February Blog

The time has gone so quickly since the beginning of December.

None of us developed rabies, so that was good and Mala is back to her usual self and not quite as mad as she was. Milo is also better ( he had a very bad dose of proper flu and was unwell on and off for about 6 weeks )

 Mala and Milo in the garden. Both having recovered from their ordeals.

Weather 

Fortunately, the weather is back to normal and we have a choice of sunbathing and swimming days again. This time of year is perfect because it is cool at night (18 degrees so sleeping is easier) and then hot and sunny in the day ( 28 - 30 degrees).

Christmas Holidays

We spent a very relaxed day at The Leela Palace for Christmas day with some friends. Max and Milo were in awe of the singer who we often meet at parties. They knew he was a singer but hadn't heard him sing until then. Milo is now on the list for a local music teacher so he can restart his guitar lessons. Milo has always been very good at singing and this has encouraged him even more.  But we've had to suggest to him that 7 in the morning is not a good time to fire up his boom box, microphone and Alexa music thingy to practise his singing!

Bangalore city centre 

We're beginning to forget what Andrew looks like as he is so busy at the factory so when he had a weekend off we decided to look for somewhere to go in hotel. We had some vouchers for a hotel stay and they needed using so we had a staycation in Bangalore in the city centre to explore the metro, local park and some posh shops (we looked through the windows).
It was a lot of fun.







             

The Factory

Over the Christmas holidays, we decided that the boys needed to go and see the factory progress.  It has come on a long way. Milo was surprised to learn that Andrew was in charge! We don't really know what he was thinking.  Milo likes to pretend that he is the boss of an office and had a great time looking at the factory plans in the portakabin and telling everyone what they needed to do before we set off to look around.








We wore helmets, protective shoes and flashy jackets and had a two hour tour. The Engineering Head (Melgiri) very kindly bought a New Year cake and some drinks for us and the security guard made the best coffee that I'd had in ages. On the washroom front,  I was pleased to see there was an executive porta-toilet and not the local bush variety.

  This is our friend Joe inspecting the superior visitor only toilet.

Grandma and Grandad Arrive

Then in January, Derek and Christine arrived. Their plane arrived early in the morning so we decided that Arjun would fetch them and we would greet them here. Now, we had a scheduled time that they would arrive but they were rather late and this is why....

Arjun had managed to find them as they came out of the terminal building and as he always does he takes control of pushing the luggage trolley to the car. He then loads the cases into the car. As he was about to do this, Christine looked at the cases and realised that one of them wasn't theirs. A quick check of the luggage label confirmed this and Derek and Arjun rushed back to the terminal. Now, in India you can only get access to the terminal if you have your ticket but, of course, their journey was completed so they weren't allowed back inside. After approaching several outside desks with official people behind them, someone took charge and rang inside but there was no suitcase going round and round on the carousel by itself!

Then, the doors opened and a group of German tourists came out and one lady was pushing their suitcase. It appeared that both suitcases were grey with a red ribbon tied around the handle, and difficult to tell apart (even though there was a label on it ...) After much apologising, the suitcases were exchanged and everyone was happy.
No international crisis occurred!

So, Arjun double checked everything, the cases were loaded and they arrived at our house. After greeting them, they told their suitcase tale.
We were having palpitations at the thought that we could have lost all our food treats in the suitcase scenario. Max and Milo love their grandparents dearly but the thought of the promise of Walker's crisps, chocolate, biscuits and their favourite cereals, sausage rolls and proper sausages being elsewhere in Bangalore with a stranger, would have been a disaster.

   Sausage dinner

A sausage dinner followed and all the suitcase trauma was forgotten. We did our usual dividing of the chocolate supplies and bartering to swap any chocolate that is not a favourite. All supplies are then put in a named bag. Andrew even made an inventory to make sure no one stole any of his (there's no trust in this family when it comes to chocolate!)

  Chocolate division.

