Monday, March 31, 2008

Some More on School

So now that school is out, we'll probably be getting a lot more chances to blog about our experiences here. Three times a week we will be going to my mom's school and helping out with some of the kids there. In a week we are going to Northern India and will meet our Grandpa, Grandma Dee and Aunt Ellen. We'll be up there for a week and a half. We will see Delhi, Agra (The Taj Mahal), Jaipur, and Shimla (in the Himalayan Mountains). I've heard that it's a lot of fun.

School here was a lot different than the one at home. First off, when the children go home, their parents make them study for most of the rest of the day (which has its advantages and disadvantages). They take the exams much more seriously and begin studying at least a month before they start to take them. The work is about as tough as it is back home. There is hardly any homework (because the kids are expected to study) and I could do most of the exams without a problem.

As far as class schedules go, there is also a difference. Instead of doing chemistry one year and physics the next, they do physics, chemistry and biology all at the same time. They have about an hour to an hour and a half each week of each class. We rarely have the same class two days in a row. Math is also different. They have 45 minutes of math each day and go over some of the basics on each topic (algebra, geometry, and trigonometry). They don't go into as much detail in each topic, but each year the topics get more and more complicated; whereas the school at home goes over only one topic in one year.

Overall, the teachers were very nice to me and so were most of the students. I had a different teacher for each subject and because there were only 36 kids in my class, they came to us instead of us going to them. The teachers seemed to be very strict, but the students just as rowdy. The kids who went to my school were very wealthy. Some of the kids laughed when I told them the I rode to school in an auto-rickshaw. They said they had never ridden in one before.There was a rumor, which is largely believed to be true, that the grandfather of one of the kids in my class owns the Delhi cricket team. I went to an end-of-the-year party on Friday night at the most expensive apartments in the city (because you can watch the cricket matches from the roof).

It was a different but helpful experience for all of us and is probably a way of schooling I will never forget.

Nandi Hill: The Mountains and Hills of Bangalore

Last Friday was my last exam which was German. Grace had regular school and Thomas had a 6 hour English exam. I was lucky because mine was only 1 hour. When the exam was over my dad was waiting at the school gate and took me home in an auto rickshaw. By the time we came home, my grandparents (on my dad's side) were there. I changed into shorts and then we departed for Nandi Hill. It was about an hour drive. Luckily we went north of the city so there wasn't as much traffic. After 45 minutes we started seeing big hills. There was a path up one which we followed. Each "U" turn on the mountain counted as one turn. When we reached the top there was a "40th" turn sign. My dad bought the tickets and my mom got us some Kurkure (spicy Cheetoes). Our driver took us in the gate, then dropped us off. The first thing I noticed was the cool air, another thing was all the monkeys. Everywhere we turned we saw some monkeys! We walked around the hill and we could see over the walls and very far down. We heard music from the bottom of the hill and were surprised that we could hear it all the way at the top. We walked back up to were we started, got in the car, and left for our ride back. We needed to pick up Thomas and Grace so we ate at a recommended restaurant near our school. After picking up Grace and Thomas, we drove back home. Here are some of the pictures that we took on the hill.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

School

I'm starting my last week of school tomorrow. The children here are really good in math. They have easy spelling. The kids here have good handwriting. In Indiana I have a lot more friends. Here I only have about 6. In my class here there are 36 children. In Indiana there are only 20 kids in my class. My favorite part about school is meeting a lot of new people. I love the school's soccer area. My least favorite part about school is not having my old friends here. Kids in my class are making me very nice cards for me because I'm leaving. One girl keeps saying to me "Do you have to go?" My best friends' names are Diya, Nicole, Shivani, Lavika, Tangum, and Kavya. My teacher's name is Mrs.De'Cuna. Besides me, there is only one Internatinal girl in my class and she is from France. Overall school has been good.

I'm having a party this weekend. I'm having my 6 friends. We are going swimming and then having pizza. It will be so much fun. I wish my friends in Indiana could come to the party. I'll blog on it after it happens.

