Nursing, Ono & Pongal

You may have noticed a theme in my blog posts.  They often include food.  Admittedly, I take a lot of pictures of food in India.  Pictures of the food that Andy creates for us daily could be an entire blog, but today I will only share one!

This is the atta flour fluffy pancake Andy's been making for us nearly everyday.  I top mine with strawberry jam, lots of yogurt, and squeeze the lemon on top of all that!  Andy was away for five days at a conference in Mumbai, so I actually had to make one for myself.  I'm happy to report that I successfully created one similar to his.

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Some friends invited us over to celebrate Pongal, a South Indian holiday celebrating the harvest festival.  They described it as the Indian thanksgiving, and as you can imagine, there's a lot for me to learn about this holiday.  I will start with the food our friends made.

Andy, Savi, Samantha, Sri.  Since Samantha was the only child in attendance, she received a lot of attention.  This is how a majority of the afternoon was spent.

Suma, Samantha and Savi.  Savi brought out a bin a watches for Samantha to play with, and you can see they were quite popular.

Although not as popular as the mirrored Rajasthani skirt she wore.

And she fell asleep for a good 45 min after all of the playing.

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Samantha sporting the new hat Diana made for her this week.  She's no longer a one hat wardrobe girl!

And here's another beautiful hat Dianna made a week later!  I love the purple and blue.

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been volunteering with CanSupport, a palliative care organization in New Delhi.  This week, in preparation for the Walk for Life, which raises money and awareness about cancer, palliative care, and health prevention, Samantha and I ventured to their offices for a volunteer meeting filled with Indians and expats.  I thought I'd share a few photos from their office.  In the volunteer email they said, "it IS a proper office- not in the juggi (slum) next door..."

CanSupport sign outside their office in R.K. Puram, New Delhi.

CanSupport's founder, Harmala Gupta, and my nurse mentor here in New Delhi, Catherine Bali.  Catherine is one of those people who is like a firecracker of energy, always giggling, connecting people and getting involved.  Catherine took me under her wing as soon as I arrived and was instrumental in helping me get the job as a substitute nurse at the American Embassy School Health Center.  On my first day at the school, she called to see how it went, twice.  She grew up in India and all around South Asia, as her parents were in the foreign service, then married an Indian man, so she also has a few tips to share about India.  I told her (in the words of my grandmother) that I felt like I'd "hit the jackpot" when I met her months back.

  

Photos from the CanSupport office wall.

Mala serving chai at the meeting.

Samantha and I also attended a three day Palliative Care conference sponsored by CanSupport with over 170 nurses and doctors from northern India.

Participants filing in on the first day of the conference.

I think 165 of the 170 attendees held Samantha.  She was a good sport about it all.

Catherine and Samantha.

Tea breaks always included a mini samosa.

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This is the now nightly practice of crawling on the dinner table.  It makes a much better surface than the cold marble floors or blanket-clad bed.

Chatturanga anyone?  I couldn't help but see the yogi in her at this moment.  Check out those feet!

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Another day this week my friend Julie came to the Defence Colony for a neighborhood tour before we went to a Yoko Ono exhibit that's occurring as part of the International Art Fair.

Julie in the archway of our local Gurdwara.

Next stop on our tour was the ever popular Sagar restaurant in the Defence Colony Market.  Idli anyone?  

Inside of Sagar.  And it was packed downstairs too!

After lunch, we drove south to the industrial/arts area of Oklah, New Delhi to the Yoko Ono Exhibit Our Beautiful Daughters.  I have attended other Ono exhibits and always appreciated the interactive elements to her exhibitions.

This is a video Julie took of me participating in Ono's call to "scream against the wind, against the wall, against the sky."  Warning, it's a strange sound!

Julie loves her phone as much as I do.  This is on the terrace of the show where the wishing trees and microphone for a scream live.

Interior of exhibit shows coffins of nude women with corresponding shawls on the walls.  The soundscape is of Indian street.

 
A view to the outside of the gallery is the mix of cars, motorcycles and even the big trucks building the roads right outside the gallery.

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Samantha at her weekly playgroup.  The group rotates to a different playmate's house each week.  This week it was in South Delhi at a farmhouse with monkeys everywhere. In her hand she has a maraca.  She loves anything that makes sound...hmmmm, I wonder who she gets that from?

These are the three girls who entertained Samantha on the long metro ride home from Chattarpur farms.  They played her Hindi film songs on their phones, let her shake their pencil boxes, and talked to her, helping to keep her happy for 45 minutes.  I was so thankful!

View from the metro as we neared home.

And on the final walk home, walking past a wedding setup at one of the Hindu temples in our neighborhood.

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Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but I wanted to include one of Samantha in this post!  I promise better ones next time!

Til next time!

