The Coles in India - August '21
Milo’s birthday
It was Milo’s birthday on 15th July. Swapna and Grace made him a chocolate cake which was lovely. Milo had asked every day for about 8 months, in various modes of persuasion, if he could have a PC for gaming. He was prepared to go without everything to have one, including all future Christmas and birthday presents. He even managed to tidy his bedroom once or twice. He had promised us that he would earn lots of money and give some of it to us if he could have a PC. After much internet research and advice, we managed to find one to buy for him ( there was a shortage here ) He is so pleased, and mealtimes are spent with him chatting in a jargon that Andrew and I do not understand at all as he discusses his online gaming. It has been three weeks, though, and there is still no sign of any big earnings yet. He says we just need to give him time!
Max’s birthday
He got a mug that looks like a camera lens
Max was 15 on Thursday. He has achieved so much and is such a kind, considerate young man. He has gone from being nervous and shy to being confident and able to chat to anyone. We are so proud of him. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, he said that he needed a pencil case as he had run out of pens! No big fancy presents for him. He now has plenty of pens (and other gifts too.) He is thinking what he would like with the money he got from everyone.
Swapna and Grace went to town on an enormous cake for Max after the
success with Milo’s cake. When they were secretly trying to hide the cake from
Max, I happened to see what they were doing and how big it was. So, when I said,
“ will it fit in the fridge?”, their eyes widened. I could see their
desperation.
Grace wailed “ oh no, we hadn’t thought of that!”
We have two fridges, one belonging to the house which is not in such a
good working order, but it does work and it has wider shelves. I set about
removing all the beer and wine (emergency stocks in case of a sudden lockdown)
so that one shelf was completely empty. Luckily, the cake, on its silver board,
just managed to fit in so it was safely hidden from Max.
He had to spend the day online at school, but he had a happy day. He was
impressed with his cake although the firework candle was rather rubbish and
just exploded.
School
Micro containment
The numbers of covid are stable, we think, but the local government department, the BBMP, (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has a new strategy to manage any surge in numbers. We all know that things got out of hand in the last wave and that the government is keen to prevent another dreadful wave but what they have done yesterday is a bit bonkers.
We have had no covid cases in Palm Meadows for 75 days. Then, 3 people have
been tested positive within one household and have honestly informed the authorities (which you must
do). But they have done what they are supposed to do.
The other night, we all got a message on the community app to say that the
house had been barricaded & sealed and the surrounding villas, in front, behind and to the
side, had been put in to quarantine until everyone, including staff have been
tested. But, even if the residents test negative, they must isolate and “must
not walk on the road “. Although it states, the staff can come back and work if
they test negative. This would mean travelling on buses and mingling with the general public, but the residents are not allowed out for 14 days!
Meanwhile, the BBMP will do surprise visits to check on those people. That will keep them on their toes!
Unfortunately, not all Indian people have rational thought and are sympathetic. There is
a lot of blame put on people who get Covid and they are shouted at, or shunned. We
had one case before where one household in Palm Meadows were demanding that their neighbours keep their windows closed in case the virus managed to leap through
the open window! Luckily, the people on the committee here are very good and will help the family out, getting
supplies and anything the 'patients' need. Most people here are sympathetic, kind and will do anything to help others, it is unfortunately the minority who can make others feel really uncomfortable.
I went for a bike ride this
morning, like I do every day and I went past the 'targeted' house. There was tape
all around the trees, the pathway and house. All the neighbours were being tested
by the suited medical staff. I peddled away quickly just in case the virus was
pouncing on people as they went past!
Andrew has regular tests and he had had a test yesterday, so as we were reading this message the other night, I was shooting daggers at him because if he was positive then the whole street would be put into quarantine! (he’s negative, thank goodness) so I think the blame game is spreading!
The only problem with all this stigmatising is that it will stop people getting tested because if they are positive if everyone around their villa has to go into quarantine, whether they have had any contact or not. But, on the other hand, some people did blatantly leave their houses when they had been diagnosed with covid in the last wave, so I think the BBMP really can not win.