Max

Max had his sport's day in the first week that Derek and Christine were here. He's gone from being a tiny little boy who struggled to keep up in the running races in the UK to coming second in the 100 metres only loosing to a boy who runs for India. We couldn't believe it when he shot past us, he ran so fast and he was so determined. His running technique was good too. We were so proud.
We were also proud because Max has won an award for academic achievement at school and feel a bit more reassured that he might not have to sit on a bench shouting at the traffic in Skegness when he leaves here.

Local 'Wild Karnataka'

We have been to the cinema to see a wild life film narrated by Sir David Attenborough. It's all about Karnataka ( the area that we live in ) It was wonderful, showing the tigers, leopards and elephants that are only a few hours away from the city. It really is worth watching if it comes to the UK.

We've been to the local safari park in the south of Bangalore ( a bit like Longleat but they let the elephants out at the weekend to roam in the forest. We never established if they let the tigers out ...)
We had a protected jeep with wire covering everything except for a small hole where you could put you camera. It was a lovely day out.

Parties

We've been to quite a few parties with our friends in Palm Meadows and even had a karaoke night where Milo proved that he is definitely the best singer.







We have all visited the factory and helped to choose the colour of the inside walls so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will look ok.
















Outside the factory





It was Derek and Christine's 55th wedding anniversary and so went to a lovely hotel for lunch. The manager presented them with a beautiful cake and our friend Shaun was there again to sing ( he sings at many hotels apparently)

Snakes

In our current house the toilet that Mala and Arjun use is just off the kitchen. So when they are there, we leave the backdoor unlocked. We had been on an outing and, when we returned Christine made a cup of tea for everyone one and said she had done the door for Arjun.
Two hours later, I went into the kitchen and there was the door wide open.
Wide open!
Frantically, I did a quick look around the kitchen and in hidey holes but saw nothing. After politely raising the point that unlocked is slightly different to wide open, all was ok - for about half an hour. A new neighbour in the next street put a photo on the community app innocently asking if the beautiful snake in their garden was dangerous. It was a Cobra.



So on our evening walk, the intrepid Coles took their torches and went snake hunting. We didn't find anything.
But then a few nights ago we were getting ready to go to a party and Max was outside when he started shouting for us to call the snake catcher.
There, in the road next to the curb was along thin stripy snake. I pressed the emergency button on the app and the guards were there quickly.
You'd think we would have learned our lesson from the Cobra incidence that we had in the last house. But, oh no, Andrew suggests that someone should fetch him some gloves as it's only a baby. Meanwhile as the guards try to snap it with the snake tongues, it slithered down the drain and escaped so there was no need for the gloves.We went to the party and thought no more.

The next morning I decided to research what the snake could be. Well, it could be one of either, a deadly Krait (you die within 4 hours if you don't realise you've been bitten as the bite is not painful. A lot of people in Indian die this way because the Krait hunts at night and will slip into people's houses and into their beds. The people move, they get bitten but don't know, they are then found dead the next morning) or a harmless Wolf Snake which won't hurt anyone.
Either way I have told Andrew to stay away from all snakes and to not think he's a snake catcher off the TV.
My friend Sindhu had said always walk down the middle of the road at night and shine the torch at the ground  and not to attempt anything....

Milo

Then it was Milo's sport's day and he came second in his heats but didn't quite make it to the final but he was chosen for the relay. He ran so well, just like his brother. I'm pleased he came home with a medal, it made his day.

Tuk tuk tour

In Bangalore, one of the fun things to do is to go on a guided tuk tuk tour. So, on the last Sunday before Derek and Christine left we decided to do this. Unfortunately, on the actually day, I wasn't feeling well so stayed at home. But it cheered me up no end when Andrew sent a message to say that their shoes had been stolen from outside the temple! I was in hysterics, I couldn't stop laughing!
Usually, when you go to the temple there is a woman who puts your shoes in a locker and you get a ticket but no one was there. So, they left their shoes outside the room unattended. When they came back, Andrew's,Derek's, Christine's and Tariq the guide's shoes were all missing. Max and Milo's were still there. They had to walk in their socks to the tuk tuk to go and find a shoe shop that was open. The staff were mildly amused as their first four customers of the day walked in barefooted or in socks!