A glimpse of street food and other musings

This past week Samantha and I headed out to explore nearly everyday together.  Andy is in the process of writing another dissertation proposal on his new topic, so we tried to stay out of the house and let him write!  As you will see from the photos, it has been quite foggy and polluted of late.  There is additional pollution in the winter due to the number of fires.  On nearly every corner near dusk you will see small fires lit with guards, drivers, laborers, including women and children huddled, around the flames to keep warm.

On New Year's Day Samantha and I ran errands in Lagput Nagar and ended up taking photos of the street food commonly found in Delhi.  Below is a sampling of what we saw.  You will notice a savory theme of fried and a sweet theme of fresh fruit.

Roasted peanuts and assorted nuts.

This sweet girl and her mother talked to Samantha and allowed me to take her picture after they took one of Samantha.

Fried sweet cookies.

Fried sweet potatoes.

Close-up of sweet potatoe cart.

Freshly roasted corn

The popcorn cart is my favorite.

Fried potatoes.

These are the ubiquitous carts where I buy a lot of bottled water.

Pineapple, I always want this but know that my GI track doesn't.

Enjoying the fried food yet?

Mobile hard candy sweet-seller.

Chaat

Gooseberries and pears.

Sweet potato seller.

This stall was in an alley filled with tailors.

Popular papadum seller.

Notice the "American" popcorn touted here.

Here's the stand that always appeals to me, but again, not to my GI tract. We met a Fulbrighter that was hospitalized for a liver infection after drinking fresh carrot juice, probably not from the carrots, but from the juicing machine. 

This gentleman has just finished chopping a ton of green chilils and was tired!

Cart fruit seller, pears to the right.

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A few months back a friend suggested we visit the Garden of the Five Senses in New Delhi.  At the time, the heat precluded us from making the trip.  Last week Samantha and I ventured the two metros and rickshaw ride there.  As with most of our outings, we arrive early before the majority of people begin arriving.  Although it was built in 2003 it appears as if it hasn't been well maintained.  It does, however, offer another space for amorous couples to hide away in bushes, on benches and throughout the trails, as you will see from our photos.  

Trail in the Garden of the Five Senses.

Lots of random statues like this one dot the ungroomed trails.  Notice the couple in the background.

Amphitheater in the Garden.  Cleaning up New Year's Day following festivities.

Prayer garden at the Garden of the Five Senses.  I am wondering why there are only two brown children and the rest are white?

Families beginning to congregate for picnics.

These elephants used to be immersed in a fountain but it has since stopped operating.

I was tempted to take a camel ride with Samantha for three dollars.

I watched these kids playing badminton for a long time while Samantha nursed.  Some of the kids came over to meet Samantha and talk to us.

Samantha taking it all in and taking a break from the Baby Bjorn post lunch.

Parking lot at the Garden of the Five Senses.  I love how decorative all of the trunks in India are.

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One of our big projects this week was cutting blue ribbon and threading it through 800 bookmarks!  I started volunteering for CanSupport after my nurse mentor here told me about the work they do in New Delhi with cancer patients.  CanSupport provides palliative care for patients throughout New Delhi and sponsors a 4K Walk for Life February 5th that Samantha and I will be participating in.  If you are in New Delhi, come and walk with us!

Some of our bookmarks!

Samantha helped immensely with this project, eating a few along the way.

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Another day Samantha and I ventured to the Baha'i Lotus temple and ISKCON temple.  The Lotus temple is only two stops away on the metro from our house and then a short walk from there.  Both temples are free and open to all.

View from the Kalkaji Mandir metro stop near the Lotus temple. As you can see, India struggles with a litter problem, something refreshingly absent from most of the Lotus Temple grounds.

Storefront along short walk to the Lotus temple.

The walk from metro to the Lotus Temple.

Waters surrounding the temple.

Line to the Lotus temple.

Collecting our shoes after visiting the Lotus temple.

Had to have a stranger take our photo!  Even though we always look the same!

ISKCON temple floor.

Worshipers headed into ISKCON temple.

ISKCON temple.

Did I mention that at both temples you remove your shoes?  It was a bit chilly...

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Hanging out with Samantha and Emily at my new favorite cafe in Hauz Khas.

Elma's Cafe Hauz Khas.

Ceiling at Elma's Cafe.  I love the pink.

Emily and Samantha.

I loved the bathroom so much at Elma's that I took a picture to show you.

After cafe hopping we went on a walk around the water tank and discovered this nursery.

So, on most maps of Delhi you will find "Deer Park" in Hauz Khas.  I thought there would be deer roaming about, but it turns out they are in a pen for you to come and see.  My first time seeing caged deer.

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Upcoming events...

This is the show of a new friend, Savi, a tremendously talented Bharathnatyam dancer.  Savi, her husband, Andy, Samantha and I went to a Kathak dance and sitar concert last night.  Come to her dance concert Jan 28th if you are in Delhi!