Monday, November 26, 2012

The Allahabad Basket: Abrar, Deepak and Anne





Hi Cate and Jack-

  I took the basket home to put my blocks in.  I need another one!  Same size or a bit larger would be even better.  Not a LOT larger, but a bit larger.  I do not want one that is smaller.  I need it to be as heavy duty as the other one.  In fact I want it to be the exact configuration, i.e. shape (though a bit larger is fine), with a matching type lid, because it will sit right next to the other one.  I want it colorful, similar (doesn't need to be exactly the same pattern, but similar) to this one.  The colors can be the same pattern (orange), but I'm fine it if it is different colors:  the reds or greens will look nice there too.

  I will pay $xx for it, is that fair? 

  Is this possible? 

Thank you for letting me know.
-Sarah E.

From: Cate Whitcomb
To: Sarah
Sent: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: basket

Hi Sarah,
I am so glad that the basket suited your purpose!  Getting another one is possible but will be a lengthy process.  How long are you willing to wait?  I will call Abrar and ask him to make another one.  It will be a bit of a challenge to remind him how big it was - because he is illiterate sizes and measurements don't mean anything to him but he will remember making the big "picnic basket."  The colors won't be a problem either - he will make whatever I request. 

The bigger challenging is getting it here to the States.  There are always friends coming and going to India and we will need to prevail on one of them to bring back an extra suitcase with the basket in it.  It might be several months before we can find the person who will do it.  I know of someone to ask right now but it might not be convenient for her.

So depending on whether you are willing to wait or not is the next thing to let me know if you can wait!
Thanks,
Cate

On 11/6/2012 3:16 PM, Sarah wrote:
I feel like I can wait at least through next summer.  Is that long enough?   I understand about measurements, just do your best with explaining to him.  Thanks!
-Sarah

Good!  I'll get to work and talk to him.  Let's see if we can make it happen.  I'll let you know what he says when I call him.
Cate
On Nov 9, 2012, at 8:56 PM, Cate Whitcomb wrote:
Hi Eleanor - are you still in India?  Have a favor if you are ... :)
Hope all is well.  Such a relief to have the election over!
Love,
Cate

On 11/9/2012 11:13 AM, Eleanor wrote:
I'll be here for another week.  What can I do for you/  Yes, we were glued to iPhones while traveling between HYDERABAD and Delhi.  Whew!  What a relief.  Right now I'm in Delhi until Monday.

Eleanor

What good luck.  We sold India baskets at Lake Street Church and one woman wants another one.  My basket guy Abrar has 2 - the bad news is they are quite bit.  Are you traveling with one suitcase?  Are you allowed two bags?  I can get him to bring the baskets to Delhi - he would deliver them to E-22 Defense Colony.  I can get a driver to get them to you or if you're out and about you could pick them up.  They are picnic basket size.  They'll need a duffel for transporting.  It all hings on whether you have 2 bags ... they are VERY light and worth about $20. 
So when do you leave India?
Cate
On 11/9/2012 7:32 PM, Eleanor  wrote:
Would that your request were something I could easily do.  First of all, I don't have two bags.  Second, I'm going from Delhi to Newark to San Francisco, landing in time for Grandfriends Day at San Francisco Friends School where Evan and Elena go, followed by Thanksgiving with Martha, Wen, the children and a whole bunch of other people.  I will return home on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day.  Even if I could add them to my luggage, they might be pretty battered by all the transfers and stowing.  I have a duffel at the apartment, which I could bring back in April and return with in June, if the lady could wait that long.  They will have to be well protected whenever they fly; they won't fit into carryon spaces so will have to be checked.

I'm so sorry, but I can't do it this time around.