Chelsea Football Club

Early next month we shall be in the UK. Milo has been selected to be a child mascot for Chelsea football club on Tuesday 3rd March. It will be televised on the BBC. I think Andrew is the one who is most excited, followed by Max ( who is now too old to be a mascot ) and then Milo. I will be in the hotel watching as we can only have 3 tickets and Max is having mine ..... Milo ( and Andrew) get to meet the players off the bus, do a warm up with them and then Milo gets to go out onto to the pitch with the players. I was hoping for another trip to the Maldives for our 30th wedding anniversary but it looks like this is what we'll be doing instead! It's rather exciting though.

.

December

Rabies

So we've had a bit of a scare and a wake up call about living in a tropical country.

Our friends have a lovely dog and she is kind and well behaved. Somebody else knew this and asked our friends if they could look after a puppy (who had lost its' mother) until it could be rehoused. They agreed thinking the dog was vaccinated with some vaccines.
This was in the beginning of November. On November 9th, Milo went to play with the puppy and all was well.

The following Monday, both Max and Milo came down with a flu bug and were off school all week so they didn't have contact with the pup, bless them they were really unwell and even stayed in bed.
Then, on Saturday 16th, we had invited a few people over for pizza and our friends brought the puppy. So everyone touched the pup apart from Andrew and I because we were cooking.

On Monday 18th November the pup started to go off its food and on the Tuesday it was showing signs of aggression so our friends took it to the vets.

The vet thought it was rabies.

He recommended that everyone who had come into contact with the dog needed to be vaccinated.

At this point, I was quite calm as I thought that you had to be bitten to get rabies. Of course, I 'Googled' :-

I was no longer calm as the virus can live in saliva and live for 2 hours on a dog's coat. If you then rub your eyes, the virus has a way in. If the dog licks you, the virus has a way in. There is no cure for rabies and, basically, you die a painful death quite quickly.

On the Wednesday morning, I made appointments for the boys to be vaccinated. Milo was convinced he was dying that morning from having his heavy cold and then I had to tell him that he needed an injection ( or 5 !)  I had been telling him that you don't need injections for a cold/flu only for this to happen. He was so upset that he thought he was then dying from rabies.

We waited for Max to come home from school and set off for the hospital. I got Andrew to come with us in case we had to pin Milo down.... Our friends turned up at the same time to be vaccinated too. It meant that Milo didn't scream quite as loudly as they injected him in his leg.

Weigh in time prior to the vaccinations!

For the rabies vaccination you have to have 5 injections post exposure on set days. ( 0,3,7,14,28)

On the Thursday, the dog died and the vet did a post mortem.
The dog definitely had rabies.

Meanwhile, everyone who had been to our house was trooping to the hospital. The doctor stopped asking what had happened and just prescribed the vaccine as soon as they said we touched a dog ....

I am not vaccinated but thought I may as well get the 3 jabs for rabies ( preventative) so I went to the hospital too, on a day that the boys weren't being vaccinated.
I saw an immunologist who absolutely frightened me to death. They don't know enough about rabies to even guarantee that the vaccine is 100% proof! They are not 100 % sure exactly how it is spread.

I told him that I hadn't touched the dog but he didn't care, I was prescribed the 5 doses too and I had to have tetanus and he told me all about that terrible disease too! So double whammy!

We are nearly finished with the course of jabs but it was a bad move getting them on different days as it has meant numerous trips to the hospital when we could have all gone together .
Never mind, at least we've made friends with some very kind nurses and Milo has realised that he is not dying ( although he's still not in top shape )

Thanksgiving

We have some very kind American friends and they invited a few people over to celebrate Thanksgiving with them at their home. They had managed to find a supplier for two fresh turkeys and caterers to make other important elements of their famous dinner. It was a very entertaining evening. We were very proud when both go our boys stood to stay why they were thankful to the roomful of people. They both spoke confidently and clearly to their audience.

