Getting ideas

Amma, Arvind and I went for shopping today. The purpose of this shopping was not to buy clothes but to get ideas for a dress that we are going to make for my graduation. I have a blue saree silk cloth which I am thinking of using to make a dress and we wanted to get some creative ideas for it. We went to some interesting shops including this one which was hidden in a quiet residential area. Outside of the shop, one craftsman was working on an embroidery. It was quite amazing to see his skillful techniques.

La Boulangerie!

Arvind and I went out from the party to go to a jewelry exhibition that were supposed to be on near by his uncle/aunt's place but for some reason, we could not locate it... In India, for some reason, street numbers are not in order! For example, after house number 1, then house number 4, then 6, 13, ect, etc... Strage, very strange. Anyway, we made a great finding though. We found La Boulangerie, one of my favorite bakery! So since I was quite hungry (as I mentioned earlier, I could not eat much at the party), I had two pastries - one grape tart and one napolean! They were good :) I initially bought two thinking that we'll eat one each, but I ended up eating both! Greedy :)

Sunday morning at the beach

Arvind took me to the beach this morning. It was quite hot already (we went around 8am) and there were already so many people on the beach playing cricket, volleyball, etc. The beach was full of life. Today, I decided to dip my feet in the beach. The current was strong, as Arvind has always told me, and the shoreline was pretty steep, dipping down to the water. We had a great time. We stopped by at a nearby park on the way back and found men's public urinal station right on the sidewalk :) Pretty embarassing because you can see people in the booth because their head are sticking out, but I guess people don't care here because honestly, many men just pee on the streets without any hesistation. Very strange, isn't it?!

Uncle/aunt's 25th anniversary party

Arvind and I just came back from Arvind's uncle and aunt's 25th anniversary party. It was a potluck so Amma made some pilau and raita. I couldn't eat much since most food was either spicy or dishes that I don't really like, but I enjoyed the party. There were about 20 people there and everyone went into the stories of the old times, as they always do when they get together. I guess all the prayers were already finished by the time we reached there, but it was a nice Sunday family get-together.

No water again...

The construction work that is going on at a nearby road is affecting us again... no water, AGAIN. I guess this is the way of life here... I would have to live with it - no other choice.

Bought the tickets!

I purchased the tickets to the US today! I am going back to the US this May to attend both Arvind and my commencement but I am also visiting my sister in Seattle and my sister in law in LA. I also have some work to do in DC and NYC so it will be a fun trip :) Lots of travels but I love trips especially to places that are dear to my heart. I am really looking forward to the trip.... 3 more months!

Two dance shows back to back

Arvind and I visited two very interesting dance shows in the past two days. Last night was a fusion dance between Indian and West African (Burkina Faso) dance styles. One kola player was accompanying two dancers (one female Dutch dancer of Indian origin and one male dancer from Burkina Faso). Some parts were purely weird, eg. the lady started shrieking!, but overall it was a nice performance. But today was the best. It was a modern dance performance originating from Indian dance style with multi media effects. This was great. The dancers were all very good – they all looked like they were octopuses…. They were that flexible and free flowing. I wish I can dance like them. They actually have a dance workshop coming up and I am seriously thinking that I should give it a try… :)

Fish out of water

Sometimes, I feel very 'different', very 'alien' in India. I grew up in the US so I thought I knew what it meant to live and work in a society with different cultures, languages, etc. Apparently not. There are inefficiencies everywhere and I sometimes just cannot understand how some people think and operate here. When I ask people to do work, they do not follow deadlines. Only excuses and justifications. When I expect people to follow instructions, they do everything other than follow instructions. Some people just fail to show up at work. After tracking them down, I find out that they decided to quit their jobs without any prior notice. After a long day of work (or more precisely after a day long battle to understand India), I come back home with no running water. And this has been an ongoing problem for several days now at home… then the mosquito attacks, and the ants crawling on our food, and the constant worry for clean water (maybe not ‘worry’ but more ‘suspicion’ about water quality due to occasional stomach problems), and the dirty feet (due to dust and dirt in the apartment), etc, etc… Don’t get me wrong. I like the country and its people very much. I also like the lifestyle here too. But sometimes, things get to me. Sometimes I can’t act nonchalant at the people who stare at me and so I stare back. I don’t raise my voice but I sometimes loose patience. I guess I am just going through a cultural shock. I guess I’ve only known how to live in a more comfortable, more privileged environment.

I am glad Arvind is here with me. He understands everything – where I am coming from and how I am doing my best to deal with this drastic environmental change. Let’s see how I manage to figure my way through this pretty chaotic environment.

