Arrival in India

Welcome to our new attempt to keep in touch with all of you while we are in India!  To recap, we flew to India September 24^th and are staying for nine months while Andy completes his dissertation research on a Fulbright grant.  I’m hoping to keep you all abreast of how we are doing (and how Samantha Jean is growing) through pictures, videos, and the occasional written entry.

Throughout the 18 hour flight to India, Samantha was a dream.  Andy held her in her Baby Bjorn, standing, as we flew over Ireland to Czechoslavakia while I slept curled up on the narrow two seats we booked.

When we arrived in New Delhi, I was taken with the beautiful new airport and the giant mudras that awaited us at immigration

Fulbright arranges for the first week’s accommodation at a guest house where we were able to meet three other Fulbrighters, their significant others, and even another couple with a small child!  The guesthouse is in a couple's home where they convert their bedrooms into guest rooms and breakfast is included.  

The pollution is so bad in Delhi that some days she and I would remain at the guesthouse while Andy searched all over the city for housing.

Samantha Jean chilling at the first guest house

The first few days were filled with visiting the Fulbright offices to meet with the officials there, getting oriented and finding a place to live through a real estate broker.  The Fulbright buildings are immaculate, set amongst embassies in central Delhi.

As it seems with the majority of Fulbrighters, we were unable to find a place in the week allotted, so we moved to a cheaper guesthouse, the Kabli Hotel for two nights.  We were the only Westerners staying at the hotel.  From what we could tell, everyone at the hotel was Afghan and staying longer term.  The neighborhood was settled by Afghan immigrants. We also learned that many Afghans come to India for medical care.  

Andy at the Kabli Hotel on Masjid (Mosque) Road wishing we had a permanent place to live

Breakfast at the Kabli Hotel, Jangpura Extension, South Delhi

Picture of Bhogal market next to Kabli Hotel

After spending a few days visiting what we felt were uninhabitable, overpriced hovels, we found a great place to live.  It’s in a beautiful neighborhood in New Delhi called Defence Colony and, due to the fact that it’s mostly retired military officials, there are no water or power cuts.  In India, due to the shortage of these two necessities, both generally go out a few times a day.  Our landlords are an elderly Sikh couple whose retired sailor son and wife and two children aged 19 and 21 live on the first floor.  In India, unlike in the US, the ground floor is desirable because it remains cooler in the heat, and there aren't so many stairs to walk up!  On the second floor lives a Japanese pianist and we are the on third floor (2nd floor in Indian terminology).  It’s huge, in fact it’s so big we keep three of the bedroom doors closed at all times.

We are the 2nd story set of balconies!

New living room!

I will post more photos of our place as we decorate it.  We have a bed and a few pieces of furniture from our landlord but other than that, it's light-filled and very echoey!  Samantha loves to attempt to talk and hear her voice echo off the marble floors and blank walls.  

We love it here.  There are two large parks in the neighborhood, the Defence Colony market is a ten minute walk, and we are centrally located in the heart of the city near the metro and historical sites.  

Every type of conveyance available, from cars, to rickshaws, to camels!

Life here is feeling more and more normal everyday.  Samantha and I have had to master the art of breast feeding while in an auto rickshaw (this is how we get around the city most often).  I usually keep her in the Bjorn carrier, as I believe that it provides some additional layer of safety.  There are no seat belts or car seats in any of the cabs, if we take one.  It's not uncommon to see babies on the backs of motorcycles, which makes me feel a little better about her in a rickshaw!