Weather

It's been very cloudy for about 2 weeks now and we've actually been forced to put on jumpers at times. The locals are very concerned as usually once Diwali is finished, the sun comes out and everything is good with the weather ( just cooler nights) But the clouds have stayed as the second monsoon, that comes from the East, has lasted for longer. The temperature is about 23 degrees in the day and drops to 18 at night. If the sun does come out for a brief moment the heat is overwhelming. We've got swimming pool and sunbathing withdrawal symptoms.

The sun should be out again soon.

Factory

Andrew's team arranged a mini celebration for the fact that there had been 100000 construction 'man-hours' worked with no injuries for the workers at the building site. The building team gave a 'pep talk' about the importance of safety and then gave out blankets to the some workers who had done an especially  good job. The labourers all live close by to the factory and the conditions that they live in are very basic. Blankets were considered a good gift to help them out. A nice Indian meal was then enjoyed at site by everyone in attendance.

Mala 

Mala is on a roll at the moment. I don't think she's getting married but her mind is not on the job. She's very absent minded. Everyday she asks what food we want for the evening or during the day. She always makes bread and things like coleslaw and whatever we fancy for our evening meal. If I try to do something, she eases me out of the kitchen with cries of "you'll be tired , Ma'am''
I keep explaining that I am able to make a meal without getting exhausted but it's just met with a sigh ( because Mala sees it as her job and not mine)
  The other day she was making coleslaw and said she'd put it in a bowl in the fridge. I went to get some and there was just some shredded cabbage in mayonnaise. As I was thinking carefully how I how I could approach this matter without upsetting her, she noticed her mistake. Lots of arm wailing ensued, much pacing up and down the kitchen and then she began opening and shutting cupboards, obviously looking for something. Apparently she had cut up the carrots and the onions but couldn't remember what she'd done with them.
"I'm thinking, thinking ...it's terrible " she kept repeating.
  The searching went on for some time and nothing was found ( I think in her constant clearing away she may have thrown them away by mistake )
I tried telling her that the fact that 2 carrots and an onion were missing was not that bad in the grand scheme of things and to just do some more and not to worry.
That set her off on her no wasting campaign speech and about the poor people outside the gate.
There was no way out of this one, Mala kept saying she was sorry and how awful it was.
When she had calmed down, I went over the fact that everyone makes mistakes and for her not to worry so much ( and to me it was not a worry)
She carried on with her other duties, still tutting and muttering under her breath.
Later, when I tried to have some coleslaw again, the cabbage in mayonnaise was still there all by itself. It actually doesn't taste that bad.
I'm hoping that whatever is bothering her eases or I'll have to start making things in secret when she's not looking.

We've moved house!

More boxes to unpack! 

Whenever we  have decided to move house it has always been quick and with little time for preparation. This time it was no different.

We actually didn't intend on moving. It all started when we went to a friend's house for a party. They had had to move because their landlord was moving back to Bangalore. They had a beautiful house but the new one was even better. Our contract was coming up for renewal but there was something similar in the back of our minds that niggled. We liked living in the house, it's quiet and in a good position but we kept returning to the fact that we didn't have a covered terrace that was in the shade. As the sun moved round then so did we as we would have to shade hop.   

So in mid September as I was setting off for the shops, I happen to say to Arjun about a covered terrace and how nice it would be. He said that his friend knew of a lot of empty houses in Palm Meadows and that we could go and look. In a matter of minutes, after saying this, we were in an empty house looking around. Down one street alone there were 4 empty houses.

 I was quite impressed and rang Andrew and the boys who were at home doing various things. Andrew was not interested in moving house as he is really busy and was reluctant to look, but when he did see the options he changed his mind. Milo went into excitement overload and had chosen a bedroom each time we looked at a different house, he is always up for anything new. Max was cool and determined to be closer to the club house.
Within a week we had found a house, negotiated, had a contract drawn up, a deposit put down and the removal people in to set a date. The house is closer to the club house, bus stop and with terraces that are covered and with fans and fully provisioned with mosquito nets (an essential around here!). It has a proper kitchen with a proper oven. ( the old house was a bit like living in student digs)  It's further from the shop but this means it's more difficult for Milo to sneak in and buy sweets as he doesn't walk past it any more.

We had a moving day for November 1st. We actually moved in on October 10th ! 

