Fawlty Towers, Ganesha Festival & The Mystery Tour

He's from Barcelona you know!

There is never a dull moment in our house. I had intended to have a go at making a chicken masala to compete with my friend Diane who had visited in July. I had not had the time to have a go but last Friday I had chicken and all the ingredients.
I asked Mala to cut the chicken for me while I roasted some vegetables.The idea was that we would make two dishes. One, chicken cooked with rosemary and cold roasted vegetables and the other, chicken masala.
  As I did my part, I noticed Mala also chopping the rosemary on the same chopping board as the raw chicken. She then took her chopped rosemary and attempted to sprinkle it on to my vegetable dish (so mixing the raw juices of the chicken with the cold dish)
"Mala that could be dangerous" I cried out. Mala, very confused was looking at the rosemary. (This is where Fawlty Towers comes in. Sometimes Mala reacts like Manuel does)
"ma'am, throw!" - so she gets the rosemary and throws it in the bin. So I said, "it's the chicken that can be poisonous" to which she stares at me again in disbelief and then looks at the chicken on the chopping board.
"ma'am, chicken, dead - no snake!"
I now turn into Basil Fawlty. "No, Mala raw chicken dangerous! salmonella" More staring so I repeated salmonella slowly .
"Fish?"
"No, chicken dangerous - bugs on it "  Obviously, my choice of words was even more confusing because she then started checking the chicken for insects!
'No bugs, Ma'am"
At this point I decided to get Arjun from outside to translate properly for me.
Once he'd explained about cross contamination, we watched a quick youtube video on what I meant. I then showed Mala that everything you touch can get contaminated if you don't wash your hands.
So after quite some time, I thought I had managed to explain and everything was clean and sorted.
A man came for a delivery so I answered the door only to return to find Mala now washing the chicken in boiling hot water in a bowl and splashing any potential salmonella all on the kitchen worktop, the utensil rack, sugar bowl and everything that she had switched to that side of the kitchen.






I think we need one of those UV fluorescent lights. Needless to say, we are still alive and I never managed to cook the masala myself as I had to go to school to help with the guided reading programme.
I'll make sure I chop the chicken myself! We will also make sure that Mala gets a trip to the Micronclean cleanroom laundry when Andrew gets its up and running. I don't think she will believe the levels of hygiene that will be in operation inside the very special 'laundry'!

Ganesha Chaturthi

This last week has been a build up for a special festival celebrating of Ganesha Chaturthi. It is the Hindu festival held on the birthday of Lord Ganesha, who was the son of Shiva and Parvati. 
Over the last couple of weeks, roadside stalls sprung up with a range of Elephant God Ganeshas ranging from 6 inches to probably 12 foot in height. The Ganesha statues are then placed in Pooja (prayer) areas in order for people to pass their offerings and prayers to the God. The ultimate event is that the statues are then sent into the local lakes, rivers or sea to sink from view. Due to the amount of pollution generated they have now banned plaster of Paris models and most models are now made from natural clays that do dissolve in the final resting places after which he is believed to go back to the Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati . The festival and actions are symbolic of new beginnings and removal of obstacles.

The Mystery tour : A little ride around the countryside

Last Saturday morning we managed to take a short mystery ride with Arjun into the local countryside. Unfortunately a tired little member of the family shortened the tour, but we did manage to see some of the less chaotic side to Bangalore. There were lots of opportunities to see typical Indian country life and luckily we managed to slightly distract Milo... He was given the camera to take some photos as we drove along. Even though slightly edited afterwards to reduce the wobble factor he did a very good job as you can see below:

Hindi, Homework, local supermarket, birthday

I have started to learn how to speak, read and write Hindi. ( Andrew and the boys are not on board yet but I am trying to encourage them). The lessons are once a week but I reckon two would be better. I now have a greater admiration for Indian people, especially small children who are also learning English and their regional language of Kannada. It is so hard to follow Hindi.

The word order is jumbled up. The verb is at the end of the sentence (like in Latin ,which I did to A -level so I should at least have some way of being ahead!)

The rest of the sentence is also jumbled so ......

The bag is on the table    -----equals----  bag table on is              (there is no "the")

Like in French the words are feminine and masculine and the verbs agree with the gender too.

I now spend my time by the pool practising talking out loud to myself and writing the letters I have learnt so far.

क ग घ ख - these are the letters I can write so far ......( not a,b,c,d but Ka KH G Gh ??)

