R.I.P. Sheela

Sheela died today.
Her doctor gave her an injection to end her life 15 days after her in-law family assisted her with a suicide she didn't want.
She was a beautiful girl who never had a chance. Sheela's mother was killed when Sheela was a young child, she and Jennifer were raised by an Auntie who was cruel to them and basically used them to bring money into her home. Later Sheela fell in love with a boy and ran away with him - the family found her, brought her home, forced her to get rid of a baby she had conceived, then they arranged for a marriage to a man she didn't like.
In this terrible economy Sheila found it difficult to find work - this was not OK with her in-laws and they withheld food and mistreated her (to put it kindly). And when their frustration was too much they'd call Sheela's Auntie and she'd come over and mistreat her too.
I guess it all got to be too much and her new husband and his family wanted to erase their mistake and move on...

Sheela and Jennifer

Pre-wedding turmeric ritual - she was completely withdrawn through the whole ritual except for a few waves of sorrow, you could see how much she didn't want this wedding

February 8, 2009

I can only hope she's in a better place. Rest in peace.

Dassera

Jayanthi and Gopi held a pooja for our vehicles in honor of Dasara.

Erik's 1959 Bullet never looked so good

Bree and Dagan came with their driver Venkatesh to join in the festivities and blessings

Jayanthi blessing the vehicles







Gopi pimped out the Innova for the occasion




More great photos and a video click here for Dagen and Bree's blog and click here for info about Ayudh Pooja

Navratri Dance Festival

Erik's co-worker/dancer Namratha

Lots of amazing costumes









Dagan stealthily taking photos with his HUGE lens.

Bree, Jenne, Helen

Namratha & John

Hi Sumesh

Superman ❤s Spiderman

Chicken!

Chicken is our favorite street dog. He lives outside the gate of our community with security guards who patrol an empty lot. Although they don't speak English, the guards named him Chicken.

We don't make a habit of petting street dogs but we've grown up with Chicken - since he was a puppy and we were Bangalore newbies.

We bring him food from time to time but mostly he survives on scraps of food he can find at the food carts at the end of the street.




Chicken's vacant lot has had a lot of activity lately, it's now a construction site for new apartments.

On this day we brought him some lamb bones that he thoroughly enjoyed.

1st day of school

On September 1st (3 weeks after school started) Annika and August started their second year of school in Bangalore, India.

Annika is now in 2nd Standard and August is in Prep II (Kindergarten)

Making lunch

No school bus this morning... going to school with Mommy and Gopi


Prep II!


Antona, from France

Silke, from The Netherlands

Class is now in session