Lions & Tigers & Bears!!! --- Bannerghatta National Park....

Each month we get the "second Saturday" off of school as a special "holiday." Today we headed out early in the morning to fulfill the kids fantasies about India being filled with elephants and tigers.... It was a really great day, and the kids loved everything! Here are their highlights:

Sylvie says - We rode elephants today and we saw really cute bears. They had a little white "shirt" that was really white fur on their belly and chest. They were lounging in the zoo. And then we went on a safari bus, and it was so cool because we saw more bears out in the wild. The bears and deer weren't Yosemite bears and deer. They were Himalayan Black Bears and Sambar Deer. We also saw tigers and deer that could walk around wild and free. They also had lions there. We saw a girl and boy sambar deer. Now I'm going to talk about masala dosas! I LOVE them so much. they are kinda like tortillas, but even better and super good. They have potatoes inside, and some of them have red chili, but they'll make it for you special without chili if you ask them. I want to eat them every single day. We mostly eat them in the morning. They also give you bowls of sauce, but we don't eat the cold stuff, just in case it could make you sick. Daddy always dips and eats the hot spicy sauce, but I usually dont. I wish you were here to eat masala dosas with me!

Eliza says - I'm having a good time in India.... much better than I thought it would be! Sometimes I wish I was in El Portal, but sometimes I really love what we're doing here. First, I really liked going to Bannerghatta National Park today. The first thing we did was looked around the zoo. My favorite animal there was the elephants, and also they had a zebra. It was so close you could have petted it, but it was in a cage. Then we got on a special bus that has cages on the windows so on our safari the wild animals wouldn't scratch us! We saw a lot of animals like sambar deer, wild bison (gaur), wild tigers and lions. The lions weren't native to there, people brought them there. We also saw crocodiles. We saw some wild sloth bears that were wrestling in the middle of the dirt road in the forest. I thought the coolest thing in the whole safari was seeing two tigers mating!!! The male sort of sat on top of the female, then after a while they growled and the male jumped off! On this safari the animals are all inside a HUUUGE like 20 mile fence, so they can wander around in the jungle. After that we went back to the zoo and saw hippos with "scooper" tails to splash themselves. Then we were ready to ride elephants, but the park workers said they couldn't find any elephants. They let the elephants roam free, and in the morning they go out in the forest to look for elephants to ride. So Dad asked lots of different workers, and they all said "no elephants today." But later, when we were about to leave I SAW some people riding on an elephant! I wondered why THEY got to ride, and right then Dad came running back to us with the tickets for riding elephants! So we got on top of the elephant... instead of a saddle, there is a little platform with railings, and you sit with your feet hanging out. The ride was really tippy, and when we were on its back its trunk came up and it sprayed "snotty water" on us... We all laughed! It was sort of like a sneeze. Then after the ride we got to pet its trunk and ears. It's really rough and hard. Right down the street from our house, there is a man selling coconuts. He just chops the top off, and we stick a straw in and drink it.... It's SOOO good! Then he chops the nut open, and makes a scooper out of the husk so you can scoop out and eat the coconut meat. The young coconut meat is pretty soft and gooey... not hard! The food here is really good. I think my favorite food so far is masala dosa (without the red chilli). At school I made a good friend named "sweetie." She's helping me out cuz I was really shy, but now I'm thinking school is FUN! Whenever people crowd over to to me she tells them to go back to their desk. She tells me to play with only her.... So far, she's my best friend in India.There is a palm tree growing right through our roof. When you walk down the street there are dogs, horses and cows just walking down the streets with NO owner. Everyone just goes around them, even with cars, cuz they think that cows are like gods. Last thing, there is a lake near our house called Sankey Tank where all the fruit bats live. We can walk out there and look at the trees. You see big black bats hanging upside down from the trees. In the evening we go up on top of our roof, and watch the bats, with a 3 foot wingspan, fly over our heads. I feel really excited and I squeal! Sometimes they come so close, but it isn't scary... I just love it! I'm really liking India, but I still miss all of my friends a LOT!

Teacher's Day & Family Puja Ceremony

Travelers know that time spent in exotic lands can be so richly abundant in experience, that weeks of living seems packed into a single day… Today was one of those days!

