Friday Dinner

On Friday evening I was invited to a dinner at the Marks'. They live in Palisades, the house just below the school gate where we lived from 1975 to 1980. The dinner was in honor of a visiting former staff member, Kermit Gingerich. His daughter, Kim Gingerich Brenneman, was in the class of 1979. She leads a semester-long tour in India for Eastern Mennonite University about every two years. The Marks were friends and neighbors during one of the Gingerich's several times serving at Woodstock.

It was a fun evening with lots of good conversation (and food). And what a treat to see how nice our old home looks; the Marks have done a lot of good work in it.

Outside the house, they have put a garden inside some old pillared archways that they got from a village.

Kermit in the living room. The doorway behind him leads into the downstairs bathroom and to the upstairs.

The dining room.

The kitchen. It wasn't this light and well-done when we lived there!

The dinner was delicious -- lamb kofta, dal, two kinds of vegetables, deep-fried okra strings, cold beets, chappatis, and a special Kumaoni-style yogurt (raita).

Earlier on Friday the group from EMU came to the school to have a tour. Immu and I each took a group of 12 around to the high school, gym, music department, and lower school.

Lunchtime Walk

We are staying in a guest room in the Quad at the school, which means I only have to go down a flight of stairs and around the corner to get to the office. It is very convenient, but not much exercise. So I have determined to walk daily, at least as far as Hanifl Center and back, preferably even more. That's about a mile and a half, taking me about a half hour. It's a very mild uphill on the way out, down on the way back. I've been doing this just before I have lunch. If I am energetic enough, I will also take a walk in the late afternoon.

This picture is a reminder of what the road and mountainside is like here. Not much level space!

Yesterday I remembered to take my camera along to capture one of my favorite sights -- the fabulous rhododendron trees that bloom here in March and April. These are much larger than the standard bushes we have in North America and the blooms are all pure red. It is near the end of the season.

Along the way I saw two cows who looked well cared for. Although they wander the hillside foraging all day, they do belong to someone. On the way back I saw a group of schoolboys who were moving the cows along with switches, presumably toward home -- or perhaps just for something interesting to do.

Cricket, Part 2

Well, yesterday was the semi-final match between India and Pakistan. All news outlets in the country were focused on the match. The prime minister of India invited the prime minister of Pakistan to sit with him (the tension between the two countries is ongoing). From 2:30 on when the match began, everyone in school was watching if they possibly could.

A large screen was set up in Parker Hall so students and staff could watch. Some teachers dismissed their classes so the kids could see the match. There were also a number of staff members in the Lyons Staff Lounge area near the Tea Garden.

When India won, around 10:00 PM, there was much yelling and shooting off of firecrackers. I could hear it easily in my room. Dan only saw the beginning and end, as he was traveling to Meerut in preparation for going to Mumbai for the final match on Saturday. A dream come true for him, and having India actually in the final match is the icing on the cake!

This view is from the side balcony; you can see the large screen.

Many of the students had Indian flags painted on their faces.

Staff as well as students were engrossed in the match.

Some students hung an Indian flag off the front of the balcony.

Cricket

If you are in the U.S., you are probably not aware that the quadrennial Cricket World Cup is going on right now in South Asia. Cricket originated in England and is played primarily in Commonwealth countries. It is by far the most popular game in India. When you go through the countryside on a train or by car, you will see children (mostly little boys) playing cricket everywhere, with whatever they can find for a makeshift bat.

Traditionally, cricket test matches last five days, consisting of four innings, each team batting and bowling (pitching) twice. For World Cup Cricket, the match is one day, with one innings and a limited number of overs (six bowls or pitches). The first team bats until the overs are completed or it is out and the second team bats until it is out or has more runs than the first team. (I'm sure you can find a more comprehensive description online if you are interested.)

