Dussehra Festival: Bannerghatta State Park

So, something about India: there is ALWAYS a festival going on. And in India, 'festival' is to say 'holiday'. Many of the main Hindu festivals last 10-30 days - though there will be one main day that is declared the holiday. Then there are village, city, state, and national festivals as well. Just like in the US though, there are a couple of main holidays that get the most attention. In southern India, Dussehra is the first and Diwali (the festival of lights) is celebrated 20 days later. 

The children had a few days off for Dussehra, and Cori even had a weekday off. We wanted to take advantage of Cori's vacation day and get out to see something new in Bangalore. The destination: Bannerghatta State Park. We asked Suresh to be to our house by 8:30 so we could get an early start. He reminded us that nothing opens until 10 or 11 (annoying but true). And then told us that he would be to our house at 10. Not amused, we came up a little to a 9:00 departure. He responded that he would "make puja on the car and meet us at 9:30." We then did a little reading about Dussehra and, realizing that it is a big deal, didn't complain about Suresh setting the terms for the day. (He didn't even drive us that day. He celebrated with his family and his young colleague, Chetan, drove us. Which was great. We love Chetan). 

There is no way to simply explain these holidays. But, most plainly stated, Dussehra is the celebration of Lord Rama's victory over the ten headed demon Ravana. And the way they celebrate it in Southern India is to give thanks for everything that brings success. Hence the puja. Puja is an act of reverence or worship that comes in the form of lighting incense, painted markings, and offerings of prayers, plants, food, money, or sweets. You will see in addition to the floral offerings, Suresh had offered invocations whilst leaving fingered paint marks around the car (the bringer of his success in life). There are markings around the tires, beneath the headlights, on the windshield, on the back tailgate, and over the engine. Inside there were markings and flowers on the steering wheel and the dash board. Chetan brought us a box of sweets. We gave him an extra tip. It was all very festive. Most of the vehicles and two wheelers we saw that day were decorated like this - even the big trucks.

Eventually we made it to the State Park. Cori jumped in a queue and secured our tickets for a jeep tour. Everyone needed the lou and we quickly found ourselves dealing with our first legit squatty potty experience. Not a western toilet to be found. Of course, this wasn't earth shattering for the boys. And I'm proud to report that the ladies caught on quick. Hands washed and sanitized, we loaded into the jeep to see the lion, tiger, bear and elephant habitats. Grace had a difficult time deciding where she wanted to sit. This was going to be the "best experience of her life."

Even the elephants got a paint job for Dussehra.

I was sure to bring the camera bag stuffed with all manner of camera accoutrement but found about an hour into our drive there that I had left the camera's battery plugged into its charger at home. Alas, we had to do our best with our cell phones. (I was really grumpy about this for a while)

One of many heroic termite mounds spotted along the way.

This was my favorite part of the whole day. A tiger crossed the road in front of us and eased into a muddy pool. As it got into the water it made this sound that was familiar - we've watched our share of  nature videos - but altogether unearthly. The resonance of this low, back-of-the-throat growl/purr rattled the jeep as well as the hollow of my chest. Exhilarating!

More Dussehra puja.

Our tour dropped us off at the butterfly house.We saw few butterflies there. The museum had more interesting specimens to offer.

From the Butterfly House we went into the zoo. Of the caged varieties, we saw lots of reptiles and birds. Of the not-caged varieties we saw lots of monkeys and giant spiders. We did not get around to see all of it. Any time we slowed our pace, we were asked by a crowd of people for a photograph. I wish I were exaggerating. It became so tiresome that we opted to leave.

On the way out we got some food from the vendors along the way. We always see these carts where they make fresh lemonade and limeade. Oh boy, how we would love to try it. They grind the sugar cane and citrus right before your eyes. There is no telling where the water comes from however, and so we abstain.

About 15 minutes into our ride home, Eden threw up all over the back seat and then promptly fell asleep. Happy Dussehra!

