Saturday, January 01, 2005
December 31, 2004
Happy New Year to all of you, and all the best in 2005. Belated Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. We did here in India.
Here we are on the last day of 2005. Little Charlie had me up at 4 am and now he's playing around with all the computer equipment, so let's see how long I can write.
Mercifully, our city Bangalore was spared from any of the effects of the tsunami that hit on Dec. 26 (Black Sunday some of the newspapers are calling it here). Upwards of 10,000 people have died in India alone. The disaster struck very close to Badri's parents' house, Amma and Appa, in Chennai, and roughly one kilometer from their house, over 2,000 people died near the beach. They and all of our other relatives throughout India are safe and unhurt.
Badri and I thank our lucky stars that we're often procrastinators and poor planners. Back in October we'd been planning an end-of-the-year beach holiday and were trying to book a spot in Thailand or Sri Lanka. All rooms were booked even back then. Those were two of the worst hit countries. Some close friends of ours (the kids on the couch with our kids in the Christmas picture below) returned from Sri Lanka only two days before the tsunami hit the beach they'd visited.
We're checking out a few of the humanitarian organizations coordinating the aid effort. If anyone's interested in what we come up with, drop me a line.
Many of you have asked for our mailing address. It is:
The Raghavans
No. 33 2nd Main
Defence Colony, Indiranagar
Bangalore, 560 038
INDIA
We just returned last night from our three day trip to Coorg. The region is called the Scotland of India because of its beautiful hills and lush green valleys. At the heart of Coorg is the Cauvery River, which is one of the 7 sacred rivers of the Hindu faith. Legend has if that every year on October 18 (Molly's birthday), the Goddess Parvati (some consider her to be the goddess of feminine power) emerges from a spring that's the source of the Cauvery.
It was a long car ride to and back, and I've resolved to take on no more than a two hour road trip until Charlie is about 15 (years!). He was wailing for the last couple hours of the 7 hour ride, and the next day his 4th tooth (front) showed up. I suppose every bump in the hellacious road sent searing pain through his skull with that tooth coming down. But once we got there he slept and napped better than ever. It's so peaceful--only the sound of birds outside the windows. No construction banging or car horns beeping. Really out in the middle of nowhere.
Badri and I went on a wonderful "forest trek" around the coffee plantation run by Orange County (the resort where we stayed). Our guide's name was Murthy, from Tamil Nadu. Adjacent to the plantation is the Dubare Forest, where we saw the tallest bamboo bushes I've ever seen--at least 3 stories high. The owner of Orange County is environmentally conscious, so the electric fences separating the plantation from the forest are set at--what we were told is--low voltage. Evidently the government comes around periodically to check the voltage because there are cases of farmers putting too high a charge on the fence and elephants get electrocuted to death. In some communities, elephants are trampling their crops, and that's how the farmers cope--by upping the amps on the fence.
We saw beautiful ant nests made out of elephant dung--the industrious little guys take the dung bit by bit and build a nest a foot and a half high. Murthy showed us how, if you take the ant off a branch near the nest, the ant just walks up your arm. If you take an ant directly from the nest, it bites your arm. I guess he has pretty tough skin, because he took ants off both places.
While we were at Orange County there was a festival going on and Maya had fun doing some of the activities. She had mehendi done on both her hands. Mehendi is the Indian art of painting beautiful designs on hands and feet, traditionally on the bride before marriage. Now it's become very popular for those who aren't getting married as well.
There was a pool at the resort. The kids are crazy about getting into the pool, and Maya's really starting to get the paddling and kicking thing down. Molly enjoys walking around in the two feet kiddie pool, and Charlie just likes scootching around the pool.
I suppose the highlight of the three days was the elephant ride (see picture below). Our elephant's name was Indra, king of the heavens. I did feel pretty badly about being one of four adults getting up on this poor beast though. I must say it was more comfortable than the camel ride Badri and I took back in 1998 in the Rajasthan (India) desert.
No, come to think of it, the highlight for me was the massage. This is total decadence, but it was done by five women with two liters of oil and lasted one and a half hours. Badri had one at the same time, done by five men. The only downside was that I broke out in a rash all over my body the next day. I figure it was from the body scrub made from ayurvedic herbs that I showered with after the massage.
