Our Trip to India - Snippet-View!

Hi family!

I emailed Dad little bits about our days while we were gone.  I had promised to send lots of photos, but then realized that it is often very difficult to take photos in India without being run over by people or vehicles - so, he got a thousand words instead of pictures.  I thought I'd share some of them, for anyone who is interested.

love, Jess



Very early Monday, December 15


We're here!

I'm riding in Sandeep's parents' little white car, driven by their driver, Manoj. Sandeep is in a separate car - we are in fact in a little motorcade, as we have a third car with some of the suitcases following along.  Sandeep reserved two cars because we brought 4 big suitcases and Indian cars are mostly small, and then his parents sent their driver, too.  Sandeep didn't quite trust the bags or me to be left alone with two drivers he didn't know, which is why I'm here, sitting in the back seat alone like a little princess. A little princess in a beat-up carriage.  Two things about cars here in contrast to in the US - they are nearly all beat up (I don't know why they still haven't adopted the bumper car as the standard vehicle) and nearly all full of people!  Makes me realize that most cars in the US contain just one person!  

It's so funny getting out into the airport in Delhi.  It's a spiffy new building but the staff is always the same - non-smiling, looking like they have been deathly bored by their jobs for about a century, and stamping things - there always seems to be a lot of stamping of things in India!

Tuesday, December 16

On our way to the bank in the morning:  

A woman washing her sidewalk with a hose, with a servant squatting down and sweeping with a stick broom.  A old man sitting in the sun in a plastic chair outside his house, wearing only his underpants, eating his breakfast. A car with a "don't honk please" bumper sticker.  A guard with a very large gun outside bank entrance.  

Sitting in the bank waiting for withdrawal.  Things in India generally take a lot longer than you might expect. A man repairing the stone tile floor in the bank, crouched in the middle of a busy room and chipping away at the tile with a hammer and chisel - tap tap tap tappety tap tap tap tap tappety tap...  : ) A man walking around in the bank waiting room liberally spraying bug killer into the air and onto things from a can in one hand and air freshener from a can in the other hand.  I've been fumigated!   So many people milling around, standing around, mostly men. I don't know if I noticed last visit that majority of people you see out and about are men.  Lines much less orderly - in fact, lines are more of a very general concept.  The teller Sandeep is working with now has three people standing around her desk at this moment, all talking to her, all waiting for their business to be finished.

To Delhi for shopping and visiting:

Driving on the highway.  Going about 2 miles an hour and everyone honking.  Democracy of vehicles, as a man pushing his bicycle absolutely loaded with huge cloth bags of something, a Jaguar, motorcycles, scooters (which squeeze in between the lanes of cars, beep-beeping, and don't seem to get squished too often), public buses, trucks, motorcycle rickshaws, and Tempos (like a small truck with one front wheel and two rear) all share the road. Then there is a big black cow standing in the road facing the traffic, completely unperturbed.  

It always amazes me what people can move using a bicycle!  Bicycles carrying bags draped from the handlebars and over the center rail and around the seat, huge loads strapped up behind the seat, pulling a trailer loaded about six feet high with cans of oil, trailers carrying boards or pipes or hay bales, cycle rickshaws holding 3 or 4 fat ladies...

Sign says "lane driving is sane driving."  No one seems to agree.  We're sitting in 6 lines of vehicles right now, on a road with three painted lanes.  Sandeep just pointed out how many of the cars have their side view mirrors folded down, so they don't get knocked off! 

I can see three cars from where we are sitting in traffic that have their side view mirrors either knocked off entirely or hanging by a thread.  : )

Saw a really tall Santa in full suit, beard and all, playing the saxophone in front of a store.

Saw a street dog sleeping in the shopping area with a plate of food sitting beside him, obviously left for him and waiting to be eaten.  

My favorite thing about India and Indians is the way they tend to treat each other like one big, sometimes tolerant/ sometimes exasperated family. Cousins are called brother or sister, friends' parents are called Aunty and Uncle, and even the guy who you honk at for blocking your parking space will stop to help you navigate the tiny space he has left for you.  : )

Wednesday, December 17

Saw the same man outside his house in his underpants, although this time he appeared to be exercising.  A modest nudist? Sandeep adds that the underpants are boxers and not briefs and that makes them somewhat socially acceptable for home wear.  I argued that standing outside isn't really being at home.

Waiting in the car with the driver, Manoj, for Sandeep to do an errand.  Road is divided, one way on each side - just watched a van drive the wrong way down one side, beeping merrily.  Then a motorcycle drove the wrong way down the other side.

Indian government has instituted "no helmet, no fuel" rule.  A man just drove by with his helmet perched right on top of his head.  I guess he pulls it down when he needs gasoline - or just points out that the rule doesn't specify how the helmet is to be worn.

Sign: "Tent decoration and top catters."

Manoj had to turn the car in a really tiny space, as the road he tried to take was blocked off.  Random passerby stopped to direct him through the whole turn with hand signals.

Teeny tiny bookshop, like a hallway, filled with books and with at least four employees, all older men.  Books packed on the shelves and stacked all over.  I asked them to recommend their favorite books.  I bought books...  : ) Sandeep bought books of Urdu poetry, which he loves.  