We began at 5am with the girls waking up… hungry! They are still working on their jet lag, and are close to adjusting to the new time zone. After 2 hours of feeding, packing up, dressing, and heavy duty counseling and cheerleading for one nervous school girl, we were off on our daily 25 minute rickshaw ride to school. Eliza and Sylvie were well prepared, at least on the surface. New daypacks, math and English textbooks, freshly purchased school uniforms (even down to the standard 2 braids with red hair ribbons), water bottles, etc… None of us, however, were prepared for the astounding “teacher day” celebrations! It begins, as does every day at KVMEG, with the morning assembly, but today the teachers took over and led the program that is usually student-run. We teachers led the school pledge, school oath, national anthem, etc… Then they asked Karen and I to sing a special American song… we ran through our collective brains and pulled off a John Denver classic. Then there was a “name that tune” contest, a “stump the teachers” quiz show, a sing-off contest, and I even got to participate in “pin the trunk on the elephant!”

The role reversals continue as the 11th and 12th Class students are assigned to teach all the classes today, covering math, physics, English, biology, Hindi, etc. The young ladies looked beautiful, dressed in their exquisite multicolored saris, while many of the guys wore nice shirts and neckties for the occasion.

Throughout this extended assembly time, and all through the day, student of all ages were constantly approaching to shake hands, wish me “happy teachers day,” and give gifts of flowers, candies, or cards. So revered and respected are teachers in India, that many students even bent down to touch my feet! While walking down the halls, I was constantly swarmed with students, pushing and pressing forward… to get my autograph! “Please sir please sir, sign sign!!!” I felt like a rock star, signing hundreds and hundreds of student notebooks, and forcing myself to move on down the hallway leaving disappointed crowds in my wake. It was all pretty overwhelming and humbling.

Speaking of overwhelming, our daughters also had a major role reversal on their first full day of school. Eliza, who had been dreading today like it was the end of the world, writhing and weeping frequently for days of gut-wrenching self-induced stress, had a splendid day. We had her placed in a specific class, sitting next to the principal’s daughter “Sweetie,” who instantly became her wonderful friend and protector. Sweet Sylvie, possibly as a counter-balance to her stressed-out older sister, was pretty casual and relaxed about the whole “first day” situation. She said, “well, I actually am a little bit scared, but not as much as Eliza, and I’ll try to have fun!” Poor Sylvie had a really rough day, mostly due to the language barrier… I purposefully moved her up to 2nd Class instead of 1st, trusting that the older kids would have more solid English skills. Unfortunately today, being teacher’s day, was quite unstructured and chaotic. The student-teachers, while kind and well-meaning, were not well versed in class management or group dynamics… We had paired Sylvie with a sweet friend “Tania,” but even so, she lamented, “they only spoke Hindi, and I couldn’t talk to anyone today!” We are sure that things will improve day by day, but it was so sad to see her casual confidence get crushed today…

While the teachers all gathered for an after-school meeting and delicious spicy lunch, our kids played outside with “Sweetie,” the principal’s daughter. They climbed trees, played basketball, chased lizards, and stalked green parrots around the school grounds…

Then it was ‘rickshaw time’ to head over to Mr. Nagaraj’s house for tea. His wife Asha is also a teacher, and had several great books and puzzles for the kids to play with. Four year old Siddarth awoke from his nap, and played a vigorous game of “biting snake” jumprope with Lupin. We enjoyed a nice long visit, and then gathered up our things to go to the next event… just as the clouds opened up! We ran to a rickshaw without enough umbrellas, hopping from shallow puddle to puddle, trying to avoid the flowing creeks that 10 minutes ago were dry streets. Packed tightly on laps, and zooming through the soaking traffic, we held our umbrellas against the open rickshaw doors to keep the majority of the water outside….

Ranging from moist (me), to dripping (Sylvie), we arrived safely at sunset at Mr. Prem’s house to attend his “home and family puja.” Prem, and his brilliant son Karan, have shared wonderful conversations with me many mornings before school, and invited our family to join them tonight. This type of puja (prayer ceremony) is performed annually by many Hindu families to ensure health, success, prosperity and spiritual merit. Prem explained that this event would be a very special, traditional, and “rare” version of the event… and he was so right!