Eleanor

Thanks anyway.  Worth a shot.  I am trying a couple other people ... otherwise when I told her what would be involved in getting them she did say she could wait till next summer.
Thanks - enjoy Delhi for us.  Wish we were there to entertain you.
Cate
11/9/2012 8:21 AM
Hi Anne,
Just looked at your blog again - love following you!  I didn't know I was supposed to 'join' so just did that.  The really fun part was to see that Sukrita Paul Kumar, one of my faculty members from directing the study abroad program in Delhi, was invited this year!  She had asked if I knew Steve and how she could get an invitation so I called him.  That was 2 years ago and he already had all the artists he could manage.  She is fabulous - I love her poetry and her.  A dear friend.   She's a TCK too - grew up in Kenya and knows that disconnectedness feeling. 
You popped into my mind as the solution to a problem.  And I have a crazy favor - which is probably not be doable.  But nothing ventured.  Can you accommodate another piece of luggage or are you all filled up on your return?  I sell Allahabad baskets - the project my grandmother started in the 1920's with the Muslim women.  You may know that whole story.  Anyway we just had a sale at church and a woman bought a picnic basket and then wrote me the next day and said she wanted another one.  So I just spoke with the basket guy (Abrar) in Allahabad and he has 2 more.  I can get his son to take them on the train and deliver them to E-22 Defence Colony (very near the market)in Delhi where you could get them whenever you get ready to leave.   I can negotiate with Eleanor on her next trip as another idea.
So there you have it - always another favor.  I am hoping and praying that I get to go to India next year but no concrete plans at the present.
Hopefully - thanks much,
Cate
--
On 11/11/2012 7:52 PM, annelind@me.com wrote:
Dear Cate -

This *might* be possible for us. We have a fairly short time in Delhi, as we are doing a quick tour with our daughter and her husband. We arrive in Chicago at 6:30 AM Sunday, Dec. 2. If we can bring it, you would need to meet us there, as we immediately board the Coach USA bus for Michigan City. Eleanor should be here today -- board meetings are later this week. I will chat with her and see if it would work better for her.

Great that you know Sukrita Paul Kumar. I wish the session had been videotaped -- it was so good and spontaneous!

Anne

On Nov 12, 2012, at 6:53 PM, Cate Whitcomb wrote:

Hi Anne - I had checked with Eleanor and she has a complicated travel schedule before she gets back here.  And we can certainly meet you at OHare at 6:30 am - that is not even early for us!  So let's try and figure out the details.  I need to call my friend in Delhi and get him organized - and get Abrar's son on his way to Delhi.  More later -
Thanks!!!
Cate


On 11/12/2012 10:39 PM, annelind@me.com wrote:
Cate -

We can pick it up either Friday Nov 30 or Saturday Dec 1 (flying out that night). It must be packed in a way that it can be opened for inspection, and must fit the weight and diameters for checked baggage. We are on Air India, so we do have enough allowance (2 pieces each).

Friday would be preferable to pick it up in case there are any delays (if he is bringing it from Allahabad, it's probably better not to offer too late a date….)

Our flight info:  Air India Flight 127, due to arrive at Terminal 5 (International) at 6:30 AM Sunday, Dec. 2.

I guess one good thing is there won't be any traffic to speak of at that time on a Sunday morning!!
Anne

Anne -
Thanks so much.  I am having the basket guy take it right away to Delhi - to my friend and classmate's place, Deepak Dayal, the Arpana Trust house at E-22 Defense Colony.  I would try and have it delivered to your hotel but you might enjoy seeing the small shop at E-22 - called Devotions, of all the hand made things they sell made by the villagers in Harayana near their ashram in Karnal.  The shop used to be at Khan Market but moved several years ago.  There were at least 5 of the Dayals who went to Woodstock but they left early when their father died in 1963.
Deepak will get a zipped duffel to put them in - it will only weigh about 10 pounds - they are very light, just bulky.   I am contemplating calling him instead of an email.  He may call me when he gets my message!
I'll send more information as I get it.
Thanks - really a lot!
Cate


