Gone crackers

Festival season is upon us. We missed out on Navaratri (Nine Nights) and Dussehra (Tenth Day) while we were in Thailand. These festivals are quite complicated to explain as they celebrate different things in different states, but the one common thread is the victory of good over evil. In Southern India, Eastern India and Western India, the festival of Navaratri which culminates with Vijayadashami commemorates the legend in which the Goddess Durga vanquishes the demon Mahishasura, an event that is said to have taken place in the vicinity of the present day city of Mysore in Karnataka which is only about an hour and a half away from Bangalore. This festival is known as Durga Puja and is huge in Bengal, the eastern state which has as its capital Calcutta. In Northern India, the same 10-day festival commemorates the victory of Ram, a prince, over Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, who according to the Ramayana (an ancient epic that forms the basis for many Hindu beliefs) had abducted his wife Sita Devi, and held her captive.



In Northern India, this festival is highly celebrated. The Ramlila, an abridged dramatization of the Ramayana, is enacted with much public fervor all over northern India during the festival. The burning effigies of Ravana, signifying the victory of good over evil, brings the festivities to a colorful and loud close as the effigies are lined with firecrackers. In Bengal in Eastern India, Durga Puga is a huge festival (the biggest of the year in this part of the country) celebrated by the building of pandals (huge stationary float-like objects) to honor the goddess. Everything is lit with lights, and from what I gather, the place goes crazy. In the south, people set up altars for the goddess Durga where they offer up small objects from which the goddess is to derive enough power to defeat the demon. In addition, on the 9th day, the South and North Indians also offer up their tools to Saraswati and do not work on that day to allow the goddess use of the tools of their trade. On the tenth day (Dussehra) prayers are made to their tools (be it books for students, cars for taxi drivers, etc.) and according to my friend Neha, everyone straps banana leaves (or banana branches) on everything (on cars, motorcycles, autos, buses), at least in Karnataka.



Now, on to Diwali (Deepavali), the festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over dark which was celebrated this weekend. Diwali is the homecoming of King Ram and his rescued wife Sita after ultimately defeating Ravana following a war and a long exile. The prince’s path home was supposedly lit by oil lamps that his subjects left out to light their way. One of the major traditions of this holiday includes Lakshmi Puja. Lakshmi Puja, marks the most important day of Diwali celebrations, when Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and Ganesha, the God of auspicious beginnings are worshipped across Hindu homes, followed by lighting of lamps all across the streets and homes, to welcome prosperity and well-being in. Many people actually leave their doors wide open to allow the free entry of these things (and a good number of mosquitoes, I imagine). As far as I can tell, the major tradition of Diwali is bursting fireworks. Imagine the 4th of July simultaneously on crack and steroids, for 4 days straight! The firecrackers started on Thursday morning around 7 AM and when we got home from work in the evening it was also pretty loud and a little nerve-wracking to be honest (our kittens were in a constant state of terror). This continued all weekend, and even on Monday morning we heard crackers bursting. It was loud enough that we closed all of our windows to try to block some of the sound, but even then there were times that we had to shout to hear one another even when we were standing right next to each other. On Friday night I went to a Diwali party hosted by the NCBS, and I got to watch the Lakshmi Puja and then we played some games and ate (the universal method of celebration). We also went to the roof and watched fireworks bursting all around us. From up there it was actually quite nice, so many beautiful explosions and we were a bit removed from the noise which made it all the more enjoyable. There is obviously no regulations on fireworks here, so every kind imaginable were being lit by people of all ages, from small children to the elderly. And I honestly think that ALL the people here lit at least one cracker, it was pretty crazy. Anyway, we made it through our first Diwali, and I think we suffered no more than minor hearing damage. Hopefully the next festival will be a bit more quiet…

Birthday and Anniversary Celebration

The beginning of this month marked two very important dates, our one-year anniversary celebrating our arrival in India (November 2) and my birthday (November 3). And how did we recognize these landmark dates you might wonder, with a feast, with a party, certainly something spectacular? Unfortunately both dates slipped by without much notice because we had our minds on other things. On our one-year anniversary of living in India, we took Mira and Chaya to the veterinary to be spayed. It was quite a different experience than I imagine one would have in the US, so I thought I would write a bit about it.