As we entered the home, an exquisite colorful geometric mandala was being created on the floor, right next to a brick-lined firepit built in the center of the living room. Three robed priests were carefully making preparations and gathering materials for the incredibly complex series of rituals we were about to witness. Several other family members, friends, and neighbors sat with us on the floor, and the ceremony began. We expected an hour-long event, but what ensued was more than 3 hours of mesmerizing chanting, prayers, offerings, and the combustion of a fascinating assortment of objects. Holy water was sprinkled on attendees, saffron rice was tossed on statues of various gods, incense was burned, butter was drizzled, red and yellow tikas were applied to everyone’s foreheads… I was in awe of these priests, chanting for hours in Sanskrit, and somehow remembering the precise order of events that included the careful placement and ritualized presentation of coconuts, dried grass, apples, bananas, ghee, green grass, lotus blossoms, marigolds and other flowers, colored pastes and powders, grains of rice, steaming cooked rice, special coins, butter lamps, milk, incense sticks, honey, mustard seeds (both black and yellow), and on and on and on….

Our girls were alert and fascinated… for about an hour, and then, one by one, they started to doze on our laps. We carried them into another room to sleep on a bed. It was just about the right time, because then the burning began! The priests began loading sticks into the ring of bricks, and right there in the living room (tile floors), they started up a big fire. The rituals continued, with the fire itself the center and focus of the offerings. Much ghee (clarified butter) was drizzled into the flames, both as offering and to keep the flames dancing. Many of the other items were also consumed by the flames, as we stood up and sat down, tossed rice, sipped sacred water, and watched Prem and his wife offer countless prayers and prostrations for family, friends, health, prosperity, success, and happiness. Even with all the windows open, the smoke was pretty thick. I could handle it just fine while sitting on the floor, but after standing up, I had to retreat to the cool night outside for some fresh air. Other friends and neighbors were doing the same; heading inside for 20 or 30 minutes, then moving outside to chat and visit. Our girls were now snoring on a dry outdoor couch, under the overhang, among piles of shoes, umbrellas, and other kids… Eliza had her head resting on the father-in-law’s lap.

Finally the elaborate ceremony concluded, and Mr. Prem came outside to explain many of the details to us… and invite us back inside for dinner! “Shall we wake your daughters now for eating?” Please no! Karen and I, along with Nagaraj and Siddarth, enjoyed a deliciously spicy home cooked meal, served on the bedroom floor on a banana leaf, and eaten with our right hand. Absolutely wonderful conclusion to the evening!

Several kind folks helped lift and haul our sleeping lumps of daughter (still in their school uniforms), and stack them in a rickshaw… The rain had stopped, but we were carrying plastic bags filled with wet umbrellas and soaking socks and shoes as a momento of its fury. We hugged, waved, and shook hands goodbye to everyone in the dark. As we pulled away, Karen and I looked at each other in the back of the rickshaw, and just began laughing out loud. What a day! WHAT A DAY!!!

Nervous about school in India - by Eliza

(Eliza and her sisters share some worries, highlights, and hopes upon their arrival in India... These thoughts were collected in the somewhat delirious fog of their first morning here, after12 time zones and 3 hours of sleep....)

Eliza says:
When we flew to Bangalore, we stopped in a few places. I think I like Hong Kong better than Singapore, because we could see mountains and the ocean. I saw one big mountain, and said, “hey look at that mountain,” and mommy said she had climbed it once. In Singapore we walked around by the “mermaid lion” and got sprayed by salt water. We bought lots of kinds of fruit like mangosteens, rambutans, rose apples, and some gooey thing called a durian. When you eat it you make a weird face, because it tastes so weird… a little like peanuts, but more smelly.

I already miss El Portal, and I’m feeling really sad because we’re going to be here for months and can’t go back home for a visit. Right now time is going so slow, and I really think it’s going to be such a long time here in India. Everyone says “it’s going to go by so fast,” but I’m glad we only came for half a year. I hope that I won’t feel so nervous after the first day of school. I know can make new friends, but it’s just not the same as my friends that I grew up with my whole life. If we ever go to a different country for a real long time, I’d really want my friends from El Portal to visit us there.

I’m really feeling shy and scared about going to the school. There’s going to be so many kids, and I’m used to my school with just 50 or 60 kids, and not one with 2000. I’m afraid they’re going to crowd around my and ask so many questions. I’m going to be the only one with blond hair, and everyone will look at me all the time.

A lot of people say that I’m sooo lucky to go to India. All my friends say that, and they say they want to come to India too. It makes me feel lucky and good, but I think it’s also sometimes a hard thing to do. I feel like it’s a good thing to travel around a lot, but I also really love spending time at home. My favorite place so far that we’ve been was Europe. I also loved going to Guatemala, but we never stayed in such big city or went to a new school. It was also a shorter trip, so that made me feel it was easier. This trip to India is the longest one so far, and it sort of feels like I’m trapped here.

