September 20, 2014 -- Bird Excursion

India Sept. 20 - Bird Excursion

Saturday, we hired a car again and our favourite driver, Johnny – the bird guru.

Our plan was to drive the road we take to school every day – so that we could hopefully spot and stop to photograph all the birds we fly past every morning.    After that, our plan was to revisit Ropar, near the dam where we saw Painted Storks a few weeks ago.

Anyway, we did both these things, and saw many of the birds we wanted to capture, plus some unexpected bonus birds that we have never ever seen before.  Rob was very lucky with his camera, as these pesky birds seem to fly into a tree and then COMPLETELY disappear – even brightly colour parakeets can do this!  In many cases, Rob just had to point his camera at a tree and hope that there was a bird in the frame. 

So where we HAD seen Painted Storks, this time we saw Woolly-necked Storks.  Ha!  The fig trees all seemed to have ripe fruit which proved to be a big draw for the Grey Hornbills,  the Barbet and a huge flock of Yellow-Footed Green Pigeons.  Ha! Again.  We also saw the Hoopoe, two different Parakeets and two different Wagtails.

A description of us walking along in the heat, holding binos to our eyes, craning skyward to spot some bird is not going to hold your attention.  I will simply attach pictures, in maybe three separate emails, of the birds we spotted.

 

 

September 21, 2014 --Shoe Repair

Shoe RepairAfter my fall (that’s another story) I had to wash my sneakers, and in doing so, I noticed that the rubber tip on one shoe was peeling back (or, coming adrift, as Rob likes to say).

Rob said I should take it to the shoe repair wala whom we see on our corner every evening after work – busily working on a pile of shoes to be repaired.

But I thought I would tackle the job myself with the Krazy Glue we had purchased for another use.

Admittedly, Krazy Glue and I have had our differences over the years, so I decided to put a plastic bag on my hand, so that I would not glue myself to the shoe.  Anyone who has used the product will know that it is much runnier than you expect (precisely what has got me into trouble in the past) so I CAREFULLY squoozed out a little spurt under the rubber flap, and then held it firmly in place with my bagged hand until it was firmly set.   Perfect repair!  Problem was, I had glued my OTHER hand to the shoe.  That sneaky glue had run down one of the treads while my attention was on the flap.

Fortunately, I could rip myself free without losing any flesh (adrenalin rush due to being FURIOUS with myself for doing that) and the morning went along fine, until I went to take my morning shower and found that I had also glued my jeans to my leg.    

Apple SauceOur cook bought about three kilos of small apples – very small really – so I decided to make them into apple sauce.  Cored, but with the skins on, I stewed them in two batches and when they were tender I got out the Mixu (blender) to puree them.  Again, ths had to be done in two batches since the blender only held half at a time.  The first half had very little extra liquid – but they pureed beautifully – so I went on to the second batch which was much juicier.

And this is where the whole project went south.

I placed the lid firmly, and switched it to ON. From out of the Mixi  came a surprising eruption of hot goo which sprayed around the kitchen, the walls, the counters, my shirt, my pants and for extra giggles, ran down the fronts of the cupboards too.

Any of you who have ever had such an experience know how much I was wishing I hadn’t started this project – as I washed the walls, the counters, the cupboards,  finally put the apple sauce away in the fridge.  Next step, strip down and scrape the goo off my clothes – then fill a bucket and do wishy washy, wishy washy until my duds could be wrung out by hand and hung on the line.  No folks, we do NOT have a washing machine here.  Milo does ALL our laundry like that every day, but I was not about to leave her MY mess.

Conclusion:  Making apple sauce is hard work.

September 21, 2014 -- Chaucer's Birthday

Chaucer’s Birthday

On Wednesday (Rob’s birthday), at 11 a.m., a phone call came to my office summoning all of us in the English dept. to rush downstairs Quickly!  Quickly!  to celebrate Chaucer’s birthday.

I was incredulous!  Almost outraged!  We lose SO much class time here for one event or another.  After losing the  whole day Monday for Akhand Path Sahib, I thought to myself, is there NOTHING that we don’t celebrate here? 

So I grabbed up my things and went rushing off with the others downstairs.  As I went, I said to Harsimran, “Is this actually the Chaucer I know?  The Canterbury Tales Chaucer?

She said “It’s the DIRECTOR’S birthday.  It’s  Jha Sir’s birthday! “   Colonel Jha was in fact celebrating his birthday the same day as Rob. 

Our local Park

I have mentioned that Rob and I walk in the park at the end of our street every morning about 5:15.

Yesterday, Rob did not feel like going so I set off by myself.  The path is a large oval, so I go around a million times, then reverse and go the other way.   Nothing interesting in that.  The park always seems to interesting to me, however.  Every morning, there is something new to focus on – and of course – plenty of time to ruminate on things.  But one thing is for sure.  You have to watch your feet wherever you walk here.  If you aren’t dodging broken sidewalk or a sink hole, then it might be dog doodoo, cow doodoo (much bigger and a common hazard) open wiring or (before the sun is up)  a hopping toad.