It was mad . The new landlord was happy for us to move in early and this meant that we could tidy up the other house without rushing. 

But, and there's always a but with the Coles, Andrew was super tied up with a colleague from the UK
 and so couldn't help at all. So it was Arjun, Mala and I ...

The removals here are very very fast . There must have been at least 15 men who turned up and all set about swiftly wrapping and packing and loading  boxes onto the van.

Meanwhile, at the new house, there were 'professional ' cleaners who reckoned it would take 7 hours to clean the house. The removal men laughed, 2 hours they claimed and the rest of the time the cleaners would sit outside and watch their phones. 

Which is exactly what they did. I cycled round to check on the progress to find 5 men sat outside and, obviously, the new boy inside cleaning. Cleaning would be a rather loose term . He had one dingy cloth that he cleaned everything with. And I mean everything. The toilets, sinks and light switches . The water was mud coloured and absolutely disgusting.

Note that this is not the actual moving day as Andrew, Milo and Max had abandoned me at that point!

I decided on not saying anything as that would mean he would rinse his one cloth and try again to please me. I said thank you very much, and shoved him out the door. 

I cycled back to the other house only to pass the van on its way. I grabbed some cleaning things and dashed back. Now, at this point, Mala is mortified that I was actually going to do some cleaning as that is her job  and tried to take the cleaning things back off me but I needed her to stop at the old house to watch the spare men who didn't speak English while Arjun came with me to watch the others at the new house. I managed to break free  So I re-cleaned all the bathrooms and switches until I was quite happy.

The men rotation went on all day until several rooms were done but the beds remained in the old house so we slept there for a further night..

The next day the same thing happened but we had a major crisis. Andrew needed Arjun (very inconsiderate) and Mala's brother had told her she couldn't work that day as she needed to go to the temple to meet a boy for a potential marriage match. She turned up in defiance but Mala was creating more chaos yelling down the phone than all the men charging around packing. She was pacing up and down, waving her arms and speaking in a very rapid high pitch shrill.

She definitely wasn't happy. She demanded that I speak to her brother ( he doesn't speak English) to tell him that she doesn't want to get married and that she had to work. He told her that she had to go to the temple. So what with the men asking which things needed to go in what box and which room and her yelling down the phone , chaos was tame word.

Then Mala's sister turned up to escort her to the temple. I decided to cut my losses and send her off as the yelling and negotiating with her brother was all too much. 

So two houses to watch and 15 men to tell where to put things in two houses.  Then to add to everything, the flipping aircon man turned up to service the AC in the new house. The neighbours were away (how inconsiderate!) but by chance a friend sent a message saying what was I up to?
 She was dispatched immediately to monitor the AC guys. Then the plumber turned up .... Luckily Joeline is very good at sorting men out and is very persuasive so she dealt with the new house.
Back at the old house the gardener turned up and added to the confusion. I set him potting up plants and picking the beans that had grown. The speed he works at meant he was gone for a while and was one less man to deal with.
But, by the end of the day, all the furniture was in place and we were in. Andrew and the boys casually strolled in and were pleased completely unaware of the chaos that had reigned. I demanded wine and pizza as I wasn't cooking and basically stared into space.

It was so exciting as we sat on the upstairs terrace surrounded by beautiful trees and a lovely view.

August - September update

We've all been busy in August:

Carla

The school I volunteer in, is going from strength to strength and we only opened as a school in August. We went to a show for schools last weekend where lots of schools had stalls. (although most people have chosen their schools so the fair needs to be in the Spring!)

In the photo above are some of the children who are in the year 1 class. They were in the community where the fair was held and they came with their parents. We had taken samples of work activities with us and they all stood doing the work without being asked. 

Sindhu and Satish are the owners and one of the teacher's, Riya, are also in the photo.

We got to the venue at 9 and left about 7 at night. The only problem was that the power kept going off, the fans stopped and it got so hot. At least it was cloudy and cool outside. (27oC)

 It was very interesting to see how schools promoted their school. Some had pictures of children, looking very serious, with the words - We are the Best- and that was it.... 

