October / November

Getting away  :The farm and Goa

 

I think people that we know in the Uk believe that we are always on holiday. We do go for short breaks, usually a long weekend, or for four days but no longer. This is because there can be a steady build- up of the most frustrating rules and regulations and the system here can be unbelievable. This is one reason why. As you know, we have two sons and they have lived with us all their lives. We know what their names are

The other day, we got a message from school asking for their correct names. I wrote saying that we had sent all the documentation, passports etc every year for 4 years and the names were on those documents. I wrote their full names again.

I got a message back asking that school needed the passports for the correct names to double check that they were correct.

 Now, I know what my children are called, so I sent their full names and dates of birth again and said that I was not going to start photocopying all the documents once more. They already had them in their system.

Also, I said that sometimes school muddles their names, calling Milo, Milo James, instead of Milo Jay Matteo. Whereas Max is Maximus James Aston, so we don’t know which boy they mean if they muddle the names up. ( I do realise that maybe having different initials may have helped everyone, but I can get it right)

 I received another message saying that school needs proof of their names, not my information. So, I pointed out that only two weeks ago, they had sent to us a bonafide document with the correct names for our visa applications. Therefore, they obviously have the correct information. By this time, four different departments were linked in with the investigation and demands for paperwork. I, then, took a photo of one of the incorrect names that they had given and one of the correct ones that they had given. I pointed out that they just need to copy the names carefully, that is all. The latest is that, yes, they do have the correct names but could I just send the passports for them to check! GRRR!!!

 Meanwhile, in October, we went away for another weekend, we  spent a tranquil couple of days at the farm again with our friends and dogs. We swam in the pool. We had lovely walks in the forest, great food and watched movies outside.

 Then, last weekend, we went to Goa.  The flight is only 50 minutes and if we get the early morning one, we can be on the beach by 9:30. We went to Palolem again and just sat staring at the sea for 4 days. We had mixed weather with rain and sun, but it was still wonderful and we had a few very relaxed days away.

This bull spent most of his time here

Max doing school online 

It was raining here so we watched it from our room

 

 Milo football

 Milo had been saying that he wanted to join a football club ever since his Chelsea experience last year. We found out that there is a Barça Training Academy ( it is affiliated with Barcelona football club)  only 15 minutes from us. Milo was asked to go to a one to one training session, he was accepted and invited to join. He was so excited. He must go on a Tuesday night, Saturday and Sunday morning for training and matches. As Andrew is working and has Arjun and the car, I rely on Robert the Tuk Tuk driver who comes to fetch us and take us back on a Tuesday. The road to the football centre is down a dirt track and it is so bumpy in a tuk tuk. But Milo loves going in a tuk tuk and laughs all the way. Being a football mum or dad  is not so bad here as it is warm and very pleasant watching the matches. The other good thing is that the parents are very sporting and do not shout at the kids or the refs. There is just polite clapping and encouragement. Andrew goes at the weekend too. Milo is very proud of his new football kit; he just has to remember to put it in the washing machine and not leave it to go rancid on his bedroom floor.

 

 

 

Rain and Mould

 We have had dreadful rain and several near misses with cyclones coming off the sea near Chennai. This has meant that the house has felt and smelt really damp. I noticed that mould patches were springing up all over the place, behind doors, on walls, in wardrobes, everywhere. Grace was concerned that it was her cleaning and I pointed out that as soon as she cleaned, the dampness just recycled the mould. We tried mild bleach on the things that we could put it on, but currently, it is just a case of constant cleaning. The other problem that we have is that the doors swell and they are difficult to open easily. There is no exiting in an emergency now unless you have the knack of opening the door.

 

Finn and Solo

 Our friends both had to go to America and so we said that we would have their two dogs for a week until we went to Goa. That meant that Andy had two friends to play with. It was mad! But what made everything awkward, was the fact that it would not stop raining. Typical, we have 3 dogs and the garden is saturated with rain. Usually that garden is heaven for a dog and for us. I had to cover every single piece of furniture with covers as the dogs charged in and out, absolutely covered in the red, wet, mud. The floor was just muddy footprints. Poor Grace would try and mop, the dogs would run outside, run around the garden and bushes, run back in again with muddy paws, run around the house, she would mop, they would run outside and then back in again. It was like a big game, they were having a fantastic time . She would just stare as her hard work was ruined. I told her to give up and not to worry and  that we have a big clean up when they went home. Their excitement knew no bounds. I couldn’t take all 3 for a walk on my own, I struggle with Andy, so walks for them was when we had a full family contingent at night or in the morning.

