29.12.06

I have just finished washing bucket loads of clothes- literally! Washing for a family of four in one bucket is not really much fun, and so we are planning to purchase a small washing machine, or else find a person to help us out. I went up on the roof to hang out the clothes and discovered that a young family lives there in one small room in a corner of the terrace: The driver whose boss owns these premises, his young wife Hema and two girls, one aged 2 and the other baby only 50 days old. After giving birth in India, a new mother spends the first 40 days with the new baby at her parents house, where she gets well looked after by her family so she can recover from the birth and regain her strength. So I gather that this young wife has just returned from her family home as she was not here when we first arrived. She is very sweet and shy, and does not speak English. I held her baby for a while and she fell asleep. Hema managed to explain to me that her daughter found a 20 rupee note in Caspar’s shirt pockets on the line, and just wanted to let me know that is was still there. I wanted to give it to her, saying “finders keepers”, which of course she did not understand, and she very reluctantly finally agreed to take it. I also gave her some sweets, and nice soap and a toy for her 3 year old – She had so kindly taken her washing off the line, so I could hang what I suddenly felt must have seemed to her a ridiculously large amount of brand new clothes. But I guess 2 weeks worth of clothing for a family of 4 is quite a lot of stuff – at least where we come from…

After getting to bed very late after our big shopping spree, we were woken briskly at 6am by a vibrant Sandeep who proclaimed “We are going to school today – get ready”! Freya and Caspar are really not the best early in the morning so they groaned for some time. But soon we were heading out along the highway, with special permission for Sandeep to teach Freya during the day, as he had no designated teaching periods. I decided to shoot some footage of the school, in case we might want to make a little doco later on. So while Freya was following Sandeep on his rounds, and showing various classes her dances, Guy and I went around a few classes with the camera.

The year 2 maths class was an experience. They were working with great attention on times tables, and a melodious call & response of those were being repeated at short intervals. Meanwhile the kids were writing down from the board, and taking turns in going up to the blackboard and solving questions. It all flowed along very nicely, and it seemed the kids were working very effectively – they were not getting restless in their seats, as they had to occasionally get up to the front. I then spent some time in the year 8 English class, taught by a very sweet teacher, who discussed grammar with great enthusiasm. The kindergarten kids were really cute, sitting so quietly and drinking their milk with biscuits. They then went to their state-of-the-art playroom, where they posed for my shots very eagerly. Caspar spent the day in Sandeep’s large office enjoying on his playstation. Freya went to his regular dance class, and demonstrated her dance to the kids, who now all want to switch from modern to classical dance now!

20.12.06

Sandeep left for school at 7am, and we all got to sleep in. After a lovely breakfast of idli and dhosas, which he arranged to have delivered to our rooms, Freya started her dance practise.  She was vigorously stomping on the floor, and I was a little worried about the noise levels in the office downstairs, but they very sweetly reported that it did not bother them. Sandeep called the office, and was happy, because he could hear her stomping down the phone line too!

After lunch freya bought a dazzling Indian suit covered in intricate embroidery, and we then headed home. None of the rickshaw drivers knew the address on the business card we had with us, so we ended up directing a very reluctant driver directly back to our temporary home without a hitch. Sandeep arrived a few minutes later, and soon we headed out on yet another shopping mission to find Caspar some jeans.

Sandeep took us to 3 shops owned by his students family. I have NEVER seen so many jeans in one shop in my life. It was floor to ceiling jeans. In India people love the concept of uniqueness = no 2 patterns or styles the same, not even across sizes! This is especially typical of sari shopping, but in the jeans department it was no different- they were all unique in color and style, and as Guy remarked they were also very unique in size within one waist size alone! Thanks to Sandeep, the shop gave us great prices, and Caspar got away with 4 pairs of nice jeans, a grey pant for school, a cargo pant and a nice printed shirt for about 75 Dollars in total. While we waited for the pants to be delivered to the last shop we visited, the owner sent for fresh coconut juices all round. They hemmed the jeans perfectly, cutting off the stonewashed hem and re-attaching it to the bottom of the pants, in order to not loose the look of the hem. Ingenious, incredible India.

19.12.06

On that afternoon we witnessed a small miracle. As well as window tinting, Sandeep organized with the auto shop to get many things installed in his car: a Sony car stereo, remote central locking, remote car alarm, iPod connection, hub caps and car seat covers. So what started out as a 45 minute job turned into a 3 hour job, however to get all these things fitted and finished in a car in 3 hours, and for just $400 Aussie dollars was truly impressive! As we waited with the car on the side of the road outside the shop, there were about 4 men inside the car taking off windows, panels and filing heavily on the dash plastic. The end result was truly amazing! As the advertising campaign says; Incredible India.

