When In Chandigarh: February 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

naming things

This morning we were all sitting around eating oatmeal and coffee, and Tyler started asking Violet what names she was going to give to her various animal figurines. Usually when she is asked this question she answers "Foot". --And this time, at first, was no different. What is the zebra's name? "Foot". What is the lion's name? "Foot". What is the rhino's name? "Foot". Even her wonderful cherished G-Raff she often calls "Foot". But then when we started pushing a little more for her to come up with some other names, this is what she came up with:

Lion= Vikram
Giraffe= Anupma
Zebra=Snigda
Bird= Nana
Rhino= Jahnavi

No Harry or Spot. I think India is making its impression on her.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

shopping

Shopping in India can be quite fun, we are learning. There is quite the range in prices at the markets and shops, which is why I guess it is so fun for us; we have been able to treat ourselves to a few things that we normally wouldn't be able to buy at home. Fabrics, bangles, kurtas, even a pair of shoes! It's hard not to go crazy....

Kurta fabric

bangles

kurtas

sandals

shawl

Monday, February 21, 2011

Shimla

The road to Shimla is quite a curvy noodle.
In fact, I don't think I have ever in my life been on such a curvy road. The entire time--this way, that way, this way, that way, this way, that way-- making our way up into the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas. Also, it hangs over a cliff (have you seen the show Ice Road Truckers?), and you never know what is going to be around the next curve-- busses, orange vendors, monkeys, fiats, children walking along with sticks.....
Well, friends, we learned something on this trip: Our Violet is quite prone to motion-sickness.
She and I were in the back of this van. She was so excited to be in a "new car seat", and was happily talking, singing, pointing out the window. But her mood gradually started to change, and then suddenly I noticed that she was chewing on something. A moment later her entire breakfast was upon us. Oh, the poor thing! We pulled over (somehow, we managed to find a space on the side of this cliff-road), and got her out of the car and found various wipes, water bottles, extra clothes.
The next three hours were really hard. She threw up again and again and again as our car weaved and jerked around the mountains. The only break any of us had was a one-hour snooze she took sometime in between vomiting and stopping for tea.
BUT, we made it there. And Shimla, my goodness, is beautiful. It is this very alive and colorful city that was once the summer capital of the British Raj (or something like that... Tyler or Wikipedia may have to fill you in on the history side of things). It has a bit of a Canterbury Tales flare with very cute little peaked roof store fronts, and it feels a little like The Sound of Music with gorgeous mountains and hills and scenery everywhere. But then, it is still also very much India, with monkeys and fruit stands everywhere, and the working town absolutely stacked-jam-packed onto the hillside with billions of people everywhere you look. We walked The Mall, which you get to by going up these two long elevators up-up-up onto the crest of the mountain. It is this long walking strip lined with shops and restaurants, and is nice in the way that touristy places are with ice cream and a general mood of excitement and happiness to be there.
We stayed at this lovely little hotel-resort-spa. Lovely indeed, although very very cold. Shimla, because it is up in the mountains, stays much cooler than Chandigarh, which I guess is why it was such a lovely summer place for the British to escape the heat for a few months. But, in February, it is still in the 40's there this time of year, and dips down into the 20's at night. No snow-- clear as a bell-- but quite chilly. And, as is common in India, heat and hot water were only running during certain hours of the day. So we kept close and bundled up until 7pm when the heater came on.
The food was spectacular, as often seems to be the case in these nice hotels. Violet walked all around the dining room, climbed onto a little stage, and flirted endlessly with the waitstaff. She kept calling it a "funny place!" and kept asking to see more monkeys and cows.
On our way home on Saturday we toured Shimla a bit, and saw some of the old beautiful historic sites including the Viceregal Lodge/Palace which is enormous and beautiful and up this tiny little road perched on a hillside overlooking everything. It was here that many historical important event events took place-- but in my book, only one stands out: Monroe pulled out a Dramamine, and slivered a child's dose off for Violet. We stuck it in a thumbfull of jelly, and she gobbled it up. THANK GOD. I don't think I have ever been so thankful for western medicine in my life. When we got back into the car to make our way home, she immediately fell asleep, and when she woke up an hour later seemed to handle the rest of the car ride just fine. No chewing or projectile vomiting; no eyes rolling back into her head; no sobbing; no lucidness.
Just wonderful views of monkeys and cows.

A few photos from our journey... (click to enlarge)

A stop for tea along the way

A truck!

Very curvy road

up up up into the mountains!

Violet and G-Raff, trying to stay cheerful

Shimla!

The Mall (part 1)

Tyler and parents looking at a statue; Violet point to a pony

Monkey tree

The Mall (part 2)

In the hotel

Patterns

The Palace

My sleeping baby, keeping her breakfast down :)

One curve out of 50,000

Fruit stand

Going through a small town on our way back

For all of the Vickies and Vicks and Vickys and Victorias that we know

Sunday, February 20, 2011

GammaGammpa Sprague

Tyler's parents, GammaGammpa Sprague, arrived Wednesday evening. Tyler and I had the very wonderful and very surreal experience of meeting them at the train station; two kind and familiar faces speckled among the enormous masses of people... I'm still not sure exactly how we managed to find them. We took them back to our place and got to hear all about their fabulous India adventures. Trips to Delhi, Agra, a journey to see Bengal Tigers, elephant rides, rug shopping, Jaipur, on and on and on; so many colorful stories and places that made us a little envious. We always have to remind ourselves that we are indeed on a work-type trip for Tyler. We will return to India again someday and see the sites, I am sure of it. But, anyway, they were in good shape, and we were all very happy to be together.