I also take any opportunity I get to practise with real people so the other day it was a delivery boy and the lady toilet attendant in the hotel. They smiled politely and patiently as I counted to ten and told them my name !

It may be a while before I am fluent.........


Homework

The boys have been back at school for a number of weeks and I am already fed up with homework. Even I roll my eyes when I see how much they have to do, including Milo. Quite a bit of it is research which is fine in small doses and if the handing in time is lengthy but we have less than a week to do work that I would give for about 3 weeks. There is research, second language, English language and Maths for Milo. The other day, for research, Milo had to answer the question - How was the Galaxy made? The information from the BBC site was given with the explanation from Dr. Brian Cox!
Milo is 9 not 19!  He had to read the information, understand it and then write it in his own words for two sides of paper. He then had to write for another 4 pages on both sides with further information. It took me an hour to do two sides and I know what to do. I don't want to cast aspersions but I think maybe a lot of homework may be the work of a few pushy parents ........... I also wondered if we could be silly and write about how the chocolate bar was made!

Local supermarket 

The small supermarket on the estate, which was very handy, closed down. There is another small supermarket down the road within easy walking distance that sells a lot of international things so I set off there the other day when Andrew quite inconveniently needed Arjun for work. It was a pleasant but dusty walk there and back. Imagine my horror when Max texted me a few mornings later with the news that it too had closed down.
How was I going to source the tins of Heinz baked beans now? Milo's only condition that he would live in India was if he had access to baked beans or he would get a plane home! The big supermarket that Arjun takes me to is not much further but when the sun is out that distance becomes a bit daunting and uncomfortable and they only do barbecue flavour beans. Luckily, on our journey out yesterday ( when I got Arjun back) we found the store had moved down the road the other way and still within walking distance. All is saved and Milo will be stopping a bit longer. It's strange, I used to have a job where I thought about quite intelligent things ........

Birthday

It was my birthday and I had a lovely day. I went shopping with Andrew and we all went out for an evening meal (where I practised my Hindi with the toilet attendant!) The next day, Sheetal, our immediate neighbour invited me round for a coffee. When I got there, there were a few other ladies  there for an afternoon tea/coffee party with a beautifully made birthday cake and candles. It was a lovely surprise and so kind.  

Independence day, Mr Incredible, 'Curry Offs' and more food...

Celebrations in India for the 72nd Independence day

Yes those of you that can remember this far back may remember that a significant event in both Indian and British history was carried out when the British granted full self-governance to India on August 15th 1947.  Celebrations each year are extremely colourful and we were lucky enough to see the events in our local community.

At 9.30am a cermonial flag raising ceremony took place by an ex Government Minister who is also a relatively recent resident here. An interesting speech was followed by lots of dancing singing and other events. Unfortunately the monsoon weather was not so kind and the evening street party events were forced inside.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Max managed to take this photo of the school entrance where traditional decorations from flowers were prepared: 

Milo getting into the spirit:

Below:

Nurses from the local hospice performed traditional dancing 

We also had a wonderful performance from local school children shown below: 

Due to the multiple festivals there are some benefits for the boys and no school days normally end up with mass play days for the neighbourhood children:

Max's birthday party part two:

Max was able to wait for a couple of weeks after his birthday to have his party when his friends were all back from summer holidays. A trip to the indoor climbing centre was arranged with lots of fun and energy abounding.

One of the highlights of the Cole party catering was a moped delivery driver from our local bakery / pizzeria with around 20 full sized pizzas being somehow stashed in various spaces on the two wheeler along with the rider - forget your little Dominos bike delivery, this was serious balancing! 

When questioned on the order the current Mrs Cole suggested that she might have been having a 'moment' when she placed the order!

The McGills and Mr Incredible:

We had some fun with our friends when they visited and one of their must do's was to experience a tuk tuk ride. This was the funniest sight when Mr M was trying to squeeze into the vehicle. A flashback to 'The Incredibles' movie came to mind!

   

The 'Curry Off' challenge:

Whilst The McG's were with us they took part in a training session with Mala who taught Carla and Di how to make a true Chicken Masala. We still have to find the winner but Di has told of her success back home...

  The weather and how to cope:

Although parts of India have really suffered from the monsoon such as Kerala, I think that we have been 'lucky' as Bangalore rainfall although high has not been as prevalent in the region we live. However when it rains it rains, so an emergency plastic 'pack a mack' was called into action by Mrs C. We zoomed past her on the scooter in embarrassment!

