DelhiLullaby

Coming and Going

2012-08-13T07:11:00.004+05:30

Since coming home to the US from India, we were able to spend a very special five weeks with my Grandma Jean at her home in Boulder, Colorado. She was waiting in the driveway when we drove in and had our room decorated with balloons for Samantha and chocolate bars on our pillows for me. Throughout our weeks together, we slipped into the routine we'd established ten months prior when we moved in for a month after her husband of 67 years, Grandpa Sam, passed at home.

Samantha and I spent most of our days with Grandma Jean, eating in the kitchen or out on the deck and running errands as needed. Grandma liked to spend a lot more time at home these days, and was content to watch Samantha play with the dishwasher or move chairs in the kitchen like they were a walker! At cooler times of the day, we'd walk around the block; it gave her such delight to introduce Samantha Jean to neighbors and old friends along the route. There was always a little tear that slipped out when she said that, as Grandpa Sam's death was still so fresh and perhaps the tribute so great.

When we did have to get out and into the car for one of Grandma's doctor appointments, it was an adventure. As many of you may know, time spent in the car isn't Samantha's favorite past time, mostly because she's just been reintroduced to the car seat after nine months in India with no restraining device (that's right, no car seat, high chair or stroller). When we'd need to go out, Grandma would say something sarcastic like, "does Samantha get to come? Oh joy, this is going to be fun!" And usually for the next many minutes in the car, Samantha would tell us just how much she didn't appreciate the safety trappings of the USA.

In the afternoons after Grandma, Samantha and I had all taken our naps and eaten lunch together, we'd hang out some more, talking/playing/reading out loud until Andy was home from work and he'd begin making us dinner. He and Grandma would usually enjoy a long chat over these preparations, sometimes Grandma would drink a cocktail with him and most days not, as her taste buds were changing to dislike the taste of alcohol for the first time. She and Andy had a great banter; she loved talking about his recently sculpted, "girly figure" since returning home from India. Even at 92, how one looked mattered.

On the Saturday before she passed, we all spent the day together. The night prior we'd had a bunch of the nieces and nephews over for a pool/slumber party. The pool party continued into Saturday AM and then the house fell quiet again, just back to what Grandma called "the little family" which meant Andy, Samantha, me and Grandma. Due to the extreme heat, we suggested she come and stay downstairs in the basement with us and we all read down there. Throughout the afternoon spent in the cool basement, we read New Yorker article after article and even played a few songs on my phone for Grandma to hear some of the latest Indie music detailed in one of our articles. Andy and I traded off while one of us would engage Samantha at the many basement bookshelves. Samantha's favorite pastime was to take all of the books off the shelves. While Grandma couldn't see Samantha, she could hear her and laughed as she heard me putting all of the books back on the shelves throughout the day.

Around seven in the evening, Grandma decided that she had had enough reading and that before dinner we should head out on our usual neighborhood walk together. As I walked into the garage to get the stroller with Samantha, Grandma began walking up the stairs to get ready. She made it to the top of the stairs and then fell all the way down. It was the most horrible vision I've ever seen and heard, witnessing Grandma tumble down those stairs. Andy carefully lifted her out of the door jam and cradled her while the ambulance and fire department arrived. When she came to, what pained me the most was knowing that she knew this wasn't the end but instead what she knew would be a painful recovery. In that moment, I think Grandma knew that the fall was in someway the end, and as one of my cousin's said later, it also gave Grandma the permission to die.

Bruised and battered with stitches in her head but with nothing broken, we carried Grandma back into her home the next morning. Throughout the next day I felt how weak and tired she was. It wasn't until one of my cousins came and saw Grandma the next day that we all realized what had been in front of us. Grandma said she was "tired of suffering" and that she was "ready to go." She didn't want to return to the hospital, as I believed she would need to, she wanted to die after a long, full life. In that moment, I really thank my cousin for saying what needed to be said, "We need to call hospice." I just wasn't there yet, but I was so thankful for her to voice what needed to be said. In those next frantic moments, Andy went in to Grandma's room and asked her what she wanted definitively and this is indeed what she wanted, to die peacefully, pain-free and with dignity at home.

Once Grandma made this decision it was a frenzied time, family began pouring in from all over the US, from Alaska to Boston, and Grandma spoke with others who couldn't be with us on the phone. She even seemed to recover a little, getting out of bed to enjoy a cocktail hour of sorts with her children on her bedroom deck. She was laughing and she seemed relieved, re-energized by everyone's presence and that her decision was public and accepted. She spent the next two days saying goodbye to her family, even though I don't know if any of us feel that we can say all that we want to in those moments. There were some really sweet times with my family during those few days. She allowed for this coming together of her family in the way she passed and I think all of us needed the time together to process, be together with her and each other.

The last thing I said to her was, "I'm going to yoga," fully expecting her to still be conscious when I returned two hours later. She said, "yippee, good girl," and she truly meant it. When I returned after what felt like one of the most powerful classes I've ever experienced, Grandma was unconscious and moving swiftly towards death. I sat with her some more and told her more, just needing to hold and squeeze her hand a little more. She passed a few hours later just as the sun was rising, while my uncle read her Shakespeare and the birds chirped outside her bedroom windows.

Throughout these weeks, I still cry sometimes, but I remind myself that this is what she wanted and she truly lived a full life, one filled with great love and I know the thing she'd want the most is to see her family and friends smiling. This post is about honoring her and her spirit of embracing all that life can offer. She relentlessly encouraged me to do everything despite limitations, be they financial or my own beliefs. She believed in taking care of oneself.

A day after she passed, her regular yoga class that she attended religiously three days a week, laid out a mat for her and placed flowers, candles and incense on it. We didn't do a public or private celebration of Grandma, so this is my own way of processing the passing of Grandma. Jean was an amazing woman; she wasn't a sweet old lady but an experienced, educated, and beautiful woman. I won't write what her obituary says, but do read it here to learn more about this special woman.

Here are a few photos of those few weeks with Grandma Jean.

Kitchen time with Great Grandma Jean.

Below is a video Andy took of Grandma trying to keep Samantha happy while I was at yoga one night.

Grandma dressed up in her favorite new Indian kurta headed to a friend's 90th birthday party down the block.

Samantha watching Grandma from the top of the stairs, one of her favorite places at Great Grandma Jean's.

Here's what Samantha usually did while I read to Grandma.

Grandma & cousin Shannon at our last downtown cocktail hour. Notice how much Grandma loved the kurtas?

One of the many neighborhood walks.

Andy preparing food for the pool party on Samantha's first birthday party, June 16th.

The first birthday celebration a few days earlier. Grandma, Ty, us, and Logan.

Andy's version of a first birthday cake - syllabub.

This is what's on the bottom of the syllabub!

Hillside outside of Grandma's house.

View from the trail behind Grandma's house.

Samantha in the pool at Grandma's. Can you tell how much she loved it?

Amber, me, Samantha and Kimberly in the pool!

Grandma chilling out on the deck.

Andy and Grandma reading in the basement the day of her fall.

While Samantha and I work on de-shelving the bookshelf!

Here's a proud mama picture for which I'm very grateful. It was taken one week before Grandpa died last year. We drove in to Colorado from Los Angeles and were so excited for Samantha to meet her namesakes, that we stopped first at their house. Here's the moment where Jean and Sam get to meet Samantha Jean. In one short year, Samantha Jean was born, Grandpa passed, we moved in with Grandma, then we moved to India, then we moved back to the US and back in with Grandma, then we spent a glorious five weeks with Grandma, and then Grandma passed.

The cycle of life, coming and going.

Aunty Liz comes to India!

2012-06-03T09:38:00.000+05:30

Auntie Liz braved the heat and came to visit us just before we set off back to the US. I didn't meet my goal of posting this before we left Delhi two weeks ago, but it's here now! It was an amazing trip because Liz was up for anything and we'd been in India long enough to know what to expect, sort of.

Auntie Liz and Samantha hanging out in our bedroom. Since it was so hot, we spent any moment in the house huddled around the sole air conditioner in our bedroom. This also insured that Samantha didn't overheat!

Samantha and Auntie Liz entertaining each other on the train ride from Agra back to Delhi.

A panorama from the mosque courtyard at Fatehpur Sikri, an incredible site near the Taj Mahal

More shots of the mosque at Fatehpur Sikri. The white marble shrine is a Sufi shrine within the mosque. The place is just incredibly huge, and this day was insanely hot!

Those burlap cloth walkways are to help you from burning your feet on the hot sandstone as you have to be barefoot in the mosque no matter the heat!