So walking around in the park  can seem a bit like a video game, with the hazards that I mentioned always present to trip you up and prevent you from moving to the next level. 

However – Yesterday the video game was Frogger!  But not with frogs!

Every time I would pass a certain tree, a little striped squirrel would shoot across the sidewalk in front of me – and this happened SEVERAL times.   I kid you NOT!  I was getting fairly adept at missing him without missing a beat and then … TWO squirrels shot across the path at the SAME POINT.  Hot Dog!  I figure I made it to Level Two.

Now this morning,  Rob and I walked for about 45 min. and then he cut out back to the apartment to make the coffee (I love that guy) so I continued to do laps. 

This time, a myna bird took an interest in me.  Now Mynas are always in the park, and they cluck, twitter, warble, imitate other birds, and sometimes say very clear “words” as their call.  Sometimes I hear, “Pay Per View”  “Pay Per View”  or another “phrase.” 

However, this morning, as I passed a Myna’s  perch, he’d say “Grapefruit” and he did that consistently for four laps.  I wasn’t sure if he was referring to my shape or the diet I should be on -  but I thought it was harsh since I was obviously trying to get some exercise.

Hansi

September 19, 2014 -- Update

Sept. 19^th - This is an update. 

Rob and I went off to Sector 17 market on Saturday evening.  We intended to buy a few groceries at the empire Store (they have lots of imports at huge prices) and also to find a restaurant in Sector 10 called Vive Mexico (for some Mexican food).  We did buy a few things, (like Sunsweet Prunes and cheddar cheese – reg. and smoked) but did not find the hummus I have been craving as it was out of stock.

Now it is true that I can make hummus here quite easily as chickpeas are a common item in the kitchen.  But, I do also need tahini, which I have yet to see.

We decided to walk to Sector 10 from Sector 17 which seems outrageous until you look at the Sector map of Chandigarh (google) [see below] and see that the two squares intersect at one corner.  As it turns out, Sector 10 is larger than it appears – so we walked and walked (without really knowing where we were going) and finally resorted to hopping on an auto rickshaw so that the driver could find our way.

The burritos in a bowl at Vive Mexico were quite good and fairly authentic (to our palate) but lacked guacamole, sadly.  We will also happily try some of their other offerings the next time we go there – such as quesadillas, nachos.

On our long walk between sectors, just at dusk, we actually  watched many, many fruit bats taking off out of the trees around the Parkview Hotel.  We were happy to see that, as we haven’t seen any bats since coming here this time, and someone actually told us that there were not fruit bats in this part of India.  Ha!  How would a bat know when he had strayed into forbidden territory.

Another little bit of wildlife trivia -  yesterday, my cabin-mate (for cabin, read office) said there were very large lizards in India whose bite was toxic, and to denote size, she held out her outstretched arms.  I thought, Yeah Right!  There are no Komoto Dragons in India.

Well thanks to good old Google – it turns out that there IS an Indian Monitor lizard in these parts which can be a meter or more long.  [See below.] Apparently, the farmers in this area are afraid of them and kill them when they can.  Drat!  Hope I see one.

On our drive home yesterday, as we got close to home, on a busy vehicle-filled street, we passed a man on a bicycle in the fast lane carrying (wearing) a 50-foot ladder made of sinew and poles.  I got two blocks past before I thought, “Why didn’t I take a picture of THAT?”  I guess the answer is that I have become blasé about such occurrences.  Oh dear!  I WISH I had snapped that picture, though….

On Monday, We came into school to be told that there would be no classes until AFTER lunch because of Akhand Path Sahib – to mark the beginning of the new season at CGI.  The library had been completely turned into a Gurdwara complete with band, holy men, the man who gave the sermon, and many more.  We were all expected to attend this “service” – all in Punjabi – which went from 11:30 to 1:30.  Men sat cross-legged on one side of the room and women on the other.  Let me tell you that Rob and I both found it nigh to impossible to sit cross-legged for two hours.  However, when you are cheek by jowl with several hundred others sitting this way, there is NO PLACE to stretch out your legs EVEN IF you could do it without offending the entire assemblage.   Finally, several supplicants went forward with metal trays which they filled with warm, oily “food” and passed around to all of us sitting - one hunk at a time into our outstretched hands.  There is just NO WAY to avoid eating food here that has been handled by many.  Anyway, whatever it was – hot and slippery with oil (let’s call it ghee) – tasted OK and had to be eaten, because what was I going to do with it otherwise.  And then, the buttery hands… well, my shins were up around my ears anyway, so I rubbed all the oil into my dry legs (and they have never looked better, BTW).