Took the new subway system around Delhi - it's great!  Clean and fast and well-organized and easy to understand.  Absolutely packed at times!  It's pretty funny when the doors open and more people just squish into the cars that already seem full.  I've gotten better at being pushy - did I mention that Indians don't do lines very well?  : )

Sandeep took me to Chandni Chowk - he says to tell you it is one of the oldest shopping areas in Delhi, about 200 years old.  Little streets, littler streets, and alleys, all branching off from each other and lined with tiny narrow shops open to the street.  We went to a perfume shop.  It's wider than most, raised from the street and open all along one side.  You step up into it and sit on a little low bench.  As usual, there are many more people inside than seem reasonable - possibly employees, or just people hanging around (it's difficult to tell, because generally only one or two seem to be doing anything useful!).  The walls are lined with shallow, wooden, glass-fronted cabinets, which are filled with tiny vials of perfumes, essential oils, other toiletries.  One of the salesmen dabs bits of scented oil on your hands or arms to smell. We bought two - one grassy, one flowery.  

We also bought steel plates, which I have been wanting for picnics, etc.  Teeny tiny kitchen shop, with so much merchandise that there is only room for a customer or two, the proprietor, and a man in the back who stands surrounded by things and hands them forward as requested.  We wanted twenty plates and he only had a few, so he called someone on his cell phone and, five minutes or so later, someone came running from outside with the rest.  Sandeep said the shop owners have storerooms elsewhere with the rest of their merchandise.

Favorite overheard conversation: customer in shop asks for something (shampoo?) in green bottle.  Proprietor hands him a blue bottle.  Customer: "But I asked for green bottle."  Proprietor: "Yes, this is green.  It is also called blue."  : )

I always feel guilty not buying things in the shops - they take things out from behind the counter and out of packages and spread them around, and keep talking as you say no thank you and walk away.  It's funny when they give Sandeep the foreigner price after looking at him for a moment - it irritates him and he won't buy anything then, so we walk away and the price is suddenly halved as they realize their mistake.  Or the man selling him guavas tries to cheat him by not letting the scale settle as he weighs the fruit and, as soon as Sandeep calls him on it, he makes the adjustment without even arguing - like, well, it was worth a try!  

Thursday, December 18

Vegetable stands along highway bridge, so drivers can pull over to buy groceries, like a drive-through, although it does tie up traffic somewhat!

Elephants walking alongside the highway, hauling brush.

Two parents on a scooter wearing helmets, with their little child standing up in front with no helmet.

Nearly every car has a little god figure of some sort on the dashboard.  Sandeep asked Manoj to put ours in the glove compartment to improve visibility.  Now I'm wondering if that makes us more vulnerable if we collide with a car with its god not in the glove compartment.

I read this morning that it has been illegal to kill or harm a street dog since 2001, so there has been a population explosion, although there is a program underway to vaccinate and sterilize them.  I knew that I hadn't seen so many on our last visit.  I hope that doesn't mean they were routinely being killed or harmed before 2001.

Man carrying a new flat screen TV in a box climbing into a cycle rickshaw to take it home.

Street of car repair shops with two little ramps built into the side of the road and up the side walk, so the car just backs up onto those, one tire on each, and gets repaired outside the shop.

I bought a steel ladle and almost had to use it to thwack a man on the head who pinged a street dog with a little stone to get it to move.  Luckily for him, he walked away after that one ping or he would definitely have suffered a severe thwacking.

Saw two different men sewing outside with old black treadle sewing machines.

"Panicker's Travel Agency" - still trying to determine if that is the owner's name or a description of its customers.

Just went shopping in Karol Bagh, another series of branching streets with lots of small stores.  Bigger streets with more traffic and more cheap and utilitarian stuff than yesterday - reminded me of Walmart in street form. Wanted to buy a top for Luna but all too sparkly and nylon-y.  It's funny when you say "more simple" to the top with gold and sequins, and the saleswoman nods and takes out one with sequins, gold, and mirrors.  We say "more simple" a lot when shopping, with usually something like the same result.  

A little artificial Christmas tree standing, undecorated, in the middle of the walkway in Karol Bagh.  Also, a little child-size Santa suit hanging up at one of the clothing stalls. 

Father, mother, younger daughter and two babies all on one scooter - mother and daughter each holding a baby.  Father wearing a helmet.

Drying laundry hung all over the place.  Fences, highway overpass railings, trees next to the sidewalk.  Much less separation between public and private space. 

Traffic light at big intersection just a perpetual flashing red, while all the vehicles independently weave their way through.  I don't suppose anyone would obey it even if it changed colors, so I'm not sure why they bothered to put one up at all!  

Friday, December 19

Home this morning, so some bits of daily life here!

Morning bath in a bucket. Mummy and Papa do have a shower but no one uses it, and neither do I - the water supply is limited, as the city water comes on only for a limited time in the morning and evening.  Everyone has tanks on their roofs that fill with water when the public supply comes on and then that is used throughout the day.  There are individual electric hot water heaters for each of the two bathrooms, which are switched on before you want to take a bath.  Then you fill up a bucket with nice hot water, sit on a little stool in the bathtub, and pour the water over yourself with a plastic cup.  It's kind of a pleasant way to bathe, except that the bathroom is a bit chilly right now!