December 25, 2004
Some of you have asked how/whether we'll celebrate Christmas in India. Although 5% or less of India is Christian, many more (Hindus, especially) observe parts of the Christmas tradition, such as putting up a tree, buying presents, going to parties, etc. We put up a tree a couple weeks before Christmas, made Christmas cookies (see picture), put out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, and opened presents on Christmas morning. There's an apartment building across the park from us that kept us up late Christmas eve with their loud party--almost as loud as the party they had on Diwali (India's biggest Hindu holiday/festival) in October.
December 20, 2004
As the end of the year draws near, lately I stop and think even more about how fortunate we are. I think about how lucky we are to have found Maya. The miracle of starting a family through adoption is as wondrous as the astounding surprise of conceiving through multiple IVFs (Molly) or simply a whopping surprise you never imagined would happen (Charlie). You'd be amazed at the number of people here who comment on how Maya's my spitting image (I should be so lucky!). While others comment on the fact that none of the children resemble me, but only their father. As exhausted as we are with the two little ones, we're always running to get the camcorder or camera to record these moments we don't ever want to forget.
My Mom will be traveling to India in two weeks. It should be a very exciting trip for her, flying through Frankfurt, Germany. The things we do for grandchildren!!
Dec. 19, 2004
I bought two tickets for a magic show for Maya and me. My yoga teacher's daughter is a student at Christ College and their Center for Social Action was sponsoring the show as a fundraiser for an orphanage being built. I thought it'd be a fun thing for Maya and I to do together. We both got dressed up in our salwar kameez (north indian attire of long shirt and blousy pants underneath, with dupatta--scarf) . But the show started out with an earsplitting video showing the magician doing his Houdini-like tricks, including being lowered head first in chains into a burning haystack. Maya was covering her ears and after a few minutes we took off. There was a popcorn vendor outside so we ate some popcorna and waited to see if the volume went down at all. When it didn't, we left and went to the Baskin Robbins in our neighborhood to pick up some ice cream.
Dec. 18, 2004
Brought Charlie to the doctor's today because I knew he had a few shots due. Had measles (there's an additional vaccine besides the MMR/measles, mumps, rubella here), oral polio virus, and hepatitis B vaccinations. Another reason I brought him in is because Celine thought he looked yellow. Well, sure enough he is--doc says it's from eating so many carrots! He's a skinny little guy--just barely 20 lbs. and 30 inches long. The last couple mornings (5 am is his wake up time the last few days) I've gone in to find him sitting up in his crib. He's down for a nap by 8:30 or 9am, if the construction noise next to his room allows it.
December 13, 2004
Okay, a bunch of you wrote to say you hope the kids were feeling better. Well, they were--for a couple weeks. But then Molly threw up last week and Charlie did, too, over the last couple days. Just so you know. Hope none of you are reading this over coffee and toast or anything.
Big news today--Molly sat on the potty and actually peed today. She's sat on the potty plenty of times before (usually after she wet her diaper), but this time she was actually productive. I'm too exhausted to do a comprehensive, all-out potty training with her right now--after all, she's just turned two (which, by the way, is late by Indian standards, but not by U.S. customs, as many of you know). I told Celine Auntie I'd give her a nice bonus if she potty trained Molly.
I'm reading Paolo Coelho's The Alchemist. It was given to Badri by his cousin, Kadham. I'd never heard of Coelho before, but evidently he's a bestseller in most countries but the U.S. It's an inspiring, easy read about a Spanish shephard boy who is pursuing his dream.
December 12, 2004
Went to a little mini-mall and picked up an artificial Christmas tree, a few boxes of ornaments and a tree-topping angel, all for about $50. I asked around and the real trees aren't available. Celebration of Christmas is actually much bigger here than I thought it would be. The other night three carolers came to the house, one strumming guitar, and sang a few Christmas songs for us. Celine Auntie (our nanny) is Catholic, so had her ears perked for them and let us know when they arrived at the house. As it was for us as children, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year for Celine, and it is the only day she requested off in advance when we were hiring her. We actually planned our end-of-the-year trip around her. She's taking Dec. 25 and 26 off, and we'll be traveling to Coorg (home of the hills and coffee plantations) with her from Dec. 27-30.