Random Musings

Just to spice up the blog a bit, I've written several thoughts about life in India below.

Talk is cheap... When driving in Bangalore, you can be assured of being cut off by a car or truck every few seconds. Amazingly, many of the cars (particularly those sold by Hyundai) have stickers on the back windows that read: "Caring for you...Always" and "Drive home a relationship". I must say that after being cut off by an aggressive Hyundai, those words ring quite hollow.

Another Indian language... Speaking of cars, I've found that there is a universal language in India, and it's not Hindi or English--it's car horn Morse code. I've done some translation, for example: (i) a short honk means, 'I'd like to pass you, but I'll slow down if you swerve in front of me.' (ii) two short honks mean, 'I'm going to pass you, and I'll be mad if you swerve in front of me.' (iii) three long honks mean, 'I might be an easy-going person, but I'm ready to fight you if necessary, you moron.'

So that's where it goes... If you're like me, you've often wondered where all the pulp goes when they make 'pulp-free' orange juice in the US. Well, it turns out that Indian juice companies actually brag about how much pulp they have in their drinks. If I find out that American pulp is not making its way to India, I'll be the first the write the business plan...

Pinhead politics... One unusual feature of India is the pervasiveness of big political billboards showing badly cropped mug shots of a political clan, with mismatched head sizes that are apparently in proportion to each person's political power. An example of such a billboard follows. The words on the billboards are always in the local language, but I've added what I suspect to be their meaning in English.

By the way, the featured politician above looks quite familiar... For more fun with Indian political billboards click here.

Well that explains it... I've often wondered why India's fanatical love of cricket hasn't translated to baseball. Then, yesterday I found the answer on this T-shirt in a clothing store (they've mistaken American football for baseball--Ron R, when we visit here in August, we'll have to hold that baseball clinic that you suggested).

The spicy breakfast diet.. If anyone thought that Amy was joking below about writing a book on 'the spicy breakfast diet', think again. This diet works. I'm fastidiously avoiding the posting of too many pictures of myself here so that I can maximize the shock value when you all see me in person again (and also so that none of you will believe in the diet so much that you steal the idea).

Books and Some History

Our blogging frequency has decreased the past couple of weeks, primarily because the kids (mainly Thomas and Mark) are in the middle of two weeks of final exams. For those from India, you know how grueling these exams can be for young students. I believe that this experience will be good for the kids in learning study habits for more demanding courses in the future. The good news is that they seem to be keeping up quite well with the other students.