The garbage man pedals by on his bicycle every morning with a trailer, calling out so people know to bring him their trash.

Mummy's mother and daughter servants come in the morning to wash the dishes and clean the house.  Poonam, the daughter, comes first, and sweeps all the floors with a sort of long twig broom, then washes them with a cloth.  The floors are stone and water is flung around constantly to clean; it drives Sandeep crazy because he's afraid Mummy or Papa will slip, but he is ignored on this point.  Poonam also dusts and cleans the windows. Her mother, Sunita, comes later and helps out - I think she works in several other houses as well.  They are both small, graceful women with nice smiles.

A man comes to the house sometimes whose job it is to clean the toilets.  Gandhi  tried to get people to clean their own toilets, as that was traditionally the job for the most untouchable of the Untouchables, but despite his other successes, this custom generally remains the same.  I suspect Poonam and Sunita would quit if asked to clean the toilets, although they do clean the sink and bathtub and bathroom floor.

The driver, Manoj, rides his bicycle to the house around 10 am, and generally stays until 6 pm, although Sandeep is paying him extra to work late during our visit.  He visits with the men at the tea stall down the road and Sandeep hollers for him when we are ready to go somewhere.  He also runs errands: picking up milk or Papa's medicines, taking shoes out to be polished or clothes out to be ironed, fixing small things, etc.  It's wonderful to have him when we go out, not just because driving is such a challenging sport, but because he can wait with the car, which makes parking much easier.  We just climb out wherever we are going and he goes and finds an official or unofficial parking spot.  Because he is in the car to move it if necessary, there are a lot more options!  Sandeep calls him on his cell phone when we are ready and he comes back to fetch us.

Now out and about:
You can have your comforter re-stuffed or re-fluffed on the side of the road.  The fluff-walla  (my word - hee hee! - walla for male or walli for female is an all-purpose ending that means something like 'worker' or 'seller' - like the chai-walla sells tea or the press-walli irons your clothes) has a huge bag of cotton stuffing and some kind of poinking tool for re-fluffing.

Saw little bicycle school bus, like a rickshaw but with a domed metal roof like a tiny covered wagon.  Packed with small children - little faces peeking out at both open ends.  Mummy says the driver gets paid per child, so he crams in as many as possible!

A few men cooking their lunch at the side of the road over a little fire in a impromptu three-sided dirt stove - like a little mounded dirt cave with  a metal plate as the roof, and flat bread cooking on the plate.

Wandered around in the Deer Park looking for an old fort.  Didn't find the fort, but saw a lot of deer behind a fence, many peacocks, a crow who insisted we look at him as well as at the peacocks, and lots of dogs, as usual.  Saw a warning sign, with an infographic - like the kind that show a man being electrocuted or falling of a ladder, except that this man seemed to be in bed with a broken leg.  Sandeep translated it for me: If you accept bribes, you will get sick.

Bought myself a new piece of jewelry from a little street stall - a cowbell!  Hee hee.  It's a little round brass ball, like a sleigh jingle bell, and it has a silly face with a mustache on it.  I'm going to knot a string for it and wear it as a necklace, but I had to promise Sandeep that I wouldn't wear it until we get home!  It cost about $2 and may or may not be old.  : )

Back home now.  Sandeep is out with his medical school friends.  He's having so much fun reconnecting with them all - it makes me happy!

Saturday, December 20

Today was all reunion-related.  We went to Sandeep's college mid-day, for a class photo first, then lunch.  We also walked around a bit, meeting friends and visiting his remembered spots like lecture halls and the (empty!) anatomy/ dissection room.  Sandeep stayed for an Urdu poetry reading and I went home with our friends Asif and Sandhya.  They have visited us in the US, and their daughter, Arshi, who is 18(!) now, still remembers Mrs. Nesbitt the chicken!  Their son, Sahil, is 11 and very cute.  We got ready for the party together, then went back to meet Sandeep.  Lots of ceremonies, then dancing and more food.  Sandeep was a crazed dancer and I have video to prove it!  

Tomorrow is an overnight trip to Manesar, a town about 2 hours north of Delhi, with Sandeep's 25th reunion class and also the 50th reunion class.

Only one fun non-reunion note today - sign on shop: Art D'Fact.

Sunday, December 21

Bus ride to Manesar was so much fun, with Sandeep's classmates all taking turns singing over the bus's microphone/loudspeaker system.  Everyone singing along.  

Now sick.  Ugh.  Have a cold, and have perhaps eaten something unfortunate as well.  Oh dear.


Monday, December 22

Home in Sobti house. 

Not too much to report from Manesar, as I spent nearly all the time at the hotel in the room, not fit for human companionship.  Feeling somewhat better now.  So glad Sandeep could have fun with his friends, though.  They are all thrilled to have reconnected after so many years - phone numbers and email addresses exchanged, and plans for future visits made.  

Saw camels pulling farm loads, wild parakeets on the telephone line, and peacocks wandering in the fields.  Also, saw peacocks running across the field outside the hotel last night - what a funny site.  Not really designed for running, it would seem.  Drying patties of cow dung along the side of the road, to be used as fuel for fires.  

