Is It Cold in Blighty?

Oooooh, I just posted that entry and noticed the temperature over there. Is it a little bit chilly at the moment?! I'd actually really love to feel the cold. Ah well, there's always next summer!!

Feeling A Little Bit Christmassy

I've been very busy tonight and it's late so forgive me if I ramble.

I got a tip-off that a shop had some Christmas cards, so I jumped in the car this morning, leaving DH and the kids behind to man the pumps that are currently working flat out to remove all the flood water from our garden (several hours later most of the water and the frogs have disappeared, it's actually very quiet tonight) and went in search of Christmas...and I found it, sort of.

There was no tinsel, no music, no Ho Ho Ho! or twinking lights, but there were no crowds and there were some cards so I bundled a load into my basket along with some gifts. At the checkout I was asked if I would like to use their 'free' gift wrapping service....OH YES PLEASE! I enjoy wrapping up presents, or rather I did, before children. Now it can be rather a painful excercise and the hours between their bedtime and mine are short at the moment, so anything to save time. I left the shop feeling very satisied!

So, this evening those short hours actually became longer hours as I endeavoured to write lots of cards while yawning and humming along to the odd one or two Christmas songs on the radio with everyone else sleeping soundly...I hereby officially bagsy the lie-in tomorrow! You see it had to be done today/tomorrow because a friend is flying back to the UK on Monday and has very generously offered to post things for me. Good job because I still haven't found the Post Office yet!

Now, let me just say that I've really tried my best...if you don't receive a card it is for one of the following reasons...
a) I've run out of cards and may not be able to get back to the shop in time for more.
b) You've moved recently and I can't quite just at this minute lay my hands on your new address.
c) You've moved and I know where your house/flat is but I don't know its number.
d) You don't deserve one because you haven't emailed or got in touch to share your news (just kidding, but it might prick the odd concience!)
e) I used to rely on the Boy Scouts and their powers of deduction to deliver yours and they knew how to find, for example 'the red brick house with blue window frames on Spring Lane', and, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it to Talisman Square any Saturday morning in December to drop them off to them this year - so very sorry!

It's Raining Frogs!

It is, I swear!

So far, all the time we've been here we've only heard one, it was in a drain and protested big time on one of the occasions the pool was emptied.

Since it's been raining I reckon there are 100's of them out there in the garden because there is a noisy old chorus going on out there tonight. Not surprising because the garden does resemble a lake. They sound BIG, very BIG. I went on a frog hunt in between downpours but I couldn't see any and they all went quiet when I came anywhere close....If they're not frogs then I don't know what they are!

Safe & Well

Thank you for your concerned emails and texts after the dreadful events that occurred in Mumbai yesterday.

Mumbai is about a 2 hour flight away and on the opposite coast to Chennai, so we are not close to what is happening there although we are of course keeping up-to-date on all the developments. Most of the hotels in Chennai that we visit have all been very diligent since the Islamabad Marriot hotel bombing in September and while the level of security checks worried me at first, we have come to expect it.

Our current concern in Chennai is Cyclone Nisha who is still doing her stuff and depositing vast amounts of rain over Tamil Nadu and the forecast looks as though it'll continue until Sunday. Parts of the city are under several feet of water and people in some areas are being evacuated. At one point during DH's journey home last night his car was actually floating! I think we'll stay at home today. Here is a link to some photographs...

http://www.thisismyindia.com/pictures_of_india/chennai-pictures.html

Still it Rains

http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/cyclone-nisha-hits-tamil-nadu-and-chennai-64-people-dead

Waterlogged

http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=12312%20&%20section=7
There is a Big Bad Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal and we have been watching the big fat wet rain for the last 24 hours. Trees are down and many of the streets are waterlogged, all government schools and offices are closed. The guards are knee-deep again - the pump installed last week just doesn't seem to make a jot of a difference. All the staff had excuses for being late/going early. Our phone (just when we finally get International Direct Dial and I was planning on calling you all) and Internet are intermittent and my trip to the corner shop was interesting this morning as I waded to their door in the hope of finding some fish fingers. The mosquito's are getting bigger, fatter and more thirsty by the day, but, I did manage some Christmas shopping today in between downpours. Christmas is another topic altogether, because at the moment it is lost, I can't find it anywhere...I think I need to look a bit harder...which perhaps means a little more shopping? What a shame!

