Smile, Look to the sky, Shake your head, and Say "C'mon Man!?"

Smile, Look to the sky, Shake your head, and Say "C'mon Man!?"

Saturday, January 22 - Today was another interesting day for Karen and I.  It was one of those days where we find ourselves shaking our heads and smiling a little more than usual.  Kind of like this past Tuesday when I was walking around Connaught Place and someone skillfully squirted dog shizzle on my shoe without my notice just so his cohort, the shoe shine man standing 20 yards ahead, could notice it with surprise and ask to clean it for 100 rupees.  But that's another story!

Today, we left the comfort of our apartment and dived into "Incredible India" at 2pm.  The first task was to walk to the taxi stand.  Along the way, we noticed a large birthday party set up in a park.  The party was for "Ratin" who was probably 6 or 7 years old based on the attendees.  Her name was spelled out with 5 large Mylar balloons that floated above the entrance.  Inside, there was a bouncy castle, a Thomas the Tank riding train, gangsta rap playing on the stereo, tons of balloons, and 8 round tables for the kids to eat their cake on later.  Yes, sweet Ratin and all the precious little children in the red inflatable castle were bouncing to the beats of gangsta rap.  I couldn't recognize the song, but it was so gangsta that I think I saw Thomas the Tank loose a little steam and frown when the aforementioned rapper called someone a "snitch n-word."  I just smiled, looked to the sky, shook my head, and said to myself "C'mon Man!?" According to babynames.com, Ratin means love & happiness.

The destination of our Taxi was to a delayed New Year's party at a friend's apartment in Vasant Vihar - about a half hour from our home.  The party was as wonderful as it's hosts!  We ate skillfully prepared black eyed peas, corn bread, and collard greens meant to bring everyone good luck and a lot of money.  You Southerners know what I'm writing about.  Karen got 3 coins in her black eyed peas!  We spent 2+ hours at the party and then made our way to Ambiance Mall.  This 5 story mall is one of three very large shopping malls built next to each other in Vasant Kunj Phase II, a barren wasteland located near the airport.  The very site of these 3 ultra modern mega malls rising from rubble strewn desolation makes me shake my head and smile.  India - a land of contrasts.  We did a little shopping and went to Chilli's to eat nacho's and fajitas.  Below is a video and some funny pictures taken from inside the mall.

Escalators are still fairly new to India.  There is a learning curve on how to ride one.  Observe.

101 BRATS - Does the owner of this childrens' clothing store like kids?

Not only is The Body Shop 100% Vegetarian, but they play 2 Pac inside. The song "Ghetto Gospel" was playing!

Karen throwin' up signs and straight grillin' in front of Westside Clothing.

The cafe where you pour your own beer!  There is an electronic leader board inside displaying the names of the big drinkers!

A little more info

What is going on here??  Are they are hiding the statue of David on the left?

Chili's Indian Menu - No Lamb in our Skillet Queso please!

A view of Ambiance Mall from the top level.  A nice place to come and escape reality!

I had to put this one again.  I'd like to meet the person who came up with this sign!

The Upholsterers

The past three days I've had the pleasure of sharing our living room/dining room with two Indian upholsterers.  They arrived each day at 10am and worked until 4pm with a half hour lunch break in between.  The younger of the two spoke very limited English while the older one was like me....didn't even attempt to speak the other person's language.  Well, I did try to say "Pani", which means water, but I think I butchered it so I fell back to English and said "water" or "wuter," which they understood and partook.

After they set up shop and began working in our living/dining room, the place seemed split in two.  I worked in the dining area with my fairly new Macbook Pro while they worked in the living room area with their century old hand-crank sewing machine.   I felt a bit awkward, so I decided to make the situation even more awkward for the three of us.  After a short internal debate, I got up the nerve to ask if I could take pictures of them with my imposingly large camera.  Their response was one that I've grown to know well over the past few months.  It was the classic long blink with simultaneous head bobble...aka wobble, wiggle, or nod.  Expats in India have learned that this can mean yes, no, or maybe.  I felt optimistic, so I chose it to mean "yes."  I could tell they didn't know what to do once I put the camera to my eye, so I just smiled, did a little head bobble of my own and said "Ok."  Immediately, they seemed at ease and went back to work while I crawled around on the floor and took pictures of them from various cramped angles.  I know they thought I was crazy.  I figure they now have a good story to tell their friends and family!  Ten minutes later, to my delight, the younger guy came over to my laptop to take a look at the pictures I just downloaded.  Surprisingly he asked if I had a jump drive!  I told him I will make him a CD as he smiled at the laptop screen displaying their pictures.

