Lask Week in Delhi

This was the week that we had thought would be our only time in Delhi but when the Madhuban trip was canceled we managed a lot of touring in and around the city.  We saved the Qutab Minar and Tuglakhabad for the Monday, February 2, with Harini Narayanan.  She had taught (and still does) the Cities of Delhi class for me to the IES students and is a geographer with extensive knowledge about the history of Delhi.

It was a fantastic day of history and discovery.  It was cold and misty but that provided new, unique shots of the Qutab.  I learned and saw things I had never seen before.  My declaration that I wasn't going to take any pictures was short lived.    The many hundreds of parakeets begged to be photographed.  We have taken to calling them Mr. and Mrs. Ganguly because of Betsy Woodman's wonderful series about Jana Bibi - if you haven't read them look them up here and you will find Mr. Ganguly, the parakeet, a totally enchanting character. 

After the Qutab visit we had the driver take us to Tuglakhabad,  my first time there.  It is a magnificent think to behold - I had driver by the huge rampart walls on the way to other places but never paid much attention.  We climbed up the huge, stone staircase and entered the Fort.  Lori felt she had seen the scene before in many European painting, especially of Italian landscapes with ruins and forests.  The sight lines are marvelous in all directions.  We were amused by the donkeys who were grazing in several places. Harini said that the city of Delhi relocated the villagers who had been living inside the ruins several years ago but still allow them to let their animals graze inside.  She also told us that for Ali (her daughter's) 15th birthday they talked the guards into letting them set up a treasure hunt for 20 of her friends.  They said it was a smashing success and the kids learned about some of the history of their city at the same time. 

We took Harini to Sagar's for lunch as that was a destination we hadn't managed yet.  Lunch was delicious as usual.  Afterwards Lori and I tried to walk over to E22 Def Col to see Anasari about the increasing recalcitrant Reliance USB internet connection.  I turned on Google Maps and we got gloriously lost.  Obviously GM is not up to following all the wonderfully twisting and turning lanes inside the various Delhi colonies. We ended up having to take a cycle rickshaw to get us back to where we wanted to be - cost Rs. 100!

We had the driver take us to see Santosh at the Niti Bagh chemist so I could put in the order for the meds for Ari.  He was happy to see me - had been following our adventures on FaceBook.  We stopped to see the street dogs at A-17.  Lady had died last year according to the dhobi's son - he is the little boy we had bought a bicycle for so he could get to school.  But Lucy was there - sleeping in the crook of the tree, wrapped up in a red dog-coat. She was sound asleep but gradually woke up and wiggled all over.  She must be about 8 or 9 by now.  Old for a Delhi street dog.

The evening was dinner with Greg Randolph one of my best IES students who lives and works in Delhi now.  He is working with Just Jobs Network.  It is a great concept - adding both quantity and quality to the analysis of jobs in over 100 countries.  He is thinking about graduate school in a year or so.  We met at the Thai restaurant in Priya Cinema market.

That left us with 3 short days to do the rest of the things in Delhi.  On Tuesday we stayed home, washed clothes, worked on the internet, walked and got organized to go out after lunch to Khan Market to do final shopping and meet Arun for dinner.  He had hosted us several times so we told him we would take him to Mamagoto - which apparently was also the caterer at the Delhi Golf Club.  We got him to meet us at 6:30 which for him is pretty early for dinner.  The food was delicious and the bill was almost $80 - not cheap to live well in Delhi.


We had done all our final shopping which was also helpful. 

The next day, Wednesday,  was the only day that Connie McCaslin, the friend of a friend of Lori's could see us, and she invited us to the ACSA club at the American Embassy.  Jack and I had been members when we lived in Delhi and it was very evocative of the old days although they've done massive renovations inside.   I had a salmon caesar salad which was divine.   Connie seems a bit overwhelmed and over worked but she was also recovering was a bad cold.  She drove us home which was very helpful.

