India Trip, Oct 10th - Last full day on the Mountain

Tomorrow morning at 7 am Judy will be taking Mom and me down to Delhi on the train. Not sure when I'll be able to get back on line so I leave you with a lot of pictures. It's been a good journey!!!

THANKS FOR COMING ALONG!!

India Trip, Oct 9 Queen Marietta's 86th Birthday

Aunt Marietta has entered her 87th year on this earth! The day was filled with people dropping in to wish her a wonderful birthday. She received so many flowers the home here looks like a flower shop. She received gifts from near and far as well. It was a good day though at the end she did state that it was overwhemling.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on her cake

Quilted lap robe from her cousin Jo in California

India Trip, Oct 8 - "Dead Eye Mitchell"

At Wheaton College my mom was given the nickname of 'Dead Eye Mitchell' due to her ability to hit her target with a rifle. Her skills came in handy today as the monkeys became a nuisance. They had stolen a chapati (it's in the monkeys hand in the picture though you can't see it that well) from Biju's kitchen. Biju lives just below the Criders and the monkeys had raided her kitchen for the bread ... though we didn't know this when 'Dead Eye Mitchell' was sent out to take care of business!









Yosef gave her the sling shot he keeps hanging on the back of the kitchen door and she went after the rascally rascals. She's glad she didn't hit any though it did make for a fun moment.

















Here comes the back up .....

India Trip, Oct 7

This day Judy, Mom & I went to Union Church for their service. After that we went to the Four Seasons hotel and had a lovely lunch while a parade went by in the street below us. It was some type of 'eco' parade wanting to get across the importance of trees for our well being. Most spectacular part was at the beginning with bag pipes being played. Never know what you're going to see on this mountain.

After lunch we went looking for material for a Punjabi suit for Mom to wear to a wedding. Found some nice material that is being made, as I type, to fit her to a tee. The picture to the right shows her being measured for that.

We were able to fit all that in and get Mom home in time for a rest before the open house birthday party for the sisters from 4-6 pm. About 30 people came, in shifts, to wish the sisters a happy birthday. There was Chai, Samosas, cake and other things I can't pronounce let alone spell for the guest to enjoy. The guest were made up of people from church and Woodstock School.A good portion of the guests were able to enjoy a 'concert' put on by the sisters. Marietta on the piano & Esther singing with Dana joining them after the first song.

Here's a picture of the fine spread at the party. The sisters held up very well considering their age :-).

This picture was taken when we were talking, via Skype, to Bonnie in Turkey. Not only were we talking to her, but we were also able to see her on the computer screen & she could see us as well. This was a new expereince for me. Way cool!

We also had a chance to talk/see Andy (Criders son) & Sonya (his wife) and their four kids. Makes me want to invest in that 'eyeball' looking camera so I can do that with my family as well.

India Trip, Oct 6 blood pressure check

Biju has learned how to be a nurse to Marietta. One of the things that she does is to check her blood pressure each morning. She has added Mom and me to her 'patient list'. You can see the fun that we've been having with this to the right :-).

Mom continues not to feel 100 percent, but I don't think it's a cold as much as the altitude and the pollen in the air. She is able to rest a lot which is good.

She & Marietta spend a lot of time sitting at the table, outside on the porch and in the living room just talking talking and talking some more. It is great!

Dana & Judy went out on the town this night to celebrate the anniversary of some friends. They had a good time. I was glad that they trusted Mom & me with Marietta's care and were able to have some time together. Usually it is one of them going out at night while the other is with Marietta.

India Trip, Oct 5 Singing in the Rain

There are a lot of experiences here that are so different than my life in Florida:

The most extreme experience I had this afternoon (Friday, Oct 5th). I was sitting with the sisters watching "Singing in the Rain" when a movement out the window caught my eye... some Rhesus monkeys playing in the trees. Because of the extreme incline of this place they were sitting in the top of the tree yet it was just outside the window for us. My mind had to take a few minutes to work through two extreme worlds merging right in front of my eyes.

