Yes, we are back!

We got back from India 3 weeks ago! I have been planning to post but life has been busy and I have been lazy! Abhi did great on the plan ride back, he slept the first leg almost entirely; 8 out of 10 hours. The second leg he only slept 2 out of 8 hours but he was still really good. We figured out why he had not slept when he puked 45 minutes before landing...he must have had a bit of a stomach ache. I must have given him too much milk or something....who knows. But that was fun for me being drenched in puke until we got home at 3 that afternoon! He seemed very happy right after getting over the incident, so he just needed to get it out I guess. I am sure everyone near us on the plane was happy that happened at the end, not the beginning, of the flight! I know I was.

So, since then we have been getting back to life as usual. Abhi is back to babygarten at the library, and we went to a new storytime closer to home last week. He is also doing a new class called toddlin time. It is a a gym and they have lots of stuff to do and there is singing etc... He has fun with that. Plus, back to swimming. Except, I signed up for the Saturday morning class, I think I prefer the weekdays...it is a little less crazy at the pool.

The first week back was catch up on sleep...It was a lot easier for Abhi to adjust here with is own room and crib. He would have adjusted just perfect in less than a week except he got a cold and ear infection. So, we were back to getting up at night etc...again. But, now we are all back to normal (we think). Abhi is sleeping through the night and still taking two naps in the day...not sure how long that will last but he seems to still be tired enough for both.

I will update more soon.

The Ganesha Immersion

Abhi did not get to see this part of the festival, he was fast asleep. After the pooja, the idol is to be submerged in water like I said in the previous post. There are 3 lakes in Bangalore where you can go to do this. I wanted to go for sure and I must say I have never experienced anything like it. Govi made sure I was able to go with him and two other guys from the building to the closest lake to immerse the Ganesha (they had one big one from the pictures before and a lot of small ones). So, they put it in the back of the car and as we drove out all the kids and some others followed the car out and were chanting back and forth about Ganesha (I am not sure what but it was very joyful). We drove there with the hatch open so the idol would be on view. On the way you could see trucks with huge idols in the back with loads of people in there having a big party heading to the immersion. I saw and motorcycle pass with a dad and his two kids taking their Ganesha and they were chanting as well on the way.

Finally, we arrived through the traffic to the road right in front of the lake. There were SO many people I was getting very nervous. I am not that great is big, chaotic crowds. People were doing poojas right the sidewalk to idols one after the other with fires and firecrackers...it was totally crazy!! So we got out and got in line to head to the part of the lake that was designated for immersion. It took us about 30 minutes to walk through. It was actually quite organized, despite the mass of people and happenings. I can hardly even describe it, you have to experience it. In line everyone had their idols some tiny up to the huge ones being carried by multiple people. Of course, I was one interesting attraction for everyone as I was the only westerner in sight and I was taking photos and videos. So, finally we made it to the water and there were "divers" who you give your idol to and they immerse it for (at a cost of course). It reminded me of when someone gets baptised in a lake. The Ganeshas were dipped up and down a few times then let go to sink and dissolve into the lake.

The crowd on the way in...


Govi with the Gaesha idol from our building just before immersion...


One huge idol being brought in by a tractor...


It was hard to get good pictures of immersion because of the crowd and it was dark with very bright lights. You can see one huge idol being immersed in this picture, about the best one I got...


The immersion of the idol completes the festival. This part signifies that Lord Ganesha takes away all the misfortunes and will return again next year. Another way I heard it was the immersion is like Ganesha going home but will return next year for the festival.

It was a lot of fun. This is kind of a condensed description of it all but you get the idea.

Ganesha Chaturthi

On Wednesday was the celebration of Ganesha's (one of the Indian Gods, he is the elephant headed God very familiar around the world and he is the remover of obstacles) birthday and of his 'coming home.' It is a very community oriented festival, all family and friends get together and visit each others houses. What happens is you buy a Ganesha idol made of clay. Families buy it for the household and also organizations buy it for each community (condos/apartment/residential buildings). There was one idol purchased for the two buildings in which Keshav's parents live. They set up everything at the ground level (street level, where the vehicles are parked within the community)...decorating the idol, offering fruits, flowers etc... and priest came and held a pooja (prayer) to the Ganesha idol. So, K and I took Abhi for the pooja in the morning and there were many people there from the buildings. Some of the community had idols at home and were doing poojas in their homes as well. After that, prasada (food that was offered to Ganesha, then distributed to us after the pooja) was eaten by everyone. After the local pooja, we went with Ks cousin Govi (you have seen him in a past post) to their college and attended another pooja there. They had a slightly bigger idol. You should see the size of some of them, they are huge. Course, everyone is telling me that these are nothing compared to some of the ones in north India which can be up to 20 feet tall. Here are pictures from the pooja...