Wednesday was the only time that Dr. Uma Chakkarvati could meet us, at 5 pm.  She lived quite close by over by one of the main campuses of Delhi University.  Getting over to her in an auto was not difficult and we had a most productive meeting.  Uma had translated the book by Pandita Ramabai about her 3-year stay in the America and is, obviously, an expert on women's history and topics in India.  She is currently filming a documentary about women who have had heroic lives in India, defending various causes.  It turned out later, when I was finally able to meet with Anandana Kapoor that they are friends - both being feminists, scholars and filmmakers although Uma is in her late 70's and Anandana is in her early 30's.  Anandana calls her "Uma Chuk!"   

Getting back to Vasant Vihar was a chore - it was after dark and all the students leaving campus for the day occupied every available auto - 4-5 in each one.  Ultimately we had to cross the Ring Road - no small undertaking in heavy, heavy traffic although there was a marked cross walk - and coerced an auto driver to take us home.  Reluctantly as he said he had to be somewhere else but I paid him Rs. 70 which was about 3 times what the fare would have been by the meter.

Thursday was Lori's last day.  We had saved going to Humayan's Tomb for the last day as it was her favorite from our last visit.  Inspite of the horrible air quality (which Connie had informed us about although it was no surprise because breathing was a chore on the really foggy days) it was a clear blue day and we had a car for the day to enable us to do all the last minute things.  I got in for the Indian price again - just Rs. 10 - because of my PAN card.  There is no audio tour yet as there had been for other sites but we used the 14 Walks in Delhi book to guide us around.  We walked all around the back which minimized the number of other tourists making it a much more restful tour.  On the way out we ran into Connie's friend - who we had met the day before and had urged to her to see Humanyan's tomb. 

We had lunch somewhere ... cannot reconstruct where. 



Lori packed and re-packed while we tried to assess if her bag was over 50 lbs.  That reminded to ask Jack to bring the luggage weighing device from the States.   Deepak came at 7 pm to take us to dinner at Sartoria at Priya Cinema market.  The dinner was lovely but turned out to be a bad plan as Lori was sick by the time she got to the airport - throwing up there and on the plane.  I was sick during the night, still went to lunch with Sunita to Chopsticks but was really ill.  By Saturday morning (election day in Delhi) Deepak had to take me to the clinic to see Dr. Gita Prakash who promptly put me on an IV drip and gave me 5 different meds.  More about the recovery and the next phase of the trip in the next post.

The WCTU in Delhi

Sunday, February 1 was our appointed date with the executive committee of the WCTU of India.  Lori had been in email contact with Ms. Vandana Charan beginning sometime in mid-2013 about our wanting to meet with them.  We had been given no other information other than they were meeting and that we would be guests at their meeting.  I had wanted to go to St. James Church (the Skinner church) and it turned out that Temperance House at 24 Rajpur Road is not far.  They are both north Delhi near the Old Delhi train station in the Civil Lines.  We got a car for the day from Hardeep and set out at 8 am for the 9 am service - we were only 10 minutes early.

It was a partially sung Eucharist but the tunes were not singable.  The Vandana and a couple of the other Executive Committee were there also and we gave them a ride over to Temperance House. 

The meeting that followed included prayers, songs, me praying, me and Lori singing "Abide with Me," Lori praying, and many, many photos taken on many, many phones.  Several of the senior members were there with clippings and many stories of earlier times.  There were some older records but most had been destroyed by white ants and the damp.  A lunch of rice, chicken curry, chapattis, and bananas was the meal at 1 pm.   We took a tour of the building which is large and ram shackled, needing lots of repair but still the bones of a grand old building.  

We were given red roses, gifts, a hymn book and asked many times to write down our names and addresses.  We were numbers 22 and 23 on the attendance roster.  We left amid a lot of hugs, kisses and exchange of phone numbers.   It is hard to sort just what we learned but Lori is going to send a follow-up set of questions and possibly write a brief history for them.  We will try and prepare a greeting to put in their souvenir booklet they are preparing for their annual convention.

Returning via the Lotus Temple, which was so crowded we had no chance of getting in - a line of several hundred.  So Lori got a glimpse and we came back to Vasant Vihar.  I wanted to regain some feeling of normalacy so we went to Sartoria for dinner and wine.   To put it mildly it was quite a day.