All of the above are Andy playing around with his camera in the mosque. I had to stay in the car as it was too hot to take Samantha out. Andy and Liz sped through the mosque area and said it was at least as cool as the Taj, but in a different way!

Here was the view from our hotel window in Agra of the Taj Mahal. This was especially nice for Andy who was too sick to actually go to the Taj with us due to a little (terrible) stomach upset.

View from hotel room looking left from the Taj view above.

Auntie Liz checking out the Taj in the mandatory booties.

We took advantage of the balcony and even dressed up for a few photos!

While we all chatted and caught up, Samantha found great delight in removing all contents of Auntie Liz's bags.

Back home in Delhi Liz and I participated in a 6:30am-10:30am bike tour of South Delhi. Getting on a bike at any other time of day here terrifies me, but since the city doesn't really get moving until much later, we were able to cycle through major streets and tiny alleyways through one of Delhi's oldest neighborhoods.

Sites along the route. The tour was in Nizamuddin West, which is traditionally a Muslim neighborhood and also where many butchers live.

Biking through the neighborhood early am.

I thought it was a horse but then learned it was a cow.

Water stop along the bike tour.

Now, I thought we looked so rediculous I had to take a photo. Liz and I were wearing pants and t-shirts but in order to be respectful at the Jama Masjid (mosque in Old Delhi), they ask that you cover up a little more and offered these robes free. Foreign men wearing shorts also wear a sarong.

Liz at Lodhi Gardens with some strangers posing and taking pictures of her! Once people started taking her photos she was much more comfortable asking to take theirs too!

We also had a dress made for Liz while she was here. Typcially the tailors come and set up shop in your house until the project is finished but our house was too hot so the tailor Vinod came back a few times to fit the pieces.

Andy and Samantha getting fitted for a top and dresses.

Another day while Liz was here two musicians came over and played with Andy. Samantha tried tabla too!

Samantha participating in the music session.

When people ask what the past year was like, the best word I can think of to describe it is transformative. It was an opportunity to raise our child in an entirely different culture, country, climate with all the serendipity and challenges alike.

But this isn't the end, so don't get teary. I'm continuing it from Boulder and Los Angeles. Expect new and very different pictures to follow:)

Goodbye India, we'll be back.

Safdarjung's Tomb

2012-05-10T15:37:00.000+05:30

This may officially be my blog, but Andy's photos dominate it. He's a great photographer, so I thought I'd show you some of his pics from our recent jaunt to Safdarjung's Tomb. This tomb is another one close to home, just up the street from Lodhi Gardens.

Entrance archway filled with workers' motorbikes.

Safdarjung's Tomb

Arches

Tomb ceiling

View from the tomb platform.

And I had to leave you with a photo of the photographer!

Pool Party

2012-05-09T15:15:00.000+05:30

Samantha enjoyed her first pool-birthday party recently. She's been in a pool before at her Great Grandma Jean's house at 8 weeks of age, but this was her first friend's party. It took place here in the Defence Colony at one of our playgroup friend's house up the street. Since temperatures here hover around 105 F most of the day, a pool party is a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

She always has eyes for the camera.

Trying out duckie.

I love the pool!

Birthday Boy

Having a good time after the swim.

In love with Kolkata

2012-04-25T09:34:00.001+05:30

We spent a week in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) for Andy's research earlier this month. I wasn't planning on going with Andy, especially after everything I'd heard about the city - it's unbearably hot, difficult, dirty, and has even less infrastructure than Delhi. In a spontaneous decision, Andy suggested we come. We bought my ticket the night before and ended up having the best experience traveling ever. Samantha and I went with Andy to all of his interviews - and the number of interviews grew and grew as more and more people found out about his project. What initially started out as three contacts grew into a large network of singers, poets, filmmakers and householders with songs to share. I served as the photographer during the interviews and Samantha played on the floor with other children and folks in the homes. Throughout the trip we continually remarked how much we loved Kolkata. In fact, we loved it so much and Andy's research was so exhilarating there, that it may very well be where we return to live in India when his research brings him back here in the future.

Here's what the interviews often looked like. It was fitting to have a baby there - she was even quiet during most of the singing!

Samantha front and center at another interview.

The two older girls brought out all of their toys for Samantha to play with and gave her the flower on her head.

Samantha traveling with documentary film maker friend. Samantha was a little warm as we'd just left an hour long cab ride and were walking to the interview and still had a rickshaw and metro ride before coming back into the central city for more interviews. See the tea cup she's holding? That was given to her the night before in another interviewee's home. It has been her favorite toy ever since.

View of another interview. Samantha and I spent our time in the adjacent music room playing since this one lasted a while:)

View from where we stayed in Talyganj Pari, Kolkata. We stayed with fellow Fulbrighters.

Our gracious hosts in Kolkata, Dave & Deonnie.

Video of Samantha's perspective walking along Park St. in Kolkata. She was in the carrier with Andy while he held the phone at her eye level. There was a huge storm later in the evening, lightening to boot.

Buying veggies at the historic 1874 British built New Market in Kolkata.

Chickens awaiting purchase at the New Market.

One of the ubiquitous human-pulled rickshaws in Kolkata. They are apparently outlawed but locals told us they remain the only viable transport during the monsoon season.

Sudder Street scene. Boys playing cricket in front of the much dilapidated Indian National Museum (white building) and Government College of Art & Craft (red brick). The National Museum was pretty depressing, all the exhibits were ancient (not in a good way) and the halls were stained with paan spit and smelled like urine. Imagine if the Denver Museum of Natural History from when we were kids was left to swelter in Kolkata heat and humidity outdoors for 30 years and not updated at all, actually that might still be nicer than it was! It's really too bad, the bones of the building housing the museum are beautiful - huge, colonial courtyard building that would be magnificent if kept up. I guess this is the overall story and charm of Kolkata itself.

This is the view directly outside of the Goethe Institut where Andy had an interview one morning.

This might be my favorite picture yet in India. In the background is one of the many British buildings from the 19th century in ruins. Those yellow taxis are the storied Ambassador cars, still rumbling around the streets, still operating somehow, their new paint jobs disguise their barely functioning engines. Kolkata was the British colonial capitol until 1911 when it was moved to New Delhi.

View near Sudder St.

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Deonnie, one of our hosts in Kolkata, has been researching the Kalighat Temple in Kolkata. On our last day, which also happened to be the Bengali new year, she took me to visit the temple. I did not take Samantha, as I was warned about the chaos, and it was a good decision! I have to say that, as crazy as it was (I can easily see how people are trampled in the frenzy to see a glimpse of the Kali statue), I felt relaxed knowing that I only had to worry about myself. Without Samantha I could flow with the crowds pushing me throughout the temple complex, all the while barefoot.

View of crowd getting into the temple. There were no cameras permitted inside the temple.

Darshan (offering) line into the temple. It went the entire length of the street.

An example of the offerings people were bringing into the temple.

One of the many sweet shops. Sweets are very significant to Bengali culture.

Boys on the banks of a small canal called the Adi Ganga which connects to the Hoogly River (a tributary of the sacred Ganges River), just outside the temple complex. This is like a wishing well of sorts. When you throw in a coin the boys have long ropes with magnets on the end to collect the money. One boy said he collects about 50 rupees a day, or about a dollar.

Mother Theresa's Hospital for the Dying adjacent to the Kalighat Temple.

Woman selling garlands outside of the Kalighat Temple.

Rolled mud from the Adi Ganga to be used to make statues.

Sunset tombs

2012-04-21T21:53:00.000+05:30

As many of you may know, I often sign Andy up to help me with many of my projects. For my 7 Cities tour, I volunteered Andy to play sitar during our tour of Humayun's tomb. He was gracious to do it and many of the folks said it was their favorite part of the tour.

Andy playing a short raga for the group.

Here's what Samantha did while Andy played and talked to the group about music in 16th century Mughal India.

Part of the group. Note the stray dog on the right that came over to check it out. By the end of Andy's 25 minute segment, there were a few other folks gathered around to check out the scene too.

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It's hot in Delhi, which means the cooler evenings are something to savor. Lately we've been walking in two of our favorite local tombs at sunset time, since we won't often go outside during the day. Below are some photos from those jaunts. You've seen these places before but not at sunset.

Samantha was particularly fetching this evening!

15th century mosque & tomb at Lodi Gardens.

Us in front of Humayun's tomb.

Rose garden at Lodhi Gardens.

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For those of you who ask who I practice my yoga with when I get to the studio! Here are the other early morning folks who inspire me at Seema's studio.

And look! I'm standing now!

