The Raghavan Family in Bangalore

November 2006 Update from Bangalore

Short update and few photos this month.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

School holiday today for Rajyotsava, which celebrates the day Karnataka became a state in 1973.


Thursday, November 2, 2006

Pretty comical: got a phone call today saying there's no school at Neev. The city declared a school holiday as a gift to the children who stayed up late performing at the state holiday last night. Some schools, however, stayed open: Canadian School, Valley School, Cara pre-school. Of course, the children performing were but a tiny fraction of the student population in Bangalore. I'm sure it felt to kids like snow days felt to us growing up in Maine.


Friday, November 3, 2006

Went over to Maya and Molly's friends, Justin and Melvin, for a playdate this afternoon.


Saturday, November 4, 2006

Went to Leela for 24 hours of rest and relaxation. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Went swimming. Ran into Kush and Kavi and Kush's parents at the pool. They have membership there and go several times a week.

In the afternoon went for a facial and a hair oil and massage.


Sunday, November 5, 2006

Went swimming in the morning before breakfast. Heavenly swim. Had the pool all to myself. At noon, Badri, Maya, and Molly came to get me and the girls enjoyed the room for a couple hours.


Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Today we celebrated Badri's birthday. I picked up Maya early from school and the five of us went to Ruby Tuesday's on Church Street. Then Badri and I went to The Park Hotel for an evening of jazz with Bill Wurtzel, guitarist. It was great to hear some live music!

During the break I went in search of water and ran into our friends Marion and Phil, who we haven't seen in ages. Marion heads back to work on Monday heading Reuters after seven months maternity leave.

After the music we chatted for a long while with Joy, an interesting woman from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California. She came to India ten years ago for Sai Baba, the spiritual leader. She heads a group called "Women of a Certain Age" and organizes activities for women who don't fall into the "playgroup" category.


Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Extending Badri's birthday celebration, we went to see the movie, "The Departed", today. Great cast: Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin. Very intense and violent movie about good cops and bad cops in Boston. There were a few instances where people in the audience spoke to the characters on the screen, giving them advice or cautioning them. I heard less mobile phones going off than in any other movie I've been to here in India--I really think people were so caught up in the movie that they shut off their phones for once!


Friday, November 10, 2006

Had a great dinner out with Priya and Kush, Kirsty and Andrew, and Badri and me at Paparazzi, a restaurant at the Royal Orchid on the backside of MG Road. Badri and I had been there before and the view was remarkable. Had a great time, but things got difficult when we couldn't hear each other because they increased the music volume by the half hour. Somebody pointed out that everytime someone walked in the door they turned up the volume, but they never turned down the volume when people left. We actually convinced our waiter to disconnect the speaker near our table.


Sunday, November 12, 2006

Went to Marylouise and Inder's daughter, Maura's, 2nd birthday party at Embassy Woods on Cunningham Road. Her birthday's actually tomorrow, making us twins. I spoke to Mom in the evening and told her it was a great way of having a birthday party for myself without having to do any of the work. Marylouise throws a great party, catered by some Pan-Asian restaurant with yummy appetizers going around. They have a great apartment with a killer view looking out to a mosque on the right, and a park on the left where kites are often flying. Terrific group of people gathered together.


Monday, November 13, 2006

My 45th Birthday

Celebrated my birthday at TGIF with Badri and the kids, then we had plans to go out to dinner and dancing. As I came downstairs dressed, after putting the kids to bed, Jessica and David came in the front door. Badri had organized a surprise party for my birthday. Great group of people he invited by going through my emails: Marion and Phil, Kirsty and Andrew, Priya and Kush, Marylouise came with Gabriella, Alla came with Cristina, Nina and Sandeep. He had 100 Foot Boutique cater it, and the food was terrific! Really remarkable how he pulled it together, and got people to come on a Monday night. A really special gift from Badri.


Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Super special gift #2 from Badri: I left for Goa today for four nights. Stayed at Debora Liwiska and her husband, Scott's house. They've rented it out for one year. Debora's Canadian, has been living in Bangalore for a couple years, and has traveled all over. Her apartment here is a couple blocks from our house, and her housekeeper is Celine, who used to be a cook and nanny for us (we joke about how she stole her from us).

Debra's in Goa doing an eight week yoga teacher training course. I spent the first few days there taking a lot of yoga classes at the Brahmini Yoga Centre.

When I arrived this afternoon at the Goa airport, Debra had a taxi waiting for me. Paid 850 rs ($19) for an hour and a half ride from the airport to her place in Vagator, but it was worth it, because he knew exactly where the place was and I didn't have to worry about giving directions (places not always terribly well-signed in Goa). Scott was at the house when I arrived and we went to the 5 pm Pranayama class. Met Veronica, Debra's friend from Thailand, and after class we went out to dinner all together at Casa Nostra, including Veronica's boyfriend Raphael, from France.

Between yoga class and dinner Scott took me over to Leoney Resort, where he and Debora used to stay before renting their house here. James Leoney rents out two-wheelers as well as rooms. He didn't ask me for a rupee or identification: just handed the key over to Scott. I was a little shaky on the thing at first, but Scott's a patient teacher. Tough learning to ride it at night on unfamiliar roads, but managed okay. I had visions of my father's girlfriend, Libby, who rode a two-wheeler on one of her vacations and had an accident and scraped up her leg pretty badly.


Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Took a hatha yoga class this morning then went to the Anjuna flea market. It's a massive weekly event located in the heart of the backpackers' scene, overlooking the Arabian Sea. The market started back in the '60s when hippies wanted to stick around Goa longer but had run out of money. They'd go there and sell off their belongings they could part with.