Tucked in our warm sleeping bag, Sandeep has given me electrolytes in lime soda, and I'm eating horrid dry bread things - rusks.  On the positive side, reading a wonderful book about Delhi - City of Djinns, by William Dalrymple.  

Tuesday, December 23

I have become the world's most boring correspondent.  I slept nearly all day.  Mummy is feeding me bland food whenever I poke my head out of the bed.  Otherwise, we did laundry and had a quick visit with Sandeep's cousin Gaurav, who came to the house.  Sandeep went out to have a brain MRI, just for fun.  Actually, he wanted to have one done for comparison purposes later as needed, because it costs $100 here and can be done on demand.  "He checked his brain - it was all there."  : )

As a substitute for our exciting adventures, I'm including a short article from today's newspaper.  Thane is part of Bombay, says Papa.

"MONKEY BUSINESS IN THANE COURT

The trick used by the cap-seller in the famous monkey story told to children worked in real life.

A mobile phone snatched by a monkey from a judge's chamber in Thane on Friday was retrieved after a court staffer remembered the old tale and threw his cap down, prompting the animal who had climbed a tree to do exactly the same with the phone.

The monkey entered the chamber of a sessions judge when the court situated opposite the Thane collector's office was in session on Friday, picked up the mobile phone kept on a table and ran out and scaled a tree which stands next to the court.

Court staffers spent some time in trying to get the phone back but the monkey just would not climb down."

Packing for our little trip to Bangalore, Mysore, and Ooty, with Asif and Sandhya.  Air India website says we are allowed to bring, in addition to our carry-on bag, "a reasonable amount of reading material for the flight."  Hee hee - reasonable by what standard?

Wednesday, December 24

Christmas Eve!

Stopped at the gas station to fill up on our way to the airport.  Full service here - no fill-it-yourself - and much discussion, like in every other transaction!  There are currently 5 people gathered around our gas tank - man filling tank, man who collects money for gas, another man trying to pay for his gas from another pump (or maybe arguing about the price), Manoj the driver, and Sandeep. 

This fancy toll highway says "bullock carts and hand carts are prohibited."  Doesn't mention bicycles - pedestrians - dogs - cows without carts - camels.....  : )

Following in Grampa Lillie's footsteps, Manoj just realized he missed the left exit off the highway he needed to take, and backed about 100 yards down the left lane to get to it.  No accidents to report.  

Flight delayed by 2 hours because of fog.  Delhi flights often delayed because of fog/smog/smoke/haze.  Going to Asif and Sandhya's house to wait with them, and will go to the airport all in their car.

Street vendors who wander between cars at traffic lights, knocking on windows, are currently selling glittery Santa hats and plastic Santa masks.  Usually selling slippers, dish towels, other.  "It's beginning to look a [teeny bit] like Christmas, everywhere I go..."

Poor little horse pulling a loaded cart along in traffic in Delhi.  Doesn't seem like a very good place to be a horse...or dog...

I've never seen a place with more traffic and where people have more stuff hanging from their rearview mirrors!  Fluffy tinsel, dangling decorations, gods and goddesses...I guess it's good to have all the good luck possible!

Salon sign: "Beauty hair laser slimming" and, below that, "hair rebonding."  Punctuation would be good, and, no, I don't know what hair rebonding is. 

For those with hair in need of less specialized services,  a roadside barbershop - one chair on the sidewalk, customer in the chair, a little table with supplies, and a mirror hung on a fence.

In the airport - a bit of a rush, after all the delay, as traffic was awful - and now in the plane.  Seats apparently assigned any which way to everyone and lots of swapping to sit together.  We started with 5 separate seats (only Sahil is with us, as Arshi stayed home to study for upcoming exams), and after strategic swaps, Sandhya, Sahil, and I are sitting together in one area, and Sandeep and Asif together in another.

I'm feeling a lot better.  Both Sandeep and Asif aren't feeling very well, though.  Uh oh.

We're staying in a guest house in Bangalore, on the campus of the government mental health institute, apparently something like NIMH in the US.   It's not that our friends have finally had us committed - Sandhya stays here when she comes to Bangalore for work, and she thought it would be a good place to spend the one night before we leave to drive to Ooty in the morning. The guest house is kind of like a big dormitory with small suites of rooms - each with a bedroom with two little twin beds, a bathroom, and a little sitting room.  And our room has a lizard!  It's a small one, just salamander-size - I saw it whisk up into the window enclosure when we came in, and then we peeked at each other.  Mummy hates them, but I think they're cute - definitely the least objectionable wildlife to find in your room!  Much more unpleasant to me is the completely overwhelming smell of mothballs!  Indians in general seem to adore mothballs, whereas I think I must have been a moth in an earlier life.  Sandeep kindly collected all the visible ones and exiled them to the hallway, just for me.  : ) Luckily, it is quite warm here - maybe about 70 outside right now, at almost midnight - so we have the window open and the ceiling fan on.  Still stinky, but better.

Thursday, December 25

Christmas!