Back home in Delhi...with Pudding

2012-03-27T13:45:00.003+05:30

Back home in New Delhi I planned to take Sarah to all of my favorite places. The cloth district at Nehru Place was one of her favorite places.

Auntie Sarah perusing the cottons.

Some places were more organized than others.

Plaid anyone?

Samantha and I got into fabric shopping too.

Final selections. Batik anyone?

Only in India.

That print on the left might turn into a bag!

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Andy takes all of our visitors for a morning in Old Delhi. Mornings because it's significantly more mellow there. Below are a few photos from his trip with Sarah.

Video of Andy and Sarah's walk through Old Delhi markets.

Spice Market

Date seller.

Different types of sugar for sale.

Mechanical parts seller with a great beard.

Sarah eating her first Old Delhi paratha.

Parathas in the making.

The old and the new of Old Delhi.

Red Fort panorama.
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Auntie Sarah loves to cook about as much as Andy.

An example of the many meals Sarah and Andy made together.

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Samantha and Andy at Saturday music class in Pancheel Park, New Delhi.

This is her new favorite way to sit. Feet crossed! And yes, it's so hot, she's sweating.

Evening music making.
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I decided a few months ago it would be fun to delve into infant craft making. One Tuesday I invited some of my moms with babies under 13 months to make edible play dough, finger paint and jello paint. A friend from the embassy who taught children's recreation in the US offered to teach us. Below is the mayhem that ensued.

It began tame enough, concocting our own version of edible tangy, salty play dough.

A close up of Rakhi and Nora.

Here's what the play dough quickly turned into!

Samantha had some help from Auntie Sarah to make perfect cutouts.

Here's a sample of the pudding painting. As you can imagine, this quickly degenerated into pudding all over the floor. All babies had to be striped to diapers and put in our shower.

And here's how it quickly turned! Aadit and Ruben (who celebrated his 1 year birthday the same day). It reminded me a little of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the US. Next time I'm opting to host a yoga and babies class! It felt a little crazier than the pictures for me, but you might get the affect!

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My on-going love of plants in water-filled urns.

Fulbright Conference in Kerala

2012-03-24T06:35:00.000+05:30

Every year Fulbright hosts a conference somewhere in India. This year, it took place in Kochi, Kerala! It was a wonderful experience meeting Fulbrighters, their partners (and even a few kids!) from all over South Asia. It was such a rejuvenation for me, as a partner of the Fulbrighter, to come relax in a nice hotel and chill out for four days. There was some work for Andy, he presented on his research topic during the interdisciplinary conference, which went splendidly. I was even able to sit in the back of his talk and listen with Samantha. We recorded his presentation too, but it's too long to upload here!

After the conference, we took a train for 4 hours south to a beach town to chill out. Our friend Sarah joined us from the US too!

Happy family decided to take a family photo in our hotel room at the Fulbright conference in Kochi, Kerala.

Conference lunch in the open pavilion. I loved all of the buffet meals.

Headed to another meal outside. Can you tell I enjoyed meal time here?

Samantha making friends with fellow Fulbright family baby Zoe. Zoe's parents are in Goa on an archaeological site. We were a little jealous of their location!

Samantha getting down on the dance floor with fellow Fulbrighter daughter. The music was Indian loud!

Samantha exploring the hotel grounds and making friends, Samantha's favorite toy was the groundskeeper's leaf basket.

This granddad of an old turkey lives on the hotel grounds.

When Samantha and I weren't playing by the pool, she practiced crawling on the clean floors in our hotel room.

The last day of the conference Fulbright organized a group tour of Kochi. These are the Chinese Fishing Nets that this area is well-known for.

Here is short video of the Chinese fishing nets in action. Andy apologizes for the poor sound and for flipping the camera at one point, he forgot he was filming! Despite the small number and size of the fish caught (someone commented that we, the tourists, were the "big fish" caught that day), you can get a good idea of how the whole giant net apparatus works. Those big rocks hanging from the ropes seen at the end of the video are the counterweights for the long arms that support the net.

Fisherman reparing their nets. Fort Kochi, Kerala.

Fish ready to fry.

This gentleman, I think his name is David, gave us a tour of the intricate fishing nets.

Touring Fort Kochi.

View from our Ferry Ride from Fort Kochi to Enarkalum Train Station on our way to Varkala, Kerala.

Samantha trying to read the official language of Kerala, Malayalam.

Malayalam graffiti, Fort Kochi, Kerala.

I loved this pink car down an alley in Fort Kochi.

And then here's how we usually travel. I need to buy one of these little toys for Samantha.

Samantha's had some big changes the last month, including starting solid food! She also grew her first tooth and began to crawl!

Samantha and I in our home stay garden where we stayed for one night in Fort Kochi.

View from 4.5 hour train ride to south to Varkala, Kerala. Samantha wasn't a big fan of the train ride.

Here's a view of what we did once we arrived in Varkala, hang out on our veranda.

And then Auntie Sarah finally got her visa and arrived from the US. As you can see, this is when the party really got started...

Quality time with Auntie Sarah on the veranda.

Just a short video showing all the progress Samantha is making, pulling herself up, nearly standing, crawling and more.

Meal time was also important in Varkala!

We did a lot of this.

And this.

And this. A view from where we ate our meals.

Here's another view from our restaurant. Great volleyball games nearly every night.

Auntie Sarah and Samantha loving the beach.

One day Sarah, Samantha and I checked out the local temple and discovered this offering tree. Some of the dolls still had their plastic wrappers on them.

This Ganesh sat on the side of the cliff down the beach from us.

Another day we walked north up the coast and watched the fisherman manually hauling in the fishing nets!

Another day Andy and Samantha walked to the temple and ran into a celebration.

Baoli in Varkala.

Andy and Samantha were stopped on their walk home by more Samantha fans.

Scene from our taxi ride from Varkala to Trivandrum, Kerala. That's right, a live elephant on the side of the road.

V Day, 7 Cities, & Mehndi

2012-02-24T10:21:00.000+05:30

Many of you know that Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Naturally, I was curious what form this day would take in India. When I asked at our bakery in the Defence Colony if he was going to make Valentine's cookies, he said the day "was trending low." But, from what I saw on the street, there was some evidence of Valentine's Day in India and here's what India Ink reported.

The flower vendors spray a water solution on the flowers that always looks like glitter dew to me. See it?

Teddy bear anyone?

Here's what V day at our house looked like.

V Day play group at our house. All the floor blankets are intended to pad the marble floor! There were still a few head bonks.

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One new thing Samantha and I have been doing every week is the 7 cities tour group. It's a group of 40 people (mostly expats, but some Indians who've recently returned to India after living abroad for some time) who are divided into groups of 4. Each week, one of the smaller groups leads the tour in Delhi, exploring one of the 7 historical cities that were founded here. Often, these tours are to the lesser known monuments, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries and we are the only tourists at the site. Some of these places I probably wouldn't venture by myself with Samantha as they are difficult to get to, are overrun with monkeys, and lack basic facilities like toilets. Below are a few photos from our last few tours.

Tughlaqabad Fort

Baoli, Tughlaqabad Fort.

My two fellow moms that tour with babes!

Underground tunnel, Tughlaqabad Fort.

Family who lives inside the fort.

Samantha enjoying the picnic at the end of the tour.

Nizamuddin Dargah, Sufi Shrine in Nizamuddin West, a short 10 minute rickshaw ride from our house.

How we looked entering the shrine. Her swaddle blanket served as a versatile head covering.

Vendors in the narrow lanes of Nizamuddin village.

Nizamuddin

A brief video in Nizamuddin.

Begumpur Mosque, South Delhi.

7 Cities group.

Bijay Mandal

View from the top of the Bijay Mandal.

Walking in the streets on the way to the monuments.

Interior view of Khirki Mosque. This mosque is believed to be the the only mosque in North India that is 80% covered.

Another interior view of the Khirki Mosque. I appreciated how cool it was inside, but it wreaked of urine.

Life directly outside of the mosque.

Us on top of the mosque.

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A friend invited us to crash her landlord's son's wedding festivities. It was the day before the actual wedding, and people sat around singing, getting mehndi done and eating.

Guests at the wedding. Notice all of the marigold garlands? They adorn all three stories of the house in addition to lights in the evening.

Samantha visited with these and many other sweet aunties and uncles.

Once Samantha fell asleep (there she is under the blanket!) I had mehndi done for the first time ever. I thought it would take a long time, but these artists completed both hand in less than ten minutes. It dries in about an hour and then flakes off, leaving the hands a dyed dark orange for about a week.

