions. We also did our weekly spelling test and practised our multiplication tables.

For lunch we went to a hotel that also books tours. We had another great lunch of vegetarian curries and roti bread, and afterwards we arranged to go to Ooty in a week’s time and got some information on Kerala as well.

We were in the mood for more shopping so we ventured out to another part of town where there were some souvenir shops. We didn’t find what we were looking for in that area of town and so we went to a store called “Big Bazaar”. It was a big department store and we were very successful in picking up some things for the girls, but we still didn’t find much in the way of presents for the Baha’i New Year for our family back home.

We found some beautiful Punjabis for Yasmin and Roya. They will be able to wear them to the wedding next Sunday, and when we get back to the west, I think they can wear them as dresses without the pants. We also found some more casual Punjabis that can even be worn back home because the pants are just regular style and the shirts are not so long. Both sets come with sheer scarves and the girls are having a great time playing with them.

CM

Shopping

We headed downtown for lunch. We chose a restaurant near a shopping area that we wanted to visit. It had air conditioning which was a real bonus because most places don’t. We ordered a tali, which is rice or bread with a set of curries. They set our table with a banana leaf each, but we had to ask for spoons because most people eat with their hands. The food was excellent and we really filled up, because it was all you can eat.

From there we made our way to Cauvery Art and Crafts Emporium. It is a state run shop which means that it is a bit more expensive, but you are assured of good quality, and you don’t get hassled and you don’t have to bargain (although Nadim still did a bit). We picked up some souvenirs and some gifts for family and friends back home. We had hoped to find something for everyone on our list, but we weren’t quite that successful.

After the emporium we walked along the street and Nadim was all excited to see the Bata shoe store where he used to buy his soccer shoes for team sports. A little further along was the market. As we entered we saw all kinds of vegetables, chillies, and colours. Before we could enjoy the sights, a few different guys came up to us selling their wares. We ended up buying some ankle bracelets for the girls. They make little sounds as they walk.

There are all sorts of things in the market - colours for dyeing clothes or painting, scented oils, tin plates, vegetables, fruit, a stall for all sorts of different kinds of bananas, flowers of all different types, jewellery, and more. They didn’t have a lot of souvenir things, but it was fun to walk around and see all the different colours and activity.

As we exited the market and joined the main street again we had to stop and enjoy the scene. There was a cow in the middle of the street and bicycles, rickshaws, new cars, old cars, and motorbikes were all going around it – everyone honking along merrily. The sidewalks were full of people and the shop owners were calling out their wares.

As we were getting our supper ready, some Baha’is stopped by. There are a lot of activities coming up because it will soon by Ayyamiha – a time for gift giving and hospitality. But, the most exciting thing coming up is a wedding, and we’ve been invited! We will see both the Baha’i and Hindu ceremonies. It is coming up on the 22nd and we are all looking forward to it.

CM

Brindavan Gardens

This morning I did school work with the girls while Nadim struggled through chemistry with the girl we were tutoring. There is a bit of a language issue so he found it a bit difficult this morning.

We had a late lunch in town and then headed to the city bus terminal to find a bus to Brindavan Gardens. We asked several people about buses and got several answers on where to wait and which one goes. One bus official told us where to wait but when Nadim asked him when we should expect the next bus, he smiled and said “It comes.” After waiting for about 45 minutes in the heat, we decided that maybe we could hire a car instead. Someone had mentioned that when taking the bus you had to walk quite a ways from the bus stop to get to the gardens. This, the sight of the crowded buses with no A/C, and the long wait in the sun, eventually helped us admit defeat and we found ourselves a taxi.

The gardens are only about 20 km away, but the poor state of the roads and the variety of vehicles on the road meant that it took almost 45 minutes to get there. We were glad we hadn’t opted for the bus because it would have been much longer with all the stops.

We made it to the gardens by late afternoon. The sun was still quite strong, but we walked along the side of the garden that was shaded by the dam that feeds the water fountains.


We started by visiting the north garden. It was very beautiful. There was a main water flow through the center of the garden and it fed many fountains both along the centre path as well as to the sides.

At the far end of the garden, up on a hill that was covered with flowers was a big hotel. We decided to stop there for some chai, but when we found out they had milk shakes the girls opted for that instead. Nadim had a cappuccino, the first in a very long time.

