Well, you can figure that if you haven’t heard from me, it either because things are soo bad that all I’ll do is complain – and that’s not very interesting, unless I was Jerry Seinfeld, who can complain about anything! Or very busy and fun and I don’t have time to write. I hope you’ll be happy to know that it was the latter – fun and interesting times.
Now I worry that when I write about how much I like it here, people will think that Bangalore is a second paradise and what is so hard about moving half way around the world to a third world, excuse me, emerging nation? Bangalore and India aren’t for everyone. If I had a different length of stay or a different job or a lot of different things, then this wouldn’t have worked out. But most of all, this was a challenge that I needed right now. Not too hard, not too easy, just right. But every time I get confident – watch out – so if you don’t hear from me for a while – think the worst!
But now for the stories.
This weekend was Jake’s 13th birthday. And everything fell into place! Dosa’s for breakfast, cool shirts for presents, a really really cool birthday cake – a rugby ball with the number 13 – and the whole rugby team to sing happy birthday. Dinner with friends at a ‘frontier’ restaurant. Deluxe hotel brunch – dosa again, but with strawberry waffles on the side. Paintball games with friends. Pizza. Civ IV game gift. Another cool India shirt. A girlfriend called from Singapore (Shannon, the stalker). I think he was happy.
Thanks to everyone who sent e-cards – Nancy, Karen, Grandma, Dad, and the friends here – Erica and her family, Lee Johnstone’s mom and dad – Dave and Cathy – and his 15 year old brother Drew, who just flew in from South Africa that morning. Carol Tait for the birthday cake from Taj West End. And Siwon, a sweet boy from Korea. And brother Thomas, who got the Purple Heart for injury in battle. Pictures posted shortly.
Thomas social life is huge also. He is either in an intercontinental gambling ring or a multi-national animation development company. He and his friends have formed a company called “HappyMan Productions”. His first powerpoint animation is so cool and funny. I am going to try and post it on Youtube – I’ll post the link if I can.
There have been changes that the Richmond Villa. Vani is gone. She had started to take advantage of being home alone most of the day, but going out or having friends over. Not really what I was looking for. Then she took off one weekend and didn’t come back. This was the second time and I can’t afford to give second chances. I got a good replacement after a week of frantic phone calls. When Vani came back the following weekend to collect her things, she said that she had been kidnapped by her parents to be sold into marriage and she was only able to escape the night before and she came right here. You hear weird stories about things like this. One friend was told that her maid’s aunt was badly burned. Britta offered to arrange a doctor and a hospital stay, but the girl only wanted the ‘money’. My Indian friends are so negative towards people that work for them that it creates this win/lose attitude. It’s a pretty negative vibe, and not fun to be around, but not an invalid attitude either, based on my experiences sometimes. I wanted to come to India to learn the culture, but not all of it is very pretty. I have to say though – at least it’s out in the open.
But Rebecca is working out so far. 27 years old. Waiting for her betrothed to finish building a house. This is her second engagement, the first one, the boy started acting demanding and weird, so her family called it off. This man is related some how and she seems very excited and ready to be married. I have a higher level of suspicion now, so we’ll see.
Other quick events – went to a colleague’s son’s b’day party – big Indian event. A little crazy for a 3 year old, but fun. No trips to Goa – the boys have too much socializing to do. A couple of visitors from the US at work – got some good dinners and pub crawling out of that. Overall though, it’s just walking the streets – watching the boys/men playing cricket on Sunday afternoons or early in the morning – I don’t know who stares more.
Last week, I was walking past the athletic fields and a team was out for their run, two lines of about 20 guys. They ran right up to me, then split and ran around me – made me laugh! Sometimes I’ll walk, and some boys on their bikes (at least 2 per bike) on their way to work will ride up behind and then around me, yelling some version of “boo”. No harm at all, I jump and they laugh and then I laugh and they are gone. And the construction families, the ones that live (exist) in the in shells of the buildings they are building, the kids run out and just want to say hi. And the temple across from the park, where I am greeted and given a ‘namaste’ and I return the greeting, review all the latest offerings. It’s not all pretty, but it’s a life and it’s embraced and joy is found and shared. I wish I could capture the life in pictures, but it wouldn’t be the same. I’ll post the latest from Jake’s birthday, but I don’t want to objectify the life I am seeing – it’s their life, not my souvenir.
The monsoon weather came in this weekend – and it’s kind of cold! If you aren’t used to it, the wind and rain make me wish I had a fireplace. A tree fell on an auto (autorickshaw) and killed a man yesterday. The auto drivers are wearing hats and gloves. We got out the blankets I thought we’d never use. And the newspaper had a recipe for soups. We go to Rajasthan next week and I don’t know what kind of weather to expect. Rain is fine, but monsoons blow hard and bring strong downpours – not good for sightseeing.
So July is fully of traveling and more changes. If anyone is still reading this – hope you are enjoying it. I wish I could write more, but then I’d be in a different profession!
XXXOOOO
C
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