I wake up early every morning, don't know why, just do. I've never been one to go to bed at 10pm, but I have been. Then, up at 6am to watch our part of the world wake up. I go stand out on the patio off the kitchen where we hang laundry ( I let the boys wash my clothes-clothes, *I* wash the underclothes.) I hear a bird call I've never heard before, and can't even describe, but it has the sound of tropical. The sky is pink, the trees are wrapped in mist, there's the smell of wood smoke in the air, and people starting to walk by on their way to catch the bus to work. Starts off with just one at a time, slowly building till after a while there are many, and the vehicles add to the hum of the day, and water trucks, and all sorts of hauling begins back and forth bringing and taking all the various things people need for the day. Then the guys selling from their bikes or their backs calling Soppu or other things I'm not sure what they are selling, but I love the sound! I'm standing out there one day, and one of the guys on foot with many plastic buckets hanging from his frame spots me watching, and hopefully directs his calls my way, but I shake my head no. He takes a few steps forward and calls again, and I again shake my head, and he moves on. I try to be invisible and just watch and listen, but it doesn't always work that way.
The morning builds to a crescendo when the school girls are all out waiting for the bus and all the cars and bikes and trucks need to let us know their presence by a short "beep". Indian drivers don't honk their horns when there is a problem, they honk their horns to prevent a problem. Or something. Indian driving cannot be explained. Just Google 'Indian Driving' and then watch a couple of the videos. Then multiply that by infinity and it might be close ;) And can anyone tell me what INFAMMABLE means? :D
I make coffee in those early morning hours, because I can. IF the power is on!! That is not always the case. It's been interesting, just minding our business and bam, out it goes, and then the generator kicks in. When generator is on, no hot water, no coffee, no air conditioning. Maybe that's why I get up so early. I make coffee and turn on my hot water heater. Usually. I've been caught a few times with no hot water or coffee but luckily the cook and the boys have their means to come up with coffee and hot water when that happens, and the ceiling fans work. We are very fortunate and never go without some sort of air movement which is a good thing as I hear the temps this next week will be nearing 93-95 F. Oh boy... here we go!! Yikes.
The so-called "dudes" that take care of us are Madhav, Anand, Harish, Raju, and a couple others I still need to figure out their names. They love me. :D It's just not that hard to be nice to people, and when we are, the rewards are many. I get the rewards of genuine smiles, and not that fake - I'm here to smile and serve you and get paid smiles - but genuine "glad to see you" smiles. All it takes is asking their name and using it. Or a kind word. So little. Those are the rewards, and then there are the gifts.
Indian breakfasts of idli or parathas or other heavy items was fine the first two weeks, and maybe fine once in a while, but not every day, at least for me, and Lisa was eating the same omelet every day (Indian omelet = dry, scrambled eggs). I asked for fresh fruit and was told it's not on the menu, but worked it out so that we could get fruit and pay extra if need be. The cup of coffee that comes with the meals is like a thimble. Just one time I asked for BIG coffee, now I don't even have to ask. Breakfast the first couple days was one fruit, now it's this pretty mix that they told me would be too expensive to do, and look at that coffee cup :)
After I complimented Anand on dinner one night last week, the next night we were served a Chicken Biryani, and I KNOW that's not on the menu! It was great, it was huge, and I took the leftovers down to Madhav and the boys and asked "who's going to finish this"? And Anand got a pat on the back, and I could feel him beaming. And then I get to go back upstairs with a warm heart. All I need to sleep well.And I just got the food bill, and fruit is not on there. :)
We see this on the ride to work every day. Bangalore - the Garden City
We worked a whole 3 days this week in the office, and one from home. The 3 days in the office were spent listening, observing, talking and being frustrated as hell at the slowness of my computer. Took a while to root out the cause, and hopefully we'll have it addressed tomorrow. Seems also that the message light does not light up on my phone when there is a voice mail, so oops.. there were a few voice mails when I checked. So, if you leave a message, don't be surprised if I don't return it right away, but I will check.
Thursday after working at home, we prepared for a road trip to Ajay Reddy's wedding. Ajay is on my new team, or rather I am new to his team, and was kindly invited to attend his marriage and reception and a trip to Tirupati. Come to find out my whole SE Tools team of people I've been working with since last May were also going, so YAY! Yet another chance to wear the sari, too!
Geetha is to the left of me in below pic of all of us. Thanks, again, Geetha!
Lisa and I had the good fortune to travel with Raj, Naveen and Satheesh all the way from Bangalore to Chittoor on National Highway 4. We didn't talk a lot; Lisa and I tend to stare out the window at India flying by. And fly it did! That driver was amazing! But, it's good to just be with people sometimes. Especially good people with the wild beauty of Andhra Pradesh going by.
