Thursday, January 30, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Living in Two Worlds
Good morning from Bangalore!
We have been here for two weeks and we are off to a great start. The kids like their school - the Canadian International School. Claudia has signed up for kids' yoga and she will try out for the swim team. Adam is on the tennis team and he's making friends. The campus is set on farmland north of the city where the air is a bit clear (er) - though there is terrible pollution. You can smell it and see it. A light haze hangs over the city and I feel the pollution particles itching inside my nose. But the school is in a green zone - surrounded by a banana tree farm. The school has an open campus with soccer fields, tennis courts, and a pool, with 60% Indian kids and 40% foreigners and very few Americans (makes it much more interesting for our kids). Here's the first day of school...
At home we are sandwiched between great wealth and extreme poverty. Surrounding our building are two neighborhoods - one called the "Dollars Colony" filled with wealthy Indians and ex pats who have built huge homes and luxury apartment buildings - and a regular neighborhood that's a mix of ramshackle apartments and houses with tin roofs where people pump water from a well in the front of the house - no electricity - dirt floors, and no sewage system. Directly across the street from one of the tin huts is a private stucco home with two new cars parked inside a heavy iron front gate.
Adam and I took a rickshaw ride to get coffee and pizza today - here's a short ride in the 'other' side of our neighborhood. It's filled with life, kids playing, cows walking in the road, and beautiful women in colorful outfits. People are friendly - we were the only westerners walking around and we felt welcomed. When men leer at me Adam holds my hand and nudges me to walk faster. He's taller than most of the men and he is feeling his personal power with his low voice and towering height. He likes to watch over his Mom and give directions to the rickshaw driver. Adam with the egg delivery man:
In contrast...just around the corner is our apartment in luxurious Pebble Bay - with six 20-story towers surrounding a beautifully landscaped public space with gardens and six swimming pools - a tennis court, two squash courts, two badminton courts, basketball, two ping pong tables, a gym and yoga classes. The residents often introduce themselves to us in the elevators, offering help if we need anything, such as, "I'm in tower 1, apt. 32 - come over any time if you need anything." They are mostly Indian with a few ex pats sprinkled in. The first night we arrived our neighbor invited me to go the grocery store with her driver to fill our fridge. We are all enjoying this place because there is so much to do. The kids go to the clubhouse on their own and in the evenings kids are riding scooters, skateboards and roller blades around the gardens while parents and babysitters stroll the grounds. Three mornings a week, Noah and I take integral yoga classes, Claudia and I take squash lessons three days a week, and Adam and Noah take tennis lessons twice a week. Life is good. Here's a one-minute apartment tour.
Last week our dear friend from Richmond, Sam Adams, stayed with us for a few nights. He is in India to scout for a trip he is leading next year for his seminary students at Union Presbyterian Seminary. Sam lived and taught in India many years ago and he shared his wisdom and great humor...what fun to have a visit from a home town friend!
Noah and I are making some new friends, too. We had a dinner party last week with our friends Samantha and her son Mayank and our neighbor Sahana and another Fulbright scholar David and Shira Manski. We were invited to drinks last Sunday to another new friends' house - Penny (from the UK) and her husband Uco (he's Danish). Last night we had dinner with Nannette and Francois Bertschy (she's from Wisconsin and he's Belgian) - and we went to a fabulous Lohri festival party in our building last weekend - great food, a band, and dancing.
We have been very lucky - it seems kind people keep showing up unexpectedly - just when we need them. For example, Noah and I went to the Art of Living Ashram founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker on Friday and we were eating lunch alone feeling confused about how the ashram runs when a yoga teacher sat with us, gave us a tour and invited me to an international women's conference in February. He "found" us.
Another example - a few days ago we ran into the Chabad Rabbi who, it turns out, hosts many events at our building because he says there are six Israeli families in Pebble Bay! Who knew? Claudia and Noah ran into him in the clubhouse. The Rabbi had just finished a Tu B'shevat service...how lucky are we? We will spend Shabbat with he and his wife and three kids at their home next Friday.
We feel blessed to be here...it's a great adventure...and a powerful learning experience. We are all struggling with the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. We have been looking for a project for the family and we may have found it. Noah and I stumbled upon a 'slum school' near our house. The children were all barefoot - there is no electricity - they sit on long benches with no blackboard in dark, overcrowded tin roofed huts - with raggedy, dirty clothes - but the kids were laughing and happy to see us. They showed us their notebooks and pointed to the English words they are learning - so we offered to tutor them in English. We are meeting with the director this week to see if we can set up a time for Adam and Claudia to volunteer with us as well. We bought paper and crayons and markers so we can use art to teach the kids. This could be a great opportunity for all of us to do public service, and for our kids to help kids their own age who are living in different world - just a few blocks from our front door.
Namaste...
We have been here for two weeks and we are off to a great start. The kids like their school - the Canadian International School. Claudia has signed up for kids' yoga and she will try out for the swim team. Adam is on the tennis team and he's making friends. The campus is set on farmland north of the city where the air is a bit clear (er) - though there is terrible pollution. You can smell it and see it. A light haze hangs over the city and I feel the pollution particles itching inside my nose. But the school is in a green zone - surrounded by a banana tree farm. The school has an open campus with soccer fields, tennis courts, and a pool, with 60% Indian kids and 40% foreigners and very few Americans (makes it much more interesting for our kids). Here's the first day of school...