What Do We Miss?

In answer to this question I conducted a quick poll...
DS - ??? don't think he understood the question!
DD - England, Imogen, Thomas, William, Aunty Sally, Nanan & Grandad, Daisy, Snow, Milkshake TV, Hatton Farm Village
DH - Driving
Me - Friends and Family, Walking, Waitrose & Sainsbury's Ready to Cook Range(!) Washed and bagged salad, Autumn, Feeling Cold, Aqua Aerobics.
Hmmmm, us girls seem to be missing the most things!

In Answer to Some of Your Questions Part 1

DH is settling very well into his new job. There will be even more challenges ahead for him now that this recession is snapping at all our heels. We knew his commute to the factory would be a tough one, and it is. At least he doesn't have to drive it himself, and although he denies it, I'm sure he catches 40 winks here and there. He's working hard and has been fantastic in organising and getting things in place at the house.

The kids are adjusting. DS has been like a duck to water, he's everyone's best friend and has everyone wrapped around his little finger. He loves all the attention and has been throwing the most spectacular tantrums known to man - if there was an Oscar to be had he'd win it - and he's still 6 months of being 2. Help me! Three mornings a week I take him to a U & Me session at a fantastic Indian school http://www.kidscentralchennai.com/home.html and he really loves it, I tell him we're off to school and he runs to fetch his shoes and when it's time to leave I literally have to drag him away kicking and screaming.

DD started off fine, embracing everything with gusto and energy but then I think she lapsed into a case of Culture Shock as it dawned on her we weren't going to be going home sometime soon and she began questioning everything around us. She enjoys her school http://www.aisch.org/ but found the size of it daunting at first (ages 3-18) especially with so many 'big kids' around. She now goes 3 full days and 2 mornings, the mornings tend to be very focused with no time for play with others, whereas the afternoons are pretty free, so for the last couple of weeks she has been staying all day and has been making some friends. She has a brand new swish haircut since Saturday and the salon even painted her toe-nails for her. She was so good and was as pleased as punch. It was a joy to see her very wide grin as she sat in the chair beaming into the mirror. As we were leaving she comes out with, 'Shall we go for a coffee now Mummy?' But the best 'out of the blue' question she has come out with this week, was today as we're on the way home from school, 'Mummy, how old will I be when I wear a bra?' I choked on my water and Kumar had a chuckle. You are 4, not 14 sweetheart!!

The school run to DD's school in the morning takes an hour there and back, traffic and weather permitting. 45mins at lunchtime and in the afternoon. DS's is just 5-10mins away.

Yes, our house in the UK has been let, tenants are moving in either before Christmas or early January.

As for Hair and the Monsoon....let's just put that under a banner title of Hair & Humidity! Good and bad days. Many more good (well, acceptable) than I first thought thanks to John Frieda Moisture Barrier Hairspray - thanks for that great tip Michelle! Yes, I brought what I hope will be a year's supply.

Now for a biggie...Do we notice the different culture? Oh yes, big time, all the time and I really don't quite know where to start on this one at the moment. Just fathoming out the people and how they tick is a minefield. As the weeks have gone by, and I pinch myself that is just weeks, we have seen/heard/encountered so much that it seems like a big sensory overload. I think I've switched off for the time-being, just to survive getting us up on our feet. Either that or I've de-sensitised to it already, but I don't think so as things still surprise and shock me but I'm tending not to dwell on things as much and concentrate on us as a family. It will be interesting when we have fist time visitors to India, here to stay at Christmas. I wonder if I will notice the things they notice?

Mr Fixit Does Ice-Cream

My kids love Ice-cream and it's always a handy stop-gap to have some in the freezer. Some shops here have freezers with lots of the stuff inside them but with all the power cuts you wonder how safe it is to buy and eat so tend to give it a wide berth.