On giving it more thought we are going to design a brief survey to send to all the members of the Executive Committee to give us more information about how they organize and hold meetings for the WCTU.  We also need to send the photograph and get names for those pictured.  Lori says the materials in the WCTU archive in Evanston have vital historical information about the India WCTU.   There promises to be a continued connection with India through this initial meeting.

Now in India ... Again and Always

The time has been filled with glorious adventure since our arrival on February 16.  The best welcome back ever came from the immigration official with whom I, of course, began to talk to in Hindi.  He asked why I didn't live here now and I replied that it was too expensive to live in two places.  He said the perfect solution would be for me to go to the court with him and he would declare that I was his mother!  We, which includes the official next to him who was signing in to work and eavesdropping on our conversation, all had a good laugh at his creative solution.  Now I have a lovely young Sikh sardar as my adopted son.

Aditya Bajaj, Sonu, Cate and Abha

On Saturday, February 17 we went to E22 Defence Colony for lunch with Abha and Sonu.  It turned into a productive website meeting along with Aditya who does the arpana.org website with Sonu.  Learned alot and made some good decisions even though we were jet lagged.  Deepak learned that Chote Ma was taken to the hospital so he had to leave and Abha's driver brought us back to Vasant Vihar and the guest house.

Sunday I asked Hardeep to send a car and Ajit, one of the old IES drivers came for us in an Innova.  I had asked for a small car but Hardeep is Hardeep and he thought we needed a big car.  We went to church at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption for the sung Eucharist.  It was freezing cold, around 40 degrees and even colder inside that old stone cathedral but it was still good to sing the service and remember the refrains.  We spoke with Mark Tully who was also headed to the Literature Festival but going by train.

Having the car gave us the opportunity to go the the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art.  Both were spectacular - better than ever, with an audio guide at the National Museum that was truly excellent.  The jewelry gallery was finally open much to my delight ... and the day got even better when we went to the Museum of Modern Art.  There was a large Amrita Sher Gill exhibit with excellent explanations and panels about her life.  Saw many pieces I had never seen before.

Then in the Jaipur House side of the museum there was an installation done by a collective of artists called Untimely Calendar - they are the Rags Media Collective.  There were various artists from the group giving gallery talks and one of the guards called us to go here one.  While standing there listening suddenly Adam Grotsky - the Fulbright Director here in Delhi and an old friend - saw me.  He and his wife Olga were also there as it was Sunday afternoon.   Such a lovely coincidence.  We walked out with them and had Ajit take us to Nizamuddin West to the Turtle Cafe to have a lunch.  We also bought two quiches to eat on the road the next day.

The evening was a delightful entertainment at Arun's place.  The wine, food and company were all such a pleasure.   Arun tried his best to get us to download WassUp but I don't think either of us succeeded.  The gorgeous Persian carpet that his father has purchased years ago is all refurbished and is really a gem.  It was lovely to see all his furnishing from his flat on Frognal in London - reminders of happy events all those years ago.

We were all ready to go to Jaipur on Monday morning and after there was no driver we called Rajiv.  Apparently we had planned to go on Wednesday, not Monday so I asked if he could find us a room in Jaipur for Tuesday and reschedule the driver.  By late morning he had the new plan in place.  In the meanwhile Lori and jumped into an auto and went to Dilli Haat and then INA Market.  Good shopping both places.  Then Lori wanted to ride the Metro so we went to Connaught Place, getting off at Rajiv Chawk with several thousand other Delhites.  In Connaught Place we had tea at Kwality's then looked in at The Shop.  Walking down Jan Path we saw Doma which seemed just the perfect benediction for our day.  She wanted to see a picture of Dad and all I had with me was pictures on my phone.  She asked for a pair of shoes which I managed to order on line that night and Jack is bringing so she will have them next week.