My hand, my friend's, and the mother of the groom getting hers done.

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One day this week, Samantha and I met Andy in a secluded park behind an office building where he was conducting research interviews. The park was an oasis in the bustling neighborhood of Greenpark.

Only in India.

Can you see the heat?

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Here's a ten second video of Samantha trying out her first swing at a friend's house.

Samantha and friends. She was very excited about their toys, can you tell?

Til next time!

Future Model or Flash Mob Miscreant?

2012-02-08T22:17:00.001+05:30

Just take a guess at who the favored person in our family is from the following pictures:

Samantha waiting for her first casting call. She was chosen as one of the baby models for a large children's clothing and toy store in Delhi. We are excited about the professional photos we get to keep! To be shared on the blog soon...

Looking across the street from the casting call office. Areas like this, housing and vendors, follow the construction zones of a rapidly expanding Dehli. On the other side of the road are glass and steel office buildings.

Buildings like this. That's Ranjit, our casting agent, who graciously drove us to the appointment.

She was pretty relaxed throughout the entire process.
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Samantha inspecting a new friend (and vice versa) that she met at a neighborhood festival last weekend. The women is a well known Defence Colony figure who swept Samantha out of my arms saying, "You eat." Without another word, she walked away with Samantha. The interesting thing is that this type of communal baby raising has started to feel so normal that I wasn't shocked at all. The colors for the event were red and purple.

A little video of the scene with music; the video doesn't convey how LOUD it was!

My great yoga friend Seema looking very cool in her purple top and white jeans. Her high heels didn't make it into the photo!

Festival food.

I invited the Norwegians and Emily the American! Their partners didn't make this photos though!
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Samantha has been loving her play area. Andy in the background trying to get some work done. We don't make it very easy!

New toy from a playgroup friend. She loves this for about 10 minutes everyday. We love that time too.

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So, Samantha completed another "first" this week, and this is one that few people will be able to top, her first flash mob! And in India nonetheless! If you don't know what a flash mob is, check out this one on youtube.

Here's our CanSupport flash mob at the Walk for Life event on February 5, 2012. Samantha and I are tucked away in the back of the scene, look for her purple hat and blue Baby Bjorn (click on the video again to be taken to a larger version on YouTube).

Early morning walkers heading towards the start. This walk was 3.2km, runs aren't too popular yet.

School kids walking down Rajpath towards the event.

Andy tried to keep Samantha's ears covered as the music was, classically Indian, loud.

Instead of actually completing the walk, we walked the opposite way down Rajpath to India Gate, one tourist attraction we hadn't seen yet.

Andy and Samantha at India Gate.

Fellow tourists at India Gate.

See the guy taking the photo while I'm taking the photo?

India Gate, Rajpath, New Delhi.
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One of the many reasons I enjoy working at the American Embassy School. This week marked my first time working two consecutive day shifts as a substitute nurse there.
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Rooftop playgroup. Samantha ate her first biscuit. Well, it wasn't really hers, she picked up her friend's, crushed it in her hands and tasted it before I noticed! And right after I had told the other moms she wasn't interested in solid food!

Playgroup rooftop view.

Another view.

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Here's a video of Samantha and me chilling in the park at tea time one afternoon. It ends before one of the aunties starts to tell me to put more clothes on Samantha. Or at least that's what I assumed she was saying. She wasn't speaking Hindi, but I could tell she was concerned about my parenting! Don't worry though, Samantha is nice and cozy all the time, trust me.

Nursing, Ono & Pongal

2012-01-25T17:09:00.000+05:30

You may have noticed a theme in my blog posts. They often include food. Admittedly, I take a lot of pictures of food in India. Pictures of the food that Andy creates for us daily could be an entire blog, but today I will only share one!

This is the atta flour fluffy pancake Andy's been making for us nearly everyday. I top mine with strawberry jam, lots of yogurt, and squeeze the lemon on top of all that! Andy was away for five days at a conference in Mumbai, so I actually had to make one for myself. I'm happy to report that I successfully created one similar to his.

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Some friends invited us over to celebrate Pongal, a South Indian holiday celebrating the harvest festival. They described it as the Indian thanksgiving, and as you can imagine, there's a lot for me to learn about this holiday. I will start with the food our friends made.

Andy, Savi, Samantha, Sri. Since Samantha was the only child in attendance, she received a lot of attention. This is how a majority of the afternoon was spent.

Suma, Samantha and Savi. Savi brought out a bin a watches for Samantha to play with, and you can see they were quite popular.

Although not as popular as the mirrored Rajasthani skirt she wore.

And she fell asleep for a good 45 min after all of the playing.

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Samantha sporting the new hat Diana made for her this week. She's no longer a one hat wardrobe girl!

And here's another beautiful hat Dianna made a week later! I love the purple and blue.

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been volunteering with CanSupport, a palliative care organization in New Delhi. This week, in preparation for the Walk for Life, which raises money and awareness about cancer, palliative care, and health prevention, Samantha and I ventured to their offices for a volunteer meeting filled with Indians and expats. I thought I'd share a few photos from their office. In the volunteer email they said, "it IS a proper office- not in the juggi (slum) next door..."

CanSupport sign outside their office in R.K. Puram, New Delhi.

CanSupport's founder, Harmala Gupta, and my nurse mentor here in New Delhi, Catherine Bali. Catherine is one of those people who is like a firecracker of energy, always giggling, connecting people and getting involved. Catherine took me under her wing as soon as I arrived and was instrumental in helping me get the job as a substitute nurse at the American Embassy School Health Center. On my first day at the school, she called to see how it went, twice. She grew up in India and all around South Asia, as her parents were in the foreign service, then married an Indian man, so she also has a few tips to share about India. I told her (in the words of my grandmother) that I felt like I'd "hit the jackpot" when I met her months back.

Photos from the CanSupport office wall.

Mala serving chai at the meeting.

Samantha and I also attended a three day Palliative Care conference sponsored by CanSupport with over 170 nurses and doctors from northern India.

Participants filing in on the first day of the conference.

I think 165 of the 170 attendees held Samantha. She was a good sport about it all.

Catherine and Samantha.

Tea breaks always included a mini samosa.

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This is the now nightly practice of crawling on the dinner table. It makes a much better surface than the cold marble floors or blanket-clad bed.

Chatturanga anyone? I couldn't help but see the yogi in her at this moment. Check out those feet!

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Another day this week my friend Julie came to the Defence Colony for a neighborhood tour before we went to a Yoko Ono exhibit that's occurring as part of the International Art Fair.

Julie in the archway of our local Gurdwara.

Next stop on our tour was the ever popular Sagar restaurant in the Defence Colony Market. Idli anyone?

Inside of Sagar. And it was packed downstairs too!

After lunch, we drove south to the industrial/arts area of Oklah, New Delhi to the Yoko Ono Exhibit Our Beautiful Daughters. I have attended other Ono exhibits and always appreciated the interactive elements to her exhibitions.

This is a video Julie took of me participating in Ono's call to "scream against the wind, against the wall, against the sky." Warning, it's a strange sound!

Julie loves her phone as much as I do. This is on the terrace of the show where the wishing trees and microphone for a scream live.

Interior of exhibit shows coffins of nude women with corresponding shawls on the walls. The soundscape is of Indian street.

A view to the outside of the gallery is the mix of cars, motorcycles and even the big trucks building the roads right outside the gallery.

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Samantha at her weekly playgroup. The group rotates to a different playmate's house each week. This week it was in South Delhi at a farmhouse with monkeys everywhere. In her hand she has a maraca. She loves anything that makes sound...hmmmm, I wonder who she gets that from?

These are the three girls who entertained Samantha on the long metro ride home from Chattarpur farms. They played her Hindi film songs on their phones, let her shake their pencil boxes, and talked to her, helping to keep her happy for 45 minutes. I was so thankful!

View from the metro as we neared home.

And on the final walk home, walking past a wedding setup at one of the Hindu temples in our neighborhood.

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Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but I wanted to include one of Samantha in this post! I promise better ones next time!

Til next time!

A glimpse of street food and other musings

2012-01-08T13:06:00.002+05:30

This past week Samantha and I headed out to explore nearly everyday together. Andy is in the process of writing another dissertation proposal on his new topic, so we tried to stay out of the house and let him write! As you will see from the photos, it has been quite foggy and polluted of late. There is additional pollution in the winter due to the number of fires. On nearly every corner near dusk you will see small fires lit with guards, drivers, laborers, including women and children huddled, around the flames to keep warm.

