South Africa Dec 08

A few photos from the SA Christmas trip.  Lovely to be back there.  

Ostrich Farm, Outdshoorn

Beautiful scenery

Lawrence, Will & Andrew

Andrew,Will, Ruby & Lisa New Year's Eve

Lawrence, Bethan, Nia, John & William 

Indian Ocean in the background

Lawrence turns 9

Lawrence turned 9 on the 6th January.  

Having only got back from South Africa on the 4th, it was a bit too hectic to have the party on the 6th so we had a small family celebration on the day and the party was on Friday.  He wanted a treasure hunt, as Billy and Bethan had had for their last birthdays.  Having to devise a 3rd treasure hunt in the same area, with no repeat of clues meant some brain work from me. Thankfully it all went well, and they seemed to enjoy it.  

The treasure hunt in progress.

All tasks completed!

John. Billy, Lawrence & Bethan

Lawrence is 9

Rock Walk cont.

We drove a short distance from the house, parked the car and clambered up the first of many huge boulders.  At the top were a few houses, obviously no running water, or electricity but good brick built houses.  

As we walked down and around, we came to this old temple that has been built under one of the boulders, it was so well hidden and protected from the elements.  As we stood on top of the boulders if we looked one way we could see the ever expanding 'modern' Hyderabad, if we turned and to the other side of the boulder we caught a glimpse of what Hyderabad used to look like, rice paddy fields, men herding their goats and a sense of serenity.  Of course, these boulders will probably soon be blasted and developers will encroach even more upon the little greenery there is left.

I love this photo, and shows you how amazing they look, and how finely balanced they are.

At the top of the hill where the houses were, we witnessed the slaughter of two sheep (or maybe goats?).  It was the evening before Eid started and Muslims were in preparation for their main religious festival.  Pete was with us straining at the leash to get closer to what would have been heaven for him.  LOL

Hyderabad's Boulders

One of the unique features of Hyderabad is the huge boulders that dot the landscape.  I have never seen anything like it before.  You have huge boulders precariously balanced on top of other huge boulders.  Unfortunately, they are now becoming quite rare given the development of the area.  Whereas they were previously built around or on top of, they are now blasted to smithereens to make way for new buildings.  Apparently, I am told, they stem from the jurassic period!!  We joined some friends on Sunday for a 'rock walk'.  

A tight channel, have to be careful who is invited on this trail as the path through was rather tight.

Sports Day

It was school sports day last Friday.  The kids were very excited by it, more so William and Bethan.  Lawrence had a slightly different approach, odd given that he is the one who is the sportiest.  I think this is because he hates to lose, and whereas last year he swept up all the medals this year there was an added element of competition since a new boy has joined the school in Lawrence's year group.  For the first time Lawrence has some competition, and he doesn't like it!  Anyway, here they are in action...

William competing in a twist on the egg and spoon race

Egg sandwiches and a flask of coffee

Lawrence in the shot putt

Bethan trying so hard in the sack race

One man and his dog

Have not said much about Pete lately.  He is still with us (a dog is for life, blah blah blah!).  But, he is definitely John's dog.  Here he is having his first bath.  Growing well, but still only approx. half his expected adult weight.  He has a few friends on our estate, Eddie, a ridge back from Germany (language seems to be no barrier here).  Eddie is very tolerant of Pete, who is always the eager, over the top one.  And, there is Ashoka, a Heinz 57 Indian street dog.  Ashoka is slightly younger than Pete but has already taken over Pete in height.  Again, Pete is the eager 'beagle' and you can tell that Ashoka thinking "For god's sake Pete, calm down."

John tells me we are expecting too much too soon of Pete.  He is 5 months next week and as yet all furniture etc is intact.

The mornings are a lovely and cool 22 degrees at the moment and I walk Pete around the park for a few kms.  I then drop him off to John where Pete has been going to work with John for the past few weeks, only a couple of hours a few days a week.  He seems to be excepted though does run circuits like a lunatic around and under all the desks, and then collapses with exhaustion like a good boy when John is in a meeting.

He is off to the kennels again next week when we go on holidays, but Ashoka will be in the same kennels with him so hopefully he won't feel too home sick.  

Mumbai Blasts

Was woken at 6:30 this morning (27.11.08) with a call from our neighbour, Sylvette, telling me that there would be no school this morning.  Why?  Because of the blasts in Mumbai.  Given that foreign nationals were targeted, the school had taken the decision to close for the day.   This had been the case during the previous bombings that had occurred in Hyderabad.  

The first thing you think is who do I know that is in Mumbai at the moment.  It is a place that John frequently travels to, as do many of our friends.  A neighbour returned only two days ago as she and her daughter had been there to seek the vibrant life that Hyderabad is somewhat lacking.

For those of you who are not familiar with the geography of India, I have inserted a map below detailing the main cities.

As you can see, we are a fare way from Mumbai, an hour and a half by plane.

It is Thanksgiving today and I suppose we should give thanks (to who I am not sure, as I am not a follower of any religious faith), but do think, wow, we were lucky not to be involved in that.

Tonight we celebrate with our american friends Bill, Tara and their boys, with a thanksgiving dinner at their house.  I will post photos of the event.

A room for the night

Friends of ours told a very funny story over the weekend.  They have been living within a particular estate for a few months now, previously they had lived in a house that would be extremely hard to describe.... just imagine having a huge, huge boulder in the middle of your living room, the landlords living on the top floor, and a zillion servants servicing the various occupants of the house.  Well, Tara and her eldest son Liam were sitting having breakfast on Sunday morning and reflecting upon the privacy the 'new' house provided them with, when she saw some men walking down the path to the back of her house.  Confused as to why they were there and what they were up to she went outside to question them.

