Onam is Coming!

This is a picture Mark took of the arches that are up to decorate the streets for Onam.

O.K., then back to India and back to almost normal on the blog format. And a Rickshaw Driver

As you may have noticed, I've been messing with the blog format. Long story short, I've learned a lot, almost made some cool templates, and after three days have come up for air, my head swimming with html code. Oh, and after all that the blog is almost back to how it started.

Let me give you a snapshot of what is going on right now. It's 8:13 p.m. as I start to write. It is very dark in our house. The power has been going on and off all night, or cutting back to a very low voltage. To use the computers we are conserving and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't lose this post. I am sitting in my spot by the backdoor listening to John Prine sing sweetly. There are two candles lit in the open windowsill above and behind the computer I'm typing on. It is so still tonight that the flames are barely moving. Still and hot. Mark is in his study on his computer. He has another deadline coming up in a couple of days. These deadlines are his own, and when he makes one it means he has turned in another chapter to his advisor for review. I can see the light on in his room, but all the other lights in the house are out. It gets really dark in here. The rest of the neighborhood is dark, that must be why. These candles are beautiful. I have Nag Champa burning and it smells yummy, too, mingling with the music.

Onam is the big holiday here, like Christmas. It is next Monday. We are maybe going to Vinesh's house for Onam, but now he may have to work at the hotel.

We have another invitation which I would love to take up, too. The other day there was a knock on our door. We answered and there was a family of sorts standing there. There was a man in a lungi, about our age, his mother, I presume, in a dark colored sari, another woman with a lighter complexion in a pink churidar, and two small children wearing bangles. No one spoke English except the woman in pink and she stepped forward. Her English was good enough to tell us that the man was getting married on Onam and we were invited to the wedding. "You must come" she said, several times, which in translation may have meant "you are invited" or "please come" or "you must come", it wasn't really clear. Anyway, everyone was all smiles and we congratulated him many times. Here is a picture of the invitation they gave us. These people are moving into a house that is being built behind (as in attached to) the Sri Narayana Guru statue. You can see workers finishing the house in this picture.

This picture looks down our road. Our house is the pink one on the left in back. The road ends there. Across the street a family with young children lives, and I see the mom coming in and out of the house all day doing things with the kids. The children play out front, a lot. Every time dad gets home from work it is a big production. He honks his horn which sings a song and the whole family, mom and four young kids come out. The oldest children open the gate for him, and they are all excitedly yelling and running around. Then he comes in and bounces them on his knee on the porch. The house in the foreground belongs to our next door neighbors, a family that has two women who help out with the childcare and housework. Here they are where I often see them, outside this ground floor door. We smile and say hi to each other nearly every day, but have only spoken a little, since they speak no English. The woman sitting down is especially friendly. So from our house you walk down that short road and take a left to see this little lane at the end of which is our corner store. Here is a closer look at one of the houses on this lane. Then you take a right and walk half a block to Ambalathunada junction, where Sri Narayana Guru is. There you might take this road, toward a slightly larger junction at Mukkolakkal. Isn't it a peaceful little place? Our post office is in the two story building. This is also where we pick up rickshaws.

Mukkolakkal

The Story Of A Coconut

It doesn't look like a coconut and it's hard as a rock, what is that thing in our back yard?

Let grandma have that thing.Now those hard shells are off. Fresh coconuts. Then she cooks us lunch again. And gets some help from the woman who washes our clothes by hand. Monday, by the way, men are coming to our house with a cart they push around with hot coals and metal irons and they will iron all of our clothes that get washed on the weekend. Crazy, huh?

This was our delicious lunch and some of the ingredients used in it, mustard seeds, curry leaves and these long beans. And while we are on the roof, lets have Mark model two ways to wear a lungi. He is also wearing a hand painted t-shirt we got from a family in Kovalam. They have a shop with their original artwork and it is so cool!!
Here is a picture Mark took at an outdoor mall in town. This close-up shows what a churidar should look like. I'm not as good at wearing them, but I do promise to give you a proper fashion show soon. I know so far I've been all talk about my beautiful Indian clothes.







And here is a picture Mark took of bamboo scaffolding up over the street, setting up decorations for Onam, I presume.

Not standing quite as proud, our clothesline barely passes her first test.

So this brings me to the end of my post. I have some good ideas about pictures to take for upcoming blogs. Also, I have uploaded and watched all of the videos we have taken, and I am working now on some fun movies for your viewing enjoyment. I hope you are all doing great. Much love from us on this side, where it is now almost midnight. Time for me to go to bed. Say goodnight, little green moth. Goodnight, little green moth.