Having Finn and Solo made us realise just how quiet Andy is. He never ever barks when someone comes to the door or goes past the windows, he just looks quietly and wags his tail. Finn and Solo let us know when every dog went for a walk down our road….

 

 

Recent festivals and events

 

The Residential/orphanage home

 

It was Diwali and this is the most important event in the Hindu calendar. (The equivalent of Christmas.) We got Swapna to make as many biscuits and sweets as she could, and we took them to the orphanage/ residential home near the factory. Max, Milo and I had not been due to the lockdown rules but now we were allowed.  It was a very humbling experience.

The staff were there to meet us and gave us a coffee.The owner, his wife and two teenage/ young adult children and staff have devoted their whole lives to the care of the residents, aged from 0 to 80.

I do not know how they do it.

 We went to meet the ladies and girls first. A very bright-eyed young lady of about 14 approached carrying a baby that was blind, deaf and who had physical challenges. I held the baby’s hand so that she knew I was there. The young lady just smiled. She was deaf and unable to speak but definitely very intelligent.A few of the other young girls were physically and mentally challenged and so communication was difficult, but they were all smiling. There were about 6 very elderly ladies at the far end sat on the ground.

Amongst these children and ladies there were children that had been abandoned at the gates and so there needs were different. One little girl has online lessons with the local school as she cannot go to school because of the restrictions. ( She will by now though) The girls who are deaf are learning sign language at the home.

We went to see the men and the boys next. They were in a newer building and there were pet rabbits running freely around for them to stroke. There were dogs, cows and a couple of horses too. The girls can go there too but it was raining, so they were not moving out of their quarters until the rain stopped. We saw some teenage boys having computer lessons in a room. The rest of the residents were waiting for the rain to stop too.

The staff there were kind, sympathetic and doing the best that they could in the circumstances. Whereas we expect everyone to be busy with activities all the time that is not the expectation here. As long as people have food, shelter and clothing, then that is a priority. The life skills and education come next. All the residents were clean and well dressed. We saw the food being prepared and it was all fresh. The two teachers that took us round were understanding and keen to explain what goes on. Theirs was such a difficult job.

The home relies on local donations as it gets no government help. If the home goes under then the residents would be on the streets. Their funds are low due to the pandemic and the fact that the local city is much poorer than Bangalore so there is not the same level of fundraising or recognition of their efforts, but they keep on going, regardless.

 I really admired the two young adults of the owner. Both travelled a long way to Bangalore university every day but still, they were there helping with the residents. They lived onsite too. They accepted that helping was their life. The daughter is now looking for an engineering job but was there every day to help. I am full of admiration. In fact, all of the adults there were so dedicated.

 

At the end, as we were about to leave, we asked them how we could help. One of the teachers paused, took a deep breathe, he couldn’t look us in the eye  ( I don’t think he wanted to ask) and said they really needed donations of money and please could we find a way to help them? 

We have asked them to send us a list of what they need to see if we can arrange anything else to help like bedding or equipment. Above all, they need money to help with the staff and equipment. We will see what we can do.

 

The factory

After the visit, we went to the factory to hand out Diwali presents to the staff. They are all so enthusiastic and keen. They listened attentively to Andrew’s speech ( which was very inspiring) and were so happy with their Diwali gifts.

 Max loves the food there 

 

Diwali

Arjun has Diwali off so we get about on our own or get another driver.  One lunchtime, we decided to walk to one of the local shopping centres, that takes about 20 minutes, to get a pizza. But walking along the path here is like a dangerous game. Instead of “don’t stand on the cracks or you are it, it is- don’t stand on the bare electrical wires on the ground, duck below the wires hanging from the trees and the transformers, avoid the deep holes in the ground, avoid the street dogs, don’t look at the goat that has just had his throat slit on the path at the meat shop and watch for the rats running amongst the discarded rubbish. We managed to get there unscathed but then had to reverse our walk back. It is quite an experience.

 

Arjun’s new house.

 

We were invited to Arjun and his family’s new house -warming celebration.They are not like ours. The first part meant all the family getting up at 3 am as this was an auspicious time. They did a Puja. Then for the rest of the day there were ceremonies and visits from the friends and family. We were invited for 12. We arrived and were shown around the house by Arjun and his family. Then, we went outside to have a meal. This again is different to our traditions. There are two long tables set up and two groups of people sit down. The ‘waiters’ bring big banana leaves ( that is your plate), you have a water bottle and wash your leaf with some of the water. Then the waiters come along with a bucket full of one type of food and put it on your banana leaf, the next waiter gives you another spoonful from his bucket. So, you end up with your savoury food on one part of your leaf and sweet food on the other part. We had an array of chicken masala, veg masala, rice, chapati, poori, salad, pickle and another salad. A sweet naan bread with jaggery, a banana and a sweet sticky ball. Basically, as soon as you have your food, you eat it ( with your fingers, of course, but we are good at this now), then you move away from the table ready for the next person. The banana leaves are rolled up with the food residue and fed to the cows.