The next morning we left for Jaipur with Kishore.  We had lunch packed with us so the long trip did not seem so daunting.  We left after 10 and reached Jaipur about 4 PM.  We got to Diggi Palace and picked up our Delegate tags but the schedule and bags had not yet been delivered.  We stayed that

first night at Man Singh Palace along with a hundred or so German tourists.   They tried to upgrade us to a room that was a suite but it only had a king sized bed so we were demoted to a regular room which was fine.  Wednesday afternoon we moved to the Country Inn and Suites which was a really wonderful place to stay.  I told Jack, "Think Peoria."  There was an outdoor, roof-top pool but way too cold to swim and a nice gym.

 The next 4 days were filled with talks, music, poetry, famous faces, and much to absorb.   It was colorful, brain straining, over-stimulating and a grand adventure.  I will list all the session we attended ... it began with music from Sonam Kolra and the Sufi Gospel Project where she sang her version of Gandhi's hymn "Abide with Me," and then "Alleluia."   Then this is the list as I recall:

• Key Note by Vijay Sshadri, Arvind Krishan Mehrotra and Ashok Vajpeyi
• Seven Deadly Sins in Our Time, Bhabha, Vajpeyi, Esther David, Eimear McBride and Maita Gokhale
• Early Triumphs, Eleanor Catton and Eimear McBride
• A House for Mr. Biswas, Hanif Kureishi, Amit Chaudhuri, Paul Theroux, and Farrukh Dhondy
• The Empress Dowager Cixi - The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, Jung Chang
  

On Thursday it was pouring rain so all the sessions were moved into the 2 inside venues and cut to half an hour so more sessions with less content - 

• Pirates of the Indian Ocean - Real and Imaginary, Neil Rennie and Samanth Subramanian
• Of Beauty and Truth, SR Faruqi and Bilal Tanweer with Sukrita Paul Kumar
• Masterpieces on Jain Art, Saryu Doshi with Alka Pande
• The Library at Night, Alberto Manguel in conversation with Chandrahas Choudury
• Anecdotes of the Past, Indira Ganesh, Pankhuri Arora and Smita Vats, ITIHAAS
• Writing Back, Sahar Deligani, Kamila Shamsie, Meena Kandasamy, Eimear McBride with Ramita Navai

We met Ashok and Sonu Bhojwani for dinner with their friends Alok and Praveen at Niros in Jaipur.  We had special Amritsi fish and brain curry - delicious and a lot of fun conversation.

Friday we did 3 morning sessions and then toured Jantar Mantar and the City Palace:

• A Revolution is Brewing, Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, C. Mrunalini, Sukrita Paul Kumar with Malashri Lal
• Wanderlust and the Art of Travel Writing, Paul Therous, Charles Glass, Samanth Subramanian, Sam Miller, Brigid Kennand with William Dalrymple
• Shadow Play: The Art of Biography, Jenny Uglow, Jung Chang, Mark Gevisser, Kate Summerscale, Lucy Hughes Hallet with Sharmile Sen

Friday evening we ate at the Kebab Factory at Country Inn - 6 different kinds of kebabs as hors d'oeuvres and then a main course and 3 desserts - gulab jamun, ras malai and pista kulfi!  It was a splurge and a feast.  Marvelous young men waiting on us.

Saturday morning we met the guide and went up to Amber Fort.  It was a great tour - and Vikram the guide added  just the right touch.   He took the trick picture of us in the Sheesh Mahal - I was photo bombing!

Probably our favorite museum came next, the Annoki Museum housed in an old, completely restored haveli.  It is a marvel of reconstruction, appropriate architecture and well displayed items from the cloth weaving and printer processes.  We sat with two artisans, one who made us small printing blocks and the other who demonstrated block printing.  They were both serious and skillful.   Our return to the Literature Festival was very complicated because the past Indian President Kalam was there speaking and the police had cordoned off all the direct streets to Diggi Palace.  Kishore finally, after several false turns, dropped us with Vikram and we began to run.  We went about a mile to get to the entrance which was jam packed with students trying to enter and police trying to keep them out.  We exerted (I exerted) white privilege and started spouting Hindi about how we had to reach the inside by 2 pm - we pushed and shoved, finally picking up a "guide dolphin" in the form of a tall young Indian man who just said "follow me" and forged the way for us.  We directly bypassed the security check and stumbled into the hotel grounds just before 2 - and went in to have a delicious lunch of sarso ki sag and mukhi ki roti along with Jenny Uglow and her husband.  

