Sophisticated Scorn

Last week I took a friend’s sock to knitting to be mended.  I showed it to Janet, since the sock was crocheted and she said it simply needed to be darned by picking up the loose stitches and that she would show me how.  A few stitches into it, she realized she was nearly finished and told me to start my knitting while she finished the job.  Then she laughed about how she was spending a Thursday morning knitting another woman’s husband’s sock when if it was her own husband she would tell him to ‘toss it in the bin’.  She then reflected on the sock she was mending and somewhat under her breath said ‘vile garment!’ followed by ‘objectionable object’ as if in awe that she was really fixing it:)  Andrea quickly took some snaps and wrote down the hilarious sayings, although I doubt we’ll soon forget them:)  Quite a delightful English moment!

Later that afternoon Janet came over for tea, my first English tea guest with proper tea cups:)  and Andrea plopped her curd (what a hideous combination of words for such a lovely food!) in the shape of a bird!  Given her artistic inclinations, it isn’t that surprising:)  The funniest part was that Andrea wanted to show it to us before she ate it, so she waited for a break in Janet’s story, but that break didn’t come for a long time, so she sat patiently for nearly a half hour!  A curd bird is rare enough that I’m sure it was worth the wait:)

Janet, one of my favorite English women!

Smiling as she mends the ‘objectionable object’:)

The vile garment!

Andrea’s curd bird:)

Church Adventure

Jill and I had a fun morning.  We have been to the evensong service at the church a few blocks from our house in Trumpington once before, and decided we would go again this morning.  Once the baby is born, getting into Cambridge on Sunday morning to the church we have usually been going to will become a big inconvenience since we won’t be able to bike.  So we thought getting to know the local church would be a good idea, and we might also get to know more local people.  This is the church (not our photo–all the snow we did have is melted now):

So we went, but found a sign on the door saying that the service was being held in Granchester and that the members of Trumpington, Grantchester, and Newnham, three neighboring towns, were all to be there.  It is only about 1 mile away, so we had plenty of time to make that service.  As we got closer to the church, there was an amusing scene of bunches of old cane-propped men and women emerging out of nooks and crannies of the town and flocking to the church. 

The occasion was the formal announcement of a woman’s being ordained/hired to be an assistant to the vicars of all three churches.  So they had a joint service and had a sermon on how the church is one body not considered as individual local churches, but as all people who are “in” Christ.  So while local traditions are great, churches need to be open to cooperation with other local churches and practices.  The service was not sung, as our usual one is, and was generally quite a bit more casual than Little St. Mary’s in Cambridge city center.

The funny thing was that the vicar, Father Andrew, from our usual church, Little St. Mary’s, was there and gave the sermon.  The Anglicans seem to have a lot of visiting people and special guest people giving the sermons.  Father Andrew probably only gives the Sunday sermons at his church 1 out of every 5-6 Sundays.  But with a liturgical service the sermon not the center piece, and usually only 10 minutes.  Here is the Grantchester church:

 

The most fun part was afterwards, when everyone headed a block down the road to one of the town pubs for coffee.  We almost didn’t go,  but then decided we ought to and were glad we did.  They usually have coffee in the church but there were too many people.  Apparently the pub has a new owner who had previously asked for a blessing for the pub, and they took this occasion to do it. Here is the pub:

 

 They started with a bit of a poem by GK Chesterton about inns:

 

Where the bacon’s on the rafter

And the wine is in the wood,

And God that made good laughter

Has seen that they are good.

 

And then had some nice blessings about hospitality and so forth.  So we said hi to father Andrew afterwards and he joked that he hoped we “hadn’t abandoned” Little St. Mary’s so we explained our decision and chatted a bit (he returned to Little St. Mary’s to catch the end of their service and our friends there told us he told them he “caught us at another church”).  He is the “Dean” of all the churches in the area and so is helping to oversee the collaboration between these three churches.  We also talked with the woman who was “ordained” and asked about something mentioned in the sermon called “beating the bounds.”  This was (and maybe still is) a ritual done every year where members of a parish would walk around the borders of the parish so everyone would know what they were.  She explained how in the “olden days” parishes were responsible both for taxing and for taking care of everyone in their parish who fell on hard times, so knowing who was part of which parish was a big deal.  She also said something about disobedient kid’s heads being bonked on the corners of the border, but we didn’t quite catch it.  We then talked with the Grantchester vicar who mentioned he studied under Alasdair MacIntyre, a famous philosopher.  The vicar had a really weird cadence in his speech that I can’t describe very well–very punctuated or sounding like a slow machine gun. 