Some other extremes:

--4-5 men waiting at the gas station to help fill up your car as opposed to self service

--Lanes used for multiple cars as opposed to just one car per lane

--Cows in the road having the right of way as opposed to cows in a fenced off pasture

--“Thunder” on the roof caused by monkeys running along it as opposed to a thunderstorm

--Groceries, flowers, meds everything delivered to the door as opposed to running errands to pick it up

--horn used as a vital part of driving with 'sound horn' painted on the bumpers of cars as opposed to a blowing horn being an unwelcomed sound in the US

--brushing my teeth with water from a bottle as opposed to sticking the brush under the faucet .. something you don't want to do here unless you want a belly ache


--Homes, shops, etc built on the side of a mountain as opposed to flat swamp land

I wish there was a way to show you the extreme steepness of this place. It's real hard for the camera to pick it up. To the right is the steps we must climb to get to the Criders place -- the top two floors of the building on the right.

When I went to Woodstock School the other day I ascended 500 feet. That's a 50 story building with no elevator! I had to stop often in my climb because of the steepness and also the higher elevation. The next evening I went up to Woodstock again with Judy and then the next day down to the Hanson Field -- the only flat place around here that they use for track & field etc. So my ascending & descending muscles are quite sore. This place is not for the faint of heart.

India Trip, Oct 4 - Queen Esther's 84

Mom wasn't feeling well on her birthday, but was able to rally for an evening birthday party. The picture to the right -if you're looking at this blog upside down or the picture to the left if you have your seat in your chair & your feet on the ground :-) shows Biju presenting the cake she baked. Biju is explaining that each of the center candles are, "20, 20, 20, 20" and the extra one on the outside is '4' :-).

We enjoyed time around the table with Mom telling stories, laughing and enjoying each other. Biju's 3 daughters came, plus Yoseph, his brother Abdul and his uncle Chhedi. All of them having served the Crider or the Smith households over the years (except for Biju's daughters).

This picture shows Marietta playing her keyboard for the first time since June. Mom, Esther, requested a few songs as a birthday present & Marietta rose to the occasion. She insisted that Dana sing while she played.

I feel like I'm a part of history here as the sisters get reacquainted and bond.

India Trip, Oct 3

True to our tiredness Mom & I slept until around 1 in the afternoon this day. It was wonderful to finally be at a place where we could let our bodies catch up with themselves.

We had lunch (our breakfast :-) with Marietta as Judy & Dana had gone to work many hours before. After the meal the sisters sat at the table and talked and talked. Such a refreshing sight. They are both amazed at what they remember.

Later, while Marietta rested, Mom & I went for a little walk so we would be able to sleep again in just a few hours.

The evening consisted of more food and conversation around the table. Not the light 'nice weather we're having' type of conversation, but diving in to deep stuff.

As Judy 'pulled' and Dana 'pushed' Marietta up the stairs for bed Mom played some more tunes on the keyboard. She had fun trying out the various modes she can play in. The 'choir' mode cracks me up as it really sounds like people singing :-).

Mom & I soon headed to bed, slept for a little bit, but then our long lie of the night before caught up with us & were we wide awake for most of the early morning. Such is the life of one acclimating.

India Trip, October 2 - Gandhi's Birthday a Nat'l holiday

After about a 5 hour train ride with kids from Woodstock and an hour taxi ride up the mountain we were greeted by Judy Crider. Once again a Crider was a welcome sight. Mom, as anticipated, did not enjoy the taxi ride up the hill. It is a unique form of driving where the horn joins the gas, brake & steering wheel as an essential tool for driving. The horn, as I figured, is the voice of the vehicle saying, "I'm here and I'm going around you be ready!". Then that is exactly what they do. We climbed from 1800 feet to 6500 in that hour span and the view was amazing!