And, to my surprise, India is becoming conscious about being "green." Many of the idols have always been painted with oil paints. When those are submerged into lakes and other bodies of water (which is the second part of the festival I haven't gotten to yet.), and probably thousands of them are submerged, they pollute the water. I have seen a lot of adverts for environmentally friendly idols made of clay and not even painted or there are also idols painted with vegetable-based paints that are better. One of the problems is these might not be as desirable because they are rather dull looking compared to the oil painted idols. They really are very pretty. So, how wide-spread it is, I don't know but interesting to see. Idols for sale on the streets...(plastic covers were on some of the bigger idols, to protect them from the rains).


Ks college is one organization that is demonstrating this "green" consciousness. They bought a permanent idol, very brilliantly painted like I was talking about, they will use every year and also bought a small clay, environmentally friendly they planned to submerge in water. Here are pictures from college...


After that, the idol is then to be immersed into a body of water. That was to happen in the evening so I will get to that a little later. First, the food. As with any Indian festival, food is a main event. After the poojas in the morning, we were free for lunch. I had been reading about the specific foods for this festival and wanted to try them. We went to a local restaurant to see about getting some and the line was so long we decided not to wait...I figured we wouldn't be able to try. However, we did end up getting some. Ks parent went back to the same restaurant later to get take out but they said everything was gone. Ks mom told them my daughter-in-law has come all the way from the US and wants to try the festival foods. Somehow, that sunk in and they promptly gave her some....go figure. So I got to try kadubu and modaka (these are supposed to be two sweets that Ganesha really liked to eat) among other things. Here is my plate...


In the evening, there was a show were lots of kids from the building performed dancing, singing etc... to celebrate the event. The girls who are big fans of Abhi wanted to make sure he was coming so he could see them dance. He was a little tired and cranky that evening but he got to see some of it. K was in charge of him that day so I could enjoy all the events. Abhi (and K) did end up leaving a bit early to feed and put Abhi to bed. He did get to enjoy some of it.

I will post about the immersion next time. Otherwise, this is going to become a book!

The trip is almost over!

Can you believe it, we are almost about to return home? Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks and then Sunday night/early Monday morning we are on our way back home!

Sorry, it has been a week since writing. I have been thinking I should get on and write, but mostly I have just been a little lazy. We have also been busy visiting some relatives and shopping. Abhi is having a lot of fun running around the house. Just about every evening he is visiting with the neighbors across the hall - two different houses. They come calling for him to come over and he happily goes to his friends across the hall. It is like free babysitting for a bit and in many cases desperately needed. He can only run around this house for so long then he gets bored and needs something new. He is a such a good boy though (despite all his mischievous ways) and really never cries about much. He has been able to handle pretty much everything here without a problem. He is starting to throw little temper tantrums but only with us (parents). Around everyone else, he is very well behaved. Sometimes he gets a little over tired when we are out for a long time and gets very restless but never acts up much. He still finds joy in everything.

I already talked about him enjoying all the buses here but he is doing so many new things. He is really talking a lot now. Lots of recognizable words like pretty, yucky, "get down," dirty - but also a lot of constant babble that sounds like it has a lot of meaning but we aren't sure what he is talking about. It is really cute. He also now gives hugs and blows kisses. He also knows when going to the God's room to put your hands together in prayer. Paatti and Taatta have taught him that and he knows when they are telling him to do it in Tamil. He has also become very used to having Keshav around and is definitely preferring Appa (daddy) now. He is constantly talking about and wanting Appa to hold him. That should be interesting when we go home and K goes back to work and hardly sees Abhi that much during the week.

Today is the Ganesha festival and we have been busy with that for part of the morning and then in the evening we have more events. I will post about our exciting day celebrating Ganesha's birthday next time.