Ice-cream parlours are also quite common and it was as we passed a rather downbeat looking Baskin Robbins (others look great, it was just that this one prompted my thought!) that I asked a question...'Kumar, do you know of a good place to take the children out for Ice-Cream?'

'Madam, my brother's son works in an Ice-Cream factory, anything you want I will get for you.' He makes a phone call. 'Madam, my brother's son has told me to come this afternoon and he will take care of you.' Ok then I think, let me see, some vanilla and some chocolate would be good to help maintain my 'Best Mum In the World Status' in the eyes of DD (she's 4 and will realise one day that I'm really not that good!), and give him my freezer bag, ice-packs and some Rupees.

We sat, we waited. The kids had dinner and ate it ALL up on the bribe that Ice-Cream was on it's way, and still we waited. Bath time was looming and DD begins to get agitated, I call Kumar and he tells me the traffic is very bad, and it is, ALWAYS.

Five minutes later he screeches up the drive and deposits not only a box of vanilla and chocolate but a huge array of ice-lollies, tubs, screwball type things without the bubblegum and tells me these are all free samples and anything else we order will be given with a hefty discount and that any Ice-Cream will be freshly made and frozen on the day we buy. He read my mind.

DD was so impressed that she even gave Kumar an ice-cream as a thank you, I didn't like to tell him that it was because she grabbed the first thing she saw and then saw something better and quick thinking as she is, found a way to off-load the less interesting one! She then redeemed herself by giving our new maid, who started this week, a choc-ice for her two year old son.

When it Rains

It really rains in Chennai. Big Fat Wet Rain, there's no such thing as drizzle or a light shower here. This is what happens to our driveway. From where the picture is taken the water is ankle deep. Top left is the guard's hut and they are knee deep. On this day, I left for school at 8am, and it had just begun raining. When I returned at 9am this is what I found. Our landlord agreed that the driveway drainage needed addressing. Lots of digging, lifting of paving etc happened last week, fingers crossed it's now sorted.

How Many Men Does It Take To...

Whatever job is being done, whatever service you require it takes an awful lot of men to make it happen here in India, here are some examples...

To Install and Check a Phone Line - Answer 4
One to hold the carrier bag of bits, one to do the work, one to give opinions and one to stand around and gawp at your house and belongings.

To Install Broadband - Answer 3
One to fiddle, one to scratch his head and one to realise that the wireless switch on your computer is off (whoops! mea culpa!)

To Measure Up For Curtains - Answer 5
One to bring and hold the fabric samples, one to measure, one to write it down and two to stand around and gawp at your house and belongings.

To Fit Kitchen Window Blinds - Answer 4 (two separate occasions)
One to carry said blinds in, one to hold the blind and leave dirty fingerprints all over it, one to
fix it, one to stand and gawp at your house and belongings and one to ask for a tip - he didn't think dirty fingerprints were a problem, we did.

To Argue that You're Kitchen Blinds DO Fit and it's your windows that are wonky - Answer 2
This one was a classic and a perfect example of how the majority of Indian men won't listen to anything a woman has to say. The bottom of the blind is 1.5" shorter at one end to the other, he swears it's the window that is squiffy...I am there with tape measure (this goes on for an hour by the way) I measure the window, then measure the blind and each and every time he offers to hold the tape measure and then moves it to his advantage and tells me again and again that the walls are not straight. PLEASE! I do now how to measure a bloody window. They leave. DH removes the blind, we take it back to the shop, the owner looks at it and agrees it's wrong and needs replacing. 1 week later two different men arrive to re-fit, I tell them to wash their hands first, they take forever to re-fit it and then blatantly ask for a tip. So do you think they got one?

I have more evidence and incidents...but you get the picture, right?

What Chef Rustled Up

To my complete surprise it wasn't just one chef that turned up...but 4!!

My kitchen descended into what looked like chaos but was probably well organised as they set to work on our 'trial run' . From the shopping list and a few other things raided from my fridge and store cupboard they came up with the following...