Dear Deepak -
When I have a problem to solve in Delhi you come to mind - happily for me maybe not so much for you!  Here is the current project.  I sell those baskets that the Muslim villagers make in Allahabad that my nani began work with in the 1920's.  Jack and I just had a sale at a church in town.  It was good and we made $200 which I sent via SBI to their account in Allahabad.  But, one of the customers loved the one basket she bought so much she wanted another one.  I called and talked with Abrar and he has 2 that he can send.  Anne Lind (the music teacher from Woodstock from the 1970's) is out there now with her husband and they will be in Delhi on their return November 30/December 1 and has agreed to bring them back to Chicago. 
May I please have Abrar's son bring the baskets to E-22 Def Col?  And is there someone on your staff who could purchase a zipper duffel bag to stuff them into?  I can arrange to have someone take it to their hotel - or maybe Dan and Anne could come and pick it up.
The last detail is that Abrar's son requested that someone text him your address in Hindi - at least he reads which Abrar does not.  Their cell number (in case I can enlist you in this madness) is +9196163XXXXX.
It is the chain of friends and relations that make life possible.  Abrar is one of the smartest men I know - canny and resilient in a way that someone who has had to make his way without an education becomes.  He can also be an enormous nuisance.  He arrived in Delhi a week before we left with a huge dechi of biriyani he had cooked in Allahabad and brought on the train for us. 
Anyway - maybe we should talk on the phone?  I will send Rs. for the duffel.  The woman who wants the basket is paying enough to cover costs!
Love you and all that you do to make this world a better place -
Cate

On 11/13/2012 8:52 AM, Harishwar Dayal wrote:
I love your madness as always and have voluntarily enlisted!

I'll get my cook to do an SMS in Hindi with my contact details so that Abrar's son can deliver them to E/22, Defence Colony, Ground Floor, back entrance.

I can have the baskets in their duffel bag delivered to Anne Lind if you send me the details of their hotel and if they have an Indian mobile phone, do send the number.

Do let me know the sizes of the baskets. This is probably the priority requirement at the moment.

God bless and much love

Deepak
You are my favorite brother!  I estimate the size of the baskets to be about - with Jack's consult - 28 inches long, 12 inches wide and about 20 inches high (excluding handles which fold down).  And attached is a picture of the basket with Jack and Abrar from December of 2010.  What a shot!  There will be 2 of them - so something longish.   They are very, very light. 
Anne just wrote to say they will be staying at XXXXXX Hotel in Channa Market, Karol Bagh.  They are Mr. and Mrs. Dan and Anne.  I'll ask if they have a phone.


I will be calling Abrar this evening so the son will be expecting the text.  He will get on the train and bring them within the next few days.   Today is Muharram but I don't see any other Islamic holidays that come between times.  I just sent them money so there should not be a request for funds!
Blessings on you!!
Love,
Cate

Anne -
We have almost all the details in place.  Deepak wanted to know if you have an Indian mobile and if so, the number.  His is 0981860XXXX.  We should have the baskets in Delhi, packed in a duffel and ready for delivery by the end of this week, so in plenty of time. 
Thanks so very much ...
Cate

Cate -

It sounds quite doable. If possible, it would be so great to have it brought to our hotel. We have a very limited time in Delhi, less than two days, with our daughter and her husband. We stay at the XXXXXXX Hotel in Channa Market, Karol Bagh. Do see if it would be possible. THe zipper duffle sounds just right.
Anne

Indian mobile:  +989709XXXX

This will greatly help, Cate.

God bless
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel


From: Cate Whitcomb
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:51:30 -0600
To: Harishwar Dayal
Subject: Fwd: Re: Crazy Request

Anne Lind's cell -0989709XXXX
More later!
Cate

11/18/2012 11:12AM
Hi Cate!

Abrar's son left the very pretty baskets with us in the morning today. I was out of the house. He left after having breakfast.

Ansari will get the duffel bag tomorrow and then we're all set for Anne's arrival.

God bless and much love,

Deepak
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Blessings and blessings!  Good news.  Hopefully getting the duffel won't be too difficult.  I'll be sending donations in to California.  I have just sent another message to the class ...
God bless and much love to you,
Cate


On 11/24/2012 6:17 AM, Anne Lind wrote:
Hi Cate -

Will your person here be able to deliver the baskets to our hotel next Friday? We are touring Sunday through Thursday, will return that evening. We are here Friday and Saturday, flying out Saturday evening. It would be best to have it brought to our hotel on Friday if possible.

I've sent you our hotel info and my mobile phone number.

See you early on Dec. 2!
Anne

Hi Anne,
Yes, everything is in place!  The baskets arrived on Monday this week and the duffel has been purchased.  Sorry I didn't respond after you sent your number.  I am copying Deepak Dayal (my classmate) on this message because his man will deliver the baskets to you on either Friday or Saturday, November 29th or 30th - whichever is most convenient for you.   This is the hotel information he has for you:  XXXXXXX Hotel in Channa Market, Karol Bagh and cell number: 0989709XXXX.  Please let him know if any of this is not right. 