First of all, I had to make the appointment almost 2 months in advance as the hospital that we went to told us that they only perform 2 surgeries a day (this is a government animal hospital with an affiliated veterinary college where they train students). The night before the surgery I went to the vet pharmacy armed with a list of items for the surgery given to me by the vet. The owner is responsible for bringing all consumables to the surgery so I bought the anesthetics, bandages, sutures, needles, syringes, surgical gloves, antiseptics, etc. The following morning we took the girls in and the vet asked me to sign a form giving permission for the surgery stating that I had been informed of the risks and understood the procedure. I had done enough research on my own such that I did understand, but not a single person at the clinic had told me a thing about the procedure. I told them I would not sign until someone took the time to discuss these things with me, no way was I signing an informed consent form until I was informed. Wow, this was a new concept to them, that they actually explain their actions and answer questions. I have found that professionals here expect to be trusted and believed unconditionally and are not generally receptive to questions. I am, I’m afraid, the worst nightmare of these people as I have an aversion to trusting without question and following direction without explanation as to why it is I am doing what I am doing. Anyway, after being properly informed, we handed our girls over, one at a time, to be shaved and undergo their surgery. Chaya went first and we got her back immediately after the surgery just as she was coming out of her anesthesia. It was actually pretty scary because she looked like she had just snorted a couple of lines of coke. Her eyes were bugged out and she was thrashing around in her basket which was terrifying since she had just come from surgery and I was afraid that she would tear her stitches. We had to wait until Mira was returned to us before we could go, and when we got her, she was as different from Chaya as could be. While Chaya responded as though she were high, Mira seemed as if she were dead. She would position her head in such a way that she looked like she had been hit by a car. This was equally terrifying. They were both wrapped in a bandage that covered the whole of their torso, leaving only their four legs, head, and tail exposed.



We got them home and Chaya sprung right from her basket and immediately fell down. Neither of them had any sense of balance and would just continually fall over while walking. They then both starting vomiting, either from the anesthesia or vertigo, I don’t know. After staggering around for a couple of stressful hours, both finally settled down to sleep. The next few days involved much sleeping and Eric and I playing nursemaid, bringing the kittens their food and water (they started to eat a full day after the surgery), taking them to the litter, and administering their medicine (we had to give an oral antibiotic 2 times a day and it took us a while to figure out the best way to do this without anyone getting hurt, namely, poor Eric). We were also instructed to bring the kittens back to the vet every 2 days, which we have been doing faithfully since last Friday so that their progress can be monitored. Their stitches were taken out yesterday but they are still in their full-body bandage, at least until tomorrow when we take them to the vet again and hopefully they will let us take it off of them. They are getting back to their old selves, they are now able to jump again (initially they were not able to even jump onto the sofa or bed to take a nap) and are playing a bit here and there. I have posted some pics of our sick little girls, and hopefully they make a full recovery soon!

Terrific Thailand

Hello everyone! Greetings from Bangalore, you will be happy to know that we got our visas issued in Bangkok and made it back to India safe and sound last week. We arrived in beautiful Thailand on the morning of October 18 and after dropping our bags at our hotel went straight out to find the Indian Embassy. We were in quite a hurry as applications for visas are only accepted from 9 AM-12 PM and we wanted to get our applications submitted before we flew off to Phuket the following afternoon. We arrived at around 10:45 and waited in line until we were able to speak with someone who told us that the gentleman who gives the interviews was out of the office, but would be back in 5 minutes and we would be called when he was ready for us. I found this pretty funny since this guy basically works only around 4 hours a day and he can’t even manage to be his office during that time. And, not surprisingly, 5 minutes turned into around an hour and a half before this guy came back (hey, you can take the government official out of India, but you can’t take the India out of the government official). Luckily though, even though it was after 12, we still got our interview. Eric and I went back and met this fellow and gave him the letter from the NCBS explaining why we were there and why we needed a visa. He glanced at it and immediately said, “No, we can’t issue a visa based on this.” I immediately just started shaking with nerves and asked that he please just READ the letter. After he read the letter he asked why we hadn’t applied in India and I told him that I had but hadn’t received the renewal yet and that Eric was told that he couldn’t even apply until my visa arrived meaning that at minimum his visa would expire and leave him (and maybe me) essentially stranded in India. He then agreed to forward our request to the Indian Consulate in Chicago since they were the original issuing entity and leave it up to them. Whew, at that point we were pretty sure that it would be okay, but until the visa is in your hands, it is difficult to relax. It takes 5 business days to process visas, so we set off to try to relax anyway.