Eating out:

If we find an excuse to eat out then we will try to explore the local food establishments. The local hotel has a number of eateries and the latest to try was on their rooftop. The grill bar serves a number of appetising offerings and we were surprised to see our meals when they were delivered:

The boys are growing fast with all of the lovely food - not long before Max overtakes the short one in the middle! 

     

   

Diane and Duncan, School , Sari shopping, Max's birthday and the weather

Diane and Duncan

 Our friends came to stop for three weeks in July. We all had a wonderful time. They kindly brought us precious supplies of real Cadbury chocolate, cheerios (cereal) and tea bags. The Coles were so excited!

 We had a few days looking around around Bangalore with them

At the botanical gardens

Naughty monkeys by the bins

We often get Indian people who want a selfie with the boys . We managed three different ones this trip.

Diane and Duncan enjoyed the posh cinema.

Then Arjun arranged for a driver to take them on a road trip to see elephants, palaces, temples and forts for a week. They booked hotels that were comfortable and clean. Then we recommended that they go and stop at the elephant camp that we had visited. We had had a quick look at the lodges by the river when we were there and thought it may be a good idea.

They booked a night there with a private tour in the forest and a session washing the elephants. Little did we realise that because of the monsoon the water level had risen and life jackets were required to cross the river in the boat as the water was moving very quickly. Then they were told that the power goes off at 9pm! So they had to ask for torches! Added to that, they were the only ones there for the night so they had to go to the screening of a film about the conservation of tigers as they couldn't escape the attention of the guides. The next day they went to wash the elephants and had to stand in thick mud that swamped their shoes. But even so, they had a great time.

We had a board games night which was fun.

We, of course, spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool when they came back and we went on a few more outings. 

 When the boys went back to school,Diane  decided that she would like to go shopping. Arjun recommended a new Indian clothes shop as Diane needed a blouse to match her new sari. Mala was determined that we shouldn't pay too much for a blouse and decided to come with us. Arjun came in too thinking we would stop at one item and then leave. 

We were in that one shop for an hour and a half. There were so many Indian and western clothes at daft prices and there were so many different styles and colours that we didn't know where to start (or stop) and we just wandered without any plan or purpose. 

Mala managed to squeeze in the changing room with Diane to supervise with the correct wearing of the salwars and kurtas etc. There was a lot of giggling and it was because Mala was taking selfies of them both in the outfits! 

Meanwhile Arjun was with me, patiently waiting. After much deliberation, Diane decided on the things she would like and Arjun happily set off towards the exit, only for us to say that we would do a final circuit just to make sure we hadn't missed any bargains. He smiled at us through gritted teeth and took a deep breath. 

He managed to get us out of the shop and was pleased to see Duncan who had wisely sat on a comfy chair downstairs.

The next following three days were spent in a similar manner in various shopping centres , shoe and gift shops.  We decided that we needed a plan instead of wandering around in circles. It really was a shopping marathon. Duncan stayed at the house but Arjun came with us. I think he has the patience of a saint !

The first (expensive) sari shop.

The big cheaper shop 

Max's Birthday

While they were here, Max turned 12. He got some impressive nerf guns and spent the morning machine gunning at targets and his brother. Arjun bought him a beautiful Indian outfit similar to Milo's and he was really chuffed with it. We all went out for a lovely meal at lunchtime but his whole day had the looming shadow of the fact that school would start the next day. He was pleased though when Sheetal came round with a birthday cake that she had made for him. It was really lovely.

Opening presents.

Max used to be too big for this tiny baby grow.

Some friends were in the restaurant above us and took this photo .

Max decided to have a sip of beer (he wasn't too keen!)

Both boys in their Indian outfits.

Max had his party the following week at the local climbing centre and afterwards we came back to the house for pizza ( take away ) and chocolate cakes that Mala had made. He had a great time with all his friends ( pre- teens !!) 

Diane and Duncan had left the night before and so missed all the noise and mayhem.

The weather 

The weather is cloudier but still warm. There have been a few days with rain or drizzle but only for a short time. Further to the west in Kerala, the rain has been intense and there has been loss of life and flooding but Bangalore doesn't seem to get the extreme rain like some places do. The boys say it is easier being at school when it is slightly cooler.