Turban Territory - Rajasthan pt1

Jodphur was a maize of colors - of reds, pinks and oranges.  I had thought Bangalore colorful but it seriously pales beside the attire of its northern counterparts. Some of this is  due to the male head gear!

Adam seemed to think his turban added wisdom, Wills a smile!!

We got a couple of opportunities to watch how you wind a turban from scratch and yes - it  really is that long!! We have enough problems tying ties in our household - would never get to school if the boys wore turbans -but I do think they look good!

And then the winding begins:

And round and round it goes:

 Nearly there:

Just finishing it off!

The colors of a collection of turbans (should be a word for it - a triumph of turbans would fit the bill!) is wild!!

"Make my trip impossible" - parts 2, 3, 4, 5.......

This is going to be a rant, a rave, a whine and a whinge at the expense of "make my trip", Jetlite and potentially but not definitely AirIndia (depends if my promised refund materialises). The wonders and beauties of Rajasthan will follow!

If the flight I had originally booked us on back in January had not, for no explicable reason (I did ask....several times) been removed from the schedule then all would have been plane (pun!!) sailing and there would have been no layover in Chennai.

We leave Bangalore and arrive in Chennai on time. Knowing we have an hour and a half in Delhi which could be pushing it, we have restricted ourselves to carry ons which equates to minimal toiletries, a condensed wardrobe and one pair of shoes and flip-flops each. Security at each airport seemed fascinated by our electric toothbrushes - one even thought they were a way of injecting insulin and another found it difficult to contemplate that they recharged through the base.

Flight from Chennai is 30 mins delayed, but not yet time for panic or despair. We take off and just when I start to breathe a sigh of relief, seem to stop and hover above Delhi airport. Now starting to get worried. Jetlite cabin crew assure me they have alerted AirIndia ground crew who will escort us to our next plane. We land and as the plane slowly meanders to the gate, the cabin crew are now not meeting my glare. No assistance from anyone and of course we land at the gate furthest from the main building. As seems the case in all Indian airports to change planes, even when in the same terminal you need to exit and re-enter through security. We miss our connection.

Then to find either Jetlite or AirIndia customer service which are conveniently hidden away. The only sign posts totally ambiguous, small and obscured, so the faint hearted will quit before they even start. Jetlite who cancelled a flight and rescheduled us on impossible flight plans and did not help me find a viable alternative or AirIndia who moved their flight time forward. Where to start? To cut a long, sad and unproductive story of my impassioned near hysteria pitted against non-reactive head bobbing the other side of the perspex short, you can guess who won, it wasn't me!! I ended up with a piece of paper which apparently means I will receive a full refund from Air India and no assistance what so ever from Jetlite. The best they could muster was a piece of paper that would 'help' me book another flight. 'Help' meaning it would alert the other airlines to the fact I had missed a connection and needed to rebook. Like I couldn't manage that myself!!

Anyway we end up with a 12 hour car drive. Our driver had little English and as Adam put it an 'abnormal exhalation habit' which basically meant for 12 hours we could hear the machinations of his nasal/throat activities which seemed very well lubricated with some disgusting secretions. However he negotiated the roads very well - the signs "please drive in the right direction, on the right side of the road" were actually required. It seems that the Delhi/ Jodhpur road - well most of it - is being repaired or widened. This involves many "diversions" which mean leaving your side of the road, crossing the median and proceeding down the opposite side into oncoming traffic. However, by 1.00am, we were safely deposited in our hotel. The boys I must say were incredible - they have been in India long enough not to be phased by any last minute change of plan.

At some point through our trip I get a comment on my blog from Make My Trip, agknowledging that I had a problem and saying if I emailed them, they would investigate. Obviously negative comment in the public domain gives rise to more reaction then me getting cross down the phone. Thus commenced a so far futile and non-productive email exchange. However, I also received an alert from AirIndia, my return flights had been subject to change. For some reason I was not surprised! I speak to Make My Trip Impossible (which it is again) as my time to change planes in Mumbai is now reduced to 5 minutes. They promise to call back with a change of itinerary. Needless to say the airwaves remain silent and I get onto this one myself increasing the 5 minutes in Mumbai to 4 hours. Make My Trip (which I have personally now upgraded from Impossible) have apparently been trying to contact me - but I have no missed calls/texts. They say my flights are still unconfirmed and they need me to confirm I want them to confirm. Not the case - spend more time clarifying all is confirmed with Air India and we get safely home.