It turns out, they had been in earlier in the morning to clear out the unused maid's room at the back of the house and now they were in the process of depositing their suit cases in the room.   Why?  Who gave you permission? etc etc  asked Tara.  The guys pointed to the house opposite and told Tara she should speak to the 'Madam' of the house opposite.  It turns out that the lady living opposite Tara was having some work done inside her house and that these men were the tilers.  So, asked Tara, what has this got to do with them being on her property?  

The neighbour tells Tara that as her maids room is empty she has told the labourers they can sleep there.  "Absolutely Not" says Tara, "But they'll only be there in the nights" replies the neighbour.   "ABSOLUTELY NOT" says Tara.  Needless to say they were evicted before they had the chance to take root.  

Can you believe this?

To date, we can only say positive things about our fellow residents and an incident like this is surprising.

Outsourced

Watched the film 'Outsourced' over the weekend.  I had previously put off watching it because I thought it would be a bit corny, when it actually turned out to be very well done indeed.  It seemed that a lot of jokes could of been overlooked without having experienced life in India. Watch it if you get the chance as it will provide you with a glimpse of what it is like to live in India.  My favourite line of the film is when one of the characters says that I.N.D.I.A  means....

I'll

Never

Do

It 

Again

Really made laugh, as this sums up my state of mind on a regular basis.  lol

  

Children at work

It is illegal for any child under the age of 14 to be employed....  or so the notices on the back of auto rick-shaws inform us.  This is definitely not the reality of the situation.  On a daily basis I see young children being part of the Indian work force, and do realise that a practice that has been going on for centuries won't stop overnight.

The photos below are 'just' two examples of what you see.  The boy hand embroidering the sari did not look quite so happy as the handkerchief seller.

The fabric for the sari is stretched out on the wooden frame and the pattern is chalked onto the fabric.  The worker (usually male) then proceeds to hand stitch every detail and sequin onto the fabric.  The cost of a sari will depend on the fabric used and  the level of detail and adornment i.e. how long it took for someone to complete the finished item.  Each sari is about six metres long.  The speed at which the stitching is done is unbelievable, the workers hands operate like sewing machines.

The handkerchief seller was full of smiles and was very happy at being asked if I may take his photo, especially thrilled when I played back the photo to show him.  He did not ask for anything, and though I thought his smile could not get any bigger, his face was a picture of happiness, but also confusion (as to why???) when I gave him 10 Rupees and did not want any handkerchiefs in exchange.

To eat or not to eat.

Continuing on from the Charminar experience......  I mentioned that there are various food vendors about the streets.  The foods are wonderfully presented.  Mostly you will see that the sellers sell one product, or a variation on the same theme.  I rarely eat from street vendors, purely to avoid the risk of a stomach upset of some kind.  It is so tempting to buy something but when any one experiences sickness and diarrohea it can usually be traced back to something they know they should not have eaten.  

 

Tara did buy some peanuts as the smell of the hot roasted peanuts was too much to forgo.

Fresh coconuts, whole, sliced or iced.

Mental Strength!

On Tuesday morning , feeling revitalised  after my morning walk with Pete, followed by an hour of yoga  I felt mentally strong enough to undertake a visit to Charminar, the down town, old city, part of Hyderabad.  A quick phone call to my friend Tara got me a fellow shopper and off we set.  Charminar is about 45 minutes from where we live.  We timed it so that we should arrive as most shops open at about 11 am.  Watching the workforce within India is like watching a colony of ants.  It is really busy and lots of people around but it never seems like anything is being accomplished, then you take a second look and everything is set up!

The Charminar shopping experience is made up of wandering down little alley ways which are packed with locals going about their daily business, hawkers touting their wares up and down the place, snack vendors and their 'delights', beggars, motor bikes galore manoeuvring their way through the chaos and the odd car beeping it's way through the crowds as they negotiate the tiny streets, meanwhile the police men put in place as traffic calming influences do little to alleviate the grid locks that arise.  

On previous occasions when I have visited Charminar, the weather has been too hot and has contributed to the experience being an over the top sensory overload.  This time of year the daytime temperatures are a cool 26 - 30 degrees and helps make the trip a more pleasant experience.

The main purpose of the expedition was to buy a few trinkets in preparation of our Christmas travels, mainly adornments for the female friends.  Our first stop was Bangle Alley and as seen in the photos below is mainly made up of shops selling the traditional Indian bangles, worn by virtually every Indian female, young and old, that you will meet.  I love the way they are displayed.

Rubbish collection

It has been a few weeks since I last updated the blog.  Apologies.

The weeks go by so quickly and good intentions to write on the blog on a regular basis seem to fall by the wayside.

There is just 4 weeks until we break up for the Christmas break, but being in a community with quite a few Americans, we first have Thanksgiving to celebrate.  Also, when Obama was elected President there was a real 'good feel' vibe in the air.  

Whilst our children start thinking about what they would like on their Christmas list, some children in India are already part of the work force.  I took the photo below of the kid who collects the rubbish from our bin outside the house.  He is sometimes by himself and other times accompanied by a young girl of about 12 years of age.  The rubbish is thrown into the bag on the back of the bike and then taken god knows where to be recycled.  John tells me that India has one of the world's highest recycling rates.  Everything is reused, and reused, and reused a few more times.  Everything is mended.  And even when someone regards an item useless there will be an even poorer person who will find a new lease of life for the said item.

Bananas

Ring, ring.   In amongst all the rubble, and at many points along the road side you will find a phone attached to a tree or pillar.  

I have been meaning to stop and take this photo for ages.  We buy our bananas from the side of the road, on their original branch and then suspended from another tree.  There are not many things I find a beautiful site in India but this is one of them.