Small things make us happy these days. I went to the ladies room and when I reported back that they were western style toilets, and they were clean, and they even had toilet paper, and they had paper towel and soap, the girls were full of smiles and we all had to make a pit stop.

After sunset there was a dancing water fountain display. They had coloured lights and the fountains looked like they were moving to the music. It was fun to watch for fifteen minutes or so. They ushered in new groups of people every fifteen minutes, and the place was teeming with people. We were warned about pick pockets but didn’t have a problem.

We made it back to town and went to a restaurant for a late vegetarian dinner. We also got a couple of curries to bring home so we can heat them up for our dinner tomorrow.

CM & NM

The Park

The kids at school informed us yesterday that they had exams this week and so we are letting them study and we have the week off for other things. Today one of the Baha'i teenagers came by because we had agreed to tutor her in math. It's been a long time since Nadim and I did trigonometry (cos, sin, tan, sec, cosec, etc). Nadim's memory seems to be slightly better than mine, but the two of us muddled through and managed to be of some help to the poor girl. I am so glad that I don't need to be doing those tests again! We spent about three hours with her this afternoon, but the time passed quickly. She'll come back tomorrow morning and Nadim will help her some more while I do school work with the girls.

We went to the park, in the early evening. There were lots of kids playing around. The girls seemed to have fun on the monkey bars. There were some boys playing soccer in bare feet in the patch of dirt next to the park. I snapped a few shots and they got pretty interested in us. Eventually they came over to introduce themselves. Nadim was a little cool to them because he figured they were using their local language to make some rude comments. I figured they were just being adolescents.

We locked our keys in the common rooms of the Baha'i centre, so now we are waiting for Vijay to return from his class so we can get our keys, get into the kitchen and make ourselves a late dinner!

CM

The Neighbourhood

School work with the girls, and at Saint Anne's was much the same as usual today, so I thought we'd give a bit of a description of the walk to the school.

We are situated outside of the downtown area in a mostly residential neighbourhood, but there are many little shops too. As we walk along the road to school we get all kinds of honks. This is not a tribute to our ego, they honk at everyone. It means "get out of the way", or "go". People seem to drive with one hand on the horn and you could probably drive down the street blind because those beside you would honk to make sure you knew they were there. We cut across a park with rusted old equipment and make our way to a quieter street that the school is on.

There are women dressed in bright coloured saris. There are others dressed in black Islamic robes. There are men in traditional clothes too, but more often you see them in western style pants and shirts. There are kids running bare foot or in flip flops. Some are in their school uniforms, while others have already changed or are not attending school.

There are smells of leaves being burned and of animal manure. Sometimes you can smell someone cooking something. There is dust everywhere. In some of the small alley ways between buildings there are cows, goats or sheep. Not sure why, but many of the cows and sheep have yellow dye on them.

GS This is actually true. I've seen on several occasions kids playing with old tires, rolling and chasing them down the street! Many of the kids like to have our attention and call out "good afternoon" or "hello". They all seem to giggle when we return their greetings.

There are also tons of stray dogs around. Mangy cur is a term that would apply to most of them. Most snooze in the dirt or trot along looking for food. Many of them are pretty diseased looking, but nobody seems to do anything about the poor beasts.

Besides the horns and traffic sounds, you hear people talking, or laughing. You hear the kids whispering. In the early mornings we hear the morning call to prayer from our room, and in the evening you can also hear it. There are a lot of Muslim people here, although more are Hindu. We also often hear pots and pans being banged about and washed. There seems to be a hall next door and sometimes we hear music coming from it as well.

CM

Memory Lane

We went to see Nadim’s old neighbourhood today. He wasn’t really sure how to get there but while looking at the map he recognized the name of his old high school. It was actually labelled as a government office, so he wasn’t entirely sure, but we crossed our fingers and hired a rickshaw and the driver said he knew where it was.

Until this point, Nadim hadn’t really recognized anything from Mysore. It had been a bit disappointing because he was hoping it would feel more familiar, but a lot has changed in thirty years, and the memory of a fourteen-year old is not so great. But today was different!