For the kids - fish fingers, vegetable rissoles and sandwiches(Do I look THAT hopeless!)

For us - a large quantity of the most delicious Dahl, yummy chicken curry, a ton of rice pilaf, pan fried fillet of beef with spinach and mushroom salad, herb breaded lamb chops with mashed potato and Chicken Tikka....err also there is a container of cashew nut paste that I'm not sure what I should do with! The only dish that we're not quite sure of was their version of Chicken Strogonoff....it's very green, like pea green which I think is lots of spinach, thick ,and well, it doesn't have any cream or yoghurt, mushrooms or the merest hint of nutmeg in it. We will reserve judgement and try it again!

DS and his Very Best Friend 'Mr Fixit' watching everyone hard at work

Only one problem, chefs being chefs wherever in the world they may be... don't do washing up. I was left with every single pan, baking sheet, roasting tin, saucepan, frying pan I own...and oh yes (how could I forget!)after they left and the floor had been mopped for the upteenth time we realised that the drain had got blocked up by all the remnants of their chopping and preparations and water started pouring out of the cupboard under the sink! My Mr Fix-it, Kumar...fixed it with the help of the guards, thank goodness and eventually normality was restored. The kids had fish fingers and rissoles for dinner and we had curry, dahl and rice. The freezer is stocked. Now we have to talk terms.

Indian Cooking in my Kitchen

not by me, not yet anyway.

While here we decided that we really want to sample South Indian cuisine, lack of babysitters prevents us from getting out to sample as much as we'd like and the kids would not thank us for taking them anywhere unless they could just eat plain rice and chappati.

So Mr Fixit, Kumar, has arranged for his very best friend, who happens to be a chef at one of the big posh hotels to come to our house to do a trial, if it goes OK he may come here each week to prepare dishes that we can store or freeze. He will also make European dishes for us if we want - that could free up some of my time spent in the kitchen, where the endless washing, sterilising and preparation of anything fresh is a bit of a chore and bores DS to bits!

So, tomorrow he comes. The only critera I have specificed is low fat, low salt. I have spent this morning criss-crossing the city in search of all the ingredients on his shopping list and am really intrigued as to what he is going to rustle up, here's the list...
2kg chicken, 1kg of Sear fish fillet, 1kg lamb chops, 15 eggs , 100g green chillis , 2kg onions, 500g beans, 20 lemons, 2kg potatoes, 5 leeks, assorted peppers, coriander, alot of garlic, ginger & garlic paste, 1kg spinach, 1 litre of cream, 1kg basmati rice, 5 loafs of bread, cashew nuts, 1kg moong dahl, 2 kg maitha flour...and a whole raft of spices and herbs.

Will let you know what he magic's up!

Auto Rickshaw Rage

The weather has been wet again this week and one afternoon both the kids and I were climbing the walls. On the spur of the moment I decided to bundle us all into the car and sample a children's play centre for the first time which is located nearby.

Kumar said he would return to the house to finish some jobs and I told him we'd only be about an hour, 'OK Madam phone me'.

As he drove off splashing through the puddles it dawned on me that in my rush to get out I had actually left my phone at the house. Oh well, I thought he'll probably return in good time...only he didn't. The play centre was OK as these places go in India but DS needed watching like a hawk - doesn't he always!

After 50minutes, one of the staff came up to me and told me that we had to leave as we'd only paid for the hour, OK but the hour's not quite up yet! 10 minutes later I take the kids upstairs to wait by the door and look out for Kumar, only it was a little hard keeping them out of the play area now that they knew it was there and much frowning from the staff followed. I tried to explain that I had left my phone and was waiting for our driver to return but they weren't impressed. Half an hour later after DS has gone into meltdown, dinner is spoiling in the oven at home and even more stony stares from the jobsworth staff I decided my only option was to try and get an Auto-Rickshaw to take us back. Knowing I was about to get ripped off big time for the fare I enlisted the help of the only soft faced and helpful member of staff to get one, and bless her, she dashed off into the rain to hail one and agreed a price of 30rps. One of the other jobsworths tries to get me to pay another 300rps! What? For standing by the front door?! Perhaps she'd rather we had stood out in the rain.