December 9, 2004
Went to the year-end musical play at Maya's kindergarten (3 classes: pre-K; jr. K; and sr. K--Maya's in jr. K). The kids did a great job. Maya was one of the piggies and joined some of her buddies in competing to see who could sing the loudest. She'll be out of school from Dec. 10 until the beginning of 2005. It'll be nice to have her home for a few weeks and not need to hustle her out of the door at 7:45 a.m.
December 7, 2004
I should share some of the feedback I get from this update. One friend, Hap, suggests I include a picture of the $1000 dress on the next monthly. Maybe I will--but I just fear how crazy you'll all think I am ("She paid WHAT for THAT?!!?").
Christmas party on Saturday was great fun. I went first with Maya and she had a great time doing arts and crafts (decorating a lifesize snowman, painting some pottery, frosting gingerbread men) and seeing lots of her friends from school. I also got to see lots of people I'd met in the beginning of our time here, but never see anymore (since Maya's been going to the Canadian school, we've not been able to go to a different playgroup in another part of town, and I'd found some of the moms out there interesting). Badri and Celine Auntie (our nanny) came later with Charlie and Molly. These two had a great time just scootching/running around the grassy area with other little ones, and all three had their picture taken with Santa.
Small-world story that day: I met an Indian woman who'd lived in California a few years ago--not just in Calif., but in our little community of Tierrasanta (near the Padres' stadium in San Diego).
Today I went to another part of Bangalore, to a school I'd heard sells Montessori learning materials. It's in a completely different part of town, with lots of mosques, much older, more congested. I spoke with Claire, a French woman, on the phone, and she met me on the main street and walked me through some narrow streets back to the school. The children were having lunch when we arrived and she introduced me to the teacher. About 20 students, they are all from poor families and get most of their daily food at the school.
Claire set up the school and the microenterprise (small business) across the street from the school four years ago. She's an engineer by trade and studied for six months in Montreal. She develops the games and educational materials and the local women working there produce the material. I really liked a lot of their stuff (puzzles, matching games) and bought some of it--most of which I'll give our three little munchkins for Christmas presents. I'll be hosting a playgroup in a couple weeks and Claire will bring some of her materials so the kids can play with them and the moms and dads can check them out (kind of the NGO version of a Tupperware party--which, by the way, is also sold here in India). The small business partly supports the school, and I offered to proofread her materials since I think it's such a worthy cause.
Off I go to bed. Just missed my 9 a.m. bedtime deadline. Since Badri's out of town these last couple days, I've been hitting the hay unusually early so I can keep up with Molly's 5 am wake up call these days. It's only by waking up that early that I can get them all fed and clothed without rushing too much to get Maya out the door by 7:45. I then take Charlie and Molly in the double stroller on our half hour loop before we land up at the park. On that loop I usually stop for fruit or vegetables that we need for the next day or two. Gotta love that stroller with the deep underbasket. We run into very interesting people along the way. One older gentleman, along with his wife, is raising his three grandsons (3 year old twins and a one-year-old) for the next two years while his son and daughter-in-law work in Marlboro, Massachusetts. I couldn't bear the thought of missing those years with my kids, but I guess people do what they think they have to do (interjecting my judgement here--the son and daughter-in-law are not migrant apple pickers or anything: they work for a high tech company and the Mass. Medical Society).
December 3, 2004
The last month of 2004--pretty amazing!
Charlie's scootching around on his bum like crazy and waving, saying "Baa". Molly's favorite thing starting today is having Amuma (grandmother--Badri's aunt) tickle her cheek with a leaf. She likes it even better on the belly, so walks up to Amuma, pulls up her shirt, and says, "Tickle me!" It puts her into a trancelike state where she actually starts drooling (just picture that!). And poor Maya--today she went all the way to school, throwing up on the way (so that's why she didn't feel like eating breakfast!), to find that there was no school today (teachers preparing report cards). She came home and slept for over three hours, then went to her good buddy's birthday party, Manasvi (they met at Maya's first school here, Kangaroo Kids, and have monthly playdates). It was at a place called Amoeba, pretty much like Chuck E. Cheese. Her favorite part was eating the cake that was a Barbie Doll with a huge pink cake dress.
