#38: Festive season

 

Greg performed in the middle school play last week titled “The Firework Maker’s Daughter.”  He was unsatisfied with his costume so he supplied his own.

His five years of dance at the King Centre was evident on stage.  He’s a born dancer.

 

While running local errands, Kayla and I had a first-time experience riding the bus.  There are no defined bus stops… just flag one down and jump on. The fare is 10 Rupees each (20 cents).  We later learned the trick to stopping the bus… slap your hand twice against the bus wall to signal the driver.

 

For our ride back, we chose an auto rickshaw. These are a lot of fun.

 

We take daily precautions against mosquitoes.  Prior to departing for school, the kids receive citronella dots…

 

… and are sprayed with DEET.

 

In the category of “simple things that become complicated,” we finally received WiFi this week after 3 months of countless attempts and escalations. To this day, the Internet provider is still not satisfied with our paperwork, but we finally have wireless and everyone is overjoyed.  

 

In Raipur, I visited the BMW dealership this week which has very close competition… they share a wall with Mercedes-Benz.

 

And with a 30 second, air-conditioned walk through this mall, customers can visit the new Audi showroom which just opened earlier this month.

 

I also visited the construction site for the new stand-alone BMW dealership.

 

Note the bamboo scaffolding.

 

Back in Delhi, knowing our dealer is a Carnegie Mellon graduate, I brought some Pittsburgh essentials along on my visit.

 

We also stopped to visit the Rolls-Royce dealer who showed us the new Phantom Series II.  The new design is very sleek. 

 

Festive season in India has officially begun.  Navratri  kicks off the season with nine days of worship and fasting leading up to Dussehra.  True devotees will avoid meat, alcohol, onions and wheat during this period.  I watched a play re-enacting the victory of good over evil when Rama defeats Ravana. 

 

At the festival, a machete-wielding vendor cut off the top of this green coconut for me. I was surprised to find water inside.  I’m told it’s the brown, mature coconuts which contain coconut milk.

 

After nine days, Navratri segues into Dussehra on the 10^th day, which was celebrated Wednesday evening.  Dussehra is a very festive event with food, games and dancing. 

 

This is the ten-headed evil King Ravana who kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita and imprisoned her on his island of Sri Lanka.  Enlisting the help of monkeys, Rama built a bridge to defeat Ravana and rescue his wife.  Can you guess what happens to this paper mache statue?

 

A man dressed as Rama shot Ravana with an arrow setting him ablaze and burning him in effigy (he was also loaded with firecrackers which pushed the crowd back in a hurry).  We are now in the thick of the festive season leading up to Diwali, the most important holiday of the year. This is a very happy and auspicious period which will carry through to year end. Enjoy your week. ts

#37: Home life

Our lamps from the US will work with an adapter plug and Indian light bulbs. However, screw-type bulbs are virtually impossible to find (dual pin bulbs are used here). After searching five different stores, I finally found a man who special ordered screw-type bulbs for us. 12 bulbs cost $60 US Dollars.

And of course light bulbs require electricity. We find ourselves in the dark about a dozen times a day until the backup generator kicks in. It’s very natural for us now. We don’t even flinch.

We were without a stove for two days waiting to swap the gas canisters.

We had another lizard in the house this week (the 2nd one this month). My weapons were a broom and a rolled up magazine, which were effective.

We are amazed how simple tasks become very challenging. Multiple times I’d asked for grass seed to cover this small patch of dirt in our back yard. After much searching, seed could not be found. Finally a gardener showed up with a burlap bag full of grass plugs which he’d cut from another lawn. A putty knife was used for installation.

This is prime mosquito season and dengue fever is on high alert. The school issued a warning (many students have been stricken). Dengue is a viral disease which causes high fever for a week with no cure other than time.

Look at the specials this week at our local supermarket (posted directly in front of the bug zapper). I decided to pass on the mutton brain and chose the chicken breast.

This photo was taken in front of our supermarket. This monkey sat there for several minutes before casually moving along.

In New Jersey, we had deer wandering through our back yard. Over here, it’s monkeys.

We saw three monkeys leisurely walking along the wall in our back yard, occasionally stopping to eat leaves.

This baby jumped with ease to her mother.

This pig was crossing the entrance to our housing complex.

He found a tasty plastic bag for his snack.

We live in a gated community…

… with a cul-de-sac… 

…surrounded by a wall topped with razor wire.

Here’s what’s on the other side of that wall.

This is a construction workers’ village.

This is the temporary home to the laborers who are building the high-rise apartments in the background. The dichotomies of India are extreme. Scenes like this are very common and keep us grounded. ts

#36: Cricket / College / Oktoberfest

We assembled all F&I managers, pan-India, for a business conference last week. We met at the hill station of Lonavla, midway between Mumbai and Pune near the west coast of India.

Cricket served as our team building exercise with three matches played between area dealerships Cricket is THE sport of India. Take the combined popularity of American football, baseball, basketball and hockey – this is cricket in India.

This was my first cricket experience. There are some similarities to baseball with a ball thrown to the batsman who hits the ball in an effort to avoid the fielders. However, the ball is bounced on the ground by the bowler during delivery to the batter who is protecting his wicket.

We played 10 overs (6 balls per over), that means 60 balls per team. One team bats all 60 balls, then the other (there are no back-and-forth innings like baseball).