Just as we bundle outside, Kumar arrives looking worried. 'Madam you left your phone?' Yeah, yeah, I know! I explain my brave attempt to get home and give him 20rps to give the Rickshaw driver for the HUGE inconvenience of pulling over his vehicle, who by this time has caught sight of us and obviously sees a meal ticket disappearing before his eyes....And. He. Goes. Ballistic! Kumar literally throws me and the kids into the car locking the doors, meanwhile the Mad Rickshaw driver has now turned on the kindly girl who'd helped me. I felt so bad, even the 20rps wasn't going to appease him.

Moral of the story...NEVER leave home without a phone. Put a list of emergency numbers in purse and don't try and have bright ideas!

Sounds From Home

Along came our broadband internet and so did the wonder and JOY of internet radio.

How fantastic it was to tune into Smooth FM again and listen to some great tunes that evoke great memories and music that lifts your spirit. News and weather, even traffic reports that mean almost nothing now, but I do feel your pain! I suppose they are hardly going to tell you all about the Auto-Rickshaw that has broken down on Anna Salai or the HUGE puddle in Kotturpuram that is making everyone late for school and is causing the whole city of Chennai to gridlock, but just listening makes you all feel not so far away! Granted in the UK I listened to the West Mids station ...but the London version is not bad either and over the years I've listened to all the Smooth FM DJ's in one guise or one station or another.

So over happy was I, that I did something that I've always wanted to do but never had the courage to do....don't know why, it was so easy....I sent in an email and within minutes Lynn Parsons gave us a mention, to you guys, from us. All the way from Chennai.....Ah the wonders of the Tinternet oojamflip thing! Hope you heard it?! Feeling happy happy this evening, with lifted spirit!

Still listening....

"Ooooh , let me tell you now, when I had you to myself I didn't want you around....oh baby give me one more chance...I want you back...ooh ooh baby....all I need...all I want...baby, baby etc etc
(they can sing alot faster than I can type, OK? So a Prize to the first person who can tell me what song that was!)

2nd prize for this one...
"Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, I hear you call my name and it feels like home, when you call my name it's like a little... it's like a dream to me, oh yeah...

Still listening *sigh* but cut the Xmas adverts, because it's too warm for Xmas, Xmas feels like a year away and sorry to you people stuck on Holland Park Avenue due to a burst water main, you'll get home eventually.

Night Time Fun & Frolicks

The State of Tamil Nadu needs 12000 mega watts of electricity per day but only 9500 mega watts are actually available, therefore there are alot of 'enforced' power cuts. These are more frequent and last longer the further you are from the city, in some rural areas they have cuts for up to 8 hours per day. So far, we have been relatively unaffected but this week the government announced that the City would now have power cuts for 2 hours per day. Many properties have back-up generators as do we, which sense a power cut and cut in after a minute after loss of power. Well, they do if they're full of diesel and the battery hasn't gone flat.

The power went out one night last week at 11pm, just as we'd gone to bed, we waited but the generator didn't do its stuff. DH went out to check it and as he stepped outside he was greeted by the Guards, 'big problem Sir, generator not started', DH thinks 'No sh** Sherlock', and goes to investigate. He finds the battery flat and thinks it best to leave it until the morning...until I remind him we have a freezer with a meat delivery in it, so he goes back outside to try and start the generator with the battery from the car, he removes it and installs it on the generator, with the help of the three guards, DH describes their help as like having three toddlers around him trying to help but making the job 10x harder.

The generator would now crank over but it would not start so DH then suggests to the guards that the generator has run out of fuel, 'No Sir Plenty of Fuel'. He was having none of it so eventually the guards show him the fuel gauge, 'Ahhhh (lightbulb moment) big problem. Empty Sir'.