We had pencils to give away, book marks we had made, photos of the children working, samples of work, the whole curriculum. Our stall was very colourful and bright.

The fair was for two days and at the end of the first day we decided that we needed to take everything with us and then set everything up again the next day, as we didn't want anyone to pinch our resources.

Upasana and Yamani are in this photo too

By the gate before we set off (Mahesh , Riya, Sindhu, Me and Satish)

Pencils with the school logo on

Bright things to wrap around the pencils 

Book marks

Here are the ladies making the items in school. The other teacher, Kritikha, is in the photo too.

This was because other teachers/schools started to come to look at the curriculum and worksheets, some asked if they could buy them as they had never seen them before and wanted to know how to deliver the curriculum.

 Some schools just have a general statement like we will teach your children to read but not how they will do it or any way of teaching a progression or having a word list etc. 

 So teachers here have to do everything themselves. (For the teachers reading this, teachers have a tough time and they don't know about all the schemes and teachers' aids online.)

Then added to this, I was asked if I would like to join the parent's committee at Max and Milo's school. This means trying to send messages via WhatsApp / internet to get school correspondence out, liaising with parents and the school. This is easier said than done because all the children go on buses so you don't get to meet other parents. Bangalore is an enormous city (12.5M) and the children come from all over the place. There are lots of boarders too.

So I went to find out last week at the school what was required. The first thing was eating the school dinners to decide if the quality was good enough as there had been complaints from the children.

Now, I am not good with spicy food and rely on my personal food taster ( Andrew) to tell me if I can attempt the food. Max was in the food hall when I was there, but I was under strict instructions (from Max) not to speak to him, smile at him or do anything to suggest that I was his mother. (Remember Kevin the teenager?) although he did come over when I was stood behind a pillar and asked for money for the tuck shop.

So I carefully chose food that I thought might not be spicy and got my bottle of water ready. By the way, the food looked lovely and there was lots to choose from but all of it was Indian (but it is an Indian 'international' school..) I think the children are trying to get pizza and chips imposed..

I was so surprised, everything was very tasty and only mildly spicy. One of the other mums there though, said that it was nice but very bland.

In Bangalore, the food is so spicy that if I go to a restaurant I can't get past a few mouthfuls before my eyes are streaming. When I say no spice to waiters/ chefs they think it's bad if the food is bland and so always put in too much. For this reason I have given up eating Indian food in restaurants as it causes so much fuss if you say no spice .

So now, as the food is so good at the school, I can go there and pay about £2.50 and get an Indian meal that I can eat. Max disagrees though!

I've also been to meet with some other parents form Milo's year group and that was fun too.

It's also the first time that I've been the same                                                                        height or taller than other people!

Andrew

Andrew has been super busy with his job and he went on a business trip to Goa. We could have gone with him but it's still quite rainy and it's hard work being in a hotel room in the rain with the boys whereas we could be in Palm Meadows with all of the boys' friends, have Arjun and the car etc.

Andrew gave a talk on Micronclean and what they do which apparently went down very well. 

He then was invited to go to a university/college nearby as honorary guest to talk to MBA students about running a business, working in the 'real world' outside of their education with the expectations and demands of an international business environment and what skills they need to develop. 

He also went down to the beach early one morning but it was so windy, we couldn't hear what he said when he face-timed us. Soon after the heavens opened too so he was lucky that he borrowed a hotel umbrella! So we were pleased we had stayed at home.

The factory is coming on at a fast pace and there have not been too many problems.

 

Max and Milo 

Both boys have settled well back into school, although Milo is not happy that the work has got harder and he can't mess about any more! He's in his final primary year.

With their friends Tomek and Maja waiting for the bus.

We are eagerly watching the news today as Max was interviewed by the Zee News station about the new robots that have been installed in school. He claims he spoke clearly and intelligently. (That would make a change because most of the time I don't understand one word he grunts at me. Although with other people he turns on the charm and speaks like an angel.)

Milo has had lots of playdates and his weekends are packed with meeting his friends. Max goes on his own to the mall down the road or to his friends' houses.

This is Milo's friend Minyuk.