Amy wrote below that we are reading much more on this trip that we had been at home (I hope that this change is permanent). In the following, I give brief reviews of the books I've read on this trip (in the order of reading):
  • The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India: The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economyby Randolf G. S. CooperThis book is based heavily on the author's PhD dissertation. The central thesis is that western historians have incorrectly ascribed Britain's conquest of most of north India (controlled at the time by the Marathas, based in Mumbai and Pune) in the early 1800s to superior western training, discipline, and technology; instead, the author argues that the reasons for the quick British victory involved a complicated interplay among access to weaponry, the use of mercinaries, and defections of European officers to the British (or East India Company's) side. He repeats this thesis (especially the first part about western historians) ad naseum throughout the book. I found the text interesting solely for the historical facts that it provided. Regarding the thesis, one unexplored facet of the events is that not all European officers left the Maratha army for the British side; the French officers largely remained with the Marathas in opposition to the British (these events were contemporaneous with the French revolution and the beginning of the Napoleanic wars). Given France's military history (parodied here), perhaps this latter factor should not be overlooked.
  • The Alexandria Link
    by Steve BerryThis fast-paced thriller is based on the premise that the promised land from Abraham's time was actually in Saudi Arabia (this hypothesis does have some scholarly advocates), and furthermore, that the former holdings of the great library of Alexandria still exist today, maintained by a secret order of protectors. The library allegedly contains irrefutable evidence of the hypothesis about the ancient Jewish lands, and a protagonist spy and his ex-wife must protect the secret so that it does not destabilize the region further. A very fun read.
  • A History of India, Vol. 2
    by Percival SpearThis book summarizes the history of India since the 16th century to (almost) the present. The author emphasizes that much of India was ruled by foreigners from the 12th or 13th centuries until its independence in 1947. The book begins in the 16th century with the establishment of the Mughal Empire by Babur (a Turk). Babur's grandson Akbar is perhaps the best known of the Mughal Emperors, as he expanded their territory and was known to be a patron of the arts and to exercise relatively more religious tolerance. Akbar's kingdom extended from Afghanistan to Bengal (Calcutta) and included all of north India and some of the south. The middle portion of the book focuses on the demise of the Mughals, primarily to the benefit of the British, whose imperialist policies and tactics exploited India for more than two centuries. The last part of the book addresses India's struggle for independence and the creation of Pakistan (and later Bangladesh). The partitioning of India was quite sad and, in hindsight, probably could and should have been avoided. The leading advocate for a separate Pakistan was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He later become Pakistan's first Governor-General and sought to build a nation that was tolerant of different religions--perhaps even officially secular (some debate exists on this point). Unfortunately, he died shortly after Pakistan's founding, and the nation since then has been quite unstable, continuing to this day. Meanwhile, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru led India to establish a parliamentary democracy. Gandhi in particular was very disappointed in the partition, for he believed that people of all faiths could co-exist in an Indian democracy. This tolerance provoked a Hindu extremist to murder him in 1948. Nehru continued to lead India for several decades, and his support of scientific education and research led to the naming of the research institute where I now work.
  • Shantaram
    by Gregory David Roberts
    This semi-autobiographical novel chronicles the experiences of an Australian prison escapee and former heroin addict in the Bombay (Mumbai) underworld. The book is masterfully written, and the main character's experiences are both amazing and terrifying. The middle part of the book tends to drag, particularly with Bombay mafia dons and slumlords waxing philosophic about the meaning of life. After reading the book, I learned that the author is now promoting his brand of New Age philosophy, and these segments of the book are clearly part of an ulterior agenda. Nevertheless, the book is well worth the time it takes to read its nearly 1,000 pages, but I must warn you that the book contains much profanity.
  • Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire
    by Alex Von Tunzelmann
    Amy read this book before I did, and she recommends it highly. The book follows the lives of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten in India. Dickie was the British Governor-General during partition. Apparently, Edwina and Jawaharlal Nehru had a long-term affair with the full knowledge of the Governor-General. The book does give some insights into the creation of India and Pakistan, and to me, the history clearly reveals that much of the animosity between India and Pakistan was a consequence of each side's believing that the British government favored the other. Of course, such fears from Pakistan were quite reasonable, given the closeness of relationship between the Governor-General's wife and the Indian prime minister. I found the book to contain too much gossip and too little history, but that's just my opinion.
  • Other, more technical books
    I've also read a number of technically oriented books including Prof. CNR Rao's biography (Science as a Way of Life, 2nd edition, Prism, 2005) and his book Understanding Chemistry. I've also read much or all of Solar Energy by SP Sukhatme, Thermal Physics by Ralph Baierlein, and several other engineering or physics texts (but I know that no one cares about those, and perhaps none of the above, either. Frankly, I'm just happy that you made it this far).