The three afternoon sessions were:

• The Writer and the World, V.S. Naipaul with Farrukh Dhondy

  

  Our view of V.S. Naipaul - from a sea of people, probably around 800 others.

• Cities and Their Shadows, Navtej Sarna, Esther David, Yatindra Mishra (cities being Jerusalem, Ahmedabad, and  with Indrajit Hazra
• Narrative: Putting the Story Back into History, Gilbert King, Jenng Uglow, Gary Bass, Jerry Brotton and Kate Summerscale with Swapan Dasgupta

The next morning Lori was dropped off at Annokhi to shop (which she did very successfully) and I was dropped at Diggi Palace for one last session -

• The Spinner of Tales, Chetan Bhagat

We started back out to the highway at about 11 AM.  We drove through Amer again and saw a whole parade of elephants getting off of their work shift ... so serene, slow, enormous.

The drive to Neemrana only took a couple hours and we stopped part way to eat the salad and sandwich Lori had bought at the Annokhi Cafe.  Delicious.  We arrived at Neemrana in a crowd of others as this was the 3-day Republic Day weekend.  The strong young men hauled our suitcases up several lights to our abode at Hari Vilas.  It was far too cold to swim much to my disappointment but we walked over a mile or so to view the famous step well, we each had a massage, went to a yoga class,  listened to two young Hungarian men give a flute and piano recital, and ate dinner with a charcoal brazier beside us in the outdoor dining room.  Lori got to see some of the Republic Day parade on TV and I captured one shot of the two "new best friends."  A perfect if short visit. 

Back in our snug guest house in Vasant Vihar both Jai Prakash and the dog were happy to see us back.  My favorite picture of the trip got taken that afternoon of Republic Day - Lori called me to come and see these two sitting in the tree outside her window.  The next day, Tuesday, we decided to do some of the walks listed in the book that was my gift at the Literature Festival.  Deepak sent Om Prakash and one of the Arpana vehicles to take us around which was a huge help.  First we went to the Indira Gandhi Museum then we did the Lodi Garden walk and I learned a lot about the gombads (tombs) that I had not known.  Then we walked down Lodi road to Safdarjung's Tomb and did the walk through there as well. 

Wednesday (Jan 28) we decided that it was the day to do Lal Kila (the Red Fort) and Jama Masjid.  I also had the brain storm to get us tickets for Beating Retreat and, of course, Rajiv was my "go to guy" who knew where to get them - at a tiny little kiosk at the Jantar Mantar.  So the day was organized around the marvelous audio tour of the Red Fort - where the kids running the audio tour told me to take my PAN card and get my Rs. 230 refund and pay the "Indian" entrance fee! - and getting to entrance V-1 by 4 pm to get seated for Beating Retreat.  It was wonderful as always - wispy clouds, sun setting behind the ministry buildings, the combined bands playing Abide with Me (Gandhi's favorite hymn).  Om Prakash was right where I told him to be to pick us up (we could not take phones with us but of course everyone had one except me!).  And this was what we saw as we left ...

Thursday (Jan 29) we decided to go to Sanskriti Museums which one of Deepak's friends had told us to visit - they are on the Gurgaon Mehruali Road in the neighborhood where Jack and I had purchased all our furniture.  They are exquisite museums.  One of "Everyday Culture," one of "Textiles" and my favorite, "Sculpture."  

Lori had seen the DLF Emporia mall on the way to Sanskriti so we decided to stop there on the way back.  We found all the very high end retailers and lots of places to eat.  We stopped at The Big Chill to indulge in desserts - I had a hot fudge sundae with Oreo chocolate ice cream and Lori had a cheese cake, chocolate mousse, cream brulee "thing."  Yum.  We shopped in a fancy "food hall" that was started by a Norwegian guy - most notable were the fresh blueberries for $10 a pint.  I bought fruit chat - now I need more guavas - I've eaten all I bought in Jaipur!