Saw several churches in Bangalore, most completely draped with colored lights - red blue white green pink yellow.  One was entirely red, white, and blue.  Huge Santa outside another.

Man on a scooter in a Santa hat with a woman in a bright pink sari sitting behind.

Road from Bangalore to Mysore - two lanes, through farmland and villages.  The usual wide assortment of vehicles, from trucks and buses to ox carts, tractors (lots of Mahindras!), and scooter rickshaws.

Men riding on the tippy-top of tall loads piled way up in the back of trucks.

Men with fresh green coconuts on the side of the road.  A driver pulls over, orders one, he lops the top off with a machete, sticks in a straw, and then the driver drinks the coconut water and tosses back the shell.  I didn't think to ask if they do anything with the meat.

The other roadside drink is juice from sugar cane.  Those sellers have a big pile of sugar canes, and a machine with two ridged rollers (kind of like the wringers on our old washing machine but more toothy) operated by an iron wheel turned by hand to squeeze out the juice.

No coconut water or sugar cane juice for our vulnerable little American bodies...  : )

In Mysore at about 8:30 am.  Big European-style cathedral (built by the British) was visible in the distance, so our very nice friends took me there for Christmas morning!  Perfect timing, as the Mass was just beginning.  Church was absolutely packed, as only something in India can be packed, with people standing squished right up against each other and overflowing out the door.  Sandeep and I squeezed our way into the back and stayed for a bit - beautiful cathedral with stained glass and carving, decorated with marigold garlands on the outside and huge bunches of red and green balloons on the inside!     : )  Very peppy opening music, but the Mass was in Kannada, the language of the area - we missed the English service, which was at 7 am.  Cathedral of St Philomena.  Outside, there was a huge Santa with sleigh and reindeer, a big Christmas-tree shaped object decorated with what appeared to be white tissue paper (but looked a lot like a tree toilet-papered for Halloween), and a nativity scene set in a giant statue of two hands.  Merry Christmas!  

Next stop - Mysore Palace!  We had a guided tour through a connection of Sandhya's, which was informative, although the guide was very speedy.  "This (huge, wooden, incredibly detailed) replica of the palace shows the original palace which burned down.  Next..."  Sandeep and I were always trailing behind to grab one more look at the details of something and then dashing to catch up.  : ) Our special fancy tour included a room of armaments and a room of taxidermied animals shot by the King of Mysore.  The animals were sad (tigers, tigers, tigers, elephant, head of giraffe, rhino, lots of tiny little deer with cute faces), but the weapons were fascinating - our favorite was a thin, flexible sword that could be used as a belt (with a hole at the pointy end to hook over a lizard-shaped clasp at the other end), so you would never be caught without a weapon.  We thought you might be caught without your pants, though, or perhaps missing a few internal organs, when you whipped the sharp sword out!  "These are many weapons.  Next!"  We stalled by asking lots of questions.  : ) Beautiful carved doors, ceilings, trim, in wood and stone - stained glass ceilings painted with peacocks - inlaid tile floor.  Some last bits of the royal family still live in a private back part of the building.  NO PHOTOS allowed - enforced by vigorous whistle-blowing from guards.  

Southern women wear jasmine or other strings of flowers in their hair.  I now have a string of lovely orange flowers in my ponytail.

After Mysore, farmland.  Lots of fields of short banana plants.    Absolutely humongous banyan trees on either side of the road.  Eventually, hilly and woodsy.  The road to Ooty goes through a wildlife sanctuary - will paste on tally of animals seen.  : )

Saw groves of bamboo - much more dense and scruffy than I would have imagined.

Road begins to climb, up and up, with switchbacks illustrated as drunkenly-tilted N's on signs.  Tea plantations of both sides of the road, with shrubby low tea plants all sheared to roughly the same height, interspersed with funny, tufty/feathery evergreens.  Very misty, so we can only sometimes see down into the valley.  I don't mind the limited view, given the rally-car-like driving of everyone on these twisty, narrow roads.  Might have bruised Sandeep's knee from gripping it a bit... : )

Some terraced planting on the steep hillsides, like I've seen in photos of China.  Small, brightly-colored houses clinging to the hillsides.  Tiny roadside temples and churches.

A eucalyptus grove - tall, straight trees like in a pine forest, but with smooth, grayish bark.  Some quite orange, Asif says with a fungus.

Stopped for little cups of tea at a group of roadside shops.  Sandhya bought a fresh bunch of carrots with their long green tops because they looked tasty. 

It's fun to check into a fairly fancy hotel with a woman carrying her purse, a bouquet of flowers from the local department of her office, and a bunch of carrots.  We love our friends.  : )

Dinner in the hotel dining room - HOT SHOWER, heavenly - sleep-time.  Poor Sandeep is freezing and tucked into the sleeping bag, coughing.  : (

Addendum: Animals We Saw!
1 Man (at the gate, telling us no photos, no honking, no passing other vehicles, and no stopping.  I think at least the no stopping rule was mostly obeyed, although we did slow waaaaay down.)
1 Mongoose
20+ Monkeys
20+ Deer (very cute, small and spotted)
4 Wild Pigs (Sandhya thought they might actually be tame pigs but we're ignoring that) - including 2 Wild Piglets!
1 Pheasant, dancing in a field
Many Small Unknown Birds
1 Langur (like a monkey)
4 Elephants, 1 Baby Elephant
2 Peacocks, completely dusty
1 Bear or possibly a Stump
Dogs, dogs
Cows, cows, cows
Goats and sheep

Friday, December 26

Today's title: The TB Ward Takes a Holiday. Poor Sandeep isn't very frisky and we're nearly all coughing like invalids.     But the weather is absolutely wonderful - sunny, cool, breezy.  I thought it would be misty but instead very clear with a beautiful view across the valley.  The landscape reminds me a bit of northern California.

