Dusheraa

This man is selling some kind of pickled vegetables.

Yesterday when I was walking around on my language route there were many families out all walking to the same place.  My friend told me that everyone was going to the parade ground for the Dushera festivities and recommended that I get JP and Silas and go as well.  So, we did.  Dushera is a celebration of the the triumph of good over evil when Ram defeated Ravana and his sons in order to win back his wife Sita who had been kidnapped and taken to the Island of Lanka. 

A woman dressed like the goddess Kali is collecting money from the crowds of people

Many vendors were taking advantage of the masses, selling trinkets for children like masks, balls, noise makers...

Replicas of Ravana and two of his sons.  At 5:30 there was a reinactment of the battle and the large statues were set on fire (we didn't stay for this event).

Another vendor sells colorful bangles.  These are worn everyday, but even more so for festivals.

Playing in the Bucket

Silas's favorite activity it taking things out.  Whether it is clothes from the laundry bucket, bowls from the drawer, tupperware from the cabinet, books from the shelf, Silas loves to take things out.  He is quite and explorer and is always looking for something new and forbidden.

Some Long overdue Pictures

We had spinach paneer one night for dinner and Silas had a lot of fun putting spinach specks all over his face and in his hair.  Self-feeding is messy but lots of fun!

As I am normally the one behind the camera, Silas and I rarely have our pictures taken together.  I thought this one turned out pretty well. 

Silas loves to scrunch up his nose and put on an intimidating face- here is a side view from our trip up the mountain.

Silas now proudly sports 4 teeth, though it is difficult to get a picture where you can see all of them.  Daddy had to coax Silas to smile for me.

Unfortunately Silas was looking at the other camera, but otherwise a good picture.

So, can you guess what snow capped mountain range is peaking up over the clouds? We were blessed to be there on a clear morning so that we could get a view of Himalayas. 

It's the Holiday Season...

The end of September doesn't normally signal the beginning of the holiday season for me, but by the Hindu calendar, things are a little different.  September 28th marked the first day of Navratri.  Navratri is a nine day festival that celebrates the goddess Durga and her 9 avatars.  Each day of the festival honors a different avatar.  Wednesday's newspaper contained a booklet on Navratri and a story about each avatar and what she represents.  During Navratri people fast on varying levels depending on their devotion, but for most people it just means that they eat simply- without onion, garlic, meat...  They daily offer pooja (worship) to the goddess in their homes and also go to the temple to worship. 
    Because they never know when a new avatar will appear, female children are also honored and worshiped during this festival. 
    At the end of the festival there is a big celebration.  People buy new clothing and it ushers in the holiday season with Dushera and Diwali to soon follow. 
   I hope to attend some holiday events and promise to post more pictures once we get our fast internet back next month. 

Waiting for Guests

Yesterday I invited my friend Ooma to come over for tea time.  I didn't know exactly what time she would show up (she said after 2), so I was here ready at 1 and waited until 5.  I wans't really that surprised that she didn't show up because she runs her own shop and is really busy, so I wasn't disappointed, but.... When we went on our evening walk we passed by her shop and she stopped me.  She told me that she had come to my place and talked to our landlord but he had said that we didn't live there and was wondering what business she had with us.  At this point we didn't know whether she was telling us this to save face, or if our landlord had really turned her away (I thought the latter, JP thought the former).  When we got home I asked my landlord if a lady came by to see me.  He said that two ladies came by and asked what business I had with them.  When I told them that they were my friends he replied, "but they aren't Christians" and made up something about us not being home. 
    Yes, my friend Ooma is a hindu (gasp- how dare I have a hindu friend). I have mentioned before that the people in our neighborhood do not associate with the people on the other side of the sewer and this is an example of it.  My dear brothers and sisters if we do not trust the lost, if we do not extend hospitality to them, then how with they ever be saved?

Date Nights

Just a side note before I get started- the power was out for 8 hours yesterday so we went to KFC for dinner and prayed our food in the fridge didn't go bad.

JP and I have always enjoyed being creative for date night since we were on a very tight budget.  Though it would be possible to do dinner and a movie here, that just doesn't excite us that much- I like adventure (my poor husband).  For our first date night here I decided we needed to try what was advertized as the cities "only authentic Chinese restaurant".  So, we hopped in an auto and went to the other side of town and a little bit into the jungle where we found a Cafe Cofee Day and decided to stop for drinks before dinner.  I got a yummy Lichee chill.  Of course at this point JP discovered that he didn't have much cash on him.  Before going to dinner we tried to find an ATM but to no avail.  So a new game developed- Let's see how much we can do in this city for 800 RPS.  After paying our auto driver I think we had 600 left.
   At the Chinese restaurant we ordered Chinese greens (so craving those), Kung Pao chicken, Jaozi, and Rice. The food tasted more authentic than most Chinese restaurants here, but the vegetable dish had about 5 pieces of bokchoy and then a bunch of mushrooms, cauliflower, and bell pepper.  The pork Jaozi was really good though.  After dinner we were down to about 100 RPS.  We knew that we couldn't get an auto back home for that, so we just started walking and exploring.  When we got to a main road we decided to hop on a Vikram- a little blue truck with the bed turned into a cab for people- it seats 6-8 people and then you have to squat after that.  We took the Vikram a ways and then decided to hop off and look and some stores around us.  10 RPS down.  I then remembered that I needed to buy a sifter so that my cook could sift our flour.  Another 10 RPS down. 
  From there we walked into a Bengali sweet shop and bought 4 little bit sized sweets.  Although I didn't know what I was eating, I thought that they tasted very good and have since bought some more.  15 Rupees down.   Not yet ready to go home and down to about 65 RPS, we walked a little ways and spotted a cute little bakery.  The decor of the bakery looked very French Bistro esque, but it was not well kept.  Regardless, we purchased a piece of mango cake and climbed the narrow spiral staircase up to the second floor to eat and catch a glimpse of the busy street down below.  35 RPS
     With about 30 RPS left in our pocket, it was time to start heading home to relieve the babysitter.  We were still too far away to get an auto for 30 RPS, so we walked until we got to the 30 RPS point and then took an auto home. 
   It was fun just being spontaneous, exploring the city, tasting some new things, trying new forms of transportation, walking around without a baby in tow, and spending quality time together. 

No Power

I finally have time to post on the blog, but we have been without power for about 5 hours so our computer is about out of juice (and our food is probably going bad in the refrigerator).  I am afraid the power will go out mid-writing so I will just keep it simple. 
I have been away because our hard drive mysteriously stopped working :(.  Our computer is up and running but it does not have all of our old programs installed and our picture software has not been installed.  This has been an annoying glitch, but we have survived.  Please pray for our hard drive. ( I realize that we should have backed up our hd, but let's not talk about that.)  We are still attempting to get to our data on our hard drive and all of Silas' pictures from 1 month to 9 months.  I will be very sad if we lose them. 
Will post more when power comes back.