Badri's in Delhi for campus recruiting at his old alma mater, St. Stephens. He'll be trying to hook up with some professors he hasn't seen in, oh, probably about 20 years.
Amuma and Pata are heading off for Hampi on Sunday to see the ruins. Pata just gave a lecture at a local university on "Indian Immigrants in America." There was a good turnout and it sounds like something I would have liked to have gone to. If only I could be two places at once!
Tomorrow's a big Christmas party thrown by the Overseas Women's Club. The kids are supposed to write letters to Santa before we go, and I hear there will be arts and crafts and lots of yummies. Should be interesting. From 11 to 2, Molly's naptime. We'll bring the stroller in case she has to crash.
Maya on Santa's lap at Christmas party
Appa and his girls
Maya and Molly making cookies with Vani (our cook)
Charlie helping me with the laundry
This was the best we could do for the kiddies' Christmas picture
Our kids with the DeCostas, the friends who were in Sri Lanka 2 days before the tsunami
And this was the best we could do for the family picture
Molly and Appa
Elephant bath
Scrubbing the elephant
Charlie with Thomas the Tank Engine
Riding Indra
At the Tibetan buddhist temple
Charlie and me at Tibetan buddhist temple
Happy New Year to all of you, and all the best in 2005. Belated Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. We did here in India.
Here we are on the last day of 2005. Little Charlie had me up at 4 am and now he's playing around with all the computer equipment, so let's see how long I can write.
Mercifully, our city Bangalore was spared from any of the effects of the tsunami that hit on Dec. 26 (Black Sunday some of the newspapers are calling it here). Upwards of 10,000 people have died in India alone. The disaster struck very close to Badri's parents' house, Amma and Appa, in Chennai, and roughly one kilometer from their house, over 2,000 people died near the beach. They and all of our other relatives throughout India are safe and unhurt.
Badri and I thank our lucky stars that we're often procrastinators and poor planners. Back in October we'd been planning an end-of-the-year beach holiday and were trying to book a spot in Thailand or Sri Lanka. All rooms were booked even back then. Those were two of the worst hit countries. Some close friends of ours (the kids on the couch with our kids in the Christmas picture below) returned from Sri Lanka only two days before the tsunami hit the beach they'd visited.
We're checking out a few of the humanitarian organizations coordinating the aid effort. If anyone's interested in what we come up with, drop me a line.
Many of you have asked for our mailing address. It is:
The Raghavans
No. 33 2nd Main
Defence Colony, Indiranagar
Bangalore, 560 038
INDIA
We just returned last night from our three day trip to Coorg. The region is called the Scotland of India because of its beautiful hills and lush green valleys. At the heart of Coorg is the Cauvery River, which is one of the 7 sacred rivers of the Hindu faith. Legend has if that every year on October 18 (Molly's birthday), the Goddess Parvati (some consider her to be the goddess of feminine power) emerges from a spring that's the source of the Cauvery.
It was a long car ride to and back, and I've resolved to take on no more than a two hour road trip until Charlie is about 15 (years!). He was wailing for the last couple hours of the 7 hour ride, and the next day his 4th tooth (front) showed up. I suppose every bump in the hellacious road sent searing pain through his skull with that tooth coming down. But once we got there he slept and napped better than ever. It's so peaceful--only the sound of birds outside the windows. No construction banging or car horns beeping. Really out in the middle of nowhere.
Badri and I went on a wonderful "forest trek" around the coffee plantation run by Orange County (the resort where we stayed). Our guide's name was Murthy, from Tamil Nadu. Adjacent to the plantation is the Dubare Forest, where we saw the tallest bamboo bushes I've ever seen--at least 3 stories high. The owner of Orange County is environmentally conscious, so the electric fences separating the plantation from the forest are set at--what we were told is--low voltage. Evidently the government comes around periodically to check the voltage because there are cases of farmers putting too high a charge on the fence and elephants get electrocuted to death. In some communities, elephants are trampling their crops, and that's how the farmers cope--by upping the amps on the fence.