It was a fun surprise of a morning.  We also bought a little book about interesting people buried in the Grantchester cemetary and look forward to reading it.

Clothes drying Peter-style

Since moving to our new place, finding a place to dry clothes has become more difficult as the rainy and cold winter weather makes outside drying an impossibility.  Philly and I have a small clothes rack to share between the two of us and otherwise use hangers to dry clothes throughout our living areas.  Peter came up with a clever solution that, of course, involves the use of a stick he cut down from a tree somewhere near our house.  See below for his solution from nature for drying clothes as well as some other ‘snaps’ (as they say in India and we have become fond of saying) of our new place.

You can always count on Peter to rig something up from nothing!

Today is the first day I’ve used it and it seems slick so far! Notice all the books in the background–over half of our luggage on the way here was filled with books:)

Looking into our place from the door.

Looking out towards the door–6 feet away is the door to the main house where we share a kitchen with the Walls.

My favorite corner of the ‘house’ with our ‘living room’, the rocker Peter got us and our ‘baby corner’ with a rattle Peter made our baby, a baby tea cup and some prints we bought in London.

Bagpipes, Haggis and Kilts

The famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, will be celebrated this Monday on his birthday so accordingly Tuesday tea this week included live music from a bagpipe player.  He played for a while and afterwards the Master of Corpus Christi college recited some of Burns’ poetry in a very authentic Scottish accent.  They even had haggis and after explaining what it is–‘leftover parts of an animal, onions, other seasonings stuffed into a pig’s stomach and simmered’ they served it to us.  I think they might have served it first and then explained, but we tried it none the less.  We were told it tastes sort of like sausage which is true.  I have had haggis before with my grandparents, but didn’t remember the taste.

The bagpipes are such a beautiful instrument and also a bit eerie .    With only one piper playing, it filled the whole room with the beautiful music and as the piper said later, ‘there is no middle ground with a bagpipe’!  We ended by singing ‘auld lang syne’ since it was written by Burns.  Afterwards, Andrea and I got our pictures taken with the piper and she even tried playing–well, he did the blowing and she did the part that resembles a recorder.

The grand entrance of the piper followed by the master’s wife carrying whiskey which was given to the piper when he finished his first song and the haggis on a plate.

The piper in all his glory

The reciting of ‘Address to a Haggis’ in an excellent accent

Andrea and I posing with the piper (aren’t my hands awkward?:)

He asked Andrea if she’d ever played the recorder, but her second grade skills didn’t get her too far:)

An English Moment

I was studying yesterday, and in the adjoining flat two trumpet players were playing that opening song from the Masterpiece Theater.  So I sat up a little straighter and continued studying.

The Land of Tea

  

We took a trip to Munnar, an area of Kerala that is in the mountains and surrounded by tea estates.  We were told to be ready by 7 the next morning and that we would leave the house ‘at 8 maximum’.  We left the house around 9:30, dropped off a car, stopped for breakfast and were on the road maybe by 11, shortly after which we got in a small accident and waited for things to be sorted out and a new car to come til 1.  The drive up to Munnar was beautiful and reminded me quite a bit of Nepal–curvy, mountainous roads with beautiful views all around.  That evening we watched the sunset, or rather the after effects of the sunset from a look out and enjoyed a cup of tea as we took in the pleasantly cool air and the beautiful shades of dusk.  The next morning Peter and I woke up early and took a rikshaw to a different look out and walked about 2 miles back along a road curving through tea estates.  We joined Biju and his family and Siju and Jenny for breakfast and then headed up to a nearby park and after a busride to the top of that mountain, hiked as high as we could and saw some nearly extinct mountain goats and more beautiful views of tea estates.  That afternoon we visited a tea museum and sort of learned how tea is processed.  I say sort of because we could only catch about every 20th word the guide said:)  We then drove to where a dam is, hoping to see some wild elephants we heard about.  The closest we came to that was two elephants on the side of the road, being rented out for rides.  We decided petting the elephant was good enough as traipsing along the side of a mountain road wasn’t exactly the ‘jungle adventure’ we had hoped for:)  We also snuck into a tea estate so we could see the tea up close and then began the long drive home. 

On our way up–the non-forest area is a tea estate in the distance.

Enjoying tea and the view the first night.

That night we loaded up on spices in the market–vanilla beans, cinnamon, and saffron were some of our finds!

This was our view the next morning–well worth waking up before sunrise to see!

Of all the beautiful things we saw while in India, I think this was my favorite–perhaps because it reminded me most of Nepal!

Early risers!

A beautiful walk back.

The endangered goat on the hike and the tea estates in the background.

View from the top of the trail we hiked.