Passage to India

I am jumping ahead nearly 7 months. This has been such a momentous year for us and everything has hit just one thing right after the other. I find myself finally dealing with the good and the hard of it all. Going through pictures and documenting them is proving a tougher thing than I had imagined. When I realized that I was avoiding blogging because of the struggle, I decided to jump ahead to the move. I'll get the rest caught up though. The short list of what I am temporarily leapfrogging: a Caribbean cruise that Cori and I took with Sandy, Ray, Cory and Brittany; a visit from my parents; the late miscarriage of our baby girl; the initial trip to India where Cori interviewed for his current position and I got to decide if I could handle life here; the end of the school year; all the kids' sports stuff; our 5,200 mile RV trip; the Rockwood family reunion in ID; the burial of our baby girl in Nevada; our final days with our framily (friends who are family - I just made that up, or surely someone did before me...) in Cypress; Jeffery's accident/miracle. This bring us up to these pictures...

Our time in India has been nothing like the challenging adventure Forester paints in his famous book, but getting here was an adventure none the less. Sorting out the transport of our belongings was the first big piece of the puzzle. We were given two checked bags each to pack for the immediate time after our arrival. This was followed by our air shipment, 1,300 lbs. of goods, which arrived two weeks after our arrival. Then the rest of our goods were packed into a 40 foot sea shipping container which has yet to arrive. (Shipping time is 6-8 weeks. Our freight did not set sail until the first week of September and is not due into port until the 13th of October. It will sit in customs for some time as it is checked and then finally delivered before Halloween- fingers crossed!) There was a 4th grouping of our things that were sent away to storage. 

Cori and I spent weeks cleaning out our belongings and organizing things into piles. Imagine laying a hand on everything you own and deciding if you want/need it in two days, two weeks, two months or three years. I used different colors of painters tape throughout the house labeling furniture and closets so there would be no mistake. Once the packers arrived it was impossible to be in all the rooms at once making sure that things were happening correctly. And it all went so quickly. These pictures were taken at the end of the first day of the 3-day pack.

There was a small bit of drama towards the end of the final pack day. Long before the pack began, I toured our home and belongings with a surveyor. Said surveyor assured me that we had ample room in our air shipment and that our sea freight would be cutting it close. Our air shipment ended up not being as accommodating as I had been told. All our luggage, which had been packed and moved out of the way, contained items that I had chosen with the understanding that certain other things would be included in our air shipment. I then found myself hand picking boxes - already packed and only generally labeled - and having them weighted until we maxed out the shipment weight. Many things I was counting on having (kitchen items mostly) would have to wait for the sea shipment.

But then- the sea shipment! The packers had loaded the truck packing it like a puzzle. I got a call in the afternoon saying that we were nearing the limit of the 40ft container and there were still a 'few items' that were not yet packed. I would have to make some decisions of what to put into storage rather than take with us. These 'few items' included most of our beds, half of the dining set, and a few other vital pieces of furniture. I was shocked. "Simple," I told them. "Remove the patio furniture." But they had loaded the patio furniture first. Long dramatic story short, the packers would not repack the truck. I had to make a list of things I would allow to go to storage. And then we were to trust that the packers (different employees than the ones who had actually done the packing) who moved things from the truck to the shipping container would pull out the correct items. Everything was wrapped in paper - so there was no saying, the brown armchair from upstairs... And the items had been labeled by men who spoke little english. There were many phone calls and a few private tears. Cori, who was working overtime getting his former position closed out, reminded me during a particularly frantic phone call that we would not be penniless and would be able to replace anything we needed. Oh, perspective! It was so frustrating though. We found out just a couple weeks ago that in a lovely though anticlimactic conclusion, EVERYTHING FIT into the sea freight. Sheesh.

With our worldly possessions on their way here and there, vaccinations administered, Jeffery having been given the all-clear from his neurologist, our house almost rented, our cars in the process of being sold, our piano moved to a friend's house for safe keeping, and our visas in hand (having arrived at the last possible moment the night before) we loaded up a friend's trailer and headed to the airport. (I can feel my heart rate on the rise just remembering all of this.)

When Cori and I had flown out in the Spring, we took an itinerary of two long flights with a stop in Frankfurt. When we flew out with the kids, we had the idea that it might be a little easier to just have one really long flight with a couple of smaller flights on either end. So the itinerary we booked was Houston -> New York -> Mumbai -> Bangalore. As we got off the plane at JFK we knew we would never do that again. Long flights are so much better than changing planes. Period.

Our little lovies were champs. I was so grateful and impressed. They slept. They were polite. They were helpful.