After the Holy Book was wrapped up securely and carried out, we were allowed to file out after it.  Rob and I had just decided to skip lunch because our next class was about to start, when we were rounded up by a student who demanded we follow her to the Student Mess. There, the Student Body had organized a lunch for all of dal, mutter paneer, roti and rice pudding.  Carpets had been set on the floor, we sat cross-legged (oh Golly, not AGAIN) were given a metal thali plate with sections, and then runners came around with pots of the various dishes,  ladelling them onto our plates.  The masses are served just such a meal, free, at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, every day.

After THAT, we were free to go, and there was one more class for the day, but you KNOW that almost no students showed up for it, and our enthusiasm had waned by that time, as well.

I had better send this off.

Hansi

September 10, 2014 -- Teachers' Day

I guess I should write about Teachers’ Day which was last Friday.

On Wednesday, my colleague, Amandeep, announced to the class that she wanted a committee formed to organize Teachers’ Day. I took one day off last week, and the organizing actually happened the day I was away. We were all told to present ourselves in Rm. B101 at 2:30 Friday – and this meant every student in every program of CIIS – AND every teacher.

The festivities began as each teacher was called up to the podium in turn, was presented with a hand-made, hand-written card (which was decorated with stickers, markers, puffy glue etc.). The flattering compliment on the card was read aloud, then each teacher was assigned a celebrity look-alike. About half-way thru the teachers, we played musical chairs with the last teacher sitting getting a prize. Then, more teacher commendations, then another game – this time, Ramp Walking, which required each teacher, including Harpreet,the Principal, to vamp his/her way down an imaginary high-fashion runway. The most believable got a prize.

Finally, it was the students’ turn to entertain us. We had two gals who sang, one guy who sang (all acapella) one who danced and one who had written and performed a rap about all the teachers. They were all very talented and not nearly the shrinking violets they pretend to be when being asked to get up in front of the class for public speaking. Hmmmm???? I tried to take little video clips and will get Rob to shrink a few of them for emailing purposes.

A beautiful cake was presented to the teachers at the end, and was devoured by same.

Rattanjot Kaur (chief organizer and great student, too) begged me at the end to be SURE to save the card she had made for Rob Sir and me, as it was designed just for us. It is on our fridge!

These kids are amazingly sentimental and enjoy games, crafts and holidays which might seem childish for 20 yr.-olds in our neck of the woods. 

I really enjoyed the Teachers’ Day party and was impressed with the amount of effort students had put into it.

On another topic -

I noticed that the windows in a Sari Shop nearby had been changed recently. Since they now sport ONLY orange and black outfits and decorations - and since our own Hallowe'en is coming soon - I wondered if there was a connection, or - some other significant holiday of which I ought to be aware.

In I went. But try as I might, I could NOT get across to the eight or more sariwalas inside that I was curious about the significance of orange and black. Sigh. I have such a great Translate App for the iPhone, but if only works with wifi here - drat - so I can't use it to help me out in the shops.

Anyway, the answer was given at school by our friend, Harpreet. Orange and black are considered Fall colours - it's as simple as that!

Hansi

[Hansi sent two videos of Teacher's Day Entertainment and/or Akhand Path Sahib day, but I cannot insert them here in their  present format.]

September 9, 2014 -- Two Little Incidents

Two little incidents

Yesterday, I bunked school because I had a very iffy digestion (let me just leave it at that!). By mid-afternoon, I decided to test the improvement by walking out to find some pillow cases to match new bedspreads we put on Monica’s bed to turn her room into our new TV room.

The spread is floral with a blue and a green flower, so my idea was to get cases for the existing pillows which would enhance the overall look of the place.

I went to the fabric store where we had bought two new pillows the night before. We had already ascertained that he had NO suitable pillowcases (I kept asking for plain blue or green, and the runner kept coming back with hideous, gaudy patterns).

So, I was prepared to by fabric the right colour to have made into pillowcases. Right off, I found the right green.

Store Man, “NO!”

Me, “Why Not?”

Him, “Thin.”

Me, ‘I don’t care.”

Him, “NO!”

SIGH

Well, what do you have then?

This!

It’s PURPLE!!!

No, blue.

It doesn’t match (squawk)!

Take this one (the purple).

I had pretty much decided to insist that he cut me some of the thin, unsuitable green cotton, when I also spied a good blue –at the back of the shop -which would work as my other colour.

Me, “How about this one?”

You guessed it, “NO!”

“Well, why not? It’s perfect!!”

“For TURBANS!”

Me, “Well, does it matter if it’s for turbans?”

“Thin. NO!”

And with that, he went about his business with his two helpers – putting a new shipment of pillows on the shelves, and had nothing more to do with me. So I left.