The World Cup matches have been almost daily since starting the second week of February. They generally start around 2:30 PM and go until 10:00 or so. Matches have been in South Asia -- India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Pakistan has a team but could not provide the level of security needed to host matches. Last night was the first semifinal -- New Zealand lost to Sri Lanka. Today is the biggest match of all -- India vs. Pakistan. It is being held in Mohali, near Chandigarh in the Punjab. It is not very far from the Indo-Pak border. Security is very tight and we have heard that scalpers are selling tickets for one lakh and more (about $2400 or so).

Dan came to India in February to watch the matches live on TV with his friend Brij. They got tickets (regular price!) for one match in Delhi which they enjoyed very much. Brij is in Mohali today to see that match. And the two of them are going to Mumbai Thursday to see the finals with their friend Tom. Dan became a cricket fan when we taught at Woodstock in the 1970s -- Brij was the coach of the school team. So this visit has been a long-awaited pleasure for him.

I just learned this winter that Comcast/Xfinity is now broadcasting the Neo Cricket channel, so I suspect there may be more cricket in our future!

Weekend in Meerut

We spent Saturday and Sunday visiting our friends the Lals in Meerut. We've been friends since we were next-door-neighbors in 1969 and our oldest children were toddlers. Dan has spent the past six weeks staying with them while watching World Cup cricket matches. It was mostly a quiet, relaxing time, especially as I was recovering from my jet-lag.

Sunday for lunch we went to a favorite spot of theirs that makes chole-batura, a popular street-food meal. Chole is a chickpea curry and batura is a deep-fried bread made of white flour, somewhat similar to a poori (whole-wheat flour) but puffier.

View from the back seat, Dan on left, grandson Jason in center, and Brij driving on right (remember, driving is on the left side of the road in India --- usually!).

The Chole store at the side of the road. It's a popular spot.

Baturas frying on the left, newly cooked ones on the platter.

Condiments served include pickled carrots and green chilis and onions.

The eating area is crowded and not considered suitable for ladies, so Viola and I sat in the car and waited for a plate to be brought to us. While waiting, this cow brushed right up against our car.

Here is the plate. Notice it also includes two gulab jamuns for dessert. Jason ate batura pieces from both of us in the back seat.

On returning home, Brij parked the car in the front area of their house. It's hard to imagine how it fits in there, but it does. He has mastered the skill of backing in perfectly, with the right side of the car almost touching the wall (the side mirror is folded in). He then has to move into the passenger seat to exit the vehicle.

Supper in Delhi

We spent only one day in Delhi before leaving for Meerut. We decided to pick up a few things for our supper and eat in our hotel room, rather than going out. There is a nice sweet shop not far from the hotel and we got 2 fresh samosas (triangular fried pastry dough stuffed with potato and pea curry), an onion kachori (also fried dough but stuffed with onions; dal is more common), and a special lassi (sweet yogurt drink) topped with thick cream. We also got two loose-skinned oranges (yes, they are ripe even though they are green) and a few bananas. The little bag is a chutney for the samosas. I have to say I had one samosa and a few spoonfuls of the lassi below the cream, plus the fruit. It was enough!

Friday in Delhi

Sometimes we stay several days in Delhi, but this time we are leaving after one day. I slept pretty well (with a little medical help). Our room at the Bon Lon Inn is quite comfortable. The fan keeps it cool enough without the A/C. The weather is very warm, but still bearable.

The hotel room includes a buffet breakfast. Poories, allu baji (potato curry) and hard-boiled eggs. Toast is also available, as well as juice and tea. I chopped up my egg and had egg curry with my one poori.

We went out for a walk in the bazaar. The sweepers had already been at work sweeping up debris of leaves and garbage on the sides of the streets. Someone else will come along and load this stuff into a cart and haul it away.

The vegetables on this cart all looked wonderful and fresh. Even broccoli was available.

We made a quick late-morning trip to FabIndia where I found two nice tops to add to my collection. They are shirts that will work well both here and in the US. After noon we stopped by the Subway restaurant owned by our friend Vinay. It turned out to be at the far opposite end of Karol Bagh from our hotel, so we had a good walk. He was on his way from home, so we waited and had a good visit with him. After a rest in the afternoon, we took the Metro to Janpath and the Tibetan shops to visit our old friend Doma. Her grandson Tashi now runs the shop most of the time, but she was there today. Always good to see her.