PS Senior Secondary School, Ramakrishna Math and local bakery

Arvind and I just came back from a stroll around the neighborhood. We first went to Arvind's school where he studied for 12 years (elementary, middle and high school). The school was closed but we were able to go in and see the place. It looked quite nice - it is very different from the schools that we have in the US or Japan and had some kind of tropical mood to the entire campus. Then we went to Ramakrishna Math to chill out a bit. It is like an oasis in the chaotic center of Madras city. Surprisingly it is very quiet inside and very clean and nice. On the way back, Arvind stopped by a local bakery for a midday snack :) Very very local - he had an egg puff, a veg sandwich, and a cream bun, all bite size and perfect for a snack. They served them on a small piece of newspaper. Really interesting.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is valentine's day :) Not that we celebrate it that much here, but slowly the trend is coming in, even in a conservative city like Chennai. Of course, there are fundamental religious leaders that oppose to this foreign holiday celebrating love. In Bangalore, a fundamental Hindu group declared that they will be going around the city today to apot any couples who are 'displaying acts of love' (whatever that means) in the public domain and marry them off with 'thali' (the necklace given to married woman at the wedding) and a 'kum-kum' (a red powder that married women put on the forehead or along the hairline). So basically, if they find a girl and a boy holding hands, they will marry them off at that instant! Strange, right??!!! I am just very amazed that there are such people out there in this age and time :) Arvind and I were jokingly saying that we should go to Bangalore today and hold hands walking around the city to get one more 'thali' :)

Anyway, our valentine's day will be low key. We're planning to go out a bit in the afternoon and go out for dinner in a restaurant/cafe where I've always wanted to go, which serves awesome baked goods and pastries :)

No water!!!

There is a road construction going on near our house and because of this, the government stopped supplying water to our neighborhood. Yesterday, water suddenly stopped flowing from the tap so Amma investigated the issue and found out that the government decided to stop the water supply for several days! And this happened without prior notice! These decisions are usually announced in the newspapers prior to the date, but this time, I am sure it was not in the paper because neither Anna nor Arvind nor I saw it and we read newspaper thoroughly every day. Anyway, Amma somehow got private water company to deliver water to our apartment to fill the water tank on the roof, but again just now, the water stopped coming... I was lucky enough to at least wash my face and feet after I came back from office, but Arvind came back just now and there's no water to take shower... We have water from the well coming from one of the taps in the kitchen so we tried filling a bucket with this water, but to my surprise, it's dirty!!! The water is brown! So we tried storing trickling water from the regular tap from the kitchen and guess what... this water is also brown!!! I don't know if the water is brown temporarily because of this 'water shortage' or the water from the tap is always like this... Scary to think too much about this because Amma always uses tap water for cooking... By the way, I never use tap water for cooking or drinking, which was suggested by Arvind. I think his suggestion was a really good one.

Bombay trip

I just came back from Bombay trip. Everyone told me that Bombay is an entirely different country all together since it is the financial capital of India and unlike the other ordinary Indian cities, Bombay is the happening place. Because of this, I imagined Bombay to be like New York City, a city of sky scrapers. So even when I reached Bombay and was in the heart of the city, I asked Arvind when we will be reaching Bombay! So the overall atmosphere was similar to other Indian cities, but I did see one difference - I felt that the city was more artsy and had many cultural things that I could relate to. For example, we went to an art festival at Kala Ghoda. Many artsy people were gathering there to enjoy sculptures, painting, music, carfts, etc and for some reason, it reminded me of Ithaca. I had a great time there :) We also took a walk to other places in South Bombay including Gateway of India, Taj Hotel (we also checked out the inside of the hotel - an entirely different universe inside compared to the outside world), queen's necklace, etc. We also went to have lunch and dinner at some of the very good restaurants in town. Arvind even ate some road side food called 'baji pao' :) Quite an experience! We were in constant touch with a friend from office who is originally from Bombay and thanks to her, we enjoyed the trip to the fullest. Unfortuantely, we didn't have enough time to see other things in town.... Next time, next time :)

Nothing really happened

So despite all the fuss that the Tamil Nadu government was creating on Sri Lankan strike that was scheduled for today, nothing really happened in Chennai today.... or at least I did not see much change in my surroundings. The only thing I noticed today that was different from other days was that the tea stall which is always crowded with people in the mornings around the corner from our place was closed. The streets seemed a bit deserted in the morning because of this, but overall, nothing really happened. I wonder what the hype was all about.

Preparing for a strike

'Sri Lankan Tamil Protection Front' has organized a strike for tomorrow, February 4th, in the state of Tamil Nadu to seek cease fire in Sri Lanka. The situtation for Tamil civilians who are caught in warzone between LTTE and Sri Lankan government is worsening day by day and the political parties here in Tamil Nadu are trying to intervene to solve the situtation there. The government of Tamil Nadu is preparing for this strike using every possible measures. It even closed university hostels and canceled lectures at universities fearing that they may become a cause of disruption on the strike day. Wife of one of my colleagues is a student in a local university and he told me that his wife has gone back to Delhi since all the classes are canceled and the university has not told the students when they will reopen again. For those students who were in university dormitories (eg. North Indians, foreigners, etc) have been kicked out of their dorms with no where to go. It seems universities are not doing anything about this; the head of departments are not reachable by phone or by email! All the newspapers are also talking about this strike. On the streets today, everything seems to be the same as other days, but I wonder whether I'll see anything different tomorrow...

To the ocean

After the exhibition, we went to the ocean to pray for my ojichama. It has been almost 22 years since he passed away.... I can't believe that it has been that long... We were standing and watching the ocean for a long time, just thinking about ojichama and the good times I had with him.

Ikebana exhibition

This weekend, Arvind and I went to Sogetsu Ikebana exhibition. All the flower arrangements were created by Sogetsu study group in Chennai. some looked very traditional while others looked very modern. All of them were very beautiful and very unique; although the flower arrangements looked very 'Japanese', the flowers and plants used in the arrangements were all local and that made them all look very special.