Friday, March 14, 2008

Kabini

Last weekend we went on a five hour car ride to the Kabini National Park and River Lodge. There are many animals in the park, which are all wild. While we were there, we saw a lot of spotted deer and monkeys. Unfortunately we couldn't see any of the tigers or leopards, because there is such a small population of them. The cottages we stayed in overnight were nice and clean. I have put together a slide show so you can see some of the animals and the lodge where we stayed. We also got a chance to ride an elephant (only a short five minute ride) and ride in a boat across the river to see some elephants grazing. The elephants have to eat almost all day long to receive all of the food they need. On Friday night, we saw a movie that helped us learn a lot about the park and the animals in it. When we were there, the grass had almost turned to dust, but when the monsoons come, everything comes to life and the park turns green. We had a lot of fun learning about some of the animals found in the natural habitat of India.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Shopping and Cuisine




Even though shopping and cuisine are lagging in the poll right now, I thought I'd write a bit about them since the kids will have to blog about school and I'd rather leave the history for Tim. I have included a slide show of a fraction of the various shops in our village. You can see that the produce is beautiful and abundant. We have been enjoying many vegetables and learning what they are called in Hindi: aloo (potato), gobi (califlower), palak (spinach), bhindi (okra), capsicum (green pepper), mutter (peas), etc. For the most part, we have avoided meat. When you walk down the street and see chickens and goats (I spared you photos of them hanging in the shops, skinned), you have a suppressed desire to eat them!

Typically, the kids and I eat cereal or toast with peanut butter for breakfast. We have the milk delivered daily (cost is about $0.25 per L) which then needs to be boiled. Tim often eats leftovers from the night before. He claims that a spicy breakfast is key to weight loss (it seems to be working for him) and thinks I should write a booked called "The Spicy Breakfast Diet". The kids' school doesn't provide lunch so I pack it for them. It is pretty typical of what they would bring at home. Some days, Thomas and Grace bring leftovers. Mark sticks more to peanut butter and jelly, but he seems to prefer it on chappathi instead of bread. I bought Grace a tiffin-box to carry her rice and dal.

Regarding the food, most Americans mistakenly believe that Indian food contains an abundance of curry powder. Curry, in Indian cooking, is a broad term referring to almost any spiced, sauce-based dish. The spices commonly used include, garlic, ginger, onion, green chilies, mustard seeds (rai), cumin (jeera), funugreek, (methi), cardamon (elaichi), red chili powder, tumeric powder (haldi), asofoetida (hind), coriander (dhania), and garam masala. We eat more of these spices in 1 week than we did in a whole year at home. We have chappathi and rice every night. We usually also have dal (lentils) and another dish like chana (chickpeas) masala, palak (spinach) or kaju (cashew) paneer (cottage cheese), sambar or spicy cabbage, califlower or eggplant. Occasionally we have dosa, paratha, poori, or idli and wonderful fresh coconut chutney or raita. For some easy to follow Indian recipes, go to http://www.showmethecurry.com/

Produce is incredibly inexpensive here. Today I bought 10 small lemons (to make lemonade) for $0.75. I can buy 2 big bunches of spinach for less than a dollar. Bananas are about $0.05 each, while apples cost about the same as we pay in the US (which makes sense because most of them are imported from Washington State). Juice, peanut butter, cereal, spaghetti sauce, and paper products are all relatively expensive. A jar of Skippy or Ragu, or a box of Honey Bunches of Oats (Mark's favorite cereal) costs about $6.00. We have been buying an Indian made peanut butter (more natural and way less expensive), making our own spaghetti sauce, and sticking to plain cereals like Corn Flakes and Wheat Flakes. Without an oven, it is a challenge to fix some things. I am able to buy flat bread and have been making the kids "pizza" by grilling the bread on a fry pan, sprinkling on Italian herbs and adding mozzarella cheese. It seems to do the trick. Thomas likes his pizza with tomatoes so I grill those up too. It is even possible to cook garlic bread on a fry pan. My mom brought us 6 boxes of Mac-n-cheese and 5 boxes of granola bars. They finished them before she left! I guess they miss some of their favorite foods.

Regarding other types of shopping, we can buy shoes and clothes in our village. Although the price is right, the quality is poor. There is a fairly big mall about 5 km away (The Esteem Mall) with a mix of both Indian and Western clothes. It has a Nike and an Adidas store, but the prices on most things are even higher than in the US. Downtown Bangalore has several very nice malls and many craft emporiums. There are lots of people trying to sell things on the street from books, to socks, to sunglasses. They are always ready to make a deal. My mom found several "deals" that were too good to pass up. Even after emptying her suitcase of the food she brought us, she still didn't have room and we have to mail a box of stuff back to the US.