Walking back to our hotel at dusk, I took this photo of the sign for our hotel. We are off on the 7 AM train to Meerut tomorrow morning.

Travel Karma

I have always hoped to be upgraded to Business or First Class on one of my many long-haul flights. Unfortunately, that has never happened :-( Once we got into Economy Plus on British Airways thanks to a friend of a friend who worked for BA.

For this trip (nonstop Chicago to Delhi) I had signed up for an aisle seat at the end of a 5-seat inside row (777 configuration is 2-5-2). As I checked it throughout the last week or so, the middle 3 seats were empty and I had visions of being able to lie down to sleep. It was still open before my swimming group Wednesday morning, but when I got home they had filled up. There was an aisle seat open on an outside row nearby, so I switched my seat. (I figured it would be better to have one person crawling over me than 2 or 3!) As we got onto the plane, I noticed that the seat next to me was empty. Before I knew it, they were closing the doors and no one had arrived. So I had a double seat to myself, plus two sets of pillow and blanket. I was able to get my feet off the floor and (sort of) lie down to sleep. Plus I just didn't have to deal with another person in those close quarters. It turned out many of the center seats that had looked filled were actually empty, too, but I was happy with my double. I went to sleep shortly after takeoff and didn't fully wake up until we were about 6 hours away from Delhi. (13+ hour flight). I missed dinner (no great loss) but they left me a snack pack so I had something to eat when I woke up. However, the apple in my handbag was the best-tasting. They served us breakfast about 90 minutes before landing -- veg cutlets and paneer tikka with fresh fruit. Sorry, no pictures.

We landed about 8:00 PM. My India cell phone still had a charge and I called Dan. By 9:00 I was through Immigration, Baggage, and Customs, met Dan outside and we got into a prepaid taxi. It's not even 10:00 and I've had a shower and unpacked the little that is necessary for the next two nights. Now I'll find out if I'll sleep...

Christmas 2010

This Christmas season finds us in the cold, snowy midwest. where December temperature averages have consistently been well below average and we've had some snow each day except three. But we are cozy in our house and the roads are always passable (midwest drivers are used to snow and enjoy mostly flat, straight, plowed roads).

As is our pattern, we spent two months in India in the spring and again in the fall, volunteering at Woodstock School. During the summer, we visited both our children's families, attended the Woodstock School North American reunion in Washington, DC, took a two-night getaway to Mackinac Island (a long-time dream of mine), and a long weekend in Las Vegas for me to celebrate with my three sisters; we are now all in our 60s. On our way to India in September, we spent a wonderful week in London with good friends Nina, Mahesh and Dhruv, who moved there from Bangalore in July.

We had our last visit to Neah Bay, WA, to visit Dirk and Tracy and family in January. In the summer they moved to Spokane, where Tracy commutes to work on the Spokane Indian Reservation. They are enjoying the amenities of city life after living so remotely for so long. Seth and Jasmine are at the local Community College and Maya is adjusting to a high school that is larger than the town she lived in before. We enjoyed visiting there in August and we're spending Christmas with them, this time traveling by Amtrak. (A different experience from Indian trains; some things better, some things not as good.)

Anjali and Domingos also moved this summer, to Virginia Beach, where Domingos is posted at the U.S. Naval School of Music. However, he spent most of the fall in an officer training course at Fort Lee near Richmond. Anjali has been building free-lance performing opportunities in the area as well as some substitute teaching in the schools.

While we are in Goshen, we live a pretty quiet life. I continue to attend a water aerobics class 5 days a week at 8:00 AM, enjoying both the exercise and the people I've gotten to know there. When the weather allows, I cook dinner for Dan's father (now 92) and friends Mary and Verna Oyer on Mondays. I visit my mother (89) in Indianapolis regularly. Dan exercises 7 days a week and enjoys racquetball. He broke a bone in his right hand in June, which cut out his racquetball and bicycling for most of the summer.