While this elephant was pacing back and forth rather strangely, it was no wild elephant!

Peter wanted to snowboard down this slope of tea.

More tea estates–a special shade tree is planted in the middle of the tea plants.

An expert tea maker–we had lots of good tea in India, but this might have been the best cup:)

The tea estate we snuck into for a closer look at the tea.

The Backwaters of Kerala

After a little over a week in Bombay, we flew to Kerala, the southern most state in India, where Siju’s family is from.  We spent the first night at Siju’s sister-in-law’s parents’ house.  They were wonderful hosts and fed us an amazing Keralan meal the first night–complete with several courses and at least 4 kinds of meat!  The next morning we woke up early and Biju gave us a tour of their land, which includes coconut, pineapple, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and rubber trees.  We visited some nearby homes where relatives live and saw how they make rubber.  That same morning we took a train a few hours away and spent a few days at a cottage on a lake.  We relaxed in a hammock, ate great food and enjoyed a boat ride in the canals off of the lake we stayed on.  The third day we spent on a houseboat with Lilly, Vinit and both families.  The families left around 6 and Peter and I spent the night on the boat and had breakfast and another quick boat ride the next morning before returning to where Siju’s brother lives.

The first course was this amazing fish with a coconut sauce.  We had a lot of fish in Bombay and Kerala.  This was followed by quail, chicken, pork, rice, pineapple curry and finally beet pudding for dessert!

Pineapple–it grows in a bush on the ground!

Rubber trees!

This is the raw rubber that they sell.

Packed in on the train.  Fortunately it wasn’t long before we got to sit down!

We took a 2 1/2 hour train ride to get to the cottage for a little over a dollar per person!

There was standing room only when we first got on.  Apparently there is no understood ‘give a seat to pregnant women’ rule in India, but at the second stop things cleared up a bit and Peter found room up top while I sat down below.

We enjoyed all of our meals on the porch of our little cottage.

The view from our porch–one of many houseboats that went by in the course of a day.  We took a smaller boat our second day there that could fit through the canals.

On a two-hour tour of the neaby canals.

On our way from the big lake into the smaller, winding canals.

Four fisherman taking a chai break.

One of the many bridges we went under–we had to duck our heads to not get hit!

Washing clothes is much easier when the river is in your front yard.

A cricket game in a field we boated past.

One of the many neon-painted houses we passed.

There are a lot of Christians in Kerala, and the paper stars mark Christian houses as that is what they hang for Christmas.

A mansion on the water.

More brightly painted houses!

The view of the lake at sunset from the hammock.

Waiting for Siju, Jenny and Lilly and Vinit’s families on the houseboat.  They gave us coconut water to drink while we waited.

The houseboat as we stopped for lunch.

Peter fishing that evening after the families left.  The bait was dough and was tasty enough for the fish to eat, but not helpful in actually catching any.

The next morning we watched this boat pass with quite the load!

A relaxing morning on the boat.

Complete with fresh pineapple juice for breakfast!

Trying to sleep on the train on the way back.  When we arrived at the train station near where Siju’s brother lives, we found out there was a rikshaw/taxi strike, so we went to a nearby restaurant to call Biju to see if he could pick us up.  The restaurant owner made the call in Malayalam (the main language spoken in Kerala) and without introducing himself or saying where he was calling from, tersely said “There are two Englishmen here” from which Biju concluded it was us and he came right away to pick us up:)

Ancient Indian Rock Caves

 We went to three ancient Buddhist rock caves–two were about 2 hours outside of Bombay, and the other is on an island about a 1.5 hour boat ride from the port on the south side of Bombay. 

  

These are some of the scenes on the way to the caves, the bottom is the side of a large slum.  Apart from the poverty and bad sanitation, I think they look pretty fun.  They resemble the types of playgrounds kids really like with all the winding passageways and little secret chambers.

The pollution from Bombay spreads far and wide.  The haze in front and behind this point has traveled miles from Bombay. 

 

A fierce camel.

This is the beginning up to the first cave, Bhaja Cave.  Rice fields fill up the background, and this area would have had to support the cave and the nearby forts over the years.

Here is the main hall.  This is a Buddhist place of worship and a monastery.  The whole thing is modeled after free-standing wood buildings of the same sort, so the wood beams are added  to make it look even more similar.  Some beams have been recently replaced, but most are supposedly original–2200 years old.  People would come from miles around.

The wood on the right is supposedly 2200 years old.  For some reason wood from before Jesus existed is quite amazing to me, even though the rock right next to it was there too.

Inside one of the monastery large rooms looking out.

The luxurious life of the monk.

Climbing up to some of the higher rooms.