A parting gift is a coconut, a leaf ( I don’t know which one or why ) and a mouth freshener which requires a bit of practice, as it is quite spicy, so it is NFC ( not for Carla )

We chatted with some people that we knew and then left. Arjun said that most of the people had left by 4.His house is lovely, and he has worked so hard to build it. It is in a beautiful place not far from the local village and has a cool breeze blowing through it. The house overlooks the surrounding countryside and is so peaceful.

 

 

 

Covid

Andrew and Max have had colds/ coughs and so they got tested for covid, they were negative. The boys had to be tested for Goa but as we are vaccinated, we didn’t need a test. Both were negative again.

We enjoyed our time in Goa but stayed by our beach hut or on the beach away from other people. We ate either on the sand at our reserved table or in the restaurant at a set table in the corner.

We got back on Monday. On Tuesday, I started to feel unwell. On Wednesday, I ended up going to bed but thought I had got what Andrew and Max had. We were supposed to be going to a party on Saturday, so I thought I had better do a test. I did a rapid test ( well I did 3) and I was positive. We had arranged PCR tests for later that morning for the boys to go back to school. Milo was positive too. He doesn’t have any symptoms though so that is good.

So, we are back in quarantine. We think we hold the record as this is the third time! ( Milo and I are in isolation in our rooms- he’s not bothered, he’s quite happy that he does not have to come out of  his room, it means he can keep gaming !) Andrew and Max can wander where they like in the house . I miss going on the terrace.

The government doctor has been today to check on us. All was ok. 

Andrew has to do all the cooking and cleaning as Swapna and Grace are not allowed , although I can come out on Saturday to help.We have 10 days to go in total ……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2021

 

October 2021

 

Shopping-

 When we decide to go shopping, we need a plan. The shopping mall is enormous, and we all need different things. Both boys are rather fussy now with what they want to buy. This involves a longer time for the whole trip. I have decided that Andrew is the best choice as he is a boy! We go off in different directions and agree a meeting time.

Andrew and I are going to an event where we need smart well-designed clothes. This is quite hard to achieve as there are lots of shops for every-day clothes and, of course, lots of saree shops but smarter Western clothes shops are harder to find. I don’t like wearing sarees, as to me, being wrapped in an underskirt and then metres of fabric is not a cooling experience. I find them claustrophobic, and I want to desperately to unravel the material as I get hotter and hotter, but that is not a good thing to do in public.

There is a Calvin Kline shop in the mall and a few potential dress shops that I can go to. I went in there and saw a very nice dress that would be suitable. I asked about sizes. The assistant looked me up and down and reckoned that I would be an EXTRA LARGE! ( She was a young girl and not that slim herself ) She said that they didn’t have that size, but they had a medium or a small and would I like to try them ? I said that if she thought I was an extra- large then why would a medium or a small fit ? 

"What are the measurements of a medium? "I asked.

 She looked at me blankly, stretched the dress in her hands and pulling it at the waist, said seriously, “it is this size," as if the actual measurements would magically appear.  I just stared at her. She sullenly went off and walked slowly to the back of the shop to double check if there was an extra large. She came back insisting that the smaller ones would fit. Andrew had found me by this time, I explained , he laughed , we rolled our eyes and left. 

 I went to another dress shop and the assistants were falling over themselves to serve me and this time it was the reverse with the service. They couldn’t do enough but they wouldn’t let me look without talking and did not listen to what I was saying, instead all I got was, “Would madam like a handbag ?” Would madam like blue trousers ?” “Would madam like this or that ?”

Even after explaining what I wanted, they kept rapidly suggesting items like it was a quick fire game, suggesting obscure things that were not suitable. 

‘No, I do not want a pair of jeans, I would like a dress!” 

“No, I do not want shoes”.   I was constantly repeating myself. 

It was exhausting. 

I gave up.

Next, I went to Marks and Spencer, hoping that I could possibly find something there, but they have all the winter clothes in their shop. ( It was 31 degrees on Saturday, and I do not fancy a thick woollen dress and a padded jacket, thank you ). But here in India, M and S does not seem to have the same quality, so I abandoned that idea too.

 It was time to meet up the boys again. They had bought football boots and t-shirts.