We are now driving along with an esoteric selection of  world music, jazz, Carnatic classical and dance music as well as other interesting requests from the kids. Travelling in an air-conditioned car with the music blasting really shuts out the dust and noise of the street, and it is only when we are millimetres away from scraping another vehicle that we again notice the world out side… Actually this happens quite often. The Indian people would have to be the most alert drivers in the world with their split second reaction times and the ability to squeeze a vehicle through the narrowest gaps. Sandeep is no exception to that.

On Sunday evening Sandeep took us to “Eat Street”. This is a cheap food mall located right on the lake which separates the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. A well lit road termed the “Necklace Road” stretches right around the lake lined with statues of great legends of Indian history. In the centre of the lake, reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, is a standing statue of Buddha. A boat takes you out the the statue island.

We drove past “Snow world”- a giant building filled with ice statues and snow sports- funny if Freya’s first experience of snow will be in Hyderabad! Next to that is a giant IMAX cinema complex, larger than any I have ever seen, so Caspar’s eyes lit up at that. Now we have to face the task of acquiring tickets for the latest James Bond movie, which could take a few days! At eat street, which is a lot like Sydney’s Darling Harbour, we ate “Chaat”, which is a selection of snacks such as crispy bread chips covered in yoghurt tamarind, onion and tomato. It is both soft and crunchy, sweet and savoury as well as spicy- a taste sensation. 4 plates of Chaat set us back $4. The kids were also happy as they found a “Subway”- not much you can’t get in India these days!

Monday morning we rose early and drove 1/2 an hour out of town to visit “The Jain International School, where Sandeep works. The school building is designed according to the Indian Feng Shui, and from above forms a big X. It took only 5 months to complete the building, which already has beautiful garden bed plantings and lawn areas inside! The school has housed pupils since June, and is hoping for a big influx for new academic year. The school rooms are very spacious, the marble floors and plantings making it feel very cool and airy.

When the kids arrive in the morning by bus from as far away as 2 hours, they are served breakfast, consisting of cereal, hot noodles and Indian cooked breakfast items. There are morning and afternoon snacks served with fresh juices, and a vegetarian feast for lunch. Caspar was dreaming of having such catering at his school..We were welcomed at their morning assembly, which was entirely run by the kids. They presented tips on English grammar, as well as explanations as to “Why English is a great language”; we also got a news and weather report- very informative altogether! We were invited to give a short talk to the kids, as they stood straight and still with full attention. So polite, observant and respectful they were.

We went on a tour of the school, and Caspar got to play basketball with class 6. He captained one side and the sports teacher the other. It was sweet to hear all the Indian boys voices calling “Casper…Casper”. The teacher gave Caspar a little coaching on how he should take charge, be more forward and take more chances in his game! We sat in on a dance class, and Sandeep had everyone wrapped and spellbound.

On our way home we raided a pharmacy full of wonderful ayurvedic products at amazing prices, a french style bakery and also a supermarket, where we bought some cheese for Freya. When we got back Freya had her first dance lesson. As predicted she is fully programmed for the Bharat Nathyam style of dance (from her teacher in Sydney), which is much stiffer that Kuchipudhi. Sandeep expects it will take some time for her to soften up her movements for the more ballet-like and beautifully expressive style she will hopefully perform soon. I must admit the thought of her getting ready for that in time, and with Sandeep being at work 6 days a week really scares me….It is going to take a bit of a miracle.

Back to the food situation: For dinner we had another big treat. Mr Narayan, a most lovely Hyderabadi town planner wanted to take us to the old city for the real Hyderabadi byriani experience. He guided Sandeep’s car into the old Moslem part of town which was just amazing. Crowded streets with narrow bazaars exploding in the glitter of gold and sliver shops, rows of leather chappal seller and whole side streets devoted to bangle sellers, like something out of ancient Arabian times. All these dazzling roads eventually meet at the “Char Minar”, a huge and intricately carved stone monument with four towers, built by one of the Mogul Nizams (kings) of old Hyderabad.

This is where we found the old mozlem “Shadab Hotel”, famous for its Byrianis. First course is a very rich and heavy curried Goat soup with an unpronounceable name which translated simply to “bone soup”. This is eaten with a square leavened bread cooked in a tandoor oven. The byriani looked pretty ordinary, and came with a curry sauce and sweet yoghurt. But once we put a spoonful of the rice grains in our mouths we were blissed-out by the fragrance and fullness of the favour. We were not really very hungry, but this byriani was just too good to hold back from. We now understand why Byriani was made legendary here!