We saw beautiful ant nests made out of elephant dung--the industrious little guys take the dung bit by bit and build a nest a foot and a half high. Murthy showed us how, if you take the ant off a branch near the nest, the ant just walks up your arm. If you take an ant directly from the nest, it bites your arm. I guess he has pretty tough skin, because he took ants off both places.
While we were at Orange County there was a festival going on and Maya had fun doing some of the activities. She had mehendi done on both her hands. Mehendi is the Indian art of painting beautiful designs on hands and feet, traditionally on the bride before marriage. Now it's become very popular for those who aren't getting married as well.
There was a pool at the resort. The kids are crazy about getting into the pool, and Maya's really starting to get the paddling and kicking thing down. Molly enjoys walking around in the two feet kiddie pool, and Charlie just likes scootching around the pool.
I suppose the highlight of the three days was the elephant ride (see picture below). Our elephant's name was Indra, king of the heavens. I did feel pretty badly about being one of four adults getting up on this poor beast though. I must say it was more comfortable than the camel ride Badri and I took back in 1998 in the Rajasthan (India) desert.
No, come to think of it, the highlight for me was the massage. This is total decadence, but it was done by five women with two liters of oil and lasted one and a half hours. Badri had one at the same time, done by five men. The only downside was that I broke out in a rash all over my body the next day. I figure it was from the body scrub made from ayurvedic herbs that I showered with after the massage.
December 25, 2004
Some of you have asked how/whether we'll celebrate Christmas in India. Although 5% or less of India is Christian, many more (Hindus, especially) observe parts of the Christmas tradition, such as putting up a tree, buying presents, going to parties, etc. We put up a tree a couple weeks before Christmas, made Christmas cookies (see picture), put out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, and opened presents on Christmas morning. There's an apartment building across the park from us that kept us up late Christmas eve with their loud party--almost as loud as the party they had on Diwali (India's biggest Hindu holiday/festival) in October.
December 20, 2004
As the end of the year draws near, lately I stop and think even more about how fortunate we are. I think about how lucky we are to have found Maya. The miracle of starting a family through adoption is as wondrous as the astounding surprise of conceiving through multiple IVFs (Molly) or simply a whopping surprise you never imagined would happen (Charlie). You'd be amazed at the number of people here who comment on how Maya's my spitting image (I should be so lucky!). While others comment on the fact that none of the children resemble me, but only their father. As exhausted as we are with the two little ones, we're always running to get the camcorder or camera to record these moments we don't ever want to forget.
My Mom will be traveling to India in two weeks. It should be a very exciting trip for her, flying through Frankfurt, Germany. The things we do for grandchildren!!
Dec. 19, 2004
I bought two tickets for a magic show for Maya and me. My yoga teacher's daughter is a student at Christ College and their Center for Social Action was sponsoring the show as a fundraiser for an orphanage being built. I thought it'd be a fun thing for Maya and I to do together. We both got dressed up in our salwar kameez (north indian attire of long shirt and blousy pants underneath, with dupatta--scarf) . But the show started out with an earsplitting video showing the magician doing his Houdini-like tricks, including being lowered head first in chains into a burning haystack. Maya was covering her ears and after a few minutes we took off. There was a popcorn vendor outside so we ate some popcorna and waited to see if the volume went down at all. When it didn't, we left and went to the Baskin Robbins in our neighborhood to pick up some ice cream.
Dec. 18, 2004
Brought Charlie to the doctor's today because I knew he had a few shots due. Had measles (there's an additional vaccine besides the MMR/measles, mumps, rubella here), oral polio virus, and hepatitis B vaccinations. Another reason I brought him in is because Celine thought he looked yellow. Well, sure enough he is--doc says it's from eating so many carrots! He's a skinny little guy--just barely 20 lbs. and 30 inches long. The last couple mornings (5 am is his wake up time the last few days) I've gone in to find him sitting up in his crib. He's down for a nap by 8:30 or 9am, if the construction noise next to his room allows it.
December 13, 2004
Okay, a bunch of you wrote to say you hope the kids were feeling better. Well, they were--for a couple weeks. But then Molly threw up last week and Charlie did, too, over the last couple days. Just so you know. Hope none of you are reading this over coffee and toast or anything.