Another highlight was watching cricket with them as we all worked.  I am still clueless when it comes to cricket, but it was fun seeing and hearing their passion for the game.  There were mostly sighs however, as India apparently didn't do well against South Africa.

Three days, two couches, two chairs and 4 dining chairs later, they were finished.  The bill was a whopping $77.  Their work was flawless!  We wrote them thank you cards and gave them a tip.  If you are wondering why the guy below has on a puffy jacket and matching hat, our apartment is cold and he's got style!  We have a space heater, but unless you are 3 inches from it, it's still cold.  Since Delhi is cold for only 2 months of the year, most homes are not equipped with heating.

Talented Fella!

During the first day

 

The final product

A taste of North Carolina in Bangkok

From Winston Salem to Bangkok

Karen and I were walking towards Siam Mall in Bangkok last week and noticed a line of people waiting to go inside.  It was 95° and humid, so I knew there had to be something important inside.  I walked in expecting to see a Thai version of Justin Bieber signing posters and flashing peace signs at flashing cameras.  It turned out to be WAY better than that!  Walking past the queue moments ago, I knew I recognized the look on everyone's face!  They needed the Kreme....Krispy Kreme!  We were proud North Carolinians on this day!  Check out the video below.

 

Some other shots from the mall!

Karen's favorite spot in any mall!!!  We shared a cinnamon and a regular buttery pretzel.  They were made to order too!

No, we didn't eat here, but we had to Namaste with Ronald McD!  We ended up eating some Tom Yum (spicy soup) and other goodies in the mall's awesome food court!

Happy New Year 2011!!

NYE in Bangkok Airport, Thailand

New Year's Eve 2011 and we were in the Bangkok airport waiting for our return flight to Delhi.  After arriving back "home" just before midnight, we successfully used the pre-paid taxi service and were greeted at our gate by our landlord and a few of his friends who invited us in for wine and dinner (of course we didn't eat until almost 1:00 a.m.).

2010 was a BIG year for us... it taught us a lot about patience, persistence, family, and hope.  It brought us a lot of changes with our move to India - and we survived!!  No resolutions for 2011, just hoping this year will bring even more adventures (in a good way).  Wishing you the best for 2011!!

Merry Christmas from Thailand!!

Merry Christmas 2010 from Koh Samui, Thailand

Christmas Day at the Beach Republic Resort, Koh Samui

We are having a blue Christmas in many ways... first and most importantly, we are away from our family and friends that make the Christmas season such a cherished one.  Also, we are in Thailand surrounded by turquoise blue water and skies.

We send our love and wishes of peace & joy for a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Old Delhi Outing

Old Delhi at dusk

We first ventured into Old Delhi on a Sunday afternoon by ourselves and decided that the next time we went, we needed a guide.  A coworker of mine organized a field trip to Old Delhi to visit a school-supply store.  A cab and metro ride later, we walked out onto the crowded street.  Wires criss-crossed over our heads.  Cramped stalls and vendors lined the streets.  "This is the India I had imagined," we both said to ourselves.  It was dizzying and intriguing all at once.  Here are a few snapshots and photos.

First cycle rickshaw ride

Streets of Old Delhi

School-supply store

Walking the streets of Old Delhi

Girl

Thanksgiving in Kasauli

Friendly cow at a market in Kasauli

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Kasauli, a quiet mountain retreat and our first trip outside of Delhi.  Most fellow foreigners had never heard of this place.  After a 4 hour train ride in 1st class A/C, we were met by a car arranged by our hotel.  Following an hour car ride up a curvy mountain road dotted with small structures on the side of the road selling Dhaba (food) and "daily needs" - we arrived at our mountainside hotel, Kasauli Resort.

The resort was quaint, had a delicious restaurant, and peaceful views of the valley and surrounding mountains (when the fog briefly lifted each day).  The highlights of our trip include: walking 2 km into the town of Kasauli and following a group of cows being herded up the mountain road, going through the markets (NOT being yelled at to buy thing like in Delhi), walking along narrow cobblestone streets through the village and smiling at passing villagers.