I awoke this morning thinking about what time we will get up next Sunday to be at the airport on time.  Please tell me your airline and flight number so we can check your progress on line.  See you next Sunday!  Can we help transport you all somewhere at the airport - are you catching a bus or is someone there to pick you up?
Thanks so much!!
Cate

Hi Anne

It was great talking to you.

Mr Ansari will reach XXXXXX at Channa Market on Friday 30th evening and will leave the duffel bag at the Reception with a key. The bag will be locked.

If there is any way at all I can be of use to you, please do not hesitate to call me up at 0981860XXXX.

God bless

Deepak

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

11/30/2012
Dear Mam.
2 baskets in a bag with Jip lock delivered to Mr. Dan at Bon-Lon Inn Karol Bagh. Keys of Lock are in the front pocket of bag. This is for your information please.
With best regards
 
Ansari
Executive Assistant to Mr. Deepak Dayal

12/1/2012 
Hi Cate -

The bag is here! We'll see you early tomorrow morning. 

We just got back to our hotel from a nice lunch at the India Int'l Centre with Bhavenesh and Ashoke. What a treat for my daughter to meet them both!
Anne
 

From: Cate Whitcomb 
To: Harishwar Dayal ; Delhi Office; Anne ; Sarah ; Jack
Sent: Sunday, December 2, 2012 8:42 AM
Subject: Baskets Are in Evanston!

To all concerned ... Anne, Deepak, Mr. Ansari, and Sarah -

The baskets are here!  What a marathon effort by all concerned.  We met Ann and Dan at OHare at 7:30 this morning (their flight was on time notable because in the last 4 days it has been delayed up to 3 hours at least twice) and took delivery of the excellent duffel with 2 baskets safely locked inside. 
Many, many thanks to the relay team that made this possible.  I will call Abrar and tell him they are here.
Sarah, tell me how you would like to take delivery of yours.  You may want both of them?  I think they are quite nice.

All the best -

Cate

Thanks everyone! How very special.   Cate I will call you this afternoon and arrange to pick them or it up!
-Sarah




Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Tiger Hunt



              The Jeep bounced and lurched along over the rutted path through the jungle.  Bill had written to the Forest Officer, submitting the Rs. 20 for the reservation, to go tiger hunting for two days in the winter of 1954.  Permission was for a specific block of the jungle – roughly 20 miles square.  The permission was specifically for the tigers as deer, gaur, wild boar and even crocodiles were plentiful and easy prey.   He had convinced his wife to let him take his two younger children, Sally age 7 and Johnny age 4, with him as they had a new born daughter and his wife and the baby could use a break from the boisterous older children.  There were servants including a cook, ayah, chaukidhar, and gardeners who would tend to all the household chores.  It would be a vacation for his wife and an adventure for the two older ones.

                The Jeep was an old U.S. Army vehicle with left hand drive.   Bill had gotten a motor shop in Raipur to extend the back of the Jeep out over the rear axle so that two side benches could be added, allowing three people to sit on each side.  A drop-down gate over the trailer hitch gave access to the back seats.  The roof of the vehicle was also custom made covering the extended back.  For the jungle trip the canvas roofing was been removed for better sight lines and as a consequence it was a dusty, windy drive. 

                Beside Bill in the front was Ted Essebaggers, a colleague from the mission, who had wanted to come along on this hunt.  He would only be in India for another two years and his opportunities to shoot another tiger were dwindling.  His teenage son Teddy Jr. was seated in the back along with two Indian men, one who was the mission driver Suntu, and other, Alfred, who would cook for them at the forest rest house.

Sally sat on the back bench, directly behind her father, her head covered with a scarf, knotted under her chin by her mother just as they left, to keep the pervasive red dust out of her hair.  She could look out through the windshield and watch the road coming up ahead of them.  Looking behind them she could see the billows of the dust being thrown up in a plume.  The broad leaves of the teak trees that made up a majority of the jungle were covered with a thick coat of the dust.  She could feel the grit in her mouth. 