And then there's the monkeys! I was not expecting that. I'm staring out the window, and I see a monkey, and Satheesh turns around and looks at me to see if I had seen that at the same time I turn incredulously to Lisa and say.. I just saw a monkey! And Lisa looks at me and says "Shut. Up!!" . :D No pictures, no time. But we see more and more along the way, singles and groups. They don't look quite so cute in the wild. They look like something I would not want to mess with. But they were MONKEYS! :D
And some of you saw my Facebook status the next morning. "So, I awoke in Chittoor early this morning. Checked the view out the window, and see the morning bustle of a city in India. I notice movement on the ledge below the window, and before it registers that a dog could not be there, I realize it's a monkey who then jumped up and scampered up the side of the window!! Not a foot away from my face! OMG!! :D"
Fanfreakin'tastic!! After I said "Oh. My. GOD!" Lisa, who is still in bed, gets quickly OUT of bed, then for a brief moment fear flashes across her face (she doesn't know why I'm exclaiming at the window) when she asks "what?" and I tell her "a monkey was just right THERE and it scampered up the window right THERE and I thought it was a dog but it couldn't have been cuz we are three floors up and it was right THERE, and Oh My GOD! :D Of course it's gone, not to be seen again, but it was THERE, it happened, and I will not forget!! Later, Naveen tells me when he was younger and at home, there was a refrigerator in his room, and he comes home one day to find a monkey standing in front of the open refrigerator looking in and I can just visualize that, it standing in front of the fridge with hand on the door handle, gazing into it like a teenager looking for a snack! Guess I'll stick with squirrels in the house. :D
That evening was Thurs, and the wedding reception. We girls got all done up and then headed on over to the reception hall. There are many people, all the women in their fancy saris and all sorts of food stuffs to be had. I am told the best part of Hindu weddings is the food, and we weren't disappointed. Very nice, eat what you will and standing in groups, but it was HOT! Not the food, well yah, it was, but it was HOT! I think I'm having hot-flashes from the stress and the travel and the food and the spices and the sari and the thinking it's falling off of me, and my makeup is melting and where's the air, and I'm in another strange city where a white woman in a sari is NOT a common site, so do I have anything in my teeth cuz all these people keep looking at me and am I eating this thing correctly with my fingers, and it's HOT, and where's the water? :D We move upstairs to the reception, where we go on stage to have pictures taken with the couple and present our gift, and the group gives me the honor of presenting this gynormous card with all the signatures on it, and we present and get pics taken and then we're done. While leaving the stage, I see a couple women whispering, and then one says to me.. very nice. You look very nice, and it's approval for us 2 white girls honoring the couple by showing up in fancy saris and actually wearing them right. Whew.. we passed! :D
We head back to the hotel, rip off the saris and get into cooler comfier clothes, and it's all of what - 10pm. We're in a new city, nothing to do, nowhere to go. Hmmm not satisfactory. So I text Naveen. Come to find out they are in the room down the hall and they have CARDS! Bums.. they're having a party without us! ;)
Lisa and I taught Raj, Naveen, Satheesh, Harish, Meenakshi and Shiva how to play Texas Holdem Poker until midnight. So.. check off the Team Building task from the week's to-do list. ;D
Next morning is the wedding. No sari wearing, the girls are gone and we sure don't know how to drape them, so on with the easier to wear salwaar kameez suits and off we go to breakfast and coffee at the wedding hall, then the marriage ceremony. I made one faux pas at breakfast, and that was having coffee before eating, but I think Naveen was able to make excuses for me. I am used to coffee in the morning and had had none, rather I had been dealing with monkeys in the windows and was in NEED of coffee, so I believe I was forgiven.
Hindu Wedding - this one begins with LOTS of noise from the discordant sounds of Hindu wedding music and drums, then the excitement increases and the groom comes in with his family. They move toward the stage where he greets his bride, then all the traditional rituals begin with priests and fire and rice and flowers and coconuts and chants and incense. Goes on for a while, I'm sure there is much is occurring up there on that stage and all I can concentrate on are the photographer who is in front of everything and his assistants and equipment. Ah, when did weddings become something to be recorded rather than something to experience the meaning of? Just makes me more curious about the customs and rituals and want to know about them and the meaning behind them. Same thing was evident at the wedding in Chennai. Hmmmm....
Once we're at the end of the ceremony, rice is passed out to all guests and at a certain point, it is thrown at and on the couple. It was definitely interesting to watch that part, as all the guests come as close to the stage as possible and then throw, many/most doing it with three tosses of the hand. I don't know the meaning, but it brought the community aspect into the wedding. Then, it appeared that certain close family members and friends were blessing them by pouring a little rice on each of their heads individually or as couples. And then WE were invited up to do the same. One of the priests simply explained to me what to do, and I did. That felt a little more personal and meaningful. Once that was over, we were given a bag of sweets and silk and tumeric from the mother. That whole part was a very nice experience. Then the band struck up again, and the wedding ended with a bit more ritual and lots of sounds.
Then, we were off to Tirupati. THAT needs it's very own posting.
More later!
1 comment:
hi julz.. so when are you visiting the fourth state - Kerala ?
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