On our trip, we learned that Indians love taking photos OF foreigners and especially WITH foreigners.  The first day it was a novel idea...  Indian: Can I click a photo with (of) you?  Tim or Karen: (nod) Sure... (smile).  The second day we went to Manki Point - the highest point in Kasauli and the location of Hanuman's Temple.  We were surrounded by Indian high schoolers from a nearby region ALL asking to take photos with us.

The town of Kasauli seems to be a place where Indians have their summer mountain homes.  They are also very eco-friendly and posted humorous signs everywhere - some of which we "clicked photos" of.  Kasauli is one of the few Indian towns with a stiff penalty for littering.

Overall, it was nice to be away from the hustle, bustle, and hustlers of Delhi - and we successfully navigated our first Indian railway experience!
 

Porters carrying some else's bags

Eco-friendly Kasauli

Market in Kasauli

First haircut in India

Church of England church from British colonial times

Train back to Delhi

Kasauli Resort

Kapoor the Taxi Driver

Taxi stand in our neighborhood

One concern I had about living in India was my daily transportation to-and-from school.  There are about 35 apartments on campus, but since the school now has over 150 teachers, most people live off-campus (anywhere from 5 to 35 minutes away).  Our first week in India, the school had a driver pick me up and drive me home - the good life!  After that, I was on my own.  My morning routine consisted of calling the neighborhood taxi stand, waiting outside, and haggling over fares with taxi drivers whose meters were always "broken" and covered with cloths or newspapers.  (There has been a problem lately of taxis overcharging foreigners and insisting on charging sometimes double what the normal rate would be for locals.  We hear this problem has gotten worse since the start of the Commonwealth Games in October of this year.  The Commonwealth Games was the largest international event EVER in New Delhi.  Sort of a small-scale "Olympics" with athletes from around the world competing in events ranging from Aquatics to Wrestling.  At the games in New Delhi-2010 there were 6700 athletes representing 71 countries.  We arrived in India the day AFTER the closing ceremonies, but the taxi drivers had already figured it out.  Foreigners = more moolah in their pockets.)

My afternoon routine consisted of walking down a few blocks to the "Diplomat" taxi stand and again haggling over fares.  Some days I would pay 120 rupees and some days 180 rupees (equivalent to about $4).  One afternoon I lucked out and hopped in the taxi-van of "Kapoor the Taxi Driver".  He turned the meter on right away--instead of saying "meter broken" or "old meter" and banging on it like most drivers insisted.  He happily drove me home and then inquired, "Come back tomorrow morning for pick up?"  "Sure," I said, "7:30 - Same price tomorrow?"  "Of course," smiled Kapoor.

Since then Kapoor has driven me to school every morning (well it's only been a week) and I even call him some afternoons to drive me home after school.  Today I decided to take my chances and not call Kapoor because I didn't want to wait for him to get there.  I walked to the taxi stand and saw 2 taxi drivers sitting next to their black & yellow cars.  They looked at me expectantly, when suddenly Kapoor pulled up out of nowhere and said "Come with me" - my driver had arrived!

Almost all foreign families and businessmen have a car and driver to take them anywhere, anytime.  Kapoor is my "driver" for the moment.  It's a relief not to worry about transportation each morning, and know that I'll be paying the same fare everyday.  I pay the equivalent of about $3 each way...$6 a day... $30 a week in taxi fares.  Not too bad!  My daily commute is 10 minutes in the morning and anywhere from 15-30 minutes in the evening.

The morning commute is the most interesting - and the inspiration for a future blog post: Bike Deliveries.  I plan to write about and document the things I see people carrying or hauling on bikes (the kind with 2 wheels and pedals - not motorbikes).  So far I have seen the following items on the back of bikes: a full-size LG refrigerator, large PVC pipes that must have been 20 feet long, wooden crates stacked up to at least 20 feet high, and chickens in cages (likely going to the meat markets).  I plan to get photographic evidence of similar instances to share on the blog.

Street Children

Marker mustached street child and entertainer

Seeing begging street children is one of the realities of living in India.  Before moving here, I wondered what I would do and how I would feel when a 7 year old child, holding a 2 year old baby, walked up to me begging for money.

