An Indian Christening

Last weekend we were quite busy weren't we! Which was a very good thing seeing as though after 3 weeks of Ian being away I was reaching the end of my tolerance threshold and it was therefore good to be busy with the children entertained.

Against all the odds and in a hair raising story a friends driver, Cruz and his wife were safely delivered of a baby girl last November. They named her Cinderella.



Cruz proudly invited us all to attend her Christening and we all made our way to St Thomas Mount Church in the searing heat. The church was packed, no A/C but there were alot of fans to waft the heat around a bit. The whole Mass and service was in Tamil and I think I managed to catch and understand about 3 words...Jesus, Disciple and Monday(?! maybe I didn't quite catch that one after all!) Despite us all rapidly dehydrating and glowing brightly the children were all very well behaved, but maybe that was also because so many of the congregation around us were paying them all SO much attention.



Here is the proud Mother in her beautiful Sari with the adorable Cinderella. We have only really been able to speculate on the choice of name, you don't like to appear rude by asking outright, but my friend and I surmised that after marrying and being disowned by their families (he converted from Muslim to Catholicism) and after 10 years of trying to have a baby and a hell raising pregnancy it all ended like a fairytale for them.

Ellie's take on the name was somewhat more pragmatic...

Ellie: What is the baby's name?
Me: Cinderella
Ellie: CINDERELLA? That's a princesses name. Is she a princess then?
Me: Errr well, not exactly.
Ellie: Look Mummy, Is Cruz a King? No. So he can't give his daughter a princesses name.
Me: Why not?
Ellie: Because he's NOT A KING and so his wife is not a Queen. Alright?
Me: Daddy calls you a princess sometimes.
Ellie: Yes, and I keep telling him...I'm a pirate NOT a princess.

My Best Friend

The Indian schools are having their 2 month summer holiday at the moment and Balaji, Pushpa's 9 year old son has come to the house for a couple of days because he likes to play with Luke and they've both had a ball and have got on like a house on fire. Luke disappears from sight when Balaji is around and when he does reappear he is absolutely shattered. They zoom around all day long doing all kinds of boy things much to Ellie's disgust and Balaji is now a firm fan of Cottage Pie and Spag Bol!

Double Deckers

Last weekend I took the kids to the British Deputy High Commission for a meeting of the Double Deckers Club. A once monthly meeting for British children living in Chennai to enable them to keep in touch with some of our national traditions, customs and events. This months topics were HRH The Queen & William Shakespeare's birthdays and St Georges Day. The kids had a great time and Ellie's highlight was making a birthday card for The Queen. The afternoon was rounded off with a 'Street Party' (inside with A/C and a good job too!) with all sorts of yummy British delights which the adults got to polish off!

Two More Sleeps...

...and a party for 40+ in our garden tomorrow evening until Daddy finally gets home!

Yay! We've missed you!

Mango Mania

In the UK we are so used to having the pick and choose of all fruits no matter what the season and I honestly thought that living somewhere tropical would mean an abundance of tropical fruit year round. Not so, whilst Pineapple, Papaya and Bananas are consistently available there are definite seasons for the likes of Strawberries Mangoes and Melons.

Right now we are entering Mango and Melon season, thank goodness because we were beginning to get bored with pineapple and if Ian sees another piece of Papaya I think it could be grounds for divorce (he doesn't like it very much!) The shops are full of Mangoes and the streets are full of Watermelons.


We have 2 large Mango Trees in our garden, so large it's hard to get a perspective! One is here in the background and has an abundance of green mangoes. The other has none...the Male tree apparently. We've made Mango chutney twice (the first lot was left out and went mouldy - oops!)


There are an amazing number of different varieties of Mango which came as a surprise, sweet, sour, large, small, green and yellow is my level of understanding so I won't try to kid you that I know what they all are because I haven't even begun to try and ask!


The Roads are currently lined with piles and piles of Watermelons for sale. On the left is a pile of Tender Coconuts for drinking.


Shopping at our favourite fruit and vegetable shop.

With all this beautiful fresh fruit available to us, what do you think Ellie & Luke are eating the most of...well for Ellie, as usual just strawberries and grapes (imported!)...Luke? Bananas ONLY! I GIVE UP!