Friday morning we stopped at Arun's place in Chanakaypuri for coffee in the garden ... then on to Khan Market for various errands and lunch at Turtle Cafe.  Then the long, tedious drive down to see the Arpana School in Molarbund but we actually got there earlier than planned.  We stayed for about 2 hours and Nabaneeta gave us the full overview and tour.  So impressive.  I took almost 50 pictures so it's hard to choose the best shot.  Here's a good one ...

The last chore of the day was to have Om Prakash take me out to the Centaur Hotel by the airport and give Bubbles, the driver from Woodstock, the 3 completed kneelers to be delivered to Rev. Erik Templeton.  All accomplished in just over an hour because we went at 7:30 when the traffic had diminished to a slow roar.  

Saturday was another day of contrasts in time and history.  We took an auto to Arun's and he took us in his car to take us to the Delhi Gulf Club ... a delicious Indonesian lunch and chocolate cake from Mamagoto - then a long walk around the golf course with Arun, following foursomes from green to farway to tees.  Gorgeous day for a walk among the ruins on the course - Lori had read about the history of the Brits.

We took an auto to Hauz Khas Village, which I realized I had probably not been to see since 1993 with Arun, Jack and Marianne.  It was swarming with teenagers but I got two pictures.  Here's one of Lori by the Lake.  This was a good Saturday afternoon adventure even with all the teen-agers.  The history of Auz Kas is well described in our 14 Walks in Delhi book making our investigation of all the structures very interesting.  We found a taxi driver, finally, who agreed to take us back to Vasant Vihar for Rs. 200 which was a lot but at least we got home!

Christmas Here and There

I haven't done a very good job of writing every day.  I want that discipline of finding the time of day that works and doing it.  Being consistent.  Thinking in a writerly way - hard to do when I know I am so distracted much of the time.  But here it is Sunday evening and I have some minutes by myself.  The activities of the day were all around Christmas.  Here are the pictures that tell the story ...  The Christmas pageant at church - the shepherds with their sun glasses on because of the dazzling angels.  It was lovely but I realize that I don't have a lot of nostalgia about Christmas pageants in America because I don't have any memories of

 them as a child.  Now if I was in sitting in the moroom out in front of the church, in the cold evening in Bisrampur with Sashi and Poona dressed as Mary and an angel I would be back home.  The strange event on Friday night of being at film club and everyone going around the circle to say what their favorite Christmas movie was made me realize, once again, I am not from here.  I hadn't seen most of the movies they mentioned - some I knew the titles to but I've never seen any of them all the way through.  Maybe bits of It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas but not the entire movie. 

 Here is Casey with her gingerbread house at Kathy & Bob's gingerbread Christmas window.  It is a wonderful fairy tale vision they create every year and go down to the south side of Chicago to a community center and build houses with children there.  Great tradition!  They are wonderful, generous hosts and it's always a treat to go and see the outcome of their efforts each year.

Some one built the coliseum with the Bears and the Penguins in mortal combat - the Bears winning.

 And the view of the whole window.  It was fun to go and see them all. 

Lunch time was with Mark and Lori on Devon Street for chat papri and masala dosa.  Both of them had thalis and they did a good job of eating it all.  One month from today we leave.  I bought Wet Ones and Pepto Bismal and gave Lori her share to pack.  The suitcase is out and soon I will start filling it.  Virgil has sent kneelers for Christ Church and they are sitting next to the suitcase.

The transition of going from Christmas to India is going to be quite a muddle.  We are making all the preparations we can ahead.  Today we talked about maybe reading the same book so we can have some common basis for the literary festival.  I like the Elizabeth Gilbert, The Signature of All Things.  Hoping maybe that's the one Lori will read too.  But I am interested in Chetan Bhagat just because he seems to be so well know and popular.  I am not liking the "Three Mistakes" one that I'm reading now.  Way too much about cricket.