Further call to Make My Trip this morning - taken me a week until I could muster the energy to deal with them - concerning my promised refund, They are looking into it and will call back within 24 hours - watch this space!!!

I now know why people use travel agents!!! Four flights booked back in January, one cancelled, three changed their scheduled timings, two became impossible connections which I personally had to deal with involving much time and angst and still one missed connection but was it all worth it - Rajasthan blogs to follow!!!

Mysore and "Make My Trip Impossible".com

Last weekend being a holiday (Ugadi) we decided to make the most of the long weekend and go resort style (Thank-you Infosys) to Mysore. No site seeing, no heritage, no culture...a lazy weekend.

Simon drove down and the roads were relatively empty. When Simon is driving we are all banished to the back seat, so he can concentrate. The boys i-podding, i-padding and i-phoning and me looking out of the window. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching India and the thing I'll miss most when we leave here is the people, all one billion of them!  The crazy incongruity of life here, the 15 people, dressed in their holiday best, squished in and hanging out of a rick, the guy on his old bicycle with a load bigger than him, the mother washing her baby in a bucket on the road side, the truck loaded up with coconuts perilously balanced on top of which a couple of guys perch fast asleep, the herder with his goats, the two motorcyclists driving side by side chatting without a care in the world as buses blare their horns trying to get past, the guy riding pillion water falling out of a bottle as his driver weaves between the traffic not spilling a drop.

We stopped at the halfway point. The first time we drove down here last year there was a solitary Cafe Coffee Day. This has now been joined by KFC - for better or worse a sign of the times! The boys head to KFC, me to Cafe Coffee Day for my favorite cold coffee -which it has to be said is just as good if not better than my Starbucks, tall skinny vanilla! I sit in the shade under the Cafe Coffee Day umbrella which reads "Eat, Sip, Munch, Gossip. Burp - a lot" - now that is a culture difference!!

Once at the Infosys resort - sorry I sometimes forget for the students it's all hard work...."Infosys Corporate University" its time to relax - table tennis,  bowling, tennis, soccer, swimming and the pick and drop bikes to get from one activity to another. I even managed to buy and read a book -true sign of a relaxing break! Though the security getting into the campus is pretty thorough. Adam and his laptop had to be parted for the duration of our stay, probably a good thing - tho I did sense some separation anxiety on his behalf!

Just outside the Infy campus we found the best Tandori chicken and butter naan ever. We had lunch there both days it was soooo good. Seated in our little indian style booths with a cold beer and such delicious food.......

It would have been a weekend of wonderful peace and calm if not for Make my Trip. Having booked our flights, using said booking agent, for next week's school spring break to Rajastan back in January I assumed all was set. Our first trip without a travel agent, everything booked by me! But no - a scheduling change by the airlines. It now appears we fly out of Delhi before we fly in!! MakeMyTrip.com say this is just tough and I have to deal with - not their problem, once the tickets are booked, they get their commission and bale! The airline takes a while to realize that this is in fact a problem. They then suggest I can be wait listed on a flight that leaves Bangalore approximately when the original flight did. This as we don't leave for a week they think is fine, there will miraculously be seats available on this already over-booked flight. In the Indian way all will come right in the end. However I have not been in India long enough to be this laid back. So I insist on other options - the only one presented to me means leaving Bangalore in the middle of the night and then a combination of a few hops and a few layovers arriving in Delhi just in time. I guess that would be the scenic route!!

Numerous phone calls later.....all the effects of my relaxing weekend long faded..we get a very early flight (but at least 6.40am can be described as morning and not middle of the night) and only one layover. However our luggage cannot be checked all the way, and with less than an hour and a half in Delhi, not time to claim and recheck, we will only have hand luggage. So be-warned, photos of Rajasthan will see us in a very sparse wardrobe! and of course no liquids over 100ml so will have to shop up there for toilettres  but at least we don't have time travel backwards to make our connection!!

Indus Day Performance

The kids have been practising since January, the later few weeks full time I think! Wills started in the choir, then progressed to the water dance as one of the girls needed a taller partner and lastly to Noah, as the first Noah either wanted to bale or was pushed and Wills stepped into his sandals.

Wills never really wanted to talk about his role, save telling me that in dance he had to roll his arms, which he didn't think was a particularly cool move, and his beard itched! He talked more about what his buddies were doing so I never fully engaged that this, admittedly in the small context of a 1st grade performance, was actually a big deal. 