                “Daddy, Johnny is not sitting on the bench,” she reported to her father, watching her little brother slide toward the back gate of the Jeep.

                “Johnny, back on the bench.  Don’t make me tell you again.”

                “When will we get there?”  Johnny asked.

                “I told you, after we stop for lunch and then it will be just a little farther.”

Johnny continued to fidget, sliding on and off the bench, as they drove on into the jungle.   Alfred, his hair covered with his handkerchief tied pirate fashion over his black hair in an effort to fend off the dirt, looked ghostly with his brown face covered with the fine jungle dust.  He grabbed Johnny around his pudgy middle and held him close to his knee.  Johnny began giggling in anticipation of being tickled which was a favorite activity in their kitchen at home.  Alfred said in Hindi, “Nay, nay baba.  Teek sei bhato.”  No, no little one.  Sit still.  In a few minutes Johnny had crawled into Alfred’s lap and fallen sound asleep.

They stopped in a partial clearing, stretching and dusting themselves off, to eat their lunch.  Alfred unpacked the tiffin carrier, setting out the individual containers of subzi and roti.  Sally thought the cold meal, shared communally by all of them, was strange but novel.  She and Johnny happily ate several of the tiny yellow bananas that Alfred produced from a within a newspaper package.    

                Bill said to the children, “Go over there behind that bush and go pee-pee before we get back in the Jeep.”

                Sally had sometimes gone to the bathroom outdoors with her little friends who came to play with her in the compound at home.  When her mother discovered them doing that behind the lantana bushes ringing their yard – she said it is was “jungli.”  This opportunity was another in the growing list of new experiences on this trip with their father.

                The children did as they were instructed and then climbed back into the Jeep.  Sally wished she was sitting in the front seat with her father where she would sit when he took her on trips to other villages.  Uncle Ted was taking her favorite place but then everything that was happening was out of the ordinary. 

                In spite of what Bill had told Johnny it was nearing dusk when they finally reached the forest guest house, built by the British before Indian independence, but still maintained by the forestry department.  It was unusually large for a forest bungalow, with four bedrooms set around a large central living and dining room.  The kitchen was in a separate room at the end of the wide verandah which ran the length of the building.  There were large tamarind trees in the yard with two oblong flower beds near the front gate.  Tall red canna lilies filled the flower beds.  A row of marigold plants grew at the edge of the front porch.   It all seemed quite grand to Sally.

                Bill chose one bedroom for himself and the two children.  Ted and Teddy Jr. took a second bed room.  The cook and driver would sleep in the kitchen.   Alfred got a fire going in the wood stove in the kitchen, serving rice, dahl and chappatis to the five of them on the large dining table.   Johnny sat on two large sofa cushions on a dining chair to raise him to the level of the table. 

                Ted said, “Should we go out with lights tonight or wait until daybreak?”  The custom of hunting with lights so that the animals could be taken unawares was a common one.

                Bill replied, “Let me get the kids into bed so they can sleep a couple hours and then we’ll go out.”

                Sally listened with fascination wondering what it meant that they would sleep some and then get up in the dark.   She did not fall asleep right away after her father had put the two of them into the same bed.  The sheets were coarse and smelled of wood smoke.  Johnny was asleep almost before his father had put him in the bed.  They slept in their clothes, another oddity.  In what seemed only a few minutes her father was gently shaking her shoulder, “Wake up Sally, we’re going to go on shikar now.” 

                Her father often went hunting for deer or peacock but she had never been with him on any of his shikaris.    Johnny was whimpering as her dad wakened him and sat him up to put on his tennis shoes.  She tied her own shoes and stood waiting for the next instruction.

                “Didn’t you bring a sweater?  Better wear something – it’s going to be cold out there in the jungle.” 

                “Mommy didn’t put a sweater for me in the ‘tache case. “

                “Okay then – just put your pajama top on over your dress.”
               
               Suntu emerged from the kitchen at the end of the verandah, recognizable only from his smile which was barely visible under the huge turban he had made of a blanket around his head.  Another khaki green, army surplus blanket was tied around his neck like a cape, leaving his arms free to drive the Jeep.  He was rubbing his hands together to warm them and asked Sally, “Are you ready to go tiger hunting, Babi?” 