This was in the last wave where the BBMP sealed two flats with 2 children and a mother in one flat and an elderly couple in the other one. Metal sheeting was used. The manager of the flats put it on twitter to complain, worrying about if there was a fire. The BBMP went back to remove the panels. But the fact that this idea was even considered, is the worrying part. Luckily, the house in Palm Meadows just has the equivalent of police tape around the trees.Andy (The Dog!)
The problem was that the whole of Bangalore was there with their pets.
Andy was wild. He just saw that there were lots of dogs to play with and cats to chase. It was chaos! In the UK, a visit to the vets is a quite an ordered occasion but not in India. Although, why we thought it would be any different, I don’t know.
Andy had had no food or water for
a long time and was so excited about all the new friends that keeping him calm
for the two hours that we had to wait was quite an ordeal. Eventually, we were
put in a room after he had had his blood test, and he was given his first
sedative. He started to get wobbly and sleepy. The trolley he was on only just
managed to squeeze him on, we held on to him so he didn’t fall. Then we noticed
that the trolley didn’t have wheels. If I was a vet, I would have wheels on a trolley
with a heavy unconscious dog on and then wheel them into the operating theatre.
Oh no! When it was time, four men appeared, and they unceremoniously lifted
Andy between them and took him away.
Honestly, wheels have been invented and it would be a good addition in
this circumstance. Just push the trolley and then there would be no chance of
twisting or dropping an enormous dog.
They told us to come back in two hours.
We had a spot of lunch and returned.
All around us dogs were barking, whining, and trying to play with each other.
Also, the floor was slippery as it had been raining and people were trying to
hold on to their dogs. They ended up being pulled along as they could not get a
grip on the floor. A lady with a mop was trying in vain to keep the floor dry by
darting out each time someone came in.
After a short while, the vet appeared to say that Andy was ready. The
four men appeared with him held upside down semi consciously by the legs and put him on another trolley to recover. (If they
had had one with wheels it would have so much easier)
I dodged the mopping lady and I
went to pay the bill. I turned around and found that Andrew and Andy had
disappeared. Somehow, they had managed to get Andy out of the building without
slipping, down some steps and into the back of the car.
We got him into our house after padding the front room floor with his basket
and lots of towels. Andrew managed to carry him on his own He was super sleepy for a couple of hours and then seemed
to perk up wanting to go outside. He had a cone 'of shame' around his neck to stop him
reaching his stitches, but he couldn’t judge the distance he needed to get
through the door or past the table. He spent quite a lot of time bumping into things including trees
for the next week. It was very entertaining for us. He was soon dashing about and
wanting to go for a walk. I also had to come up with some inventive ways to get
him to take his 4 tablets a day. Hiding the tablets in cheese seemed to work
the best until he realised what was happening and then he would spit out the
tablet after eating the cheese. I then made a mini toast sandwich and put the
tablets in there. This was my back up
plan and worked long enough for him to finish them all. He is back to normal now and if any of his lady friends come round to play, we know we can leave them without supervision.
The Palm Trees
In Palm Meadows, every avenue is lined with beautiful palm trees. They are very tall. As the tree grows it sheds the older leaves at the bottom. They will fall onto the roadway or paths. The gardening team try to go around cutting them all down using a cherry picker, but it is a constant never ending job. But they do miss some and there have been a few occasions where the falling leaves have nearly hit people. They fall with an almighty whoosh too...
They have come up with a simple but clever idea. They have tied a special fabric 'belt' around the top base of each tree. As each bottom leaf turns brown it is held in place by the strap and cannot fall. Now, the gardening team do not have to worry and rush so much. People can walk without having to keep one eye on the palm trees. We can instead focus on our feet and keeping a look out for the snakes that like to come out to hunt all the frogs that are around because it is monsoon.
You can just about see the tie underneath the palm leaves .
Other activities
This is a guava from a tree at the factory, it was very juicy.
Micronclean India wins two contracts with Covid Vaccine Mfrs.