As is customary at Indus performances, the Indus VIP (seated in huge arm chairs in the front few rows which look pretty incongruous on the sports field) give pretty good speeches but it's never really the time or the place.... One thing I did pick up on is 29 nationalities are represented at Indus which I guess does make it qualify as a truely International school!

As the younger kids (pre-school) presented a silent movie they had made, Charlie Chaplin style, focusing on the Indus values of love, respect, empathy and discipline which was actually pretty good, followed by a very cute but somewhat rather confusing ballet about Jelly Beans (sort of tele tubby style) and fairies, I was getting stressed about the huge audience, 4 TV screens onto which all was projected) and Wills.......

I crept up nearer the stage in order to get better pics and was amazed as he stepped confidently onto the stage! He looked totally confident and comfortable. This is the kid that a few years ago wouldn't even go on the soccer field!

Noah in various poses listening to God......

 Onto the ark and the rains come.....

The dove comes back with his olive leaf and the animals come off the ark.

Taking a bow and getting the pesky beard off!

And my fav pic!

"To celebrate the Birthday of HM Queen Liz"

The British Deputy High Commission in Bangalore is fairly active and invites the British subjects resident in Bangalore to smart hotels with free food and booze to mark noteworthy British events.

When I received the envelope, resplendent with royal crest "to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth 11" and I found a couple of my Brit girl friends here in Bangers were also temporarily husbandless it sounded like an opportunity not to be missed. I remain a tad curious as to the March date. The Queen's birthdays are in April (natural) and June (official) - and this is March, but then Brit High Commission or not, this is also India!!

We turned up at the venue, very aptly on the Prince of Wales Gardens at The Taj West End, a little late and the formalities were under way. There must have been a couple of hundred guests, mainly Brits but also a few other nationalities - not quite sure how they slipped in!

The invite had clearly printed the dress code as 'lounge suit, office attire or national dress.' National dress I assumed was for the British Indians (not meaning morris dancing costumes). But as to most people's dress, I have to conclude the offices of Bangalore are awash with Brits in ball gowns and cocktail wear. I was feeling somewhat underdressed!

There was a tribute to the recently deceased King of Tonga. I had to have a delayed google here, not being up to speed on events in Tonga, and apparently King George Tupou V did pass away at the weekend and the Queen was suitably saddened. I couldn't find out much about him, save he used to drive round his country in a London Taxi cab. The speaker then talked about how delighted the Brits are to be so fortunate to have such a good relationship with India - a bit of a contrast from what I imagine was said on similar occasions 60 years ago!

Speeches over, good ole Brit pop songs blaring, champers and smoked salmon nibbles. Not a bad way to spend an evening. And Happy Birthday, your Majesty, even if it is next month!!

Still trying to take a good photo!!

Like everything, the deeper you get into it, the more there seems to be to learn. Definitely true in the world of photography. I went on another photography course with Hema. I have so many pictures of Indian faces already, I tried to adhere to what she was talking about and to concentrate on details or abstracts.

We started in the Ghandi Bazaar with my favorite food, masala dosa and chai, our class a mixed bag of nationalities, camera experience and time to date in B'lore. We spent some time taking pics in the bazaar and them moved on to a couple of temples. At the end of the day we each upload 6 pics for Hema to critique. Mine will, maybe be some of these.

This was inside the Bull Temple. I thought this captured the calm and holy mood in the temple with the focus on the candle but also showed the money for a prayer and bindi business!.

No street in Bangers is complete without at least one coconut water seller.  It's supposed to be an acquired taste and I'm not there yet! But full of electrolytes on a hot day it's what you need. I love watching the guys with their knives slicing off the top of the coconut, never seen any blood to date!

 Onward and upward - the colors of this little girls dress against the stone.

The cool whites of the arches through to the little courtyard, parked up bike. An oasis in the chaos and noise of Bangalore.

Stray dogs - one of the many thousands in Bangalore that seem to sleep all day.... anywhere. I thought this one looked pretty comfortable with his head resting on the step, half in the shade, with a bit of color added by the old blue door.

Flower sellers and garlands abound in Ghandi Bazaar. This lady, her flowers matching her sari seemed to tell the story. But maybe the sari matches the flowers too well and you can't really see them!

This, to me, invokes typical India. It was a very hot day at mid-day, the parked bike, the slippers on the floor, the hint of the green door and a cool white stone house. Or maybe I was just feeling it was time for a rest!

This, I hope was maybe a slightly different view of the temple, using the sub roof to frame but also to imply height.