I sort of wanted to come to India, but I’m not so sure about coming to school here. I’d feel a lot more comfortable if my friend Maya was going to school with me.

I am looking forward to some things in India… like riding elephants, and maybe finding a place to ride horses. Today we went for a walk around and saw some squirrels that looked like golden mantle ground squirrels. I also liked drinking coconut milk right out of the nut with a straw. We saw lots of huge palm trees and other tall ones that hang over the roads and have big roots breaking up the sidewalks. We ate dosas at a restaurant, and I mostly ate them plain. A few times I dipped it in the spicy sauce, and that was OK. We went to the aquarium in a rickshaw, and that was so cool. I spotted a huge hawk in a tree with a white head, and my Dad took a picture to show mom cuz she loves birds. I looked it up in Dad's book at home. It's called a Braminy Kite. The tickets for all of our family to go in the aquarium were only 11 Rupees; that's about like 25 cents! I couldn't believe it costs so little!

Today was a fun day, but right now I feel like India is going to be hard for me. I’m also really looking forward making new friends, even though that’s the one thing that makes me the most nervous.

Sylvie adds:
I’m pretty excited to be here, actually I think I like everything… I hope even that I’ll like the school. It’s gonna be soooo big, so still I might be a little scared, but not as scared as Eliza!

Lupin pipes in with:
Everything and everything I like here. I drank coconut milk, and I ate ‘saladosa’ but not the spicy part. We also ate the sweet thing at the sweet cake place. It tastes like sweets and yummies!

The Family Arrives!!!

Yipeee! Karen and the Kids flew in from Singapore last night! All safe and sound and sleepy and totally wired all at once.... What an exquisite moment it is, first spotting them, through the crowd of travelers, and the kids joyfully sprinting to me for our first hugs in 3 weeks... What a sweet reunion!

Mr. Balaji, my exchange partner's husband, and his son very kindly drove to and from the airport, and helped with all the luggage. Karen passed out just as soon as we got home, but the kids were racing around the house until 3am. I finallly got them to sleep with stories.... ahhhhhh..... blessed sweet slumber..... until they all awoke again at 6am! Egads!

Today was their first day, and I wanted to hopefully "reset their clocks." We pushed them pretty hard, keeping them awake and moving and stimulated all day, so they would be ready to conk out at a more normal hour. We walked around the neighborhood, ate masala dosas, explored a few temples, then returned home.

The kids continued to 'unpack' and spread their chunks on every flat surface of our home. Karen took a looong hard nap, and I took the kids by rickshaw downtown to the Government Aquarium. It's a pretty basic place, but the kids loved it. They aslo giggled and squealed each time our rickshaw bumped over a pothole or swerved to avoid a bus. Sylvie was especially thrilled by the sudden downpour after the aquarium, and didn't want anything to do with my silly umbrella! "Dad, I LOVE to get wet!!!"

Back home, they played with stuffed animals, and created intricate designs on the front porch with scores of white jasmine blooms that continually rain down from the tree above. They LOVE the palm tree that grows through the eaves of the roof. They all seem to like dosas, just not with all the chilli.... Then, during the early dinner at a nearby restaurant (about 5pm), they all simultaneously began to run out of gas. Lupin first, completely unconcious on the bench. Sylvie, eyes closed, swaying back and forth about to pass out into her chutney, mumbled, "No daddy, I won't fall asleep. I won't close my eyes. I promise." Eliza went from chitter chatterbox about many topics to nearly comatose at the table. We barely managed to drag them downstairs & out into a rickshaw, got their teeth brushed and carried them to their beds around 6pm. Hopefully they will snooze well and all through the night!

Tomorrow they'll visit the school for an hour or 2, and probably begin attending on Weds. (Tuesday is a holiday for the Birth of Krishna). Eliza is pretty anxious and filled with "new gigantic school" worries. She and I had several nice long talks about that today... She gets herself so worked up way in advance of big events. We can't wait to just get her through the first hour, and are confident that she will feel so relieved and welcomed by her new classmates ad teachers! Sylvie and Lupin? They are so busy collecting flowers off the ground, looking for dogs and cows in the street, and chasing each other around the room, they aren't thinking past the next stimulating moment!

Students’ Cultural Performances

Santa Claus is dancing on stage at the moment, with Ganesh, Krishna, and several Sikh, Kashmiri and Keralan dancers waiting their turn! I’m standing under a palm tree on the school assembly grounds in Bangalore, witnessing an amazing kaleidoscope of cultural presentations. Each day during the 15-20 minute morning assembly, a different class presents a short skit, song, or dance. The full participation is quite impressive, and every kid that steps up to the microphone (on stage in front of 2400 students) has their lines, or speech perfectly memorized.

