Chickpet

Explored a shopping district of Bangalore called Chickpet with visiting Sue and Bree. We had fun getting lost 'cause the place was a mad house!! Luckily we had been forewarned so we were not taken by surprise. We were there for hours and only saw a few blocks.

I thought Commercial Street was crazy but it ain't got nothin' on Chickpet

Sidewalks? Or just open trench covers?

A group of Rickshaw Drivers found Sue very interesting

A darling vendor who sold Maharaja hats among other things, today was his lucky day because Sue bought about 7 of them

Ornate temple off Avenue Road in Chickpet

Nice doorway

H A N U M A N!!

Temple

We went to Laxmi Silks and were shown lots and lots of sarees - ranging from Rps. 400/ to Rps. 2,500/ they said their stock goes up to Rps. 15,000/ ($30,000) most of their sarees are pure silk.
The one I'm playing with in this photo is an instant saree - the skirt is already put together with pleats and underskirt you just hook the pieces together - took just a few seconds to put on

Then the rain came...

and came...

and wouldn't stop coming...

until the roads became rivers and we were soaked to the bone.

Jennifer update:

I just got home from 3 days in Kabini, India on a wildlife reserve where the kids and I went on TWO safaris!
I'm exhausted and about to go to bed but here is a quick update on Jennifer.

On Wednesday Angel told me she had visited Jennifer on Tuesday. Jennifer was smiling and said she would be back to work on Friday.
Erik said Sheila came to work on Thursday but no one came Friday or Saturday. I don't know what this means. We can't call Jennifer because Angel said Jennifer's cell phone was lost during her illness (lost? or confiscated??)

I'll call Jennifer's Auntie tomorrow.
Night night!!

Monkeys!!

Sue, Bree and I headed to the Big Banyon Tree to get some MONKEY LOVE!

Bree

Sue

We just had a Puja at the small temple in the center of the Banyon Tree park.



C'mon... she's pregnant! She needs her nourishment!





Darling little baby monkey but what happened to Moma?? Poor thing.

Happy Easter!

A few Moms got together and put together an Ozone Easter. It was very nice. They organized 3 different egg hunts for 3 different age groups. Annika and August were in different groups so I stayed with August while Erik helped Annika.

Annika with friends Sigrid and Pooja

FIND THE EGGS!

Pooja, Devika, Annika and Sarah - little girls on sugar highs

Happy Housewarming Aayush & Uma!

On our way to Aayush and Uma's to celebrate their housewarming we made a stop. While stopped, we watched a small group of people deal with a power line that had fallen on a delivery truck and a scooter. The men were curious to see if the line was active or not so a man decided to touch it with his finger. Nothing happened. But the scooter owner went and got some plyers and had to ply the power line off his melted scooter seat. Once the scooter was free and took off, the power line was on the ground where MOST people walk around barefoot. We watched in awe as this group of men entertained themselves with the power line. We left before anyone got hurt.

Erik takes Annika on a scooter ride into the villages

It is so amazing to go into the back villages - the people, the temples, the agriculture and seeing how people live! It's all mind blowing on so many levels.


rice paddys



she's getting SO BIG!

Annika being "fashion" at the baby naming ceremony

One entire wall of the hall where the baby naming ceremony took place was decorated in mirror. Annika borrowed the camera and the rest is fashion history...

Baby naming ceremony for Siddhanth

We were honored to be invited to a baby naming ceremony by our friend and landlord Prabha and her family. Erik wasn't able to make it, so I took the children

When we walked into the ceremony, we were directed downstairs to have a South Indian breakfast (YUM!!) Kids enjoyed it too. I was surprised to watch August eating the Sambar - which is quite spicy!

Prabha greeting us during breakfast

Hand washing station since meals are eaten with your hands. South Indian food is often eaten with rice, not breads like naan, so your hands can get pretty mucky

A friend of Prabha's family and ours... Shekhar

During the first part of the ceremony there was a large open fire on the stage. Here, the chimney is being taken away once the fire portion was over.


Proud big brother sitting with Dad and Mom

Little Siddhanth getting his moment in the spotlight

Sweet, sweet baby. He was calm throughout the long ceremony. Prabha says he is a mellow baby at home as well.
A Hindu baby naming ceremony takes place with the baby is 6 months old. These days a hospital won't let you leave without giving the baby a name, but before these practices the baby's name was not announced until this ceremony.

The kids got restless so we went outside to stretch our legs. Luckily a group of cows were taking themselves for a walk down a busy street.

A little back scratch

Bye bye!