Trouble with photography is it's so easy to see what you want to see in a picture not what one can really see. Pictures I take mean something to me as they invoke some experience from my memory which probably doesn't work for anyone else!! Also, I'm now too far along memory lane to consider the technical content of said pic. Anyway it was a good day out. I won't tell you how many pics I took, or how many I have deleted! Looking back at those, I'll probably go back through and select another lot to submit for review!!

Sweetie's Sister's engagement

 Following on from previous blogs.............

Sweetie is all excited and all of a quiver when I get home on Friday. Her mother is at the door and wants to invite us to her younger daughter's engagement party on Sunday. Sweetie's mother, Mariya, works for a neighbor of mine in Vista. In fact I got her the job!! It appears our acceptance to the celebration was a mere formality as Sweetie's family obviously know that our driver doesn't work Sundays but Mariya's Ma'am's driver does, so it has already been arranged for us to ride with Villa 33.

Sweetie then explains. The marriage that had been arranged was called off as it transpired that once the marriage was celebrated, Sweetie's sister would have been swept off to Tamil Nadu, the next state. This was all too much for Sweetie's Dad to contemplate so that potential groom was canned and within a week a new groom had been identified, terms and conditions agreed and game on!! New groom is Sweetie's husband's younger brother! Talk about keeping it in the family. So although obviously an arranged marriage, the potential groom has been known to all concerned almost since birth as the families live in the same village. My question would be why wasn't this match, under everyone's noses, considered some time ago - but then I'd have missed out on some fun blogs!!

I'm sure part of the reason we are invited is in anticipation of nice fat engagement gift, but maybe I am being sceptical and in any case who cares?.  It's a new experience and we're (well me and my camera) are looking forward to it. The prospect of having to look even remotely smart takes the gloss off any activity for the boys!

Sunday evening, after a 30 minute drive we are met on the side of the road by Sweetie's mom. It is obvious that we are sorta VIP's at this do. We are ushered through the yard area which has been canopied and carpeted for the evening and will obviously be the centre of the evening activities into the house, which is pretty small and sufficient seats are squished in to seat us. We are introduced to all of Sweetie's family which is pretty confusing as she has cousins (which she refers to as sisters) the same age as Vidya (her 5 year old daughter). Judging the age and international savvy of the relative determines whether I shake hands or do the hands together, nod the head and namaste. Most of the time I get it right!! The would be bride, I have met before, is looking suitably gorgeous in the first new sari of the evening. As part of the ceremony she is given another new sari from the grooms family - which Sweetie left work early Saturday to help the groom (her brother-in-law) and her mother-in-law choose. The blouse was made up by a tailor that evening and ready the next day!

My photos aren't so good, as the kids here are a rambunctious lot and I let them try out my camera - which like any good toy they don't tire of it very quickly so I don't get a very long turn!! In fact the kids have a blast between the frequent scoldings! Vidya, Sweetie's daughter is quite a live wire on home turf!

The groom's family then arrive and I meet Sweetie's husband who is as skinny as she is!

The groom, very handsome, arrives in a shirt and jeans, as do all his friends. The couple are then seated facing the direction the sun rises (altho' there seems to be some confusion here as partway through the proceedings the chairs are moved round 90 degrees). Each close member of the family places a bindi on the soon to be happy couple.

Mostly this passes off smoothly except when Sweetie drops the whole bowl of red powder over her brother -in-law!

The actual ceremony is pretty low key and simple, flower garlands are placed over the couple and they then exchange these three times and groom to be gives bride to be a ring. 

There are 9 plates of food/flowers which are given by one family to the other which symbolize the marriage agreements and then photo time.  If your phone rings during the ceremony you can of course answer it - even if you are the groom in waiting!!

At last food -which we have been sitting in front of and it smells delicious! The tables appear quickly and luckily we are on first shift. This is an eat and go performance. Banana leaves are placed in front of us and laden with different delicaices and no silver ware in site. But by now we are proficient eating even rice and gravy with the fingers of our right hands and I really think for tastes better this way. These something earthy and sensual eating with your fingers - cutting out the metal middle men - fork and knife. Anyway once we are done, time to move out for the next shift. Wills munching away - this really is his preferred food of choice -  seems most dischuffed, apparently he could have squeezed down another puri!

An excellent evening - I love these real Indian events, always that little touch touch of chaos and spontaneity. The hospitality to these weird foreigners is always so welcoming and so genuine.

The wedding date is fixed, hopefully we will be invited!!