Big news today--Molly sat on the potty and actually peed today. She's sat on the potty plenty of times before (usually after she wet her diaper), but this time she was actually productive. I'm too exhausted to do a comprehensive, all-out potty training with her right now--after all, she's just turned two (which, by the way, is late by Indian standards, but not by U.S. customs, as many of you know). I told Celine Auntie I'd give her a nice bonus if she potty trained Molly.
I'm reading Paolo Coelho's The Alchemist. It was given to Badri by his cousin, Kadham. I'd never heard of Coelho before, but evidently he's a bestseller in most countries but the U.S. It's an inspiring, easy read about a Spanish shephard boy who is pursuing his dream.
December 12, 2004
Went to a little mini-mall and picked up an artificial Christmas tree, a few boxes of ornaments and a tree-topping angel, all for about $50. I asked around and the real trees aren't available. Celebration of Christmas is actually much bigger here than I thought it would be. The other night three carolers came to the house, one strumming guitar, and sang a few Christmas songs for us. Celine Auntie (our nanny) is Catholic, so had her ears perked for them and let us know when they arrived at the house. As it was for us as children, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year for Celine, and it is the only day she requested off in advance when we were hiring her. We actually planned our end-of-the-year trip around her. She's taking Dec. 25 and 26 off, and we'll be traveling to Coorg (home of the hills and coffee plantations) with her from Dec. 27-30.
December 9, 2004
Went to the year-end musical play at Maya's kindergarten (3 classes: pre-K; jr. K; and sr. K--Maya's in jr. K). The kids did a great job. Maya was one of the piggies and joined some of her buddies in competing to see who could sing the loudest. She'll be out of school from Dec. 10 until the beginning of 2005. It'll be nice to have her home for a few weeks and not need to hustle her out of the door at 7:45 a.m.
December 7, 2004
I should share some of the feedback I get from this update. One friend, Hap, suggests I include a picture of the $1000 dress on the next monthly. Maybe I will--but I just fear how crazy you'll all think I am ("She paid WHAT for THAT?!!?").
Christmas party on Saturday was great fun. I went first with Maya and she had a great time doing arts and crafts (decorating a lifesize snowman, painting some pottery, frosting gingerbread men) and seeing lots of her friends from school. I also got to see lots of people I'd met in the beginning of our time here, but never see anymore (since Maya's been going to the Canadian school, we've not been able to go to a different playgroup in another part of town, and I'd found some of the moms out there interesting). Badri and Celine Auntie (our nanny) came later with Charlie and Molly. These two had a great time just scootching/running around the grassy area with other little ones, and all three had their picture taken with Santa.
Small-world story that day: I met an Indian woman who'd lived in California a few years ago--not just in Calif., but in our little community of Tierrasanta (near the Padres' stadium in San Diego).
Today I went to another part of Bangalore, to a school I'd heard sells Montessori learning materials. It's in a completely different part of town, with lots of mosques, much older, more congested. I spoke with Claire, a French woman, on the phone, and she met me on the main street and walked me through some narrow streets back to the school. The children were having lunch when we arrived and she introduced me to the teacher. About 20 students, they are all from poor families and get most of their daily food at the school.
Claire set up the school and the microenterprise (small business) across the street from the school four years ago. She's an engineer by trade and studied for six months in Montreal. She develops the games and educational materials and the local women working there produce the material. I really liked a lot of their stuff (puzzles, matching games) and bought some of it--most of which I'll give our three little munchkins for Christmas presents. I'll be hosting a playgroup in a couple weeks and Claire will bring some of her materials so the kids can play with them and the moms and dads can check them out (kind of the NGO version of a Tupperware party--which, by the way, is also sold here in India). The small business partly supports the school, and I offered to proofread her materials since I think it's such a worthy cause.