(By the way the whole meal which included extra vegetarian dishes for Sandeep, and chai afterwards came in total to $12 for the 6 of us- so even the prices were ancient there! I must note that we have seen maybe 4 white faces maximum in this city since we arrived, so it really is not overrun by westerners as would be expected in the cooler season).

Sandeep returned from work at 5pm to a very rested and well read Jeffrey family. We spent the first part of our day in Hyderabad upstairs in our rooms of the Jain International School while business as usual was continuing downstairs in the offices.  By 5pm we were really getting cabin fever, as we had run our of sleeps to be had and pages to plough.

Sandeep was also exited to be back, and we soon headed off for a bite to eat, to a food joint he had been waiting a long time to take Freya… Dominos pizza. Last time were spent time with him in India we were at an academy in the country side a long way from civilization and no food choice beyond Indian vegetarian food, so Sandeep was dying to show Freya that Secunderabad, the twin city to Hyderabad, is not a foodie’s desert. So he ordered for us especially a “100% pork” pepperoni pizza, for 405 rupees ($11.50), while his margarita was only 60 rupees ($1.70). The cheesy garlic bread was a hit and the pizza was better than what we get from Dominos at home.

We then headed towards the outskirts of Secunderabad for, as we soon found out, another dinner party! Sandeep was demonstrating to us the art of driving a car in India, where it is very rude to leave too much space between you and the car in front, as it is a waste of road space. It is also extremely rude to not blow the horn almost continuously, as it is common courtesy to let your fellow travellers know that you are coming. Guy, who was seated in the front with Sandeep, pressed his imaginary brake hard to the floor! Caspar and Freya were in fits of laughter in the back, at the numerous near misses with endless brave pedestrians. The general idea: If you don’t make your move, somebody else will, so just do it!

 

We arrived at the lovely home of Babita, whose son was celebrating his 13th birthday that evening. All his cousins were there, and they were all exited to meet our kids and question them very intelligently about their school life in Australia.  Sandeep’s assistant Surrender and the house helper, a sweet young boy of about 8 or 9 years with the most glowing and charming face brought us endless helpings of a lovely light corn soup. Babita is from Rajasthan, and a great cook too, and she then served us a Rajastani feast at the kitchen table sitting as guests of honour with the birthday boy, while all the other kids ate together from a single large silver plate in the sitting room. We wished we had had just a small pizza at Dominos!  They kept bringing more and more puris and dished up more curry with delicious gravy, and it was quite a trail to get through it all. Then Happy Birthday was sung, and after cutting the cake the birthday boy fed us slices of cake directly into our mouths. Sandeep “missed” Freya’s mouth in order to get her face covered in cream…There was not another thought about food that evening.

We returned home at 10pm, and went to bed, while our stomach started their jobs of digestion. At 5am Guy and Sandeep went to the railway station to pick up his sister, mother and father who had taken a 4 hour train journey in the middle of the night in order to come and spend their Sunday day with us.  When they arrived I sleepily got out of bed and it was lovely to see them again. We exchanged presents, and Sandeep’s mother showed me the amazing embroidery she is currently doing on saris and punjabi suits. Endless hours of work, and the most delightful stitching and subtle use of sequins.

Sandeep had bought both a traditional handwoven Sari and punjabi suit for me on his recent trip to Kerala, in the softest cream cotton with gold thread. We presented his parents with a gold frame of photos of all the family members, and they were clearly thrilled with it. Caspar and Freya were hauled out of bed, as Sandeep could not wait to show his parents how much they had both grown. We made tea and sat around for quite some time, before we finally got away for a spot of lunch at Paradise – a dining house specializing in Hyderabadi Byriani. Caspar was clearly delighted at the glamorous interior of the restaurant, and the air conditioning was nice too – quite a hot day for what is termed as winter. The bill of $40 covered a massive byriani with lamb and tandoori chicken including many trimmings, cauliflower Manchurian style, and many other dishes, lime sodas, lassis, ice cream and chai for 8 persons – not bad at all. It seems that South India is cheaper than other parts. On the way home we went to a sweet shop which was just incredible. Beautiful Indian sweets made of milk, figs, almond and cashews shaped as flowers, oranges, pizzas and in endless amazing decorative patterns.

The owner of the shop made up a silver plate of the most artistic examples for me to take a photo for this blog, so enjoy! We bought a couple of boxes of sweets, but we have to wait a while before we again can eat anything at all. Tonight Sandeep is taking us to the lake that separates Hyderabad and Secunderabad, where you can go rowing and also find many fabulous snack food stalls… a snack is probably all that I can fit in tonight. I could do with a long walk though, and I am sure Guy will be dreaming of finding a gym soon. We may also go and check out a furnished flat to rent, which to Freya and Caspar’s excitement is just around the corner from KFC.