So, then began the great fuel hunt, unfortunately the car which was suitable for the job was the car he had removed the battery from, so he went through the painful exercise of reinstalling the battery and he then got into the car to go and fetch the fuel. To his amazement all three guards clambered into the car, two of them trying their level best to squeeze themselves into the kids car seats. Getting ever more exasperated DH asked, 'Do I really need three guards to fetch fuel? Who is going to stay behind and guard the house which is in complete darkness with Madam and the children inside?' Blank faces. He resorts to a more direct approach, 'OI, YOU TWO OUT'.

After trailing around Chennai for fuel, as it turns out that most fuel stations shut at 11.30pm, he finally returns with some diesel (are you bored yet?) Then had to do some technical thing to the engine 'bleed the air out of the fuel injection system', means nothing to me, but it was apparently another painful exercise with the hindrance of the guards. Once again he removed the battery from the car and installed it on the generator, and hey presto we had power, not that I knew about it as I'd fallen asleep ages ago, (as you may have also done by now) he then reinstalled the battery on the car for the morning so that we could get to school, and he finally came inside at 1am and unfortunately for him he was back up at 5.30am for work. Our food stayed frozen and the power didn't return until 8am, so I guess that marrying a person who grew up repairing tractors on a farm has BIG advantages!

Maid In India

Excuse the naff title, I'm feeling a little 'naff' myself!

I have mentioned that I had a bad week, well Jayanthi (aka Mary) contributed big time to my woes.

She asked for her salary last Friday, I thought DH must have forgotten pay day, so I shelled out without checking. Big mistake, as it turns out we have actually been paying her in advance, this was so that we could secure her to work for us from another family who were leaving before we arrived in Chennai.

On Monday morning, Pushpa, our second maid was due to start work and I was looking forward to finally getting the house straight this week with 2 staff to help, and she dutifully arrived in good time. I returned from the school run to find Pushpa alone and no Jayanthi. No phonecall, no nothing, so I wait until 10.30am and then try to contact her. No joy. I ask Kumar to call the number we have and he has some sort of luck and gabbles away in Tamil to someone and then informs me that 'Jayanthi, she is sick madam'. Oh OK then fair enough, a phonecall would have been nice though.

Tuesday morning, still no sign, still no phonecall so I ask Kumar to call again 'Still sick madam, going to hospital for blood test', OK fair enough, but please ask her to keep us informed.

Wednesday, still no sign and I'm told that a woman turns up at the gate asking for a job because, 'Jayanthi not coming back'...???? Panic. OMG why not? Are we horrible? Have we treated her badly in some way...she kept telling me how happy she was to work here and how she enjoyed the children - very confused.

Kumar calls again and is told there is a 'big family problem' he immediately places his bet on a new job and doesn't beleive a word of it.

Wednesday evening, DH decides to pay her a visit to see if there has been a misunderstanding or something and the story we get is that she lost her house when the Tsunami hit and the government gave her a house that is 16km away, so she decided to stay with her family in Chennai where the work is, now the government are threatening to repossess the house, which she can't afford to let them do and has to go away to live in the house.

Kumar still doesn't beleive a word of it, 'Madam, she is a widow, 2 children, she has to work, she needs money. She has another job and I will find out where.' OK Kumar, and when you do, let us know becasue she owes us a months salary!

Anyway, that's the jist of it, there were other factors in this including her sister who was not actually able to 'swear on the bible' when asked to confirm that she didn't have another job. Woman at the Gate returning again to chance her luck with more hearsay.

Pushpa has stayed the week. She is very good with the children and loves playing with them, more so than doing the housework, but everything has been so much at sixes and sevens this week I haven't complained - yet.

Postscript - A few hours later, we have it confirmed that she does indeed have a new job. What a palava and a sack full of untruths!

Finally,,,

WE HAVE WIRELESS BROADBAND AND A TELEPHONE!! WOO HOO

Such very good news after a challenging week. Just when you think things are settling down and you're finding your feet, the rug gets pulled from under your feet.

As things go in India I am certain that my week was actually nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it just felt like it as the problems encountered were all new situations to me and I don't think I handled things very well. Live and learn.

I have also been unwell the last 3 weeks which I put down to climate/food/water adjustment but it turns out it was a rather nasty dose of food poisoning. On the brightside...it was good for the waistline!