Sign at the hotel breakfast buffet (mix of South Indian and western food): Chicken sausagus. I was imagining a feathery tubular dinosaur...  : )

Our local driver had a full itinerary for us today.  First stop: a mountain.  Drive nearly to the top, then walk the last bit on a paved path with vendors (and lots of other visitors!).  Crowded, but fun, festive feeling, like going to a fair.

Writing from the top of the highest peak in southern India! And there is another girl named Jessica!  And she's Indian!  How funny is that?  Just heard a woman yell at Jessica to stand somewhere particular and take a photo.  All our heads turned in surprise, wondering who was shouting at me!  : )  Mountain's name is Doddabetta, which the sign says means "Big Mountain."

Little shops selling herbal medicines and essential oils made in the area.  Bought eucalyptus oil, good for coughs and colds!  

Next stop: tea factory.  Toured the machines processing the fresh green tea leaves all the way through the cutting and drying process.  Tea shop at the end of the tour, and little cups served.  South Indian tea and coffee are just right for me - very milky and very sweet! Had cardamom tea which was lovely.

Went to a man-made lake, like a little amusement park.  Pedal boat rentals and motor boat rides, arcade along the shore.  We took a ride on a green-canopied boat and had to wear the most absurdly large life jackets.  Saw little diving ducks and something like a small egret. Fired paint ball guns at a little target for a prize.  Only Sandhya who had never fired a gun before hit the target once.  Turned out you need to hit it three times for a prize.  Stupid amusement park games - equally deceptive the world over!  Sahil begged me to go through the haunted house with him.  It wasn't very scary.  : ) Rode on a teeny-tiny train that went a little way along the lakeshore, then reversed back the way it had come.  Saw "American Sweet Corn" for sale - corn cobs get roasted over coals, then sprinkled with spices.  

Next stop on our guided tour of Ooty - the Rose Garden.  3000 varieties of roses in a huge terraced garden.  Many in bloom, although of course not all.  A sign with "the language of roses" - our favorite was a damask rose, sent to someone to signify "beauty is your only attraction."  Not sure if that could be taken as a compliment... 

 : )

Botanical Garden.  Founded in the mid-1800s.  Ooty was a British summer retreat and they left their organized gardening scattered all around.  Two lovely greenhouses, with ferns and flowers.  Lots of amazing trees from all over the world.  We wished more of them would tell us their names - some had little signs identifying them, but not all, and many were really strange and spectacular.  Watched a little bird walking delicately across lily pads in a small pond.  Admired a model Toda hut - Todas were local tribespeople, and house was made of woven straw and bamboo with a thatched roof.  Quite cozy-looking!

Visited a funny little leather shop.  Operated by a Muslim family (leather-work done by Muslims, not Hindus, because of the cow issue), all of whom seemed to be present in a teeny shop completely stuffed with shoes and more.  We all squeezed in, displacing some of the younger boys who didn't seem to be much help anyways.  Some of their merchandise was also in other, nearby spaces - behind a window in an alley, in a small basement across the street.  

Domino's Pizza, with a row of pizza-delivery motorcycles.

Saturday. December 27

Another beautiful day!  Sandeep called the hotel front desk to ask about the temperature today.  The clerk said, "I will take the temperature and call you back."  We pictured him going outside to hold a thermometer in the air...  : )

This part of India has a different main language, not Hindi.  Most in service industry speak some Hindi and/or some English, both usually with a strong, distinctive accent.  People seem friendlier than in Delhi, and smile more.  

Our driver, yesterday and today, is named Babu and he is very nice.  Also, a very good driver!  I can't figure out why Indians are not the rally car champions of the world.

Today we are going to Coonoor, another mountain town a short distance to the west.  Beautiful views along the road. Little group of houses on a hillside all bright yellow with logo of an Indian cell phone company, Idea, all over them.  Wondered if yellow was Tyvek sort of wrapper, given out for free advertising.  Saw blue greenhouses which Babu said are for growing mushrooms.

First stop: a tea plantation.  SO beautiful!  Tea plants are little shrubs, about thigh-high, sheared flat on the top.  They have shiny dark leaves, and lighter green new leaves across the top.  The tea plants are planted on the hillsides in long rows.  Feathery, tall evergreens with long branchless trunks grow with fairly regular  spacing amongst them, so must serve some purpose. Such a lovely shading of greens.  As we were there, a thick mist came drifting across the valley, and soon all was foggy white.

