Flowering tree and volunteering

This is what we look at out the back. There's a little flowering tree with purple morning glories climbing around the top. So pretty.

Charity sale put on by the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Elderly which is located next door to the Sagayamatha Hospital where I see my doctor. Gopal and I have been meaning to take a look at the elderly home there. (The Christmas candles and other crafts for sale are all made by the elderly in their home.)

Gopal talking with Sister Odile(?)

We will visit the home for the elderly and are interested in volunteering there

In India, families take care of their elderly parents, so it seems to me that people in an elderly home are either from such destitute families that they can't afford to care for them or they have been abandoned.

Tomorrow I will begin volunteering at a clinic for the poor where my landlady is a volunteer doctor. I'll do a post here about that clinic.

Views from our new apt.

With the cameras we have, these are the best photos I could get of the view from our new home. But it doesn't show you how beautiful it is. On this picture, I'd like you to note the higher hill on the left.

This is a closer look at that hill on the left. Can you see a little bit of white on the top to the left? That's a small temple. That's the one we climed up to last month.

Here's a closer view. We're going up there early the morning of the 14th to honor the third anniversary of Mike's death.

Thoughts on being bi-cultural

Religion
All of a sudden I’m wanting Christmas decorations in my Hindu home. I have not been a practicing Christian for most of my adult life. Although I don’t consider myself a religious person, here in India being associated with one religion or another is sort of a must. There are more Christians here than in my experience in other places in India. Gopal is extremely well-educated and experienced as a Hindu holy man, so I am perfectly comfortable being Hindu, particularly since Hinduism includes Buddhism under its large, inclusive umbrella. So decorating for Christmas is probably hard to understand here. At first I thought of getting ornaments to hang on the shrubbery in the yard, but we ended up buying a tiny fake tree, 12 tiny ornaments, and two paper/plastic stars to put over hanging lights. I miss the holidays and spending them with my family much more this year.

Appearance
It started immediately, in Delhi, trying to fit in, I think. I was so different, it felt good to do everything possible to fit in in other ways. I wore Indian clothes, bought and wore gold jewelry, and wore a bindi and tika powder on my forehead. I let my hair grow long and tied it back in a bun like all the older women. Now it’s long enough to braid, so I’m experimenting with that. I honestly don’t want to cut my hair and call more attention to myself. That’s a joke really, though. I stick out like a sore thumb wherever I go.

Clothing
The way I dress these days is sort of schizophrenic. When I was living in Boys Company, a village, I always wore either a salwar kameez or a saree. Since I moved to Brooklands and now to Bedford, I wear a salwar when I’m dressing up; otherwise I wear jeans or sweatpants! That has been partly because of the storm and the muddy roads, etc. The last two days I’ve been wearing a long black skirt over leggings with a short salwar top. Now that it’s cold, I always wear a shawl as a scarf around my neck. I’ll undoubtedly wear salwar kameez again here more when it gets warmer.

Grandparenting
I have children with whom I’m close here in India, yet don’t have much of a relationship any more with my only grandchild, Dexter, a heartbreaking reality. I’ve learned not to get attached to expectations. You never know what the future holds. Perhaps Dexter and I will be great friends one day. Maybe not.

Relationship with Gopal
Before I left for India, I was working at a labor union in Oakland. Two of the reps were Indian women. When one of them learned I was going to live in India with my Indian husband, she warned me that often these men turn into “Indian men.” Not Gopal, surely! I guess in that respect, Gopal and I are both a little schizophrenic. He is becoming more demanding and controlling; I am becoming less commanding and more acquiescent. My area is now the housekeeping, for example, which I accept readily. I am happy to report, however, that I am still bossy and controlling even so. And Gopal wants to make me happy, so things always work out, ya know? But, I am totally glad to allow him to be the guy in this culture. To tell you the truth, because I don’t know the language, etc., it is nice not to take any of that responsibility. Gopal gets stuck with everything pretty much.

Our move to the Bedford neighborhood of Coonoor

Moving again was discouraging, and we only had one apartment to choose from, sooo........There are two bedrooms, each with full bath. This is the bathroom off our bedroom.

Bedroom

Living room end of the large room including the dining room

Dining room, where things are still stacked up since the storage is minimal and one of the storage cabinets isn't cleaned out yet by the landlord

Kitchen, with good storage space and two windows!

Office/spare bedroom

"Sun room," my favorite room in the house

This is the view down at the minimal yard and driveway. I tried to take a picture of the hills you can see from the Sun Room, but it rained all day and we are in the clouds then. I'll post the views when the sun shines through. It's really gorgeous.

This apartment is slowly growing on us.

Storm Cleanup, two weeks later

Here are a couple more pictures of the hotel we've been staying in for the last couple weeks. We signed a lease on our new apartment yesterday and will learn shortly when we can move in.

Entrance portico

Lobby side of entrance

Dining side of entrance

The pictures below are as we walked up the hill from downtown Coonoor to Bedford where we've been staying and where our old and new apartments are.

Now that two weeks have passed, A LOT of cleaning up has been done. This picture shows one of the landslides that closed the Coimbatore to Coonoor road, as well as the train track. In this photo, the train track is just below the road. There are no projections on when the road from Coimbatore to Coonoor will be usable. Some say 1.5 years. Same for the badly damaged road from Coonoor to Ooty. Now the traffic is going through the town of Kotagiri to get to Ooty, and also to get to Mettapalayam to get to Coimbatore. Here's a link from "The Hindu Times" regarding the roads http://googlemail.com/attachment?ui=2&ik=29152b9cc7&view=att&th=12524e10ac48430a&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw&saduie=1egnamlflexzht0ru4ul8c2rse0a9yj&sadet=1259044229326&sads=216421e687c5f1879dabd924534e2d65

Hard to see the landslide behind this building, but you can see the dirt and debris pushing throug the metal door.

Looking down from the road

Down again from the road

Gopal looking down

Gopal is looking down. I was tryiing to show the devastation to the property below.

The day after the storm, Gopal and I walked down this road. When we set out, we had no idea how bad it would be. And, so, I didn't bring my camera. There were places where it was heroic to climb through. There were a couple days just after the storm when it didn't rain. But for the last week or so it has rained heavily every evening and night. My discomfort at being at the Brooklands house is acute, but I'm writing this post from that house since we are here to pack up our things.

Sagayamatha Hospital, Coonoor

On Wednesday we came to Sagayamatha Hospital so Gopal could have some tests run. Dr. Prince has moved his office from Nankem to Sagayamatha, a Catholic hospital. At 8am sharp, the receptionist got a P.A. system microphone and 5 other staff gathered to make an announcement then sing a morniing prayer.

The Saga Continues

While negotiations continue with our landlord, the rains continue (on and off, not continually day and night as during the storm), making me incredibly uncomfortable in our home. We visit often as Gopal wants to use the internet there. I am now packing us up to move.

Suzie, this is our room at the YWCA Wyoming in Coonoor.

We have agreed to rent the top floor of this house in Bedford, a neighborhood of Coonoor. We will probably sign the lease tomorrow and move in around the end of November.