The other funny thing –

When Rob and I came out to the car this morning (we get picked up first and then Vinod) there were two burly dudes in the backseat. We asked the driver who they were but he had no answer.

Rob asked the Dudes, and one answered, “Bouncers.” Finally, the driver then elaborated, “Bodyguards.”

Turns out that there is a Fresher Party at the Institute today. Not CIIS but one of the other colleges on the property. I guess these Fresher Parties get out of hand. Sheesh! Freshers are first-years, BTW.

September 3, 2014 -- Last Weekend in Kasauli

Last weekend, we sent to Kasauli with Colonel Randev and his wife.

This was not exactly how the weekend was supposed to go. Rob and I wanted to go to Kasauli--a British Hill Station from 1842 in the foothills of the Himalayas ~ 1800 meters above sea level--to birdwatch (if you hadn’t guessed it already). Colonel Randev is building/renovating a home there, and he goes to oversee the building every weekend, so offered to drive us up. Because he is ex military, and because there is a military cantonment in Kasauli (with officers club) he told us he would arrange accommodation for us at the club. The rest of the “plan” was that he would pick us up again from the club on Sunday to bring us back to Chandigarh.

When “he” arrived to pick us up on Saturday morning, it was “they” – not “he.” So, Mrs. Randev was going to the construction site too. Well, it turned out that they were also going to stay at the officers’ club, and right in the room next door. They made sure that we not lonely, and kept us company the entire time – even walking with us when we tried to bird-watch and at every meal – in the mess, of course. So, it was not exactly the weekend we had been banking on.

The Club

At the officers' club, one room was under renovation.  Instead of sending the furniture out to be reupholstered, the upholsters come to the furniture - with the fabric, and do the job right there.  Sensible.  In a day, most likely.

Upholsterers make house call

Having said all that, we did have a very nice time in their company. Madhu (the wife) was considerate and VERY hospitable. We all walked together to the market, where, with her guidance, I bought a few gifts at a good price, as well as a new, bright-coloured bedcover (with two shams) for our bed here . The one our landlord has supplied is heinous. The Randevs know everyone in Kasauli, as he was Commander at that post for some time, and she taught school there at St. Mary’s Convent School in the 1990s.
  

Room at Kasauli

Sunday, on our walk before breakfast, we spotted several birds of interest. The Himalayan Bulbul, Lesser Yellow-Naped Woodpecker, Common Hoopoe, Great Tit and Grey Bushchat. Plus regulars, and others we could not identify.

Lesser Yellow-naped Woodpecker

Lesser Yellow-naped Woodpecker

Hoopoe

 Along with birds, there were PLENTY of monkeys. Some were the Rhesus Macaques in large numbers - like we have mentioned previously- and there were also the Black-faced Langurs. Nick, we watched that kind cavorting when you were with us. These guys have very long tails, long legs, long fingers. Rob and I are always delighted to see monkeys!

We drove to the site of their renovation, so that the Colonel could oversee developments- thus we had the opportunity to see their future retirement dream home. On the front of the house, on each of three floors, is a very large window facing the valley. The view is spectacular, except when a cloud rolls in – enveloping all scenery in thick fog which lasts only a few minutes before the view is clear again.

Front of Randev House

Sunday afternoon, before we set off for Chandigarh, The Colonel (Randev) decided we HAD TO SEE a property on which Colonel Sandhu (head of WIICS and CIIS for whom Rob works) plans to build – also in Kasauli area.

We drove on broken, dirt road switchbacks through the mountains – looking for this land – road after road – wrong turn after wrong turn- bump after bump – jolt after jolt on road so narrow that two cars could NOT have passed (or turned around, FYI) and on road with no barrier and a straight drop down to death on one side. All the while, Madhu, from the back seat, with a strangle-hold on the seat in front, asking the Colonel to give up the search, slow down, turn back, and calling on God to protect us. Not comforting!

Eventually we could go no farther on that road (Praise Be) so he was forced to turn back. Rob, Madhu and I stood well away from the vehicle while he achieved this (as none of us wanted to watch him careen down the mountain in a failed attempt at a 10-point turn. Madhu’s mantra had by then become “He never listens to me”, “He never listens to me”… ARGHHHH! 

Still ahead was the nail-biting ride back to Chandigarh on roads very like the afore mentioned only paved – but this was the MAIN mountain road, full of weekenders also going down OR UP , along with goods carriers and buses which take up much more than their side of the road. Road with almost no barrier or absolutely no barrier on the mountain side of the road – and us whipping along at great speed, honking and passing then nipping back into line just before meeting a truck or bus head-on aound a curve. This Himalaya stuff is NOT for the faint of heart. 

We got back to civilization, stopped at the huge field market in Phase 7 to get mangoes and apples, then home to serve them tea and bid them farewell.

Hansi and Mrs. Randev

Hansi