We have arrived at the beginning of our adventure. Our flight was quite pleasant, although we started out having to wait for 1 hour at the tarmac at Sydney airport due to a passenger needing medical attention. So we were immediately somewhat worried about missing our connection in Kuala Lumpur. The pilot made up the time but we still had a 30 minute race from one terminal to the next to get on our plane to Hyderabad. Our plan to frolic at the lovely KL airport, and take advantage of the wireless internet all though the terminal soon vanished…..Caspar would have been quite happy to get off right there as he loves Malaysia and its food!

So after another 4 hours we landed at Hyderabad International airport. Amazing to see this city of more than 3 million people so dimly lit up at night, and with huge areas of blackness with just the odd house light here and there- I was thinking what a contract it was to landing at New York, where every house and every street is fully lit in a massive never ending grid.

At this point our body clock said 5.30 am, so we were all very groggy as we stepped down from the stairs of the plane and onto the tarmac met by the familiar smell of India. Hyderabad airport was relatively clean compared to Mumbai, and less busy, so the task of getting through immigration, bag collection etc was not too onerous (and thankfully as we had the minimum 40 minutes stop in KL which allowed our bags to make it onto the flight). The only problem we had was that our trolley wheels went haywire under the weight of our cases. We eventually wheeled the thing out of the terminal, into a sea of Indian faces. We  were not worried that Sandeep would find us, as we were the only “whities” arriving that night other than one lone Aussie lady. Soon we saw Sandeep running across the road to us with a huge bunch of roses, and big beautiful hugs followed. Don’t know what it is about Sandeep, but he just makes my heart open as when seeing a long lost son after a long time… It had now been 20 months since we said goodbye to him in Mumbai, and it was a very joyful reunion indeed.

Sandeep took us to wait at the carpark and soon he again appeared in his brand new sky blue Hyundai, still covered in ribbons from the showroom of yesterday. He told us he had taken it to the temple for blessings, as it was beautifully decorated in sacred pastes and flower garlands. So we were taken away in regal style! Will definitely post you a photo as soon as I am able to take one. We managed to fit all our 4 cases and various bags in the car with us on our laps. It is always amazing what you can actually fit into cars in India! The temperature was a very pleasant 20 degrees at 1 am, as we weaved through the lanes, some of them bustling with playful looking monkeys.

Soon we arrived at the Jain International School’s Hyderabad office, where Sandeep works, and which is our temporary home until we can get time to go and find the perfect little apartment here in Hyderabad. Here we have a spacious bedroom with ensuite bathroom and water heater! We were all quite tired despite the fact that for us it was nearly morning, and soon we lulled off into another 6 hours of pleasant sleep. As I was dosing off I could hear a few yelps of the stray street dogs, and wondered if they would keep we up all night, but thankfully they settled after a while – not yet used to blocking these noises out the way the Indians can. In the morning we could hear the car horns as always, the morning prayer at the Hanuaman temple across the road, and also the Moslem call to prayer. Also the bells and calls of various wallas or sellers were going off at interval. That is when I truly felt that we are now really in India.

Sandeep is a hard working man. He finished his last work meeting at 11.30pm just before picking us up from the airport. After settling us in he again had to finish off a few things. This morning he left for the school campus just before 7 am, and will be back again by 5. he is trying to get things done so he can spend more time with us… His assistant around this office, a very sweet man called Surrender, just brought us a delicious breakfast that he had gone to collect from outside somewhere. It consisted of idli (a steamed rice cake) with a runny hot sauce, a coconut chutney, a chilly chutney, as well as fried fresh puri breads that came with a soupy vegetable- delicious. His chai is fragrant and comforting, and after all this plus a shower we feel decidedly human again.

Later on we are expecting the sister of the school’s owner to come around to make sure we are not bored. We are now going into training for relaxation, which is going to take a little while, especially for Guy. But he is doing great so far reading his book. It is good to have a day of doing nothing, because from tomorrow things will start to hot up. Sandeep will have tomorrow (Sunday) off, and wants to start teaching Freya dance. He brought her last night two stunning silk dance costumes which he had got made by one of the best dance costume tailors in town. Freya has been invited as special guest to a Hyderabadi Children’s Dance competition where every child gets two minutes to strut their stuff.  This is taking place on the 30th of December. More about it later…busy relaxing here and Freya wants to watch a movie on this computer, so have to sign off for now.

Freya has been practicing all year for this trip.