It was good to see the sisters reunited on the porch. Marietta was sitting out on the porch the sun behind her creating a halo effect with her hair. Mom was a bit taken aback at how she looked -- older & more frail.

We were immediately taken care of by Vijay (pronouced "B jew") & Yousef (Joseph in English) with water and chairs to sit in on the porch. They work wonders around this place and help things run smoothly. Such a blessings to the Criders & Marietta as well.

We had some soup & grilled cheese sandwiches before heading up to our room for a short nap. The short nap turned out longer than what was recommended, but we made it to supper sure 'nough. We ended the evening around the Clavinova keyboard....Mom kicking out songs from memory and the rest of us trying to remember the words :-)

India Trip, Sept 30- Oct 1

'Wheelchair guy' let me push mom through Chicago Airport .. Don't think he was suppose to do that, but he had his hands full pushing another lady :-)

Mom & I are in India at the home of Dana & Judy Crider. We made it and here's how we got here:

Sunday, Sept 30th:

We departed from the Orlando Airport at 4 pm heading to Chicago. Not long after landing in Chicago and me being allowed to push mom through the airport in a wheelchair (more on that later) we entered into another world at the gate for our flight to New Delhi. My instincts as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) immediately kicked in and I begun to feel 'at home' once again. Being immersed in another culture again was one of the things I was looking forward to and here it was happening at the gate already :-).

This flight from Chicago (scheduled for 7:05 pm departed about a half hour late) to New Delhi was a concern to both mom & me because of it's length which we thought would be 15 hours. It turned out to be only 13 hrs & 54 min from wheels off the ground in Chicago to wheels on the ground in New Delhi. We both did real well. We had seats across the aisle from each other, our own movie screen in the seat in front of us, and plenty of food/liquids. I've been very impressed with mom's ability to adapt to her surroundings.

Monday, October 1:

Somewhere over during our flight we jumped ahead to Monday, October 1st and landed in India at 8:30 at night. For my sake we had requested a wheelchair for mom (she doesn't need it really). Plus: it gets us on the plane earlier than everyone else and after a long flight I'm able to follow the person pushing the chair, who knows exactly where they're going, rather than to figure out a foreign airport. Minus: last off the plane and waiting for the chair to arrive after landing. So, we sat at the end of the ramp in New Delhi while they figured out how to get all 5 people who requested wheelchairs their chairs. Mom & another man were the first 'out of the gate' in the wheelchair race. We got to customs via a circuitous route as the elevator wasn't working on the side we came out. We whipped through customs -- was it the wheelchair (perhaps another plus for that chair :-) and had caught up with our fellow travelers at the luggage carousal (as they called it). Here there are people to help you do everything. It takes a while to let go of the American self sufficiency, but once you do it is quite a blessing to let them bless.

Dana Crider (my cousin by marriage) was there to meet us as we rolled out. He was a welcomed sight and immediately took charge of the situation calling a taxi and getting us where we needed to be. I had the privilege of sitting in the front seat of our taxi (picture above). Surprisingly I wasn't nervous as our driver took us through the busy streets to the Metropolis Tourist Home Hotel. Wasn't nervous that I could touch the car next to us & in front of us if there wasn't a windshield. Wasn't nervous when I noticed that our driver had pulled in his side mirror so it wouldn't get damaged though it stuck out a mere hand lenth. Wasn't nervous as the trucks that are only allowed into the city after 9 pm filled the far left lane and the rest of us filled the other two by making it three and sometines four lanes :-). I wasn't nervous at all amazingly -- perhaps I was more asleep than I realized.

After a nice shower Mom & I bedded down in our Deluxe room, at right, for a nice sleep before our 5am get up. Unfortunately the street outside our room, due to the trucks in the city only after 9 pm, and it being a market street... was quite a hustle & bustle with activity and sleep was sporadic. Mom jumped up at one point, when a motorcycle was using his horn to alert the other drivers around him that he was there, wondering if that was our alarm.

We definitely are in India ..