Andrew had found nothing. He was having the same problem. Plenty of casual things but no well- made clothes.

 Meanwhile, we needed to buy some wine glasses, so we popped to the home centre place.

It was super busy with people buying things for the holidays that are coming up.

I got a lady assistant to get me 3 boxes and she put them on the counter in the queue. A man came up and put his 6 cups on top of my boxes. I knew that he was sneakily trying to jump the queue. I said nothing. 

The assistant on the till went to get one of the cups to scan it and I said as loudly as I could,“ that belongs to the man behind me.”

 I got the cups and handed them to the man and smiled ( through my mask ) and said sweetly, “ I know you won’t mind waiting another 5 minutes.”

To which he replied “ but I am in a hurry "

“so am I," I said, smiling again and holding his gaze.  

He held on to his cups and looked away.

 Round one to me !

 The subsequent buying of the glasses took ages. The assistant opened each box and ran his finger around the rim of each glass to check, so 18 in all ( very good ). He then painstakingly put the boxes into bags and got me to google pay the amount. He slowly passed the receipt to a colleague who passed the receipt to me ( I hope there’s no germs on anything ). Then, another person got the bags and handed them over. I politely thanked all three and thanked the man behind me, who really did not know how to respond.

I went to the door where the guard had to check my receipt, punch a hole in the receipt and look in my bag.

 Shopping is an exhausting process here and I still do not have a new dress so I will wear an old one. 

Update

We went last night to the event at The Taj in the centre of Bangalore to say farewell to the Deputy High Commissioner, Jeremy and his wife, Amanda. There were posters of James Bond everywhere and all the cocktails were based on the different films.

Cinema

 In the shopping centre, on the top floor, there is a cinema complex. The cinemas are allowed full capacity now. We had booked to see the new James Bond film.

As it was Gandhi Jayanti day, where there is a celebration of Gandhi’s birthday, no meat or alcohol is allowed so we were restricted to food choices as the restaurants were closed in the mall. But some of the fast food places were open. We approached McDonalds and were rudely told that they were open for lunch but only after 1:30. ( it was 12:30 ) We managed to persuade KFC to serve us some chips and super spicy chicken. This was in the NFC category. This is where the boys and Andrew taste the food first and decide whether it is too spicy for me. If it is too spicy then they declare NFC, Not For Carla . In this way I can subtly not eat the food without attracting a lot of attention. I had ordered a vegetarian burger  and my food tasters declared it  NFC.

We got to the cinema and handed in the shopping bags as you are not allowed them in the cinema. We had rejected  the 3D film due to my inability to see those films in focus ( I have never been able to watch a 3D film all the way through as it is all very blurred to me even with the glasses)  and we booked the Gold cinema  (with the 2D film) which has super large comfy seats. The seats recline all the way back, so you must be careful not to fall asleep. The film was so exciting and loud that there was no chance of nodding off.  Max and Milo were impressed. I was a bit disappointed in that there were no English subtitles. When I watch a complicated film, I like to read all the names and the information as it makes me remember who is who and what is going on. Usually in India, for the English films there are the subtitles to help everyone along. So, this time I had to go over the story with everyone in the car on the way back. If Arjun wants to watch the film, he already knows the plot!

 Andy

 When we went to the cinema, we knew that we would quite a while so we left the CCTV cameras fixed on the places that we thought Andy would sit. We realise now that we don’t need to worry when we go out. Andy spent most of his time sleeping on the bed ( he’s not allowed !) or sat by the downstairs window watching the other dogs of Palm Meadows go by. He was not in the least bit stressed or bothered.

 He had behaved himself while we were out but the other day, he had a very naughty day. Grace is away at the moment, so we have her friend, Geraldine, helping with the cleaning. Geraldine put her lunchbox on the kitchen counter and got on with the cleaning. As Max and Milo are doing their exams at home online, this meant that Andy is wandering in the garden and around the house unsupervised as I invigilate them. After a while, Geraldine came to get me and was very worried. Andy had somehow managed to get her lunch box, chew off the plastic lid (it was all in pieces) and then he had eaten all her food! Geraldine was worried, mainly because she is diabetic and had gone to get her food, noticed that her food was gone but needed food quickly due to the diabetes. This meant she had “taken “ some of our bread for toast before asking me. I pointed out that eating two bits of toast without asking was not a crime and nothing to worry about. I did offer to get her a takeaway as this is very easy to do. Indian food is available from early in the morning, but she was happy with the toast. I need to replace her lunchbox now.

 Andy spent the rest of the day flashing his puppy eyes at me after he got a good telling off. He looks so innocent at times.

