Happy Indian Independence Day

Today is "Independence Day" in India and it is also the day at home that we celebrate "Australia Day". We are off to spend the day at the beach with friends. I don't think we will get to enjoy a "Snag on the Barbie", we may have to settle for some Chicken Curry and Naan, but it will be nice to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the beach and sunshine.

We received this as an email and couldn't help putting it on the blog. I don't mean for this to offend anyone but we all got a bit of a giggle from it and I hope you do too.

Finally someone has cleared this up for me...
For centuries, Hindu women have worn a dot on their foreheads. Most of
us have naively thought this was connected with marriage or religion,
but the Indian High Commission in Canberra has recently revealed the
true story.
When a Hindu woman gets married, she brings a dowry into the union.
On her wedding night, the husband scratches off the dot to see whether
he has won:-

A - Taxi licence in Adelaide
B - Convenience store in Melbourne
C- Service station in Perth,
D- Kebab shop in Brisbane
E- Take away cafe in Sydney
If there is nothing there, he must take a job in India answering telephones giving technical advice to Telstra and Optus customers in Australia.

Family Time

Just a few shots of our time together with Nana and Bob.

"That's My Boy"

Andrew and Bob out to lunch enjoying a Kingfisher or two.

Jen about to embark on her first Auto ride

Jen, Eliza and I in the Auto with the wind rushing through our hair.

Bob enjoying an Indian feast.

A few of the local colourful sights

Medical Tourism

Eliza has joined the ever growing numbers of teenagers with braces. It seems like half the kids her age at school have them. Maybe that's due to the very low cost of having them done in India. It makes it far more affordable than home. We paid the grand total of Aus $1000, one fifth of the price friends at home have paid. She has done really well so far and there were no real drama-rama moments getting them put on. Mind you she only has the top ones as yet and the bottom ones will follow next week once she is used to the top ones. I can't believe that you can hardly see them, unlike the old days you had a mouth full of metal.

The dentist clinic we go to is lovely, very clean and very modern. I often see other expats and foreigners making the most of the cheap procedures. Medical tourism is on the increase in India. And why not....

Eliza Turns "13" (and I get more grey hair)

On the 9th December Eliza celebrated her 13th Birthday, and of course it only seems like yesterday that we welcomed that little bundle of joy into our world. How our lives were to change and over the next 13 years she has bought so much love and joy into our lives. We now face the next challenge, having a teenager in the family. We hope we all survive this testing time ahead, when we are all growing together and learning the ways of the young lady that is blossoming before our eyes.

Yesterday we went shopping to the big mall in Chennai, Spencer Plaza. My gorgeous daughter caught the eye of many a young man. Probably not dressed appropriately in short shorts we all felt very uncomfortable and have learnt that in the future she will dress more conservatively, possibly in a paper bag.

A Celebration Of Life

Driving through the streets today we came across this funeral procession. They were letting off crackers, beating their drums and dancing through the streets, accompanying the body to the crematorium. What a sight to see, these people celebrating the the life of the deceased. Men only, and the women stay at home and mourn in private.

My Thoughts For The Day

Day 4 of Nana and Bob's visit and all is well. Jen had her first auto ride this morning when Eliza and I took her shopping to a nearby suburb. Andrew, Bob and the boys had gone to Saturday soccer and to hit a few balls at the driving range. So home alone with no car it was an ideal chance to get out and explore the town in a auto, there's nothing like a bit of fresh air and car fumes as you tear around dodging buses and trucks. Fun.

Wandering around the streets we came across a few police men sitting at a busy intersection. One of them asked me where we where from. Hesitantly I replied, Australia. I then was bombarded with questions from him about the terrible situation happening at home. Indians being bashed and robbed by Australians. For the first time in my life I was ashamed to be an Aussie. He was asking me why this was happening, he wasn't beating around the bush and was quite aggressive with his thoughts.

Every morning the paper here is reporting these issues. What do we do? Stand up and be proud of our country and risk being victimized for the actions of these bullies at home, or do we suddenly start speaking with a New Zealand accent and talk fondly of our love for our sheep and Fish and Chips.

Saturday Soccer

Sam is loving being back to playing Soccer twice a week at school. Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings he gets to go and kick the ball and run his sillies out.

He has also started playing Basketball this term, all this helps to keep him busy and fit.

We Have Visitors..