The next afternoon we took a short, one-hour flight to Phuket, the Pearl of the Andaman. We arrived at our hotel in the evening and were blown away by the resort, it was grand on a scale that I have never experienced before. We made our way to our villa, which was also spectacular and mostly spent the week relaxing by the pool gazing out on the beautiful Andaman Sea. We met a wonderful Irish couple who we hit it off with really well, and by the end of the week they had invited us to come visit them in Ireland and we asked them to visit us either in Bangalore or Chicago. We hope to take them up on the offer! We hired a driver for one day and he took us all over the island showing us the sights: beautiful beaches, amazing temples, a gigantic Buddha, stopping along the way to pick up snacks from the local street vendors. We also stopped and took an elephant trek, where we rode an elephant up the mountain and back down again. It was an amazing experience, but I was pretty terrified most of the time. The path was quite narrow and very steep and muddy and I was so afraid that our elephant, Lemon, would get a huge foot stuck in the mud and tumble over with us strapped on top of her!
I also made friends with Charlie, one of the gibbons (a small ape), while we were at the camp and took some time to groom him, he was so friendly! The food was amazing the entirety of the trip, we both just loved the Thai dishes and ate plenty! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the week was over before we knew it, and we made our way back to Bangkok on Friday.




We spent the weekend in Bangkok visiting the sights; the Grand Palace, the Golden Buddha (I've included a pic), the Marble Temple, and the Reclining Buddha at Wat Po (another pic). We also learned that Bangkok is a FANTASIC place for shopping. I bought silk pillow covers that would easily cost $20-50 for $3, silk prints, figurines, all sort of stuff for our home once we return to the States. Bangkok is also a wonderful place to have high quality tailored clothes made for cheap, so Eric had 4 shirts and 3 slacks custom made for a real bargain (and who says men can’t shop). I also bought 2 beautiful pashminas for $3, I think the one I bought in the U.S. a couple of years back was around $50. If you ever get a jones for shopping, I think that Bangkok is probably the best place in the world to go; you get the best of the West and the East, Western quality in a modern and clean city with Eastern prices. A couple of notes on the country: first, the prostitution is insane. You couldn’t walk for very long before seeing some middle aged or older Westerner with a beautiful Thai girl on his arm. You, of course, aren’t certain that she has been hired by him, but I am pretty sure that most of the time that he has paid for her company. It wasn’t terribly in your face, but I did sometimes get a bit disgusted when seeing these mismatched couples walking together. Another thing that is even more obvious than the sex trade is the outright worship and reverence of the King. His picture is up everywhere, and people wear yellow polo shirts with the king’s emblem emblazoned on them almost as if it were a uniform. Some days around 50% of the Thais that you met on the street would be wearing this shirt, and it was a bit surreal. One thing is certain in Thailand, don’t mess with the king.



On Monday we made our way back to the embassy to see if we would be getting our visas and we dropped our passports off with no problem (they keep your passport for a couple of hours to actually put the visa into it) and picked them up later in the day with our beautiful new visas!!! We are legal in India for another year! I was so happy and kept opening my passport to look at the new visa to make sure that it was really there. It was such a battle to get it, that finally having it was such a sweet reward. We spent the next day at a tech mall to take advantage of Thailand’s cheap prices one last time before finally coming back to Bangalore, and maybe for the first time, I was happy to be coming back. Not that I didn’t like Thailand; I loved it, but our kittens and friends were waiting for us to come home, and maybe Bangalore is becoming just that, home (even if just for a while).




In the interest of full disclosure, one week after we left for Thailand I received notice that my visa renewal filed with the FRO in Bangalore had been approved (notice was given 5 days before my visa was set to expire) so it was too little too late.