Our flight from Mumbai to Bangalore was a domestic flight. We had to take all our luggage through customs, recheck it, and then take a bus to a different airport. This was all happening at 12AMish India time which was who-knows-what time to our jet lagged bodies. At the domestic airport we got to walk to the plane and board via a rolling illuminated staircase. We were the only non locals on the flight and everyone noticed. And even though we were traveling in the middle of the night on a 1.5 hour flight, they served a full meal. Take that Southwest.

We were met at baggage claim by a manager from the hotel where we stayed while we were waiting for our villa to be ready. Suresh, our full time driver, was also there. It took two minivan-esque vehicles, two drivers, and 3-4 additional airport employees to get our crew and all our gear moved to the cars and then transported to the hotel.

26+ hours of travel. No problem. The car pictured here is the Toyota Inova that Honeywell is leasing for our daily use while we are here. It is the ubiquitous expat vehicle.

The hotel we stayed in is part of the clubhouse complex in the gated community in which we now live. We stayed here for about 5 days. The clubhouse is very near to our villa and the bus stop that the children use. So it was nice to be close and jump right in to a regular schedule. Also, the clubhouse grounds are so lovely. There is a lot to do: 7 different swimming areas, out door playground, indoor playground, gym, tennis courts, badminton courts, squash courts, 2 restaurants, and pool/pingpong tables. We consider living so near to it our consolation for having zero back yard!

 Path leading up to our rooms

Grounds worker with her broom/rake ~ a handful of branches

By the time we were all unloaded into our rooms and had showered it was morning. We explored our new home with the kids. This is the street where we live. The line of workers on the left are the men who were cleaning, painting, and repairing the inside of the villa getting everything prepared for us. I now recognize the man in front. He is Mr. Raju. He coordinates all kinds of repairs for our neighborhood. I have his number on speed dial. You'll notice how they are all staring at Eden. This happens everywhere we go. EVERYWHERE. WE. GO.

The clubhouse has these low, wide, metal bowls everywhere that they fill with floating flowers and petals. I want one so badly for our front step. The bowl at the main entry was boasting India's flag for their celebration.

We had been invited to a Church activity that night to celebrate. We were excited to go and meet some of our new Church family. However, the afternoon got the better of us and we ended up taking a very long family nap. When we woke, we opted to take dinner at the clubhouse and to check out the festivities that were going on. We didn't have to look far! This band had set up right outside of our window.

Sunday brought our first visit to church. Monday was spent driving the kids around to their different schools and getting them settled (more on that coming up). By Wednesday, we were in our villa, big kiddos were getting onto the bus every morning and Jeffery and I were happy campers hanging out with Selvi.

Christmas Break : First week in TX

I made it into Grant's class party on the last day of school before break. Here he is with his two best buds, Grayson and Kyler. They are in the same class at school and all live within bike-riding distance in our neighborhood. Kyler is also in our ward so he and Grant get to hang out at church too.

We stayed busy on our days off school. Grace and Grant entertained neighbor friends nearly everyday. It has always been a goal for Cori and I that ours be the hang out house. We love having everyone play on our turf.

The annual Christmas plates went out to all our neighbors. After living here for nearly 8 months, it was nice to finally get around and have a conversation with everyone.

Our travel plans put us on a plane Christmas day. So we asked Santa if he would stop at our house a day early. On Christmas Eve Eve we set out cookies, threw sparkly reindeer food across the front lawn, and snuggled into our beds. The girls set up camp in the boys' room that night for a sibling slumber party.

Christmas Eve morning, Cori and I were awakened by the melodious voices of our children singing to us over the baby monitor. We joined them in the boys' room to read some scriptures and then they got to descend the stairs one at a time in reverse birth order.

Santa came! Grace got rollerblades, the one thing on her list. Grant got a drifter. Eden got walkie talkies, the one thing on her list. And Jeffery got a magna doodle.

Because Santa is generous and because of a order snafu with Amazon (which resulted in no possibility of returning the duplicate order (their fault) because of "hazardous material" i.e. the battery) Grant was also given another drifter to share with his family.

The kids got to make several gingerbread houses. The gingerbread village spent a month lined up on the dining room table, and Jeffery spent a month climbing up onto the table picking and eating all the candy off. It's good to be the forth child sometimes.

One of my most favorite parts of Christmas: the mail!