On The Roads of Chennai

When there isn't a general strike the roads and traffic in Chennai are congested with every conceivable mode of transport to say the least. You don't half see some sights and as there doesn't seem to be many laws enforcing safety, half, no actually make that MOST of the time you see things that leave your heart in your mouth. Like the family of 6 on a motorbike, or the small baby sleeping across the petrol tank of a motorbike, while the father who is wearing a crash helmet zooms down the Toll Road. The buses so overloaded that there are people hanging onto the windows on the outside, or, even lying on the roofs! Here are some photos of some of the sights I've seen. The quality isn't always good because they've been taken from inside the car whilst on the move but I think you'll get the picture!


Overloaded Lorry from the Front!


And, from the back!


A Rush Hour Lorry Load of Coconuts


On the way to Work Perhaps?


On the Way to School - I didn't manage to snap this one from the back but there were in fact at least 20 children on this truck all in their school uniforms!


Banana Anyone?

An Unexpected Holiday

School is closed today.

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi has called a Bandh (a sort of general strike) to protest peacefully against the killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka. Most of the offices, businesses and shops are closed, there are no buses, no auto rickshaws. (Click on title for BBC link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandh

We have been warned that episodes of civil unrest may occur, so the advice is that it's best not to go too far. Of course, the 'World's Largest Democracy' is currently in the throes of a general election and here in this State voting doesn't start for a few weeks but there is alot of campaigning and canvassing going on and the 'common man' is an eager pawn for both the current regime and the opposition.

School is also closed again all day tomorrow! For parent teacher conferences! What's wrong with Parent Evenings?

In 7 Weeks

I was looking at the calendar this evening and it just sunk in...

7 Weeks today we will be leaving Chennai and India.

We just need to know what/where next and then we can perhaps get on with our lives.

Home Alone Sunday Brunch

So what does a frazzled Home Alone Work Widow Mum do with her children in Chennai when a very long HOT Sunday lies ahead and her husband is 'out of town' for 3 weeks?

She heads to the Marriot for Brunch, that's what she does. And while she's there her children eat smoked salmon, pasta and pizza, bounce on a bouncy castle, draw, paint, get painted on and are entertained by the resident Magician. Meanwhile Mum orders a well deserved glass of fizz, has some salad, noodles and nibbles on some Chats and sits back...and relaxes for a while!









We must have seen this magicians tricks 10 times or more and Ellie is still fascinated, and we still haven't worked out how he does it!

This was our first weekend without Ian, last weekend we went back to the Marriot with some good friends for Easter Brunch which was much much busier compared to the previous week. We followed Brunch with an Easter Egg hunt in the garden.

Some Recent Photos

Escaping the Heat


Keeping Cool at School


Helping in the Kitchen


Flying A Kite on Marina Beach

Happy New Year

Tamil New Year that is! Today is a National Holiday in the State of Tamil Nadu and there is, once again...no school. Ellie only went back yesterday after Spring Break!

The month of Chitthirai from mid-April to mid-May is the first month of the Tamil calendar. The month usually starts from 14th April, the day known as Tamil New Year. This is an auspicious occasion for Tamilians (people of Tamil origin) living all over the world. People exchange greetings by wishing “Puthandu Vazthukal” – Happy New Year, with great passion. According to Hindu Mythology, this is the day on which Lord Brahma (the creator of the universe) started the creation of the world.

People rise early in the morning and go for 'kanni' – the auspicious sight. The belief is that this brings good fortune throughout the year. The auspicious things may include gold and silver jewellery, betel leaves, nuts, fruits and vegetables, flowers, raw rice and coconuts etc. The auspicious sight is then followed by a ritual bath and visiting temple to pray for a prosperous and happy New Year. After which, the Panchangam (almanac) is read.

The women decorate the entrances of their houses with ‘Kolam’ (design made with rice flour) and the doorway with mango leaves. Another highlight of this festival is the preparation of ‘Maanga Pachadi'. It is a dish made of raw mangoes, jaggery and neem flowers, tasting sweet, sour and bitter one at the same time. This signifies all aspects of our life and tells us to face happiness and sorrow with equal ease.

A 'bit of a day'

Those of you on FB will know I've been having a bad day!