Over the next few days, though, he redeemed himself. Every time we went for a walk, he kept sniffing around the drainage pipe down the side of the house and he would pull towards it. Up on the terrace, he kept sniffing at the drainage hole and sitting close by as if guarding something.

Then, yesterday we were having our morning coffee and I saw a rat/mouse run behind one of the plant pots on the terrace just where Andy has been investigating and sitting. Much screaming and yelling ensued as we tried to see where it had gone.A trap was set and during the night the rat was caught.

Andy is a clever boy. If only he could talk. 

 The building work.

 The boys are enjoying school but decided to do their exams online from home this week. There has been a bit of disruption though as they try to concentrate due to building work going on behind us. Two houses are being renovated. It is very intriguing because this is happening a lot now in Palm Meadows. Whereas in the Uk, we renovate from the inside to improve the house, here they virtually knock the house down using one tiny pneumatic drill and then build it back up again using a only a couple of people. The drilling never seems to stop because there is only one man on the job. 

The thing is that the owners don’t have to listen to the noise as they go to live somewhere else while the renovation is being done.

 The renovations are all very well but there are  two men with pneumatic drills, one in each house, and then two men with sledgehammers doing this work. There’s shouting, smashing of tiles and glass and worst of all the high pitching wailing of famous Indian songs blasting from phones. Some Indian songs are lovely but some are a bit trying and I really do not want to hear them in between the drilling. But I can’t escape as the pool is not open still. There is a slow thud, thud, thud and then drilling. It is so loud, and it takes so long. Initially, we were told only 7 days of drilling etc, but with Indian Stretch Time (IST) this has turned into at least two months ( so far). I am rather concerned about some people’s ability to count to 7. 

My other problem is that is is fine for some people to have drilling all day in their houses but as soon as you dare to play any music or make a noise after 10 pm then someone will send a guard to your house to tell you to turn it down 

The other day the drilling got even louder, and I looked across from the balcony to see a lone man with flip flops on his feet, on the roof of the house with a pneumatic drill. He was drilling into the tiles on the roof. He had no harness or anything to stop him either dropping the drill over the side of the house or to stop him falling off.

I have my phone ready ….

Breakfast

Even though there is a lot of noise, this only starts after 10:00 am ( but goes on until 6) Almost every morning for the past four years we have sat outside to have our breakfast in the sun shine, watching and listening to the birds. This was the day before yesterday. You would never know that beyond the gates of Palm Meadows it is very busy with people and traffic. There is no sign of it here and we can't hear the main road. This quietness usually is there all the time, hopefully the building work will end soon. 

 Painter

 After the plumber fiasco, I was dreading the painter coming to the house to finish off where the plumber had been, but I am pleased to say it was a very positive experience. The young man was extremely conscientious, careful, and cleaned up after himself.  It made a change to have to not watch someone all the time and he did a good job. The awful thing was that I never got to give him a tip because he carried his ladder out and said he would come back but he disappeared. No doubt he will need to return to patch other things in the future.

 Covishield

Oh, my goodness me! Boris, what are you doing?

 On the news there have been the reports of Indian people having two shots of the vaccine Covishield and that it is not recognised in the UK. People from India are having problems if they want to travel to the UK. If Indian people go to the Uk they still must quarantine for 10 days and take 3 tests because of the Covishield. Last week, the Indian government decided to do the same to British nationals if they come here. They are playing a game of tit for tat.

 Now, Andrew and I have two Covishield vaccinations each and we are considered fully vaccinated. But we are British, so it looks like if we come to the UK we would have to quarantine twice, once on the way in and once on the way back and take a total of 6 tests and 20 days in quarantine, even though we are doubly vaccinated with a vaccine that is exactly the same as Astra Zeneca. It just has a different name and is made here in India. The dispute, allegedly, is with the registration site or Cowin, where the certificates are located and that there is no date of birth on them, just an age. We have found the Cowin site to be very good and efficient. Our certificate on Cowin is linked to our passport which have our dates of birth on. On the news, it keeps saying about Indian people being targeted and that the exclusion/ quarantine is racist but what about all the expats living here who have had the same vaccination?

There is no mention of us.

I would like to say that when all the vaccinations started, the French told their citizens to hold on and they flew Pfizer vaccines here for them. The French all went to the French embassy for their vaccinations.

The Israelis flew their citizens on a plane to Tel Aviv, injected them at the airport and flew them all back on the same day.

What did the Uk do ? I have no idea . 

 How come the other countries knew that the Covishield might not be accepted and warned their citizens ?

We have been reassured that there will be a favourable solution soon but I am with India on this one.