On a side note, while I was typing this, the man who irons clothes in our apartment complex returned 8 items that I brought to him this morning. The cost was $0.60 for the lot of them!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Panchatantra



We had a play called the Panchatantra which consists of 17 folk tales and each have a lesson in them. 3 plays were in Hindi, 2 in Kannada, and the other 11 were in English. Ever since we began school here we have been practicing our play for the last 1hour of the day. Grace and I were in the chorus, so we sang short songs every few minutes. It was very boring but we got to skip a lot of school. We stayed back from school on 1 day and did a tech. rehearsal. We had 3 performances, and each one was over 2 hours long. The play was about three uneducated princes who must take over their father's kingdom. The king gets a man who takes them into the forest for 6 months to learn lessons. At the end they go back to the king and they are much smarter. You can look at the top of the blog and see some of the pictures. If you'd like to see many more pictures, please go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/photos.MAIS
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/susan40

Authors- Mark and Grace
Slide show creator- Amy

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Wonder la

Saturday we spent the day at Wonder la. I put a slide show together that shows some of the pictures we took. As you can see, the park is beautiful and very well maintained. The kids had fun on the rides and slides. We were even asked to be in a scene for an Indian movie they were filming. Very funny!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Amy's Update

When I first came to India, I thought the time would pass so slowly. But now that we are settled and adjusted, time is ticking away. I am not sure I will be ready to leave by mid-May. I have really taken to the culture here. I feel comfortable venturing out into our village and downtown Bangalore. From buses overflowing with people (sometimes even crowded on top of the roof) to women in beautiful colored saris, there is always something to see that just makes me smile or shake my head in disbelief.


I had a great birthday! The kids at Sukrupa surprised me by singing happy birthday and presenting me with flowers and a cake. One of the children, a wonderfully smart boy named Bharath, led a prayer for me while the other children bowed their heads. He thanked God for me and my family and asked for our safe travel to Hampi. He asked God to bless us and to help us grow closer to Him. What a fantastic birthday gift!




As you know from Thomas' blog, we had a wonderful trip to Hampi. We are learning so much about the history of conquest and rule in India. Tim and I have also been reading some great books in this regard. I just finished Indian Summer - The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann. The book's focus is on the end of the British rule in India and the events surrounding partition and independence. I highly recommend it!

Mark and Grace had there school play this week. Because of this, they had no regular classes. They didn't leave for school until 3 p.m. and had to be picked up at 9:30 p.m. Thomas had to go to school as usual. Needless to say, this put a slight wrench in our driving routine. Luckily we were able to communicate these changes to our rickshaw driver. The 270 students (grades pre-7) had 3 performances of The Panchatantra. We went to the show Tuesday night since Tim had to leave for Chennai on Wednesday. The show was fantastic! The costumes were amazing! Hopefully either Mark or Grace will blog about it and post more of the pictures.

Friday, Mark and Grace had the day off from school (poor Thomas did not). They came to Sukrupa with me and then my mom and Grace went to have manicures and pedicures ($15 pp). Tim returned from Chennai very late Friday night.

Saturday, went to Wonderla - a huge amusement and water park about 50 km from here. We also went to dinner at the home of one of India's most famous scientists and the founder of JNCASR. More on that later . . .

Saturday, March 1, 2008

A Bird's Eye View

Over the past few weeks a group of painters were hired to paint our apartment complex. I went to the roof to take some pictures, and the men there wanted me to take some shots of them. I took a few from the roof and then came back down to our apartment. Right outside Grace's window a man was standing on the little edge trying to perfect his work. I noticed that I could get a better snap from our balcony, so I went on it, and took these in the slide show...(Photography by Mark)