Katie's Visit

Travelling like crazy over the past few weeks. First to Bangalore to visit our activities, and disseminate research results to other NGOs, then to Chennai to see some interviews and focus groups on condoms and quickly visit activities and then to Hyderabad to visit their activities for the first time and watch more research. Then I came back to a week of holidays and fesitvals including Diwali, probably the biggest holiday in Delhi - the festival of lights. Usually I enjoy diwali, everyone lights all these candles and gives presents and it's really pretty. However this year I had the misfortune of living under my landlord's family. Another aspect of diwali is setting off fireworks - personal fireworks - also known simply as crackers. Of course it can be many things; pretty, awe-inspiring, polluting, frightening but for me, this year, it was simply annoying. Families like to show their wealth by the amount they spend and the amount they spend also seems to relate to how loud they are. So it was several hours of incredibly loud sonic booms (as they are literally called) with 20 minute spurts of what sounded like machine guns firing into my living room. The rooms got smoky (despite being well sealed) and my cat started sprinting from corner to corner and eventually I found her shaking and cowering in the corner of a cupboard.

Anyway, one highlight of my trip around the south, was that I happened to be in Chennai when John's (of my mom's John) granddaughter Katie was docking as part of her working on a Semester at Sea. So I took a day off and we (and her friend) went to Mahaballapuram. I'd been before with my coworker Dana and it's just a fun small town with great carvings and temples and pretty beach. Last time I went it was the hottest thing I've ever felt so even though it was probably still in the high 90s, it felt much cooler this time!

It was great to hear about their travels - japan, china, myanmar, etc. What a great way to see the world! I finally saw the shore temple which is like the big deal of Mahaballapuram but I missed last trip (stupid early closing hours). It is right on the beach and was not only totally engulfed during the tsunami but has been battered for centuries (millenia?) by the ocean and salty air. It's amazing how much is still there. Anyways, it was a much needed break and always wonderful to see people in different settings (than family gatherings).

Satender's house

So last night I went to see my driver's (Satender) new house. His parents sold their house, that he was living in and split the proceeds between the three sons (the daughter got a little bit but not much). So Satender used his money to build a new house. It's in an area of Delhi called Sanik Farms which was intended to be farm houses for the military, and apparently 80 of those exist there but there are 100s more that are just rich people and are illegal. Farm houses are a common term here but they don't mean what I think of as a farm house, really they just mean huge (and I mean huge) houses with a yard. Sometimes the yards are quite large and you can see the "farm" analogy but many today just have basic yards (a luxury in delhi, as it is in cities in the US). And here all the farm houses have huge walls around them so you can't see them and driving through the area is like going through a very complex maze.

And then suddenly the walls and farm houses end and the colony begins, which is much poorer. When we turned off the road to where Satender lives, I couldn't help but take a very deep breath. Dirt roads, a level of poverty that has become very familar to me here (these cement houses that look as though a wrecking ball hit them, they all seem to be missing a wall or a doorway or something). But I've never known the people who live in these places. But then we walk to his home and it is really lovely. Big sigh of relief. Marble floors (specially requested by his eldest daughter), high ceilings, a big living-dining area, three bedrooms and a nice sized kitchen. Of course 9 people live there so I expect that sleeping is cramped in 3 beds. Beyond the beds they have almost no furniture, a desk for the kids' studies, a dresser in his parent's room and a small living room set. I noticed there's no where to eat. And of course my housewarming gift was placemats and napkins and a set of serving containers for typical pickles or sauces. Hard to use without a table..... I was pleased to see that the doors and windows all have screens - as we're facing a dengue epidemic in the city.

They also have a second floor which they rent out to a family member (probably not actually related) for the going rate in the neighborhood of $20 a month!

And my visit was clearly a big deal. His wife looked much better than the only other time I met her (in the hospital). They had bought me the chocolate cake that I always have Satender buy me when I'm having a bad day:), and diet coke (which I don't drink but the other American girl in the office does so I understand the intent). Also dates and peanuts and cookies - it was clearly a special spread for me. And they bought me a garland of roses, which is the sign of an honored guest. His three children, wife, brother, niece and nephew were all there and they brought out the video camera, he said they had been eagerly anticipating having his madam come to visit. Oh, and they apologized that I had to eat the food with a spoon because they own no forks.

His eldest daughter is in 12th grade and depending on her test scores she's hoping to get a seat in one of the government colleges for her BA but there are very many people and very few seats. I wonder how much college would cost to go to a private one? His son, in 10th grade (and in a better school than the daughters) said his favorite class was English but they don't read any novels - that sucks, how does one learn to appreciate english if they just use text books?

Satender was obviously very proud of the house. He said he built it for his kids (I assume he meant to will to them later) and spent ALL his money on it. Which I believe. I'm just so relieved that it's a nice home.

Dussehra

I know I've misspelled that but Monday Oct 2 was the tri-fecta. Durga Pooja (a big bengali festival celebrating the goddess Durga), Ghandi's birthday and Dussehra. Ok, Durga Pooja and Dussehra are always on the same day but it's not usually Ghandi's b-day. Last time I was in a Bengali neighborhood so Durga Pooja was a big deal. This year however, I live in a muslim neighborhood so Durga isn't such a big thing. A few friends and I went to see the Dusharra festival instead.

Every park in Delhi has something going on but we decided to go to the big one. So there's an area about half a football field cordoned off. In the middle are a bunch of things to set off fireworks. And on one end three enormous (like the height of a 7 story building) paper maiche "men" with faces painted in flourescent colors. I found out later that these men are in fact the Ravana (super devil) and his devil brother and devil son. So this guy on a loud speaker talks for about 2 hours (especially boring when you don't understand the language). I've been told it's just about thanking the people who paid for the festivities. And fireworks are going off, which instead of being pretty is quite scarey because they don't go very high and you're standing like 15 feet away from the launch pad so you're just ensuring that you don't get hit.

Then the action begins. First they have these 8 feet tall things that look like kitchy wind mills (y'know the kind people keep in their yards that spin all around) and they light them on fire so fire is spinning and shooting everywhere. Inevitably some fire ball is thrown from the spinny thing about 30 yards, hopefully within the "safe zone", but maybe not, and the crowd cheers with delight at the risk of certain death.

Then, after endless waiting and anticipation, they fire flaming arrows into the statues which explode. Literally these huge statues are reduced to nothing in a matter of 3 seconds each. And the flames are so big that the indian start running away. People are so non-chalant here that when they start running you know you're in trouble. And then it's over.

I wasn't planning on going to this, and went straight from an ultimate game, so didn't have a camera but for a picture of some other park's statues, I found these. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Festivals/Dusseh.html but their statues were dinky compared to the ones I saw.