There is a high tech building boom in the city and luxury high rises are under construction everywhere. Like Beijing 15 years ago - in the shadow of small houses, huts, tin roof shacks - you find gleaming new buildings surrounded by high fences.
You can see the contrast - here's a short video of a local street near our house - the man on his motorcycle loads up to deliver eggs - just a few blocks from our "gated" community.Adam and I took a rickshaw ride to get coffee and pizza today - here's a short ride in the 'other' side of our neighborhood. It's filled with life, kids playing, cows walking in the road, and beautiful women in colorful outfits. People are friendly - we were the only westerners walking around and we felt welcomed. When men leer at me Adam holds my hand and nudges me to walk faster. He's taller than most of the men and he is feeling his personal power with his low voice and towering height. He likes to watch over his Mom and give directions to the rickshaw driver. Adam with the egg delivery man:
In contrast...just around the corner is our apartment in luxurious Pebble Bay - with six 20-story towers surrounding a beautifully landscaped public space with gardens and six swimming pools - a tennis court, two squash courts, two badminton courts, basketball, two ping pong tables, a gym and yoga classes. The residents often introduce themselves to us in the elevators, offering help if we need anything, such as, "I'm in tower 1, apt. 32 - come over any time if you need anything." They are mostly Indian with a few ex pats sprinkled in. The first night we arrived our neighbor invited me to go the grocery store with her driver to fill our fridge. We are all enjoying this place because there is so much to do. The kids go to the clubhouse on their own and in the evenings kids are riding scooters, skateboards and roller blades around the gardens while parents and babysitters stroll the grounds. Three mornings a week, Noah and I take integral yoga classes, Claudia and I take squash lessons three days a week, and Adam and Noah take tennis lessons twice a week. Life is good. Here's a one-minute apartment tour.
Last week our dear friend from Richmond, Sam Adams, stayed with us for a few nights. He is in India to scout for a trip he is leading next year for his seminary students at Union Presbyterian Seminary. Sam lived and taught in India many years ago and he shared his wisdom and great humor...what fun to have a visit from a home town friend!
We have been very lucky - it seems kind people keep showing up unexpectedly - just when we need them. For example, Noah and I went to the Art of Living Ashram founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker on Friday and we were eating lunch alone feeling confused about how the ashram runs when a yoga teacher sat with us, gave us a tour and invited me to an international women's conference in February. He "found" us.
Another example - a few days ago we ran into the Chabad Rabbi who, it turns out, hosts many events at our building because he says there are six Israeli families in Pebble Bay! Who knew? Claudia and Noah ran into him in the clubhouse. The Rabbi had just finished a Tu B'shevat service...how lucky are we? We will spend Shabbat with he and his wife and three kids at their home next Friday.
We feel blessed to be here...it's a great adventure...and a powerful learning experience. We are all struggling with the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. We have been looking for a project for the family and we may have found it. Noah and I stumbled upon a 'slum school' near our house. The children were all barefoot - there is no electricity - they sit on long benches with no blackboard in dark, overcrowded tin roofed huts - with raggedy, dirty clothes - but the kids were laughing and happy to see us. They showed us their notebooks and pointed to the English words they are learning - so we offered to tutor them in English. We are meeting with the director this week to see if we can set up a time for Adam and Claudia to volunteer with us as well. We bought paper and crayons and markers so we can use art to teach the kids. This could be a great opportunity for all of us to do public service, and for our kids to help kids their own age who are living in different world - just a few blocks from our front door.
Namaste...
Monday, January 13, 2014
Delhi and Taj Mahal New Year's visit
Sunset Jan. 1 & Sunrise Jan. 2, 2014
Our semester in India begins at the Taj Mahal on New Year's Day. Noah and I were here on our honeymoon 15 years ago and it is a gift to come back and share this with our children. They saw the stunning marble and jewel work on the outside - and on the inside of the domed mausoleum, the tombs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Adam and Claudia also saw the intense poverty in Agra, the city that is home to the Taj. Every day in India we witness the juxtaposition of abundance and deprivation. Powerful, painful, colorful, and hopeful.
Yogi Claudia's Bridge Pose at the Taj
Driving into city of Agra - this is what surrounds the Taj Mahal
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| Snake charmer with Boa in Agra |
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| family in auto rickshaw |
Outside a Delhi fruit, vegetable and meat market surrounded by slums, this boy has trained his monkey to do tricks for tips
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| This girl was tapping on our car windows begging for money - we gave her food |
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| Taj mosque sunset Jan. 1, 2014 |
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| Sunrise Jan. 2, 2014 |
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| Claudia does yoga at sunrise at Taj |
DELHI STREET scenes - man carries refrigerator on his bike
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| Delhi workers |
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| Sunset Jan. 1, 2014 |
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| Taj tourists |
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| Taj lovers |
Adam narrates Taj video
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