Ian left for the US for 3 weeks on Saturday evening and after just Day 3 I'm having a bit of a meltdown...it's not serious...I'm still laughing, but I'm just a tad frustrated and I now need to get the events of the last few minutes off my chest!

In a nutshell Ellie is being a little mare.

We have no hot water and no water pressure which makes having a shower or a bath a problem unless you've got 2 hours to spare. (By the way, not as much as the problem we had two weeks ago when raw sewage water started pouring from our taps and into our toilets and we had to shut off the mains supply, then empty and acid clean the tanks TWICE.)

The power to JUST our house went off at 2pm this afternoon and the generator has been whirring away all afternoon guzzling the diesel and I'm wondering if it's going to last the night, which I'm told it is...but hey, I've heard THAT ONE before!

At 9pm I'm thinking that all this isn't quite right so I call Kumar. A plumber is coming tomorrow and he will sort out the water and pressure. But do you know what? This plumber must come to our house EVERY week to 'fix' a raft of similar problems on a rotation basis and I'm beginning to smell a rat. The 'Government Electricity company' who WERE coming tomorrow are now coming this evening ,and, please give them a tip for coming. Woo hoo! If they can fix the problem I won't have a sleepless night worrying about the freezer etc and of course I'll give them a tip.

At 9.15pm THREE 'Government Electricity' men arrive, I show ONE of them the cupboards that they need to look into. The second of them watches and the third stands outside and talks into his mobile phone and hey presto! In just 2 minutes normal power is restored and the generator goes quiet. I take it that the guy on the phone must be 'the supervisor' and as advised I hand over a more than generous tip. He looks at it, counts it, looks me sraight in the eye with utter contempt and declares that he's not satisfied. Well, blow me down! Right there and then I felt I should run back into the house and empty the contents of my purse and give it to him but instead I hesitated a few moments (feeling very clammy in 32 degrees with the mosquitos biting) and then I laughed at him. OK, I thought, so I may be here Home Alone but no sweaty Government electricity worker is going to get the better of me just because he can flick a switch. "You have a good job...a salary and a more than generous tip just for 2 minutes work" I told him. Our head guard on night shift at this point is beginning to get concerned I think because he calls Kumar on the phone, who in turn talks to the supervisor and then the three walk off grumbling into the night.

Part of me is grateful to Kumar and the Guard for their intervention, but part of me just wanted to be left alone to stand up to these chauvanistic officious men and tell them to GET LOST (read any expletive you like there but I thought I'd keep it clean!)

...breath AND relax!

Seasonally Confused

We all are...

Ellie's school is on its 'Spring Break' for 2 weeks, whilst Luke's school began it's 2 month 'Summer Holiday' on Friday.

Ellie has been learning about all things Spring like and Luke has been splashing about in paddling pools.

As for me? I'm just HOT.

April FooI Indian PC Plod Style

Maybe this post title should read 'Pinch Punch First of the Month', either way I think you'll get the gist!

If there is anything in India that is always consistent...it's pay day, always the first day of the month and you can always tell what time of the month it is by a few regular indicators:-
1) Our staff remind me!
2) The large number of people lying/sleeping on the streets
and,
3) The large number of PC Plod roadblocks.

Yes for PC Plod it is not only their salary time but it's their BONUS time as well. Unsuspecting motorists and motorcyclists are 'pulled over' and given a fine, for what, they are apparently not ever really sure, but pay up they must. It works like this... Every unfortunate motorist that is pulled over is given a fine and if they want a receipt it'll cost them 500rps but if they don't, it'll cost them 200rps! Pinch Punch First of the Month, right where it hurts in the wallet!! I wonder where the unreceipted fines go?

The other indicator are the number of mainly men you see sleeping, or should I say 'sleeping it off' on the streets. Pay day here also means Drink Week and we had a conversation in our car the other day and it went something like this...

Ellie: Kumar, why is that man sleeping on the pavement?
Kumar: (chuckling) He has drunk his salary.
Luke: Cow! Cow!
Ellie: What's a salary Mummy?
Me: When a person has a job they get paid some money for doing their work and it's called a salary and it pays for their food, clothes and houses.
Luke: Cow?
Ellie: Does Daddy get a salary?
Me: Yes. Every month.
Ellie: And does HE drink it all?
Me & Kumar: Much laughter.

Priceless!