A batsman can hit a single, a double a 4 or a 6 (similar to a home run). In the first game, the score was 163 – 128.

The final match came down to Mumbai’s cross-town rival dealerships, with Infinity the victor. It was good fun and perfect timing. As soon as the final match was completed, the skies opened and rain drenched the field.

One last note about the cricket match: we played on the Don Bosco school grounds. I’m told students are exposed to the Catholic religion, but there’s no pressure to convert.

Back in Delhi, there was a college fair at the school with representation from 30 colleges and universities.

The recruiters had been traveling through India for two weeks. Do you see your alma mater?

This recruiter knew the correct response to “We are…” (Penn State!).

Speaking of recruitment, this board at the school promotes multiple activities.

I didn’t know October 11 was “Coming out day.” We did see lots of purple in support.

Friday evening, we attended Oktoberfest sponsored by the German consulate. They had traditional Biertables mit blau und weiss decorations.

Paulaner Bier was available along with Bratwurst, Kartoffelsalat, und Bretzel mit Senf. However, the Bretzel had a distinctive Indian flavor — it was covered with local spices.

It was a fairly authentic experience, except for the music. Instead of Bavarian Biergarten classics, this band from the Philippines played Guns n’ Roses’ Sweet Child o’ Mine, B-52’s Love Shack (our wedding song) and Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer. So here we were, a couple of Americans at a German Oktoberfest party in Delhi, India dancing to a Filipino band playing music by a guy from Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Somehow, it all fits. ts

#35: Big Travels

 

Before leaving Jaipur on Tuesday, we stopped for lunch. It was a “dry day” due to Gandhi’s birthday.  However, with our US passports, alcohol was permitted.  The rule only applies to Indians.

 

At the train station, a porter helped us with our bags.  The entire train experience was right out of the 1940’s.

 

We hurried back to Delhi just in time to pick up Kayla from the airport.  She’d spent the long holiday weekend in Paris as part of a school field trip (Kayla is lower left).

 

They toured nine museums in four days, including the Louvre.

 

They visited Paris’ famous landmarks including Arc de Triomphe…

 

… Notre Dame…

 

… Sac le Coeur…

 

They saw the classics, including Venus de Milo…

 

… Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa…

 

… and Rodin’s Thinker.

 

Kayla was delighted with the freedom during this trip.  Her group was able to move at will during unscheduled tours.  They rode the subway and chose their own restaurants for dinner (she was able to order food using her two years of high school French). She thoroughly enjoyed Paris and would love to live there one day. ts

#34: Animal Kingdom

October 2^nd is Gandhi’s birthday and a national holiday.  Kayla was out of town on a field trip, so Lynda, Greg and I utilized the school break for a trip to Jaipur.  This is the train station in our town of Gurgaon.

The ride to Jaipur was 3 ½ hours.  The conductor was very friendly.  He sat here for quite some time.

Jaipur is known as the pink city.  In preparations for Prince Albert’s visit in 1876, King Ram Singh ordered the town painted pink. It’s been their trademark ever since.

Religion is predominant in the lives of Indians. We learned about Hinduism at this temple. 

Saturday was exactly 10 days since Ganesha’s birthday.  We saw many trucks like this loaded with revelers, beating drums and throwing colorful powders.  Ganesha is brought into the home on his birthday for 10 days of prayers, and then is returned to his home via the river.  We later saw a point at water’s edge filled with flower garlands and gifts to Ganesha.  

Jaipur is known for its hill-side forts, surrounded by an 18 kilometer wall which crisscross the terrain.

To protect against attack from neighboring kingdoms, the world’s largest cannon of its time stood guard (in 1734).  At 50 tons, it has a range of 22 miles.  It was only fired once, but was effective in deterring invasion.  This same strategy was applied several centuries later using nuclear weapons during the cold war years.

At Jaigarh Fort, we came across a tree filled with langoors (of the chimp family). We could have watched them for hours. 

They have such human qualities.  The babies were especially fascinating.

Seeing them close up, in their natural habitat, was exhilarating.

They were very playful and full of life, jumping from branch to branch with ease.

Jaipur is also known for textiles.  We watched rugs coming to life on this loom.  Individual knots of thread are tied one at a time.  It takes 300 knots to make one square inch.  A skilled worker can add 2 ½ inches of length per day.

The next day, we rode up the hill via elephant to Amber Fort.  We were bounced around, but were able to hold on

Here’s Prince Gregory in his Kurta Pajama at the entrance to the king’s palace

We knew it was just a matter of time until we saw a snake charmer. 

They told us the poison has been removed.  We decided not to test this statement.

We saw many different animals on this trip, including peacocks.

We stopped to feed some langoors. 

They came running in a hurry.

We later visited Galta Temple, which is completely overrun with monkeys.

With bananas in hand, we were quite popular.

The monkeys were very docile.

Interacting with the monkeys in their natural habitat beats any trip to the zoo.

We heard a loud commotion which we raced to see.  It was a fight between two groups of monkeys (just like the Jets vs. the Sharks). There were attacks and counter-attacks until both sides cooled off and went their separate ways.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Jaipur, which is the setting of the movie “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”  Jaipur is loaded with history, architecture and animals.  We hope to visit again.  Enjoy your week.  ts