Our visitors have arrived and got the usual welcome in the form of a Rangoli, made especially by Margaret. So far so good, not too much culture shock. They were excited to see their first cow on the road and wanted to take a picture, I told them there would be plenty more...Our school snacks and Latte stocks are replenished and it lovely to see Nana and Bob. We are looking forward to sharing our crazy lives with them in the next 2 weeks.

Kuta Holiday

Our recent holiday in Bali was filled with sunshine and fun days spent with Grandma and Gramps. We had a big surprise in store for the kids with their big cousins Jordan and Brady coming to spend the week with us as well. The kids reaction when they saw their cousins wasn't what we thought it would be, but by the tears after they left it was a trip worth while. As sad as goodbye's have to be it was special time for the kids to be able to share a holiday together. Kuta was a fun place to be, loads to do, swimming, surfing, shopping and eating. A tour of the countryside taking in the beautiful rice terraces and Udbud was a great day out. We all had a hoot at Waterbomb Park, even Grandma and Gramps enjoying the waterslides.

Is There Life Before Coffee?

A week spent in Singapore meant enjoying all those treats that life in India doesn't allow.

                           

Needless to say this meant we drank many Caramel Lattes and Frappuccino's. One day we said to the kids we would try to count how many Starbucks stores we found, the count ended at 12 and that was only till lunchtime.

Better yet is any airport we get to that has a Starbucks, it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, we love to sit down with a coffee. Even better is when we get to share one with friends as we did on our early morning arrival into Singapore.

Mac's Quote Of The Week.

Driving around the other day Mac asks, "Mum why are there lots of old men today?"
My reply was, "What makes them all old men?"
Mac says, "Well you know Mum they all have bendy legs"
"So does that mean all old men have bendy legs Mac? What about Gramps? Does he have bendy legs?" I enquire,
" Yes Mum he is an old man".

Sorry Gramps. But if your legs are bendy that means your old. I asked him if he had looked at his Dads legs lately. You can't get much bendier than those.......

Water Works Trouble.

On Thursday I had a visit from our landlord to say that we had a leak coming from our bathrooms at the front of the apartment. They weren't really sure where it was and had to do some searching to find the problem. It turned out that a pipe that was joining our bathroom handbasin and Eliza's basin had broken in the wall and was leaking downstairs in the car park. The landlord said this was a huge hygiene issue as it was dirty water in a public area, yep so is peeing on the street and any fence you can find, but that's a whole other issue that these people choose to ignore.

So the plumber was called and the fun began, He rigged up some scaffolding outside and started scaling the wall, of course once he saw my camera he stopped immediately to stand at attention to have his photo taken. Once the problem was found then the banging inside started. The tiles were cut and removed by a tiler and them the plumber and his offsider began chipping into the wall to find the pipe. At this stage I left the building and the noise and left Margaret in charge. The plumber speaks very little English but thinks that I understand everything he says. So I now stand there and listen and wobble my head and say Aama (yes in Tamil)

The Plumber standing at attention 2 floors of the ground with Margaret looking on supervising the work.

Looking down at the scaffolding from our balcony. Would you to be climbing on that?

Our bathroom in a mess, the green bag has two purposes as a bag and a seat, the tools are all so basic but they do the job just fine. The walls are solid concrete. The broken pipe was found and a new one put in to bypass the old broken one. Then came the problem of trying to match the attractive peach tiles. No can do. So we now have tiles that don't match which makes my lovely peachy bathroom even more lovely....

The finished product that I now have to clean to remove the dust that is covering everything.

Brrrr...it's chilly out there...

We have arrived back to Chennai to find the weather has really changed and it seems even the locals think so too. The mornings have had quite a chill in the air. It even got down to 19 degrees one morning, I needed a sweater, does that mean I am acclimatizing?

This is the latest fashion statement to hit the streets of Chennai. Mmm, they come in a few different colours but leopard print seems to be the favourite. My concern for the male population in this country continues to grow stronger by the day. First, its skirts they wear, then a plastic shopping bag and now its pink leopard print...What to do?????

Palani, one of our guards modelling a very attractive pair of brown leopard print ear muffs.

"I'm too sexy for my ear muffs".

Happy New Year Singapore Style

We spent New Years Eve in Singapore watching the celebrations from our room on the 23rd floor looking over Clarke Quay and the Marina. The fire works at midnight were amazing and the noise coming from the party in Clarke Quay was rocking.