For some reason, the begging children gravitate towards me (Tim).  The most intense experience happened a few weeks ago when Karen and I were leaving a mela, which is a really neat craft/music/gift bazaar.  Outside the main gate, there was a young boy casually talking with a man who looked  to be 45 yrs old.   I saw the boy before he saw me and I knew, damn!, it's about to go down. When Karen and I reached the gate, the boy, who looked to be about 10 years old, noticed us and hopped towards me at a startling pace. His hop was due to the fact that half of his left leg was missing. He latched onto my arm and made his way down to my hand, grasping my right pointer finger and pinkie. I stopped to comprehend this situation and the strength of his wrestler-like grip. He motioned with his eyes for me to look at his gnarled leg that ended just below his knee.  Pleading "please, please, sir," he put one of his hands to his mouth expressing his great hunger. After the initial shock wore off, I realized I had to keep moving or else I'd be there all day holding hands with this young boy. People around me tried to "shew" him away in their native language, Hindi, but that didn't help.  His dirt drenched hands tightened around my fingers even more.

UNICEF conservatively estimates that there are 11 million street children in India. If you haven't seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is great!  It's an interesting and entertaining movie that gives you a glimpse of what goes on in the the lives of many street kids in India. I won't go in to much detail, but it shows that many children are lured into bonded work that they are unable to escape from due to unscrupulous and cruel proprietors/owners/"uncles". Some of these "uncles" maim the kids just so people would pity them more and, therefore, give more money. Due to this fact, I cannot give any begging child money.

Back to the story outside the mela. Most likely, the man who was talking with the boy earlier was one of those "uncles". Karen said the man watched the boy latch on to me with a keen eye.   Eventually, I had to, with a lot of guilt, pry the boy's fingers from my own.  I repeated this 4 times while quickly shuffling my feet over to an auto rickshaw that was near.  Karen and I jumped in to escape that situation.

There is a tour in New Delhi given by former street children.  It is coordinated by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps get kids off the streets.  The tour starts at the railway station and goes throughout Delhi.  Many of Karen's co-workers recommend it.  It's organizations like this that I keep in mind when a child walks up to me begging.  I feel money can be better utilized by these organizations than by the "uncle".  To slightly diminish the guilt factor, Karen and I are going to start taking granola bars or some kind of food with us.  Interestingly though, we've had a few conversations with locals and expats who carry food and they've expressed that most kids don't want the food!  That's when you know there's some racket operation using these kids.

All this being said, don't get the impression that all the children here are sad and begging!  This past weekend, Karen and I made a wrong turn and faced the beginning a long residential dirt road near a tourist spot called Hauz Kauz Village.  People were everywhere.  They were eating, cleaning clothes, preparing food, sanding furniture, playing cards, etc.  Amongst the throng of people were about 40 shoeless kids playing along the street.  I was petrified looking at what was ahead of us!  The only interactions I've had with children since moving here involved sad faces and begging.  Impressively, Karen led the way and this terrifying walk down this random dirt road turned into the most exciting experience I've had since being in India.  The kids waved and smiled at us saying "Hi, Hi, Hi."  They were some of the happiest kids I'd ever seen and they definitely made us feel very welcome in their neighborhood!

If you are wondering who the young boy pictured at the beginning of this post is, he stars in a short video of a recent auto rickshaw ride near our neighborhood.  I taped it on my phone to show the auto rickshaw experience and ended up getting a performing street child with a marker mustache!

The Obamas visit India

 

President Obama's brief speech (with U.S. Ambassador)

President and Michelle Obama visited the U.S. Embassy here in New Delhi as part of his "Asia tour".  We arrived at the Embassy gate 3 hours prior to their arrival and were greeted with heavy security checks (my large key for the front gate at our apartment barely made it through the security checkpoint).  However, Tim's pocketknife/multi-tool wasn't so lucky.  We sipped on Orange Tang and nibbled on cookies on the lawn of the Ambassador's residence awaiting the Obamas arrival.  Tim left his camera at home so the photos are from my Lumix camera.  A coworker's wife "clicked the photo" (as they say in India) of me shaking the President's hand.  That was my second handshake because I snuck around to the side after the first one.  Tim shook the hands of both President and Michelle Obama!