Today they have expanded the program, as each 7th, 8th, and 9th grade section was assigned a specific holiday, traditional costume, or ceremonial dance to share. We spent an extra 2 hours outside, and saw dances from the Punjab, Kerala, Kashmir, and Karnataka. Traditional clothing from Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu… Diwali, Christmas, Holi, Onam, Eid, and other holidays traditions were demonstrated. I was very impressed with the students’ preparation and excitement in making their presentations, and also struck by the incredible diversity of this country, and of the students at my school.

The Kendriya Vidyalaya system is said to be one of the largest school “districts” in the world, with almost 1,000 schools scattered across India, serving 1 million students. The KV schools cater to children of civil servants, government employees, and military personnel, and have a nationally standardized curriculum, textbooks, and schedule. In theory, any child that gets transferred around India to a new city or military base, will jump right in on the same chapter in the same classes at the next KV they attend. In my first week of teaching, I’ve already had 2 students leave, and found that about 10 of my kids have only joined our school in the last few weeks.

With all the transferring around, each KV is like a little slice of India, with families from every state, religion, and language group all lumped together into a wonderfully diverse mixture. Most of my students speak 3 languages (Hindi, English, and their “home language”), and some speak 4 or 5. Todays cultural presentations really demonstrated the diversity that surrounds me every day… All of these costumes & all the dance moves are certainly personal traditions of several kids in each section. It was a real treat to see them having so much fun, and taking such pride in celebrating each others cultures!

Karnatic Temple Music

Well, I’ve had plenty of great days in Bangalore, but tonight was the first “magical” experience of our time in India. Yesterday Nagaraj took me downtown to the railway station to buy a timetable and check out the reservation system. We’re planning on several great train journeys, and wanted to get the inside scoop on advanced reservations. Alas, it was pouring rain, so we lingered inside and “took tea.” I bought a newspaper just for fun, and within it I found an ad for a concert at a Lakshmi temple the next day… What a karmic gift that was!

In the massive sprawl of Bangalore, this MahaLakshmi temple happened to be just 2 kms. Away… almost next door! Today is Lakshmi puja, where people make prayers and offerings to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. It is especially important for wives to make prayers for their husbands. I got to the temple early, and was invited to wash hands and feet, join in the procession of hundreds of devotees at the altar, and eat a meal prepared by the priests. Then I took a seat for the concert. I happened tos sit in the front row, next to Amith, one of the main performers.

What an exquisite experience… Sun setting and dusk falling, the light changing on the coconut palm fronds overhead, twinkling lights all over the temple, and the constant stream of hundreds and hundreds of people shuffling along into the temple itself. Then I looked up at the birds… no not birds, BATS were flying overhead, heading out at dusk to search for fruit. Massive fruit bats flapping on silent wings, 2 or 3 feet across, as the ¾ moon slipped out from behind the clouds.

And then the music… Oh my… 3 hours of truly exquisite artistic excellence… First was Pallavi Prasanna, a beautiful Karnatic vocalist, singing incredible ancient temple songs. Her voice, and pitch, and vocal control were astounding, as she danced up and down the scales, singing in Kannada. I was literally moved to tears.

Then came the father/son duo of Amith Nadig and BK Anantharam …. They both played mind-blowing high-speed flute, brilliantly supported by a violin player and phenomenal percussionist on the 2-sided drum (dholak?). These guys made me smile and laugh out loud! The ecstatic back and forth of the drum and flute was such a pleasure to watch… their interactions were playful and filled with joy, smiles and mischief. It seemed they were trying to out-do each other, or trick the other with a particularly frenzied riff…. But no one stumbled or ever missed a beat. As the man sitting next to me said after the final applause, “this music, good sir, is meant to take you to another world.” I bought the CD. Immediately after the performance, the violin player put down his instrument, pulled out his cell phone, and began text messaging…. Ahhhhh, Bangalore!

My camera had a “disc failure,” so I didn’t get any photos… And I may have lost most of my shots from this week… Oh well… the experience was divine, and I found out that this is the best time in Bangalore for “festival and temple music.” There are free concerts all week, not too far from my school, so I’m sure I’ll get a few more doses of this magical music! And while I’m at it, a few more dosas….

Eating in Bangalore!

photos and comments to come soon.....