We were fortunate to see most of our extended families over Thanksgiving -- the Linds at our home on Thursday, and Lehmans in West Lafayette on Saturday. We have had many family members and friends stay in our home during the year and we are always happy to have them (and you!) here -- even when we are in India.

We are grateful for our wonderful families and friends and hope to see many of you in 2011.

Comfort and joy to you and yours,
Anne (and Dan)

Happy Diwali!

Today is Diwali, the celebration that rivals a combination of Christmas and New Year's in the west. The school is closed for the day and there are firecrackers going off most of the night.

This is our last day in Mussoorie. We will be leaving in the early afternoon to catch the train to Meerut to visit friends for the weekend. We fly out of Delhi late Wednesday night and arrive home mid-day on Thursday.

Thanks for reading my blog. I expect to begin again in early April when I return.

Pushtas

Pushta is the Hindi word for retaining wall. Living in the newest mountains in the world (which are still moving), there is a lot of need for them around this area. The first photo shows what most of them look like after surviving a monsoon.

This is a place that didn't have a pushta before the last monsoon, but will probably get one soon. You can see how crumbly much of the hills are.

This is a brand new pushta on the back side of the chakkar, not far from the new Lal Tibba overlook. The holes allow water to drain out during the monsoon, helping to prevent bulging and breaking.

This is the same place, showing how the construction looks.

Here's a longer view; this is one of the biggest pushtas around.

Here are the men working on it. Every stone is painstakingly laid by hand. If the rocks are too large, they are hit with hammers until they break apart.

In this photo you can see the pyramid shape of the pushta from the side.

The large one below Landour Hospital is making good progress. It is quite far out from the side of the hill; it looks like they are doing that to widen the road (you can see the crumbly edge of the road at the top of the work area).

Tuesday Miscellany

Today, a few pictures that I've downloaded because they are interesting, but they aren't held together by a theme.

These rugs airing on the fence just before Mullingar must have been from a hotel or some establishment other than a home. I hope no one trips over that hole!

At the end of every restaurant meal, the bill comes on a tray with saunf (fennel seeds) and sugar to mix together and chew. It clears the palate very well. The sugar is often like this, in very large crystals.

Along the back side of Kulri hill, you can see why there are sometimes breaks in the water lines...

Right near the hospital tea shops, I looked down to see this boy trying to retrieve a red sweater that had fallen from the road. The perspective is a bit difficult, but the stone wall at the bottom of the photo is vertical. The whole area was extremely steep and it was fortunate that he didn't slide further down the landslide. People on the road kept throwing stones at the sweater on a ledge, trying to knock it off (he couldn't have reached it). Eventually a large rock did dislodge it, fortunately not hitting the boy.

Here is he is with the sweater, trying to climb up the steep side of the landslide, which was loose dirt and gravel. He did make it, with his family helping him over the fence at the top.

One of the most interesting things here is the phenomenon of the winterline. It is caused by refraction in the cold air. The line is very distinct and is not a horizon. I'm told that there is a place in Switzerland where it also occurs. The sunsets are very colorful. A photo like this is a classic in the albums of almost all winter visitors to Mussoorie.

More Picnic Photos

Today, a random selection of photos from the picnic. This is the farmhouse just above the fields where the oxen were plowing. Definitely vertical acreage!

Mr. Chopel took a walk up toward the farmhouse and purchased two large pumpkins from the farmer. On his return, Immu helped him with the pumpkins so he could get back across the creek. This is the same man who saved another staff member's life at a previous picnic. That one was held on the Yumuna River and many went tubing. One man who couldn't swim slipped out of his tube and got caught in the swift current. Mr. Chopel jumped in and managed to drag him to safety. He won a national award for bravery that year. People still talk about it.

Nasturtiums growing in the garden.

A vine that climbed up and into the opening at the top of the gazebo.

Pretty pinkish-red flowers. Maybe someone else can identify them.

Playing badminton without a net in the open area.

Strawberry plants in the garden!

I kept hoping someone would take the challenge and climb this tree with the rope ladder, but I don't think anyone did.