On New Year's Day Samantha and I ran errands in Lagput Nagar and ended up taking photos of the street food commonly found in Delhi. Below is a sampling of what we saw. You will notice a savory theme of fried and a sweet theme of fresh fruit.

Roasted peanuts and assorted nuts.

This sweet girl and her mother talked to Samantha and allowed me to take her picture after they took one of Samantha.

Fried sweet cookies.

Fried sweet potatoes.

Close-up of sweet potatoe cart.

Freshly roasted corn

The popcorn cart is my favorite.

Fried potatoes.

These are the ubiquitous carts where I buy a lot of bottled water.

Pineapple, I always want this but know that my GI track doesn't.

Enjoying the fried food yet?

Mobile hard candy sweet-seller.

Chaat

Gooseberries and pears.

Sweet potato seller.

This stall was in an alley filled with tailors.

Popular papadum seller.

Notice the "American" popcorn touted here.

Here's the stand that always appeals to me, but again, not to my GI tract. We met a Fulbrighter that was hospitalized for a liver infection after drinking fresh carrot juice, probably not from the carrots, but from the juicing machine.

This gentleman has just finished chopping a ton of green chilils and was tired!

Cart fruit seller, pears to the right.

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A few months back a friend suggested we visit the Garden of the Five Senses in New Delhi. At the time, the heat precluded us from making the trip. Last week Samantha and I ventured the two metros and rickshaw ride there. As with most of our outings, we arrive early before the majority of people begin arriving. Although it was built in 2003 it appears as if it hasn't been well maintained. It does, however, offer another space for amorous couples to hide away in bushes, on benches and throughout the trails, as you will see from our photos.

Trail in the Garden of the Five Senses.

Lots of random statues like this one dot the ungroomed trails. Notice the couple in the background.

Amphitheater in the Garden. Cleaning up New Year's Day following festivities.

Prayer garden at the Garden of the Five Senses. I am wondering why there are only two brown children and the rest are white?

Families beginning to congregate for picnics.

These elephants used to be immersed in a fountain but it has since stopped operating.

I was tempted to take a camel ride with Samantha for three dollars.

I watched these kids playing badminton for a long time while Samantha nursed. Some of the kids came over to meet Samantha and talk to us.

Samantha taking it all in and taking a break from the Baby Bjorn post lunch.

Parking lot at the Garden of the Five Senses. I love how decorative all of the trunks in India are.

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One of our big projects this week was cutting blue ribbon and threading it through 800 bookmarks! I started volunteering for CanSupport after my nurse mentor here told me about the work they do in New Delhi with cancer patients. CanSupport provides palliative care for patients throughout New Delhi and sponsors a 4K Walk for Life February 5th that Samantha and I will be participating in. If you are in New Delhi, come and walk with us!

Some of our bookmarks!

Samantha helped immensely with this project, eating a few along the way.

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Another day Samantha and I ventured to the Baha'i Lotus temple and ISKCON temple. The Lotus temple is only two stops away on the metro from our house and then a short walk from there. Both temples are free and open to all.

View from the Kalkaji Mandir metro stop near the Lotus temple. As you can see, India struggles with a litter problem, something refreshingly absent from most of the Lotus Temple grounds.

Storefront along short walk to the Lotus temple.

The walk from metro to the Lotus Temple.

Waters surrounding the temple.

Line to the Lotus temple.

Collecting our shoes after visiting the Lotus temple.

Had to have a stranger take our photo! Even though we always look the same!

ISKCON temple floor.

Worshipers headed into ISKCON temple.

ISKCON temple.

Did I mention that at both temples you remove your shoes? It was a bit chilly...

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Hanging out with Samantha and Emily at my new favorite cafe in Hauz Khas.

Elma's Cafe Hauz Khas.

Ceiling at Elma's Cafe. I love the pink.

Emily and Samantha.

I loved the bathroom so much at Elma's that I took a picture to show you.

After cafe hopping we went on a walk around the water tank and discovered this nursery.

So, on most maps of Delhi you will find "Deer Park" in Hauz Khas. I thought there would be deer roaming about, but it turns out they are in a pen for you to come and see. My first time seeing caged deer.

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Upcoming events...

This is the show of a new friend, Savi, a tremendously talented Bharathnatyam dancer. Savi, her husband, Andy, Samantha and I went to a Kathak dance and sitar concert last night. Come to her dance concert Jan 28th if you are in Delhi!

Holidays, Haircuts & Toilets

2011-12-30T19:12:00.001+05:30

On Christmas Eve Samantha and I headed out in the neighborhood to play elves. Earlier in the day we went out via metro and bought some sweets from our favorite sweet shop just a few neighborhoods south.

With sweets in hand, we first visited Dr. Mehra, a neighbor on the other side of the block. She introduced herself to us one day at our local Sukun park a while back and invited us over. My answer to nearly every invitation/opportunity here is, "sure". So, for a little under two hours, Samantha and I sat and chatted with Dr. Mehra, who is still a practicing gynecologist at 75, and her husband, also a doctor who had to retire due to a poor back. It was a really nice time talking about how they met each other at the hospital across the street from the Defence Colony, their life in the neighborhood, and life in Delhi in general. They were also strongly of the opinion that I should be giving Samantha solid food! At one point they called their pediatrician friends to check in since I am still exclusively breast feeding. As you can see, it's a controversial topic here!

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of this excursion for you all, but I will put up photos next time I see the Mehras.

Next, Samantha and I headed to one of my most treasured new friends in Delhi, Seema. Seema kindly carpools with me to yoga, even though I don't reciprocate the carpooling. She lives a block away with her husband and daughter Ananya, who's a freshman in high school.

Seema & Samantha

Seema's daughter, Ananya, holding Samantha

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I have to admit that we didn't take any pictures on Christmas because I wasn't feeling my best (after a full five days of serious Delhi belly, I'm better)! We did have a very nice afternoon lunch at our home with Miles. It was our quietest Christmas ever, despite lots of skyping. We knew that we had a little holiday to look forward to after the holiday, as we'd won a FREE two night stay at a fancy hotel just south of Delhi. Andy and I were looking forward to the temperature controlled rooms (it's cold right now in our home with no central heat in the Delhi winter), a king sized bed (instead of our two twin mattresses pushed up next to each other), no laundry to wash in the shower in our bucket and no floors to clean daily. And, admittedly, we were also looking forward to watching some bad TV. The hotel is adjacent to a huge mall, so we walked there for a little bit when we left the room, but mostly we chilled out in our room while Andy tried to get some work done.

Here's what Samantha and I did most of the two days. Notice the holiday looking lights out the window? That's traffic headed into Delhi.

Samantha & Andy pretending like they don't know each other (just kidding!)... enjoying the good brunch at the hotel. Our new entertainment for her at meals is to give her a spoon. This was her first highchair attempt that lasted just long enough for me to take this picture.

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Forgive me for moving back in time a little, but there were a few things I wanted to show you that happened before Christmas, before Sara and Roberto left! One of Sara's goals on this visit to India was to see the International Museum of Toilets. Yes, it exists here in New Delhi. So, we rented a taxi for the day from our local taxi stand (I am going to include a picture of these taxi men soon, we are developing a relationship) and headed out to west Delhi to check out the Shulabi International Toilet Museum.

The Toilet Museum. It has a lot of iterations of the toilet from throughout the world.

Roberto, ever the professor, did a great job of taking our guide very seriously throughout the tour.

Not sure if I can say the same about Sara on the tour! Or myself for that matter!

This woman (I didn't get her name) was our tour guide for the exterior portion of the museum. Here she's showing us all of the different types of toilets Mr. Shulabi (the founder of the museum) has developed. I was happy to discover days later that every metro station has a Shulabi Toilet Complex where you pay a few rupees to use (and subsequently fund the museum among other things).

The word "excreta" was peppered throughout our tour. At one point, our tour guide had to leave and go eat her lunch from the "excreta kitchen". All in all we left Shulabi a little suspicious given that there were no other visitors to the museum and there was just a weird vibe. To their credit, it was a free museum and the guides were perfectly informative. Maybe it was that the place seemed a little strange, with some strange excreta humor. I will leave it at that...

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Before Aunty Sara left she gave Samantha her first haircut.

Post haircut with curls styled.

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Wedding preparations in our neighborhood. Aren't the colors amazing?

Wedding entrance decorations.

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Happy New Year!

Taj & Beyond

2011-12-18T21:04:00.000+05:30

We've had some company of late, which means we've been exploring even more than usual. Sara and Roberto are here from Seattle, Alex and Nikki came from LA, and Miles arrives the 24th to finish out the month of December. Samantha and I decided to stay home while Andy took Sara and Roberto to Old Delhi. This meant that she and I had time to piece together another blog post, in between napping and playing with her new toys from Aunty Sara.