We got to a traffic circle and all of a sudden Nadim was excited. He knew the way to the school and he thought he knew the road to his old house. He remembered playing at the park and having a bicycle accident with his friend just outside it. We stopped first at CFTRI High School where Nadim spent grades eight through ten. It was so fun to see him remember playing soccer in the “field”. This field had no grass and was really just a patch of reddish dusty dirt. He also remembered his classroom and his three pals, a Hindu named Suresh, a Muslim named Irfan, and a Christian named Sharat. Nadim completed the group as a Baha’i. Who says people of different religions can’t get along? They were best friends!

We drove down a few streets looking for Nadim’s old house but couldn’t find it. We thought perhaps it had been replaced by newer homes. So we went in search of the elementary school instead. We found Nirmala Convent School, where Nadim spent grades six and seven and where his brothers started school. He pointed to the steps where the children ate their lunches that were brought by their ayya (house maid) and the other area where the ayyas ate their own lunches while waiting for the children to finish so they could bring the lunch things home again. Hard life! (actually, I think it probably was, despite the ayyas).

On our way back, we were coming along one street as Nadim was describing faint memories of where the road was, and then we spotted a road that fit the description. Nadim wasn’t too hopeful that it was it, but as we turned in the road, slowly memories came back. Sure enough we found his old house. He and his family lived in the bottom apartment while the landlords lived above them. Nadim used to play with the landlord’s son, Satish. Surprisingly Satish stilled lived there. We didn’t get to see him because he was out, but his wife and son were at home and invited us in for a few moments. Nadim recalled playing with Satish in the room we sat in and he recounted a story of how he and Satish had once taken out the powder from five or six atom bomb firecrackers and put it in a piece of paper. Of course they had to light it. He says it didn’t make an explosion, but it did make a very high flame and they came away with singed eyebrows! Satish’s son was quite happy to listen to stories about his father’s mischief!

We took a look around the property. He showed the girls where they used to count when playing hide ‘n’ seek. He showed us where there was a banana tree in the back. There was a garage and an extension that had been built in the area where they used to jump off the short wall down into the sand 2 stories below. The house now has one more level, as another room has been built as a third storey. Nadim came away with such a happy glow with all the memories. It was infectious so we all had happy smiles on our faces on the way back to the Baha’i Centre. The rickshaw driver was laughing too, and we gave him a nice tip and thanked him for the trip down memory lane.

CM

Maharaja's Palace

We started the day by celebrating Christina’s birthday! The kids and I had gone to a nearby store to get a couple of small gifts, and we gave them to Christina first thing in the morning. I guess it’s true that it is the thought that counts because she was very happy with her gifts!

After a leisurely breakfast and some light reading, we hired a rickshaw to take us to the Maharaja’s Palace, which is one of the biggest attractions in Mysore. The entrance fee is 20 Rupees for Indians and 200 Rupees for foreigners. Ten times the price seems to be the norm for foreigners. The man at the ticket counter was not sure if I was Indian or not, but I couldn’t lie so we got 2 “foreigner” tickets, and the kids entered for free.

We found out two strange things right away: 1. You cannot take cameras inside the palace, and 2. You have to go in barefoot. So we deposited the camera and our shoes, got our audio guides and went in. They gave us 2 audio guides, with 4 headphones. So Yasmin and Roya shared one and Christina and I shared the other.
The palace had some fantastic artwork in it. The hall for special ceremonies had a beautiful stained-glass ceiling, with a peacock motif, brilliant colours and designs. It was quite beautiful. The main doors leading to the conference rooms were made of a dark wood with intricate designs inlaid with ivory. The curators had placed a clear fibreglass sheet over the work so it would not be damaged. The Maharaja had been an avid hunter and had collected several big game trophies, but had a change of heart, abandoned hunting and supported the wildlife fund.

The original palace was made of wood and burned down in 1897. Construction of this new palace started almost immediately and took 15 years to complete. By that time electricity had come to Mysore, so the royal family had electric lights right away. We wondered if they had black-outs at that time too!

After our tour of the palace we went for lunch to a place called Veg Kourt. They had very good food, and we asked them to give us a couple of curries for take-out so we can have them for dinner. We had a relaxing afternoon reading and playing Chinese checkers, and went downstairs to prepare our dinner. After dinner, we brought out the cake that I had ordered yesterday from the bakery across the street, and sang happy birthday to Christina.

NM