Enough for today.  Trying to stay calm and focused.  Always praying for clarity.

Walking by the Lake

It is damp and but not below freezing so I just walked back from campus.  Everything brown, chilly and blowing.  The Lake seems to have come in to shore at the Lake Street Beach.  Grey.  Today was Kripa's Mehendi party.  I watched part of it on YouTube.  They were joyful and looked cold in the early evening.  Gorgeous saris, lots of hugging and saw Deepak briefly, the proud papa.  I love that the wedding is at noon - so sensible!
Counting the days, trying to savor the anticipation.  Counting the days was one of the things I learned to do first in life - days until going into boarding, days until going down day, over and over each year.  I used to make calendars to mark off the days.  There weren't any bought calendars, just those white scrap books they sold at the tuck shop.  I would line off a double page and write in the dates.  Now I let Google keep track although I have to do the counting still.
Preparing for the literary festival Lori and I have read several books.  I am not impressed with most of them.  So many authors - they are saying over 200.  It will be fascinating to see what we learn out of this.  That I want to write and can't.  I just ordered 3 novels by Chetan Bhagat - never heard of him before.  This will be at least an adventure.

Concentrating or not

Daily writing is going to take concentration.  I am certainly exerting enough concentration on getting ready for the trip.  Today I told the Drs. Singh in Khariar about the service on February 13.  There are more people to notify in India too.  Pradipta, the son of one of dad's Gaon Sathi's will surely want to be there so I have to tell him.  He might also help in notifying other's.  This morning on the desktop picture rotation there was a picture of Rev. Sushma Singh in Tilda - I need to notify her and ask her to be part of the service.  And I need to find the picture - she married the Hindi teacher from East West Language in Delhi who taught my IES students.  Have to keep looking once again everywhere on the PC.
This never got posted because the day came to an end first.  I heard from Ajit and Pushpa - they will come on February 13 barring any other unforeseen events.
The things to ask Anil about include who can cater the meal (someone from Raipur?) and who can make the headstone?  I know where to go in Dehradun but Raipur not so much.  Maybe someone in Bilaspur - they make fancy plaques for new buildings, surely someone can do a headstone.  And I have to talk to Patty and John and Bob about what to put on it.
Next is a message to all other  family members - in case anyone else wants to come along.
Enough for these two days...
Today is the Senior Christmas luncheon and the League Holiday reception of which I am in charge.  Things to do calling me.

Going home to India....again

I am making a promise to myself - to blog every day before my trip to India on January 15 and while I am gone.  So why the coins?  I meant to blog about them before - about how I find money and collect it.  The pennies are an almost daily occurrence - I do watch on the ground for the familiar, precisely round shape which is not often shiny, usually black and grimy from being on the pavement or sidewalk.  The coins below are the ones I found in England this spring on our trip to London for our anniversary.  People are so casual about coins - drop them or discard them.  I seek them out and gather them up and keep them separately in my little copper box that I bought from Doma forty-eight years ago.  I find Indian money too ... but not so often.

So I am going to blog.  Partly so I can reflect on what this trip will mean to me.  Partly to keep a list of things to not forget.  I have to remember the note about the money at the Tibetan Women's Coop that all my friends in India have not helped me retrieve.  I've asked a four or five and everyone of them has ignored the request.  I think it's quite a lot of money - Rs. 900.  I've printed out the latest email from Tenzin and am taking it with me.  I'll get it eventually.
And I have to remember to take the USB phone connection that I can load Rupees on and have an internet connection wherever I go.  That's going to be crucial.

Let me connect the good fortune of finding money and the good fortune of being able to go to India again, with my dear friend Lori, and to fulfill my dad's final wish, to be buried in Bisrampur.  It's an emotional thing, knowing that he trusted me to do this for him.  And that dear Anil is going to help make this happen.  There are so many details to take care of - making sure I have a good bio piece and the right picture - probably will use the one in his black Gandhi cap but this will always be my favorite.  The good fortune of having a dad who loved me so dearly is beyond words.