A day in the life of ..... a WEDDING, Nov. 3-4

Wow, we were invited to a South Indian Wedding! Srini (our driver) invited us to his wife's brother's wedding. It was an arranged marriage, and over the past few months Srini had gone through some of the stages with me (incl. some disappointments at match.com type arrangements). Finally, in July, Srini had announced that the wedding would occur 3 months later in Nov. And how long had the couple known each other, I ask? Well, since July. They'd met a couple of times, SMS'd, and talked over the phone. Further, since their stars weren't perfectly aligned, they had to perform a couple of poojas to mitigate.

The wedding was AMAZING!! For us it started with the reception the night before the actual wedding. Bride and groom were all decked out, standing on a stage type thing, greeting well-wishers. For us guests, there was a buffet-feast set up upstairs. It was delicious vegetarian food, served stand-up style, and there was a wonderful festive atmosphere with people milling about, and children playing. I was wearing my brand new and 'modern' sari with sequin (by Neemrata -- a famous Bangalore designer) but many guests were just wearing jeans or work-type clothes.

Sunday morning was the actual wedding. After a special breakfast of special idli (white rice sponge cake) with coconut chutney and with sambar (S. Indian veg. curry) served on a banana leaf and followed by South Indian coffee served in two tin cups, we went to see the wedding couple perform their various pooja's (prayers/rituals). They must have been there from at least 8am-1pm doing rituals!!! But all around them there were family and friends (and a few token foreigners) milling about, and children laughing and running. Everyone was wearing their best sari (I came in a fancy salwar kameez --- pant suit with long shawl).

Meanwhile the poor wedding couple kept getting yelled at by the priest for doing something wrong or not at all. It was all in good jest though. The wedding itself was very ritualized and organized (sort of), but the guests and family attending were all over the place. No one was really paying attention to the bride and groom, except me and Phil. It was bubble-like.

Lunch was served upstairs for the guests, but the wedding couple still had to fullfill more pooja's. Again the food was served on a banana leaf, but this time in a distinct pattern: approx. from left to right, top to bottom. There were about 5 different veg. gravy dishes, 2 dry dishes, then rice, papads, pickle, and of course rice, rassam, and sambar, and dessert. It was scrumptious, but a bit strange for my palate to have the curries flow into the payassam dessert (sweet coconut milk with tapioca).

This was truly a grand experience. We couldn't imagine a more eccelectic mix of young and old, modern and traditional, Indian and foreign. It was ritualistic yet free and relaxed. There was beautiful decor but red plastic chairs. Guests were wearing opulent and extravagant sari's and jewelry, while others came in jeans and still others in lungis (a sarong worn by men).

Thank you Srini, for sharing this special event with us! We will always remember it.

A day in the life of .... CRECHE, Nov. 6, 2007

Just one note today, on the kids and life at the creche:

one of the kids had to go to the bathroom. He'd been crying/wimpering from the beginning, and kept wanting his amma (mami). He was really quite pitiful. But what are you going to do? You can't shower him with all the attention while the others probably equally miss their amma right? Well, but he wouldn't stop, and he wasn't doing it for show either, so ..... I DID pay him attention.

He raises his little pinky finger and indicates "I gotta pee". Oh, ok, well, then, "Go! .... HOGI!" I say. He stays in front of me, continues to plead with me in his eyes. He really gotta go pee. I'm thinking, this kid is about 4yrs. old, for sure he'll know how to go pee on his own. I don't really wanna leave my group of kids..... But he ain't movin'. Ok, he's getting desperate. I'll take him. I take his hand (he takes it, surprisingly), we walk to the bathroom.

He stands there, doin' nothing at all. I'm confused. I thought he had to go desperately. Then I notice, ...... OH!!!! There's a darn SAFETY PIN instead of a button. NO WONDER HE CAN'T GO TO THE BATHROOM BY HIMSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh man, oh man, the poor bugger.

But you know what? If this hadn't happened, I wouldn't know the Indian universal sign for "I gotta pee". And that sure is useful something, no?

Learning Kannada

Learning Kannada:

There is no real text book, and the workbooks are …. interesting.

For example, all numbers until 100 are written out (like in English, they follow the same pattern after 20), so why write them ALL out? After the numbers section, logically (apparently) there’s the section on “Sentences of Two Words” which include:

Good boy
White horse
Little girl
Stepmother
Jasmine bud
Parrot’s talk
Drink medicine.

Very logical.

Sentences of three words include these useful phrases:

There are thirty days in a month.
He sings well.
The elephant has four legs.

The last section, which in all normal language texts would be a dictionary, is entitled “Some Words” and includes in this exact order:


Pure
Unexpectedly
Unexpected
Without reason
Untimely
Misdeed
Elder sister
Neighbourhood
Letter of the alphabet
Affection, liking
Gold-smith
Rice water
Irregular
Rice mixed with turmeric powder
Imperishable
The study of alphabet
A degree of terrestrial latitude
The eye
Eye-disease
Undivided
Pitch
Uneatable
Entire, whole
Wooden bolt
Uncounted

Lovely.

But here’s for something funny. In another text, here are two sample conversations:

What is your dog doing?
It is barking in the road.
Why is it barking?
There is a mad man going in the road, it’s barking at him.

Why did you come late to the Kannada class today?
Oh! I could not get the wretched bus; always there is some trouble or the other.
Was it late when you left?
When I woke up, it was already seven therefore I was delayed.

I LOVE IT!!!!

And you wonder why I am not learning Kannada …..



Here some pictures of .... the view from my classrom, the classroom itself with some students.