Tiny narrow road clinging to mossy hillside, paved with stone pavers.  Little shrines (Hindu and Christian) along the side of the road - just a few steps going up to a tiny box (maybe a two-foot maximum cube) with a little statue in it.  

Our Lady of Health Church.  Thinking we should stop to light a candle or ten.  : )

Next stop: Dolphin Point.  Narrow road to a high viewpoint.  The usual vendors and festival atmosphere that seems to accompany Indian tourist spots.  Quite foggy, but we could just see across a valley to a very tall waterfall.  Lots of monkeys.  One monkey picked up a plastic juice bottle with a little juice left in it.  He couldn't figure out the screw-off top, but turned the bottle over, bit a small hole in the bottom, and then drank from that.

Lamb View - or maybe Lamb Rock?  Another road to a scenic spot, short trail to an overlook point.  More vendors, more monkeys.  Saw a mother monkey with an infant, so little his head was wrinkly pale and not quite covered with fur yet.  I joked that point was called Lamb View because view is all white and fluffy - completely foggy, no more that 20 feet visibility.  Decided we could all imagine our own views in the blank space.
Walking from the DIY view spot, saw mother monkey and child monkey run to each other on a branch and hug so lovingly!

Trying to leave, traffic was immobile on the narrow little road leading to the view spot. Cars, vans and quite large buses were parked in both directions and no one was budging.  We sat in the car for awhile, then Sandeep got out and took a walk up the road.  Some five or so minutes later, the traffic began to move.  Guess who had sorted out the jam?  India drives Sandeep crazy sometimes but it certainly gives him plenty of scope for his inner brigadier general.  : ) He had stopped one van which was trying to squeeze down a too narrow space, forced the driver to back it up to a wider area, and eased the stuck vehicles going in the other direction past.  

We made it some way down the road, then traffic snarled again.  This time, both Sandeep and Asif jumped out without waiting and went to untangle it, which they did!  I love seeing the Iqbal-Sobti team in action.  : )

Indian wild bison grazing in a tea field.  

Back to the hotel to check out and change cars.  Babu stays in Ooty, and we had a new driver - named Pasha - and vehicle to take us back to Bangalore.  

Pasha the driver pulls up to a barricade at an apparently one-way road.  Policeman/ guard says go away, the road is one way.  Pasha tells him Sandhya is a government official.  She doesn't quite understand what is happening but shows her ID.  Policeman moves the barricade a bit and waves us through.  All traffic is coming towards us, which would be really disconcerting except that, first of all, oncoming cars are often in your lane anyways in India and, secondly, we suddenly notice that road signs are facing us.  So, it's only sort of a one-way road.  It IS a very steep and narrow road, though, with switchbacks and convex mirrors at the turns so oncoming cars can be seen.  Pasha beeps the horn at each sharp turn. 

One of a series of warning signs on the road with switchbacks and hairpin turns: "Hospital ceilings are boring. Don't get in an accident."

Turns out the one-and-a-half-way road is a significant shortcut, as well as being beautiful and a roller coaster ride, all in one!

On our way back through the animal sanctuary at dusk and then in the dark, seen:
1 chipmunk, non-sanctuary (just before the gate)
4 clean peacocks (as opposed to the dusty ones we saw on our way to Ooty)
Bunch of deer

Sunday, December 28

Spent the night in the same national mental illness institute guest house in Bangalore.  No visible lizards in this room - sad.  Still an exuberant usage of mothballs. Housekeeper must wonder why all the mothballs have been rounded up and banished from the rooms Sandeep and I occupy.  : ) 

All of us up and ready on time and the airport taxi arrived early!

There is a particular stray dog that seems to have taken up the position of guard.  He has been with gatehouse man (different men) outside the guest house each time we have come in or out.  The dog comes trotting over when the gate is opened, and even trotted in front of our car to the guest house entry when we arrived.  He seems more committed to his job than the actual guards, who slump slowly over to open the gate and barely seem to care about our coming or going. I think he's chosen a good position - the guards must feed him, because he looks healthy and happy.

Sign for the "National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects."  That's a good bureau to have!

Stencilled on wall, repeating down the length of the wall: "Please do not urinate here."

Billboard advertising a smartphone app to order a rickshaw: "Book a rick in one click."

Billboard after billboard advertising luxury apartments and subdivisions.  Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India.

No traffic, unusually.  Got to the airport early, and in record time, only to find flight has been delayed.  Ugh.

Flight delay 5 hours.  First 1 hour, then 3, then 5.  I think they were just breaking it to us gently to avoid a revolt.  Apparently such delays are fairly common due to terrible fog in Delhi.  Sandhya had actually booked a mid-morning flight instead of an early morning flight because the morning fog usually causes delays.  Asif is now becoming worried that, if the plane doesn't take off soon, the evening fog will set in and we'll just have to move to Bangalore.  A man just came by calling for passengers on a flight leaving for Goa (south, warm, beaches).  Asif said "we'll take it!"  : )

Playing games with Sahil.  Have visited all airport shops several times.  Celebrated Asif's upcoming birthday with a slice of cake from airport coffee shop.  

