Thursday March 11, 2010

This is the final blog, which is just as well as I am getting tired of typing, and am sure you are getting tired of reading. The train bringing Surbhi's mother-in-law, the new nanny and Komal's uncle was 12 hours late, but finally arrived. The train system is a total mess now, but no one is sure why. Komal's family was afraid that if they did not get her back to the village, she would no longer have their values. I certainly understand their concern. Komal will only be able to marry a village boy. If she wants to live more like this higher class, much richer family, she will be miserable. I hope it is not to late as she has been here from age 13 to 16, which is a very formidable time in a young girl's life. Are you ready for another widow horror story ? The new nanny is a 50 year old woman from a small village near Surbhi's in-laws' home town. She is the mother of five sons and four daughters. She and her husband were considered wealthy as they owned ten acres of land and many cows. However, when her husband died, her sons took everything away from her and refused to give her a home. Very hard to understand. So now her new home is here as Anugia's nanny.
We spent last evening at Shashi and Uma's home, which is very near the family home. Shashi is JP's brother's son and is our "go-to" guy. The house is smaller than the family home, but much better appointed. Instead of Uma cooking a big dinner, we all went out to Pizza Hut. The pizza was really good and the place much nicer than the American counterpart. We had to go through metal detectors and bag searches to get in. This is now common all over India as terrorism is a very real threat. This is the most time we have spent with Uma for quite a while and we were very sad to see how bad her health is. Her asthma is so bad, she can speak very little and struggles for every breath.We are so glad her new daughter-in-law, Shivangi, is there to help her in the house.
This morning we thought we had finished packing and were thankful we just got under the weight limit. But that was before the gifts started coming: sheets, clothing, beans, this and that. Indians do not take no for an answer. That is because when you are offered something here, it is polite to say "no" about nine times, while the giver keeps insisting, until you finally say "yes". This has always driven me positively nuts. So, we had to go buy another suitcase to carry all the new stuff home and repack everything again. We went to a new mall in Gurgaon for the suitcase. It was exactly like a three story mall in the US and most of the stores were the same ones in our malls. Before we could park at the mall, the car was searched, including the trunk, and we were searched as we entered the mall. I still find it difficult to believe how Gurgaon has grown. It is the new New Delhi, filled with huge buildings and companies from all over the world.
So, in three hours we will bid India farewell once more, and I will head home to my morning fire, my garden, and my mediocre knitting.

Peace,
Nadine