As with any of our posts, we begin with Samantha.

Surrounded by her toys.

Eating her toys.

Noticing the photographer.

Wow!

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Qutab Minar

Samantha, me, & Sara at Qutab Minar

Roberto & Sara

Sara at sunset

Back on the metro headed back to the Defence Colony, Samantha made another friend.

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On early am Shatabdi Express Train to Agra & Taj Mahal.

More train.

Roberto & Sara at Agra Train Station rickshaw parking lot. I found it very organized.

In upscale rickshaw to Taj Mahal.

Us outside the building described by our tour guide as "the veil" to the Taj Mahal. We heard different statistics from tour guides, but somewhere between 20,000-35,000 workers lived in this area building the Taj in the 17th century.

"Veiled" building ceiling.

The Taj Mahal.

Our tour guide Amir, hails from a multilingual family of tour guides. He told us that he and his twelve male family members aim to "capture" all of the tourists. His primary languages are Hindi and Arabic, but he learned English and Spanish to cater to American, South American, and Spanish tourists.

Clowning Around.

I've got the whole world in my hands, or at least the Taj. Our tour guide insisted on these photos, and I love that we got Andy on the bench!

Have always wanted a photo like this one too.

And the ever popular Samantha making friends.

I wanted to clandestinely take a photo of these ladies.

A panorama. The building at left is a mosque open to practitioners.

The group again...

Samantha woke up for our tour once we were inside the Taj.

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Interior of the Agra Fort where Shah Jahan (the man who commissioned the Taj) lived under house arrest for eight years.

Interior of Agra Fort.

Same day required an outfit change by sweet Samantha.

12 hours later back at Agra train station to return home to Delhi.

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On a recent evening walk to the park, this beautiful horse rested on the side of the road. His owner, a band member for the weddings, was napping in the park.

Chilling out at Khan Market.

I had to put a photo in of our newly decorated living room. All purchased at a hot sale last weekend.

And by night...

And with friends at lunch.

Roberto.

Good morning!

Sara thought some of you would appreciate seeing me do the mundane things.

Waiting for the metro.

Rahul with Samantha at his family's home in Darya Ganj, Old Delhi.

House guests Nikki & Alex. They are tabla players from Los Angeles.

Preparing for festive coffee hour. Sara gave me the bright new red wrap and Samantha the candy cane dress!

After our weekly coffee hour, one of the other expats offered to drive us by the Parliament building. I thought the carved bushes on right were cooler to look at than the buildings.

Back at home enjoying Andy's food.

Modeling new Xmas outfit from Sara.

Samantha opening her first engraved xmas tree ornament. You guessed it, from Aunty Sara!

In Daddy's arms.

Another new outfit from Aunty Sara.

My new favorite flower from the local market.

Sara covering up for warmth and pollution protection on our rickshaw rides.

Looking cool in artsy Hauz Khas.

Sci-fi Delhi.

Graffiti everywhere in the world. This time in Hauz Khas. It makes me miss Venice.

Boo.

Lunch at Gunpowder. Best food yet in India.

Narrow streets of Hauz Khas.

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Here's a video of our first clapping communication with Samantha.

Outings, Brunches, & Other Things

2011-12-05T21:15:00.007+05:30

This week started off with another photo shoot of Samantha at Humayun's Tomb, a short seven minute rickshaw ride from our home. Samantha and I waited to see this site until Andy had time to go with us. He also is the artist behind the photos from the outing detailed below!

Humayun's Tomb, view from the backside.

This is how Samantha enjoyed most of our afternoon at the site.

Old gate to one of the tomb areas.

Steps up to the tomb.

A visitor that caught Andy's eye.

Enjoying the greenery.

Another view of the main tomb.

Milling around.

So green and clean.

Samantha resting on the steps of one of the ruins.

Samantha is almost as popular as the tomb, especially among teen girls!

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We had some friends over for brunch this weekend, Adam and Emily. Before we ate, she and I practiced yoga while the men cooked and watched Samantha! It was great. Notice our Christmas tree...

Samantha at her first brunch.

When Samantha wasn't in our arms at the table for brunch, she was playing with her toy here that one of our new French friends gave us for the year.

Samantha, post brunch.

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Below are some random pictures from the week that were too fun to leave out, even though they don't fit in thematically.

Samantha and me at the house of our Defence Colony neighbor and new friends.

Mr. & Mrs. Singh, our very sweet landlords (he's actually smiling under that beard), who live two floors below us with their son, daughter-in-law, and two teenage grandchildren.

This is where Samantha sits while I wash the dishes!

The chunkster all bundled up for the slightly colder weather, listening to Adele on Youtube.

Samantha hanging out with some of Andy's Urdu teachers.

Samantha hanging out at the American Embassy where all things holiday were being prepared by volunteers. She and I had come to the thrift store where some of the ladies had bought her some new toys! And I started reading a new book from their library, Shantaram. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a new book!

Samantha in her UCLA Bruins hat. It was even cold enough for her to wear it!

Sleeping off their shared cold this week. Both are all better now!

And last but not least, click here to see pictures from our Friday night out at our Norwegian friends' house. There is a picture of me doing a back bend on her oversized beanbag, with the brand name of "Fatboy." We had a great night at their home, as you will see from her blog. Unless you read Norwegian, you will only be able to get a few words of it though! We almost crashed another party, but the host and his wife kindly offered to walk us across the embassy grounds to the correct party. Those Scandinavians are so friendly! Only later did we find out that the kindly host was really the Norwegian ambassador to India!

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I thought I would leave you with a longish video taken during one of my many rides in an auto-rickshaw.

Till next time!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T17:40:00.002+05:30

We shared two very lovely Thanksgiving potlucks this week. Our first one was a "raw" Thanksgiving except for our contribution of chestnut, apple, carrot, parsley, onion, garlic stuffing. The second one was with our Fulbright friends who leave soon for a year in Brazil to complete dissertation research.

Samantha on the way back from the market with the Thanksgiving fixins'. Check out her new mode of transport! One of our new friends gave us a stroller!

"Raw" Thanksgiving friends prepping chocolate dessert.

Our beautiful table setting at "raw" friends' house.

We were able to get this photo before Samantha tired of Thanksgiving and needed to be paced in the Baby Bjorn in the kitchen. We turned on the blender to help get her to sleep!

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Thanksgiving at Fulbright friends' house. We feasted on chicken biryani, sweet potato pie, two types of stuffing, roasted vegetables, lemon rice, coconut pumpkin soup, home-made rolls, vanilla ice cream, apple crisp, chocolate cake, and wine!

Samantha always makes new friends.

Despite the blurriness of the picture, I had to show you the handmade dress that Dave made for Samantha. He is the ultimate house husband, aside from Andy! You will see Samantha in the dress soon.

More friends helping to hold Samantha while mama and daddy gobbled!

Finally, and apropos to the holiday, I wanted to leave you with the now scientifically proven fact that cultivating gratitude is good for your health. Check this out from the NYT.

Mela-s and Firsts

2011-11-22T16:17:00.002+05:30

Everyday there's a mela of some sort in New Delhi. Mela translates as gathering, meeting, or fair. As we transition into the holiday season, I found myself wanting to listen to Christmas music even earlier and decorating our apartment with ornaments! I'm not sure if this is because I now have a child and I feel even more festive than usual, or if it's because I've never been outside the US at Christmas time, but I'm definitely feeling the holiday spirit! This past week was all about gathering with new play groups for Samantha (and me), "firsts" for Samantha, and learning more about, and participating in, the many service opportunities in New Delhi.

This is a pic taken from the Children's Mela at the Lodi Garden restaurant this week. Samantha was a little young to enjoy the magic show and face painting, so we ended up doing a little Christmas shopping at the booths and breast feeding in some exquisitely carved wooden chairs.

Lodi Garden restaurant carved wooden chairs. I want these.

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On our neighborhood walk to another garage sale this week, Samantha and I saw the makings of an Indian wedding. Here were the musicians next to our infamous drain gathering for the procession. Once we made it to the garage sale, we found ourselves out bid by Indians. We were the only Westerners there trying to bargain and it just didn't work, even with the baby!

Saag and masala mela-mingling. Samantha and I attended a neighborhood potluck in Jor Bagh last weekend. Andy made us this beautiful dish to share. Samantha didn't last long at the event, she was ready for home soon after we arrived. I, on the other hand, was drooling over all of the baked goods at the potluck since the other attendees have Western ovens! However, Samantha's preference determined the course of the evening. Once we found the right-price rickshaw and the wind was in her hair on the way home, she was giggling and smiling. She just didn't feel like mela-ing with anyone else aside from her parents that night!