 

More stupas.

 

 

Another smaller sanctuary farther down the cliff face.

 

 

 

These two reliefs were fun to look at because the brochure we had described them a bit and gave a bit of background.  On the top some warrior is conquering a demon, and on the bottom another powerful leader is riding on an elephant.

 

 

This is Karla Cave, only a few minutes away from Bhaja.  It has the best main hall in India.  The tent on the right is a contemporary Hindu temple, and there were a lot of people walking up in order to go to it.

 

 

 

The small man talking to Jill is our guide.  He attached himself to us as we walked up to the cave and kindly gave his guidance services without us even asking!  He helpfully point out the waterfall we walked passed, pointed out the very trail we were walking on, our car in the parking lot below, and other things that we certainly wouldn’t have noticed.  In his use of English he focused on depth rather than breadth, so made sure to repeat his main point (a key practice of a good educator) about 800 times.  So we will forever remember “Buddhist top there” but unfortunately not have a clue what it means. 

 

He of course asked for money when we got back down to the bottom, first indirectly and then directly.  I tried to time it so that I would give some money to him right as we drove away so I wouldn’t have to deal with any more begging, but the girls decided to go to the bathroom right after I gave it and threw off my plan.  I gave him 100 ruppees which is a little over $2, but the purchasing power over there is much more, and I figure he could buy 5-6 solid meals with it, which is at least the equivalent of $15.  For an hour’s work of doing nothing, unasked for, I thought that was more than fair.  But he had manage to master some more English for just such an occasion and was mumbling things to me while I waited for the girls to return to the car including the phrase “very slight.”

 

 

 

 

Relief on one side of the entrance.

 

 

Our guide continuing to enlighten Jill.  Kids were trying to throw coins and get them to land on top of the wood shelf above the stupa.  I wonder if kids in ancient time were the same or more reverent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the boardwalk to Elephanta Island.

 

 

Main cave entrance.

 

 

Huge Buddha statue.

 

 

 

Another smaller cave.

 

 

View from the top of the hill.

 

The Island was used for military by the English in more recent times, since it is in a good defensive position for Bombay.

 

 

Cow on the path on the way down.

The Wedding

A wedding in India is a very elaborate, several day affair.  An engagement ceremony is several days before the wedding–and Lilly’s was the night we arrived in India.  Generally outdoor venues are rented and decorated with flowers and lights and fabric and a stage is constructed.  Lilly and Vinit spent the evening greeting guests on the stage, until the deejay wanted them to be announced.  He kept asking the workers to pass out the ‘comfortees’ and after about 5 minutes of him repeating ‘please pass out the comfortees–quickly!’ the workers came around with buckets of colorful little balls.  I assumed they were sweets to be enjoyed and so popped one in my mouth until the combination of the look on Peter’s face and the styro-foamy taste caused me to spit it back out.  We now know it was meant as confetti!  So I hoped no one around me saw me attempt to eat it and threw my handful on the happy couple as they walked by.  I still think he was saying ‘comfortees’, but Peter thinks he was saying confetti–either way, they aren’t tasty!

The engagement stage

The food line at the engagement

The couple who picked us up from the airport at the engagement

A handful of comfortees

The tooth dent:)

Shortly after the confetti mishap, the deejay invited everyone to form a train behind the couple and parade around, which we were compelled to do:)  Then he had two couples join up, making a group of four, which would then parade around in the same way, except Peter and I were last and there was no one to join us, so it was all groups of four and then the American couple by themselves at the end:)  When they joined to groups of eight and there was still no one to join us, we decided to sit down!

We stayed until about 2 a.m. with the family and then crashed for the night.  The next day we went shopping with Lilly and her friend Karuna–Lilly had a few last minute jewelry items to buy and I got bangles.   We enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes preparations of a bride and also got to see lots of jewelry and fabric shops that we probably would not have seen on our own.  It was fun to get to know Lilly a bit and she was great to include us on her errands!

That night there was a mahendi party at Lilly’s–mahendi (or mehndi as wikipedia spells it:) is a temporary skin decoration with henna.  The henna is applied through a tube, much like frosting on cookies, directly to the skin and is left there to dry.  It eventually flakes off and if no water is applied to the hands for several hours after, the mehndi will get darker and darker overnight.  Lilly had her college friends over, somewhat like a bachelorette party, and they all got their hands decorated with the henna.  The girls who put it on do everything freestyle.  Lilly’s covered her hands up to her elbows and her feet and ankles.