Here are a few snapshots:

Tim's hand in Michelle's (bottom-right)

Photo gallery:

President Obama visits India

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

If you want a detailed map, click here

Something profound always happens when groups of people gather for a cause.  Many groups chose to promote their cause by moving in a circular manner.  There is the Crop Walk, Walk for the Cure, and even 24 hrs of Booty where participants ride bikes on a "booty loop."  There is just something about a journey ending at the starting line that helps so many wonderful organizations raise money!

This February, I am joining a group of 18 or so strangers (mostly whom are also total strangers to each other) in Mumbai a.k.a Bombay.  We are embarking on The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge or "GCIRC" to help feed our need of adventure while, more importantly, helping raise money for Railway Children, a charity that provides relief to children and young people who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress - in particular those living on the streets.

In an extremely simplistic attempt to summarize this trip, The GCIRC is a railroad journey around the circumference of India in 15 days.  The organizer of this trip, who smartly claims he isn't in charge, has been planning the trip for years.  If you want to see a visual representation of the meticulous planning put forth, click on this flow chart for the journey.  Click on the picture itself to zoom in. After looking at it, you are probably totally confused.  Not only does it represent the amount of planning put forth, it represents the amount of potential mishaps that can occur!

Here are some interesting points about the GCIRC.

• The famous Trans-Siberia trip is 5,800 miles. The GCIRC is over 7,500 miles of track and another 350 miles by various means of transportation.
• Transport includes: 18 different trains, Maruti vans, 4x4s, taxis, 2 ferryboats, one tram, and the inevitable autorickshaw.
• The train in Assam is one of the last non-tourist steam trains.
• GCIRC covers 17% of the Indian Railways network.
• We will be traveling 2AC class on most trains but some in SL and AC3. (click here for class description and photos)
• All but 2 nights will be spent sleeping on a train. Darjeeling and Dibrugarh will be the pit stops.
• First train leaves Mumbai on, Friday, February 18th and arrives back in Mumbai on Saturday, March 5th.
• The price of traveling over 7,850 miles including food, 13 nights on various trains, and 2 nights in hotels - less than $375. 

Click on the official Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge web page if you'd like more detailed and interesting information about it.

Again, this trip was organized to help raise money for Railway Children, an organization very fitting of this journey.  If you'd care to donate, I created a PayPal donation link below as well as one on the top right side of this blog.  I am working on gifts for all those who donate via this blog...something to do with photography I'd say...I will let you know in the coming week.

Look Snazzy!

If you want something very unique and cool to wear, there are T-shirts and other items.  Click here for details!

The Tortoise Beats the Hare!!

The first box!

Sorry, this is not your ordinary interesting post ooozing Indian culture, ethnology or folklore.  No, it's much more exciting than that!!!  Our sea shipment arrived last Thursday!  This serves as one excuse why this blog has been quiet for the past week!  

Fifteen boxes, two twin mattresses with box springs, a set of golf clubs, 1 air purifier, 18 dishes, 22 glasses, and other essentials such as a crock pot and 8 rolls of Bounty paper towels have made it to our new corner of the world!  Amazingly, there were only 3 injuries!  Our Brita water pitcher fractured its bottom, a small book shelf cracked its top shelf, and a tall standing oscillating fan broke it's only leg rendering it gimp.  Not too bad!  The packers at Charlotte Van and Storage come highly recommended.  Now we are left with a Himalayan mountain (side note regarding the word himalayan: After watching many science programs, I've officially dropped a syllable and switched from saying and thinking [him-uh- lay -uhn] to [huh- mahl -yuhn].  Sounds much more pompous, educated and interesting thanks to the Brits) of packing paper and a bunch of boxes filling our hallway.  As expressed before in a previous post, our bed is the highlight.  Nothing like your own bed! 

Now we await our AIR shipment (yes, the shipment that takes 15 hours to fly instead of 4 months to float!)!  Our sea shipment arrived in Delhi from Mumbi just last week and was delivered first thing.  Our AIR shipment continues to sit in storage in India where it has been for the past 3+ months.  Essentials like a jug of El Paso Taco seasoning mix, 2 jars of Country Time Lemonade mix, 2 bottles of Bar-B-Q sauce (forget which brand), 4 blue plastic totes of Karen's teaching supplies, and my tripod are the highlights of that shipment!  Here are some pictures of Move In Day!

***Update:  We just found our our air shipment is at the Beijing Airport!  What?!