Back home mela-ing in the kitchen in the bumbo chair a new friend gave us.
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One of the "firsts" this week was two play groups at the British High Commission (BHC). Samantha had a great time playing with everyone else's great toys. It made me realize that we need to invest in a few more for her! It was great for me to meet a bunch of new moms and even one dad. The BHC compound is beautiful and has lots of green space for kids. One of the playgroups is just for moms with kids under a year, so Samantha wasn't the youngest!

Checking back in with mom at playgroup.

She seemed to really enjoy this pillow. Other moms use it to assist their children in crawling. Samantha has no problem using her arms to push up and attempt crawling, she just preferred to surf this pillow!

Another first for Samantha, seeing monkeys at her porchfront. As we walked down our stairs to head out for the day, this family of monkeys was sitting on our landlords's car.

And Samantha's first Indian pediatrician. She received her four month immunizations well. They are always more traumatizing for me. Some small, but important, points about hygiene were lacking, but she has her immunizations now, thank goodness.

And perhaps her biggest "first" this week was that she sat up on her own for many seconds!
I also want to note that this week marked Samantha's first experience at a library, first hearing the American Ambassador speak (another event we all attended but don't have any good pics from!), and her first lecture by a famous author. We attend a public talk by author William Dalrymple at the India International Center. She and I ended up roaming the halls for much of the talk, since she wanted to talk at the same time as Mr. Dalrymple, but we would pop our heads in to check on Andy and hear tidbits!

Samantha's famous vibrating chair no longer works, but she has learned to bounce herself. She constantly tries to bounce in the chair and out.
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One thing I did this week sans Samantha was visit the Asharan Orphanage. A woman I met in the Delhi Network has been fundraising for this orphanage for a while and was willing to take me there to learn more about their work. The orphanage currently supports 28 children ages birth to nine years. I knew it would be difficult for me, so I opted to not go into the infant room
at first. Although the staff provide as much love and support as they can, the children still need more affection, so I found myself reciprocating all of the requests for hugs. If you are looking for a great organization to donate to this holiday season, I would highly recommend this one.

Jolly Geevarghese, Senior Program Manager and Nurse at Asharan Orphanage. She gave us the tour and also shared how she began this work in New Delhi in 1991 with lepers.

Cafeteria and classroom, Asharan Orphanage.
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Here's a picture from the American Embassy Holiday Mela, the inspiration for this blog post. It's an annual event to raise funds for the charitable arm of the American Embassy (Samantha and I attended our first meeting this month on embassy grounds!). Samantha hung out with us in the main information tent where I volunteered as a "nurse" in the first aid tent. I've met a wonderful new mentor and fellow nurse. When Samantha needed a break from the Baby Bjorn with Andy, she and I would sit and help direct people to one of the 120 exhibitor booths, food court or kids area.

Luckily there were no major injuries at the Mela, just sprained ankles and minor wounds. Here I am bandaging up a little boy who fell. It felt good to use my skills and be able to talk with parents about how to care for their injuries. Andy reminded me that things that may seem benign here like a playground wound can quickly turn into something more serious in India.

Til next time!

Around Home

2011-11-12T23:11:00.000+05:30

Hello friends and family! Please forgive the delay in posting as we have had some internet travails. To compensate, I've created a large post! We are doing wonderfully and really beginning to settle in, getting to know our neighborhood, and meeting new friends. Samantha and I have been attending many new play groups and expat group events in addition to our Delhi adventures.

To illustrate our internet challenges, I thought I'd share a picture of where Andy was going to get our internet recharged.

He was a nice enough paan walla, juice, cigarette, and assorted other things seller, but who knew his shop in a run down area of Lajpat Nagar was the closest place to recharge our internet!

I had to include this photo that Andy took in Lagput Nagar of a little girl selling balloons.

All together now. One of the many things I love about India.

Temple in Sarojini Market that caught my eye. It's the first pink tree encased in a temple that I have seen, how about you?

My new favorite artist, Dithi Chakrabortty

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Many of you have asked about what our neighborhood is like. On one of Samantha's and my many walks exploring, I took a few photos!

This man irons in front of our building with an ancient coal-heated iron. I am still bargaining for the non-tourist price for our ironing, but he is pretty firm. He's also one of the many people fond of Samantha.

The local garbage truck.

This is the dump and recycling center on our block.

There's an odd phenomenon in the nice neighborhood we live in. A large, open sewage drain bisects the blocks. Apparently, it has been an issue for years and it is slowly being covered. It still can be nausea inducing when passing by on certain days.

Here's the sketchy bridge I walk over to get to the other side of the neighborhood. I spared you the picture looking down into the drain.

There are many different types of temples in the neighborhood, Sikh, Hindu.

Sonam is one of our landlord's servants. She often visits in the evening to play with Samantha.

One of the many reasons we moved to the Defence Colony - our neighborhood park! Samantha and I go here nearly every night and walk around the walking track.

Another view

Andy came with me one night!

Exterior walking track and interior running track. India, old and young.

Samantha's jaunt in the sandbox during her first "playdate."

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Andy shopping

Here's what Andy's kitchen looks like.

Popular ingredients - that big bag of greens is mustard greens.

Here sits Samantha while Andy cooks, soaking up all of the smells and sounds of cooking. She's now no longer frightened by the whistle of the pressure cooker (maybe just a little).

Andy still hopes to master the art of rolling perfectly circular rotis.

Rotis awaiting the pan.

A perfectly puffing roti.

The finishing flames

Chana dal is one of our most common meals.

Typical dinner: green chilis, fried paneer, broccoli, rice and a beer.

Isn't this meal colorful? A breakfast of mustard greens (seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and garam masala, all together known as sarson ka saag), dal, rice, and a fried egg.

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Fulbright dinner last week. Samantha's first red carpet event!

Entrance to the Fulbright House.

How Samantha spent most of her time at the Fulbright dinner. Everyone always wants to hold her.

Fulbright dinner

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Typical ride home from the market when my hands are full.

Cycle rickshaws are my favorite.

We have one air conditioner in our house and it's in the bedroom, so we end up chilling in there a lot with Samantha.

Andy listening to Samantha talk about her day.

I loved this close up. Those Pettit genes are strong!

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Samantha and I ventured to the very posh five star Leela Palace Hotel today to meet a friend of a friend from Boulder. We had a wonderful time.

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Samantha turns five months tomorrow! Here's a video from tonight as we hung out after dinner.

On Beauty

2011-10-27T20:44:00.002+05:30

This post is a bit of an assortment of our lives over the last week. When I tried to think of a broad theme, one that stuck was beauty. There are some very beautiful pictures and some that might not necessarily qualify. Perhaps you can find beauty in them all. To begin, we ventured to Old Delhi this week. Immediately after I stepped off the metro at Chawri Bazaar in Old Delhi, I wanted to jump back on. You see, Old Delhi, as compared to New Delhi, is more crowded, more polluted, more noisy, and more difficult for tourists (although there are fewer) to navigate. Now that I have a baby strapped on me, I am (hopefully understandably) less adventurous. Thankfully, Andy has more stamina in this department, finding Old Delhi still challenging but fascinating. So, we walked around, took a cycle rickshaw, were intentionally taken to the wrong location, got into an argument with the rickshaw driver (all Andy in this instance!), browsed the famous book mart, had a late lunch, and returned home with mixed emotions. There is so much more to see in Old Delhi, but this might have to wait a bit.

Here is a panoramic shot taken at Chawri Bazaar, Old Delhi.

Looking into the mouth of the metro entrance.

Some of the many cycle rickshaw drivers in Old Delhi.

Ever wonder where all of your old National Geographics go?

Samantha and me at the book mart trying to like it. See friend Dikki and daughter Nicole having fun in the pic?

I love this sari!

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Yesterday was the start of Diwali, the biggest holiday in India. It's so popular, the guards at the markets and the rickshaw drivers even say Happy Diwali! I joked as I bargained for my fare that the price was a "Diwali special" and I received a hearty laugh from the driver. The holiday is the festival of lights and is (in)famous for its fireworks, but it's also a holiday where sweets and gifts are exchanged and cleaning of the home is encouraged. Andy recorded the Diwali soundscape from the rooftop of our home. This really can't capture how the whole city echoes with firework explosions, and it was also taken early in the night before things really got started!