                Alfred followed rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to rub his eyes awake.   He was wrapped in only one blanket, thrown over his head like a shawl.  He would sit in the front of the Jeep, and would help spotting the animals, hopefully including a tiger which was the object of the hunt.

                Bill lifted the two little children up over the back tailgate of the Jeep and told them to sit together on the side bench.   The children huddled together, watching the grown-ups get into the vehicle and settled in their places. 

 Bill vaulted into the back after the kids with the Army carbine.  He took a place on the other side of the Jeep, resting the gun on the metal bar that normally supported the canvas top of the Jeep.  Ted clambered in, holding the huge light he would use to spot the animals.  It was rigged to the car battery which Suntu had put in place before dark earlier that day.  Ted panned the light across the yard of the forest bungalow, the white bricks marking the driveway bright with reflected light showed the way out of the compound. 

Suntu began to drive, slowly leaving the compound, the dust was thick on the road, looking soft and velvety in the spot light.  The jungle felt cool but thick with darkness.  Sally asked, “When will we see the tiger?”

“Shhhh,” said Bill, “don’t talk.  It will scare the animals.” And then in the next breath, “There’s something,” as the light reflected on the red eyes of an animal. 

                “Might be wild boar,” Ted responded, holding the light steady at the same spot but there was nothing there but brush.  He began the slow panning back and forth again. 

                They heard the wild call of jackals who were not afraid of the human presence.   There was the occasional call of a nightjar, Suntu would say softly, “chapka,” each time they heard the chukkrrr sound.  They saw other eyes reflected but when Ted would focus the light there would be no animal in the beam. 

                Suntu stopped the Jeep just as they were going down into one of the nullahs created by a stream.  As they all looked into the gloom on the other side, only partially illuminated by Ted’s search light, a figure was faintly visible in the road. 

                “It’s a tiger,” Ted said with a sharp intake of breath.

                “No, no it’s a leopard,” Bill said, raising the rifle to his shoulder, “Suntu, gharry mut chalao.” Don’t move the Jeep. 

                “Here give me the gun, take the light,” Ted said with urgency.

                “No, I got it, I got it” Bill answered.

Johnny was stretched across Sally’s lap, peering over Suntu’s shoulder to see what the men were talking about.  It suddenly dawned on him what was happening, and he squirmed, stamping his feet.

                “Daddy, daddy, don’t shoot the kitty.  Don’t shoot the kitty,” his little voice was urgent, almost sobbing.

                “Take the light, it’s my turn,” Ted insisted, ignoring, or not hearing Johnny.

                Bill did not turn to his son but looked down the sights and was taking direct aim at the big cat.  At that moment the leopard rose to his feet, his long tail unwrapping from his reclining posture, he slowly, with measured steps walked off the road and into the jungle.  No shot rang out.  The argument had given the leopard just enough time.

                Sally was as relieved as Johnny that the leopard had escaped.   Later, nearing dawn, they came on a group of cheetal drinking at a talab and with one quick shot Bill felled a buck.  The men jumped from the Jeep, slit the deer’s throat, and having tied the hooves together, secured the carcass across the hood of the Jeep.  Returning to the forest guest house, they hoisted the animal up into one of the tamarind trees to gut and slaughter it. 

For breakfast Alfred fried up a thick slice of venison sirloin for each of them.   Sally ate hers with enthusiasm thinking this was a breakfast that she would love having again.  Johnny toyed with his but was too tired from the unusual night to eat.

                “We’ll try again tonight Ted,” Bill said. 

                “Yes, I have two more days to get that tiger.  Or maybe that leopard will be back in the same spot.”

***
               
Glossary:

Ayah:  maid, child care provider
Chappatis: unleavened, wheat bread
Chawkidhar:  night watchman
Cheetal: spotted deer
Dhal: lentils
Jungli:  bad mannered, ignorant
Nullah:  ravine, typically where a road crosses a stream, a culvert
Roti: bread
Subzi: vegetable, usually with spice
Talab:  small pond, sometime manmade
Shikar:  hunting, specifically a hunting trip



"Sally" grown-up, many years later.

Tiger at another trip to Ranthambore in 2008