Off I go to bed. Just missed my 9 a.m. bedtime deadline. Since Badri's out of town these last couple days, I've been hitting the hay unusually early so I can keep up with Molly's 5 am wake up call these days. It's only by waking up that early that I can get them all fed and clothed without rushing too much to get Maya out the door by 7:45. I then take Charlie and Molly in the double stroller on our half hour loop before we land up at the park. On that loop I usually stop for fruit or vegetables that we need for the next day or two. Gotta love that stroller with the deep underbasket. We run into very interesting people along the way. One older gentleman, along with his wife, is raising his three grandsons (3 year old twins and a one-year-old) for the next two years while his son and daughter-in-law work in Marlboro, Massachusetts. I couldn't bear the thought of missing those years with my kids, but I guess people do what they think they have to do (interjecting my judgement here--the son and daughter-in-law are not migrant apple pickers or anything: they work for a high tech company and the Mass. Medical Society).
December 3, 2004
The last month of 2004--pretty amazing!
Charlie's scootching around on his bum like crazy and waving, saying "Baa". Molly's favorite thing starting today is having Amuma (grandmother--Badri's aunt) tickle her cheek with a leaf. She likes it even better on the belly, so walks up to Amuma, pulls up her shirt, and says, "Tickle me!" It puts her into a trancelike state where she actually starts drooling (just picture that!). And poor Maya--today she went all the way to school, throwing up on the way (so that's why she didn't feel like eating breakfast!), to find that there was no school today (teachers preparing report cards). She came home and slept for over three hours, then went to her good buddy's birthday party, Manasvi (they met at Maya's first school here, Kangaroo Kids, and have monthly playdates). It was at a place called Amoeba, pretty much like Chuck E. Cheese. Her favorite part was eating the cake that was a Barbie Doll with a huge pink cake dress.
Badri's in Delhi for campus recruiting at his old alma mater, St. Stephens. He'll be trying to hook up with some professors he hasn't seen in, oh, probably about 20 years.
Amuma and Pata are heading off for Hampi on Sunday to see the ruins. Pata just gave a lecture at a local university on "Indian Immigrants in America." There was a good turnout and it sounds like something I would have liked to have gone to. If only I could be two places at once!
Tomorrow's a big Christmas party thrown by the Overseas Women's Club. The kids are supposed to write letters to Santa before we go, and I hear there will be arts and crafts and lots of yummies. Should be interesting. From 11 to 2, Molly's naptime. We'll bring the stroller in case she has to crash.
Maya on Santa's lap at Christmas party
Appa and his girls
Maya and Molly making cookies with Vani (our cook)
Charlie helping me with the laundry
This was the best we could do for the kiddies' Christmas picture
Our kids with the DeCostas, the friends who were in Sri Lanka 2 days before the tsunami
And this was the best we could do for the family picture
Molly and Appa
Elephant bath
Scrubbing the elephant
Charlie with Thomas the Tank Engine
Riding Indra
At the Tibetan buddhist temple
Charlie and me at Tibetan buddhist temple
# posted by Kelly @ 12:45 PM 
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Hello dear Raghavan family member..
I would glad to say very nice to saw your information and nice picture about your sweet kids... I keep you praying for happy family forever...
As for i was wonder suddently while i saw your side there have a picture about Tibetan temple here Golden temple...i am a tibetan buddhist monk and studying here in south India... our monastery is very close toward there. i usually some time visiting in Bangalore. Originally i am from north India the place called LADAKH. my home is from Ladakh. Currently i m very much enjoying for study the Buddhist philosophy with 6,000 monks. Our monastery name called SERA JEY MONASTERY.. we some time coming for teaching in Bangalore where we have center overthere... many our master coming in Bangalore. if you like like visit our website then here www.serajeyngari.org
Your sincerely
Tenzin.
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I would glad to say very nice to saw your information and nice picture about your sweet kids... I keep you praying for happy family forever...
As for i was wonder suddently while i saw your side there have a picture about Tibetan temple here Golden temple...i am a tibetan buddhist monk and studying here in south India... our monastery is very close toward there. i usually some time visiting in Bangalore. Originally i am from north India the place called LADAKH. my home is from Ladakh. Currently i m very much enjoying for study the Buddhist philosophy with 6,000 monks. Our monastery name called SERA JEY MONASTERY.. we some time coming for teaching in Bangalore where we have center overthere... many our master coming in Bangalore. if you like like visit our website then here www.serajeyngari.org
Your sincerely
Tenzin.
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