Because the air pollution is so bad, we decided to stay in for the night with the chunkster (that's our most recent pet name for her). Andy and I also experienced Diwali in Mumbai in 2004 and found Delhi's version much milder! Maybe it is because we are on the second floor and don't have little kids throwing firecrackers in our windows.

View from our rooftop, Defence Colony, New Delhi.

Diwali sweets at the Defence Bakery.

Marigold garlands are common Diwali decorations, South Extension II market.

Diwali decorations in South Extension II market.

I opted to get my hair cut and a pedicure on Diwali to beautify myself. At the salon, about 14 young men cut hair, perform pedicures and facials. The men in the background are apprenticing the junior and senior stylists. Mine was a junior stylist. Nice haircut, except he cut six inches instead of the requested two! No problem, it's just hair, it'll grow back.

I noticed that the senior stylists didn't have to wear the customary black polo shirt and jeans that the junior stylists wore. See the very cool senior stylist in the green shirt?

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Fulbrighters were invited to a Gender-Based Violence and Justice in South Asia Conference at the Habitat Center this past week. The panelists were from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the US, and India. Samantha was the youngest one in attendance and drew a significant amount of attention. Below are three new friends she made at the conference. Everyone, including the panelists, wanted to hold her. In fact, the two women below and even the chair of the conference offered to watch her while I attended other panel sessions. I'm so attached to her that I can't have her out of my sight, but the offer was generous!

Samantha with new friends at the conference, Habitat Center, New Delhi.

Decorations outside the conference hall - I loved the colors.

This design matched the gift bags for the event. As many of you already know, I love gift bags. I even tried to convince Andy to get another one for us!

Said gift bag (re-purposed a yoga bag).

One of the topics at the event was acid violence against women. This is one of the paintings intended to symbolize this type of violence.
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Our living room is taking shape with the furniture our landlords have given us.

Typical breakfast.

Here's how we get beautiful Samantha to sleep every night. Yes, we brought the fit ball all the way from LA. She almost won't go to sleep without it. We measured her for height and she is still a big girl, in the 95th percentile! We don't have a scale to weigh her, but once we see the doctor for her four month immunizations we will let you know...

Photo-Shoot

2011-10-21T14:53:00.002+05:30

Since I am still learning how to do this blog thing, there are a couple new features on the site that you can take advantage of. If you want to be notified by email about new posts (i.e. receive pretty much the whole post in your email), just enter your email address into the "Follow by Email" box at the bottom of this page. You can also subscribe to the blog and get it in a web reader, also at the bottom of the page.

We did a photo shoot of Samantha this week with Andy's research camera. Up until this point all photos of our sweet baby are from blackberrys and droid phones!

Each day Samantha and I head out on an adventure and this week one of them was to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Our mission was to hear a Fulbright Senior Scholar (this means they are already a professor) give a talk on the United Nations and human rights. Samantha was as well behaved as the other 50+ students in the room, although she did doze during a brief portion of the talk!

JNU is known for its political activism. Below are just some of the graffitti/political murals we saw.

Sight-seeing

2011-10-14T21:12:00.003+05:30

We spent some time this week exploring after we accomplished our first task - finding a place to live. Traveling with a small baby in the Delhi heat (temperatures have been averaging 97) means that we are constantly on the lookout for cooler venues in the many outdoor markets and ruins. Traveling with baby also means going out early, well before the city gets moving. Delhi starts late, even later than LA! Stores open around 11am. So, as you will see from these photos, we are often among the first ones out and about at 8:30am.

Samantha relaxing at Mocha Cafe in the Defence Colony.

My ideal refreshment in the heat, a fresh lime spritzer.

Entrance to Lodi Gardens, a short metro ride from our new home and the first "sight-seeing" trip we made this week.

Tombs from the 15th and 16th centuries, and many (modern-day) amorous couples, dot the grounds of Lodi Gardens.

Lodi Garden mosque.

What Samantha thought of our break in the shade at Lodi Gardens.

One of the many ways she and I travel, by auto-rickshaw.

She sleeps well on the the metro too. Samantha and I normally stick to the "women's car" on the metro as the others can get really crowded. It's also nice to have other women around to offer their seat and smile at the baby. After my first experience of getting pushed back onto the train while attempting to exit by a crowd of unruly office workers, we decided to always seek out the women's car...

We met new friends for coffee at 8am this week, well before Delhi comes alive, as you can see from the background.

Lajpat Nagar Market, one of my favorite markets near home that I REALLY just discovered today.

Ceiling from one of the tombs in Hauz Khas. Hauz Khas was the "royal water tank" for the sultans of Delhi in the 13th century. It is dotted with ruins and surrounded by modern apartments that make up Hauz Khas Village. Both Andy and I remarked how cool it would be to have these views out your apartment windows!

Hauz Khas grounds.

View of the "water tank" at Hauz Khas.

A walkway between tombs at Hauz Khas.

Fulbright friends Dikki, daughter Nicole, and their ayah Rani, at the Delhi Zoo.

Delhi Zoo, photo courtesy of Dikki.

Back home, doing tummy time.

Video of Samantha talking & singing to us in the AM, really uploaded for the grandparents!

And here's how we end most days after being out and about. This is what my yoga practice looks like right now. I've been enjoying Elena Brower's online classes with Samantha.

Arrival in India

2011-10-09T10:26:00.003+05:30

Welcome to our new attempt to keep in touch with all of you while we are in India! To recap, we flew to India September 24^th and are staying for nine months while Andy completes his dissertation research on a Fulbright grant. I’m hoping to keep you all abreast of how we are doing (and how Samantha Jean is growing) through pictures, videos, and the occasional written entry.

Throughout the 18 hour flight to India, Samantha was a dream. Andy held her in her Baby Bjorn, standing, as we flew over Ireland to Czechoslavakia while I slept curled up on the narrow two seats we booked.

When we arrived in New Delhi, I was taken with the beautiful new airport and the giant mudras that awaited us at immigration

Fulbright arranges for the first week’s accommodation at a guest house where we were able to meet three other Fulbrighters, their significant others, and even another couple with a small child! The guesthouse is in a couple's home where they convert their bedrooms into guest rooms and breakfast is included.

The pollution is so bad in Delhi that some days she and I would remain at the guesthouse while Andy searched all over the city for housing.

Samantha Jean chilling at the first guest house

The first few days were filled with visiting the Fulbright offices to meet with the officials there, getting oriented and finding a place to live through a real estate broker. The Fulbright buildings are immaculate, set amongst embassies in central Delhi.

As it seems with the majority of Fulbrighters, we were unable to find a place in the week allotted, so we moved to a cheaper guesthouse, the Kabli Hotel for two nights. We were the only Westerners staying at the hotel. From what we could tell, everyone at the hotel was Afghan and staying longer term. The neighborhood was settled by Afghan immigrants. We also learned that many Afghans come to India for medical care.

Andy at the Kabli Hotel on Masjid (Mosque) Road wishing we had a permanent place to live

Breakfast at the Kabli Hotel, Jangpura Extension, South Delhi

Picture of Bhogal market next to Kabli Hotel

After spending a few days visiting what we felt were uninhabitable, overpriced hovels, we found a great place to live. It’s in a beautiful neighborhood in New Delhi called Defence Colony and, due to the fact that it’s mostly retired military officials, there are no water or power cuts. In India, due to the shortage of these two necessities, both generally go out a few times a day. Our landlords are an elderly Sikh couple whose retired sailor son and wife and two children aged 19 and 21 live on the first floor. In India, unlike in the US, the ground floor is desirable because it remains cooler in the heat, and there aren't so many stairs to walk up! On the second floor lives a Japanese pianist and we are the on third floor (2nd floor in Indian terminology). It’s huge, in fact it’s so big we keep three of the bedroom doors closed at all times.

We are the 2nd story set of balconies!

New living room!

I will post more photos of our place as we decorate it. We have a bed and a few pieces of furniture from our landlord but other than that, it's light-filled and very echoey! Samantha loves to attempt to talk and hear her voice echo off the marble floors and blank walls.

We love it here. There are two large parks in the neighborhood, the Defence Colony market is a ten minute walk, and we are centrally located in the heart of the city near the metro and historical sites.

Every type of conveyance available, from cars, to rickshaws, to camels!

Life here is feeling more and more normal everyday. Samantha and I have had to master the art of breast feeding while in an auto rickshaw (this is how we get around the city most often). I usually keep her in the Bjorn carrier, as I believe that it provides some additional layer of safety. There are no seat belts or car seats in any of the cabs, if we take one. It's not uncommon to see babies on the backs of motorcycles, which makes me feel a little better about her in a rickshaw!