 

The next day Siju and Jenny arrived and had some more wedding errands to run.  Peter bought some pants to go with the kurta top he was wearing–unlike any other pants he owns, they are somewhat like leggings:)  We went with Siju and his brother Biju and found Peter’s pants but passed on buying the aladdin like shoes that some of the guys wore.  That night 5 women from Vinit’s family came to Lilly’s house and covered her in a tumeric like paste.  Once she was covered in it, she showered, changed and there were a few more Hindu rituals the family performed and then they enjoyed sweets together.  Lilly’s family is Catholic and Vinit’s family is Hindu, so many of the Hindu rituals were new to Lilly’s family as well, so we didn’t always know what was happening or why.

 

The next day Lilly left the house at 4:30 a.m. to get her hair and make-up done.  Peter and I were up by 5:30 and ready to go at Siju’s house shortly after 6, although we didn’t leave until close to 8, even though Vinit’s family had said we should arrive at the wedding location between 7-8:)  We arrived close to 9 and no one from Vinit’s family had come yet, so Lilly had lots of pictures taken.  When Vinit did arrive, the ceremony began and lasted many many hours!  At the beginning the bride and groom stand on opposite sides of a white sheet, unable to see each other.  When the sheet is lowered, the groom’s family lifts him on their shoulders and the bride’s family does the same.  Lilly was supposed to put a flower necklace around Vinit’s neck, but his job is to make it hard for her.  It was very funny to watch Lilly’s brothers try to get her high enough to reach Vinit, which she eventually did.

Although the ceremony is very long and has lots of rituals, the overall feel of the morning was very informal–people are walking around, talking on cell phones, eating food, visiting with people and the ceremony is sort of happening in the background. 

Sometime in the morning, turbans were put on all the men–including Peter!  Lengths of fabric were quickly and expertly wrapped around each man’s head by a young boy hired for the task.  Peter’s had to be redone since his first one was a bit cockeyed, but between the turban and the kurta, his Indian wedding look was complete!

 

There is a tradition where the bride’s friends steal the groom’s shoes–Vinit had to remove his shoes before stepping on to the wedding platform and can’t step off until he is wearing the same shoes he arrived in.  So for about 20 minutes there was some very funny bargaining back and forth for his shoes.  The friends started asking for 10,000 rupees and settled for about 1500, which is $30–not bad!

The ceremony ended with a great meal–a mix of Goan/Maharastrian food (Vinit’s family is from the state of Goa but now lives in Mahrasthra, the state Bombay is in), which included a cold coconut soup with pieces of custard apple–very tasty!

We then went home to rest for a bit before the reception.  We all changed our attire and I wore a sari with the help of Siju’s sister-in-law, as I can’t drape it myself.  A sari is the perfect wedding attire for a pregnant woman as it can be any size!  The reception started at 6:30, so we decided we’d leave about then, since most people are late, but we didn’t end up arriving until almost 9 and Lilly was wondering where her family was!  The evening reception was very elaborate–with all fresh flower decorations and 6 or 7 different food stations.  We enjoyed pani poori, which is a spicy soup like mix that is poured into a circle pastry of sorts and is immediately popped into your mouth to be eaten in one bite.  This was Peter’s favorite food of the evening and all together he had 12!  Topped only by the guy who camped out at the pani poori station the whole evening:)

 

The clothing and jewelry of Indian women is so beautiful and bright and colorful–I loved seeing all the different saris and several women said they were very happy to see me in a sari!  The pictures won’t quite do justice, but you can catch a glimpse!  Also, we learned that this was the last day Hindus could get married until sometime in May as they choose the wedding date based on the stars and when is most ‘auspicious’, so there were 22,000 weddings in Bombay that day!

We’re back from India!

We got back late Sunday night after quite the day of travels–we started out in a taxi, then took two planes, the tube in London, a bus back to Cambridge and biked home!  We are so glad to be home and in our new house–we have a few more things to get, like a blanket–its cold here! and then hope to be settled into our new place.   I’ll post a few pictures of highlights from the first few days in India–at Siju’s sister’s wedding and then over the course of the next few days tell some of our travel tales as well as post pictures of our other adventures in Mumbai and Kerala.  All in all it was a good trip, although we were sad to miss Christmas with our families and will be glad to have a White Christmas next year!

I got mahendi (or henna) done with Lilly, Siju’s sister and bride-to-be, at her house a couple of nights before the wedding.

We attended Lilly and Vinit’s wedding

Peter wore a turban and wore the kurta he bought when he was in India in 2005.  I wore a sari that evening.

Even with all of these bangles, I was ‘underdressed’ compared to most Indian women! 

Lilly and Vinit, the bride and groom, at their reception that evening.  This is Lilly’s third outfit and hair/make-up change for the day!