I think this might be a psychological experiment.  In addition to flight delay, airport is under construction.  There is a big section in the middle closed off, and whatever they are doing behind the temporary walls sounds exactly like dragging a huge metal table across a concrete floor, over and over - horrible high-pitched squealing dragging sound.  I think entire project is being delayed because they can't decide where to put the table with the blueprints.  "How about here?"  Screeeeeeeeeeech.  "No, maybe over there."  Screeeeeeeeeeech.  "No, the first place was better."  Screeeeeeeeeeech.  "No, maybe...."  : )

Back in Delhi, sanity intact.  Lungs less so.  Fog/smog is so thick here.  Sky is pinky-gray.

Monday, December 29

Mummy's servant Poonam is getting married in the next few days.  She must be excited because she was talking and talking to Mummy this morning - I asked Sandeep who was visiting, because until now I hadn't heard her say more than a word or two.  When I came into the kitchen, she said "good morning!" 

We went into the city to finish our shopping. Passed a sign set into a wall reading "Daftary" which made me giggle.  Turned out not to be an insane asylum but a Hindi word meaning office or official.

Visited lots of bookstores looking for a book for Sandeep to learn Urdu script.  Urdu is the language of Pakistan now, a little similar to Arabic and written in Arabic script - it was also the language of the Mughal courts in India and has a tradition of beautiful, simple, subtle poetry that is still loved in India today.  Sandeep says it is a language with very fine shades of meaning.  He can generally understand it when it is spoken but isn't able to read the script.  No luck for the book, although one salesman tried to convince him that 2000 phrases for the traveller in Hindi and Urdu was just what he wanted.

Sandeep bought a new cell phone for Mummy and Papa, as they don't like their current one.  Cell phones not tied to a provider like in the US - you just buy one, insert the SIM card you have, and you are all set.  Little tiny shop with stationery and cell phones and nine men and boys who may or may not have been employees.  Only one doing any apparent work.  Always hard to tell who works somewhere and who is just visiting, because even strangers in a store wouldn't necessarily hesitate to offer an opinion on something.  The one man working belonged in a television show or movie; he was one of those people with such an unusually interesting and charismatic manner that they are just fun to watch and listen to, even when selling you a cell phone.  Actually, we had plenty of time to watch him because he kindly offered to transfer the data from the old phone to the new phone and then ran into unexpected obstacles.  Several calls and consultations later - success.  Still, he spent about 45 minutes working on it.  Sandeep tried to pay him a little extra afterwards and he said no.

I'm always struck by the low-key cooperativeness of Indians.  No big smiles, no friendly chatter, but people help others.  Man pushing a dead scooter through an intersection - scooter rickshaw driver pulls up behind him, motions him to get back on the scooter, and, sticking out a foot, pushes the back end of the dead scooter and rolls him along.

Needed sari blouses and, at the last minute, needed them ready-made - Sandhya directed us to a particular market.  Tailors with sewing machines on the sidewalk outside their stalls.  Found the ready-made blouse shop, but it was also a tailor's shop.  Bought one ready-made, and Sandeep asked them to custom-make one for me, so we could choose fabric - paid a little extra so it would be ready in an hour or two!  Tailor measured me in the middle of the tiny shop.  Sandeep said, "loose, not tight."  Blouse fits exactly - if I gain another millimeter, it will be too tight. Sandhya said she has given her tailor her sister's measurements, as her sister is slightly bigger than her, and she cannot convince him to make her clothes the way she wants them otherwise.  He keeps asking to remeasure her and she says no.  : )  My new blouse finished in just over an hour.

All in one area: Dunkin Donuts, Subway, McDonalds, and KFC.

Have seen a few street dogs wearing jackets, and one standing in front of a shop guard getting his ears fondled in the most loving way.  Glad people care for them, but still fighting the urge to bring a few home with me.

Sleep - and packing tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 30

Packing packing packing.

Sandeep doing last-minute errands - to bank, to set up new investment account, and then to pharmacy to buy cough drops.

Mummy gave me intermediary sari lessons.  She has given me several of her beautiful old silk saris.  One of them was her mother's before it was hers.  That's a wonderful thing about clothing that is a long rectangle of silk - it can be worn for generations without being the wrong size or shape.  The blouse is the only part that fits snugly (often too snugly!), and that can be made to go with the sari for each new wearer - or for the same wearer, if someone happens to get a bit fatter...

Leave house at 5:50, please!  Mummy wanted us out before 6 pm for some reason of auspiciousness, although we were planning to leave around 6:30 pm - 5:50 was optimal but she made do with before 6.  She says prayers quietly in another room each time we leave India, then gives us a blessing.  

Good thing we left early!  Traffic was slow on the way to the airport, and slow traffic in the airport, too.  Flight to Dubai, then layover there.  

Wednesday, December 31

Flight from Dubai to Boston.

Flew over desert-y mountains of Iran.  So beautiful, in a brown and forbidding way.  Was thinking of the endless walk - with camels, I imagine - it would be to cross the distance on foot.  Airplanes are amazing.  I still can't believe that they can fly at all, and all the way from Dubai to Boston just like a long drive.

After flying over Iran, Europe, Atlantic Ocean, now flying over Millinocket, Maine.  Somehow, that doesn't seem exotic enough to fly over - hee hee!  

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