In the afternoon went to a restorative yoga class, then had dinner at Bean Me Up (strict vegetarian, awesome food and ambiance) with Debora and a bunch of yoga buddies.

I'm so glad I rented the two-wheeler (scooter) the first day. It's the best way to get around the place. There are very few autorickshaws, which you find everywhere in Bangalore. It's given me complete independence--and there's nothing like riding under the night star-filled sky in the warm weather. I didn't take my camera with me, but where Debora and Scott live, there aren't many houses, and there are lots of open fields. When I was riding around at nighttime, I felt as though I could be in Maine in the summertime, with the clean warm air and quiet countryside.


Thursday, November 16, 2006

Took a private yoga lesson with Helen today. Basic tips: 1. slow down; and 2. you're never going to be able to get into padmasana (a cross-legged position where each ankle goes on top of the opposite thigh). The so-called ultimate yoga pose, it requires open hips, which, although birthing two children, I do not have.

Later took a pranayama (breath control) and meditation class. Afterwards went out to dinner with Debora at Salt & Pepper.

Today I realized that I wanted to spend more time at the beach. So for the next two days that's what I did for the most part. Went down to a small beach, stopped in at a small thatch roofed restaurant about 30 yards from the shore and asked if they had filtered coffee. Parked my bag on a chair, went for a swim, and by the time I'd had a good dip, I sat down and had my thick filtered coffee with hot milk poured into it.


Saturday, November 18, 2006

Leoney Resort has a taxi service that picked me up at Debora's for the ride to the airport. He brought along an extra boy to take my two wheeler back to the resort. For a five day rental I paid 1000 rupees, or $4.44 per day. Not a bad deal.

Lovely time in Goa. Next time we go as a family, I'd like to stay at Leoney's and try a different experience from the Leela and Taj resorts.


Thursday, November 23, 2006

Went to Hyderabad with Kirsty and her family. It all started out fine. Had a short flight there (about one hour) and went to the Taj hotel. Unfortunately, they were in the middle of renovating the place, with drilling and dust everywhere from very early in the morning (sometimes 7am) to late in the evening (10pm at times). They upgraded us to a two room suite that wasn't quite in the thick of the worst of the noise.

Me and the girls in Hyderabad


Spent one whole day at Ramoji, Film City, which I imagine is the Indian equivalent of Hollywood's Paramount Studios (I haven't been there, so not quite sure). We had a great time riding around on the bus and getting out and walking every so often: at Backstage Tour, where we all sat on an airplane that was the set for part of one movie; at Fundustan, where the kids went on a couple rides; at Kripalu caves, where we walked through the caves; and lunch at an Indian restaurant. Traveling with six kids under 7 years old was going pretty well (Andrew and Kirsty's kids are 4, 2, and 9 months).



Angus, Charlie, Molly, Nico



Lunch in Film City


Went to Golconda Fort another day. The fort was built in the 13th century. Did a lot of climbing, and it was only after that climb that we realized that Maya was pretty sick. By the time we got back to the car she had quite a fever. Back at the hotel, she spent the next day throwing up and having diarrhea, poor thing. We called a doctor, who came to the hotel and told us it was probably viral, as usual.





Golconda Fort



Charminar Gate, Hyderabad

Badri's aunt and uncle, Gita and Sunder (Sunder is Appa--Badri's dad's--younger brother) came over to the hotel for a visit. Even though Maya was laid out flat on the bed sick, and Charlie had the beginnings of pinkeye and looked pretty lousy, we had a nice visit. [A couple months later, when I mention Thatha, Charlie still asks if Sunder Thatha will be there, too.]


Sunder Thatha and Gita Patti


Before Maya got sick we had a good night out with Kirsty and Andrew. There were two sisters who were babysitters who came to our respective rooms about 8pm, after the kids were asleep. Kirsty, Andrew and their kids are a great family to travel with. We're very compatible, and our kids get along well, too, with Angus between Maya and Molly's age, and Charlie and Nico the same age. Great sense of humor, those Australians. I think it's a rare find, when your children choose friends whose parents you relaly get along with, too. Priya, Kush, and their son Kavi fall into that category, too, as do Marylouise, Inder, and Hannah.


Crashed out in the hotel


Flew back to Bangalore on Sunday. Called Dr. Khaitan over for a house visit and he checked out Maya. He told me that if she threw up and/or had loose motions (diarrhea) twice by midnight we should bring her in to Manipal Hospital. Sure enough, both happened. I drove her to the hospital at 3am. Deserted roads at that hour. Took less than ten minutes to get there. They hooked her up to an IV and started rehydration fluids. She felt so skinny and frail in my arms. Stayed at the hospital until Tuesday morning. Our pediatrician, Jagdish Chinnappa came by, as well as our general practitioner, Dr. Khaitan.

After looking at the lab tests, it turns out she had amoebic dysentary, or amoebiosis. Where she got it, who can tell?


Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Maya bounced right back, but we kept her home from school for a couple more days.

Went out to dinner at Crossover (La Ville Chaumiere) on 100ft Road in Indiranagar with Kirsty, Priya, and Theresa. Nice place I'd definitely visit again. Delicious fish prepared with a wasabe cream sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm!"


Thursday, November 30, 2006

Our old favorite cook, Vani, who left last year to have her baby, came over for a few days to help out in the kitchen. She has a month off from her new job because Ilsa, her boss, went on holiday for a month. Vani brought Priya, her adorable little girl, and she played so nicely on her own. When she got tired, Vani attached a sari to a hook on the living room ceiling, put Priya in it, gave her a couple pushes, and she went to sleep. That's the usual way of sleeping for a large percentage of Indian babies.


Vani swinging her baby Priya to sleep



Charlie, Maya, Priya, and Molly