On Thursday we tooled around Chandigarh a bit. GammaGammpa brought so many lovely things from home-- candies and almonds, books for Violet (to add to her parade :), diaper cream and coffee and other medicinal items, and even a couple of wonderful little packages from my parents with a Valentine making kit for Violet, and play-dough, and a beautiful sweater for me... (thank you mom and dad!) We spent much of the morning just enjoying each others company, and then went off to the Rock Garden in the afternoon, which again was simply fabulous. Violet loves the animal statues and all of the little doors and pathways. We were stopped and photographed about ten times, so Carol and Monroe got to see a bit of that action...
The night ended nicely with dinner at the The Taj Hotel, the very new and modern and elegant hotel in Chandigarh (where they stayed). They had a buffet, and Tyler and I ate at least two dinners each; the food was some of the best we have had here with Indian and Chinese dishes, and a lovely dessert spread with honey mousse and toffee pudding and various little tarts and cake squares.
It was refreshing and strange being in that hotel. We took cycle rickshaws from our house, passing families making bonfires on the side of the road, and then stepped through the doors of the Hotel, and suddenly we could have been anywhere in the world. There was this huge glass elevator, kind of like the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, and beautiful fountains everywhere. A 5-star hotel, very very impressive. Oh India, you truly are the land of great contrasts.
More to come soon on their visit! But Violet wakes us up at 5:30am every morning now, so we'll save part two for another day.

A few photos... (click to enlarge)

Gammpa Sprage at the Rock Garden

Violet and her daddy climbing climbing climbing

Spring is here!

Tyler, Violet O, and Gamma Sprague

We got to see the waterworks in action at the garden!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Well, our valentine's day was yesterday (for you), and yours is almost over too, and we actually celebrated it two days ago on Sunday with our zoo day and with a dinner of Butter Chicken and Kingfisher Beer (Thank you, Tyler, my wonderful husband :)
Valentine's Day isn't really a big deal here, at least not commercially, which is nice, although I think we both did miss the fete of the holiday just a little. It's not screaming hearts and jewelry and expensive dinners the way it is in America, but the flowers are beautiful and Tyler bought me this very India arrangement of roses and hollyhocks that looks as though it should be at an alter in a temple (photo below). Our little house is beaming with love, and various parades of books, animals, pencils, and bottle caps helped to festoon the day. My little girl and husband have given me an extraordinarily charmed life...

Much much much love to every single one of you too. We miss you, and think of you all every day, and can't wait to see you all again.

India rain

Today our India world is covered in rain. Great big rain. It is still warm out, around 70 I think, and everything is sweet and musky and earthy and moist. Our sun room is not the most weather proof place, which is perfect; it lets in the elements just enough through it's mismatched roofing for us to enjoy it all; small amounts of sun, wind, rain, even a little cat appeared in there the other day who I quickly named Masala, and who Tyler quickly named Aloo Tikki, and who just as quickly made his exit.
Anyway, Violet and I have stayed home today, but are enjoying the rain as it comes and goes.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

zoo day

We went to the zoo today. I think we have mixed feelings about zoos, as do most people. I go to the zoo a lot in Seattle with Violet because it’s right by our house and she loves it to pieces, but Tyler and I are always a bit nervous to go to other unknown zoos. It’s just that sometimes, they are, well, a bit sad. Several years ago we went to the zoo in Barcelona and we left wishing that we could rescue every single animal there. Concrete pits, crowds throwing chewing gum and peanuts. A bad scene.

But I have to say, the Chandigarh zoo was extraordinarily impressive, as far as zoos go. It mostly contained animals that seemed rather local to the area. Violet was sad not to see a giraffe, but the baby Indian Elephant made up for that, as did the tigers and the many many many monkeys. In general, the exhibits were quite enormous, and the whole thing seemed a bit more like an animal safari park, rather than a zoo.
And, oh my word, the aviary! It made my world. Really, truly, fantastic. Upon entering the park there is this huge lake filled with gigantic pink pelicans. At one point Tyler turned to me and said something like keep calm, but slowly look up, and there in tops of the trees were these gorgeous nesting storks.
The stork is a bird that we don’t really experience on the other side of the globe. Well, let me tell you, they are a really big deal on this side of the earth. Beautiful, massive, girthy birds, that just stand around on spindly legs; they look like skinny little old men wrapped in bulgy tunics; much more vertical and upright that flamingos or emus. They stand so still; they must have extraordinary thoughts rolling through their heads to stand so completely still.
Painted Storks. They are white with a bit of pink on their behinds, and beautiful striking black and white under-feathers that reveal themselves when they fly. The exhibit is large enough for the birds to fly all about these huge trees, where they stand around the tops in their nests.
Simply stunning.
But then you see one up close, and their faces are so funny with these crazy bug-eyed expressions. They look a bit as though they came right out of some old natural-science illustration journal from Darwin’s day; as though they should be along side sketches of odd 2-toed cats and half-made-up sea creatures. Exactly the kind of thing I live for. I hope I can find some time eventually to draw some of these birds. I think the sight of them is going to stick with all of us for a very long time.
In short, we had a lovely day. We hired a taxi to take us there an back, as it is a bit out of town. Actually, it’s not exactly in Chandigarh, but in Mohali, which is a good half-hour out of town. It’s really wild to get out of the city and start to see the life that is surrounding the city. Everywhere you look, people. People, people, people. And beautiful dark cows in the center medians of busy roads, along with small children building bonfires and beautiful women dressed in beautiful colorful bolts of cloth. There are lots of orange stands, banana stands, and men on bicycles carting around loads of gravel, bricks, marble, and more people. Brick half-standing boxy buildings that house shops and canteens, and then every once in a while, a huge modern hotel or cinema looming over, as if it just popped out of nowhere.
It was a fun day, and Violet and I were happy to have Tyler out and about with us (he has been extremely busy with teaching lately). India continues to surprise us. Pictures now.... (click to enlarge)