Priscilla

My children have a most remarkable nanny. I
trust her with my most precious possessions
without hesitation. Over the months I have
found out more about Priscilla and through
it all I wonder at her marvelous good nature
and bright spirits. A daughter of 14, she
left home at the age of 12 to work for an
expat. She cleaned, washed, and looked after
the lady's children as needed. Her sister,
too, was hired by the lady so both girls
started full time jobs as live-in help.
Over the years the lady taught them English,
taught them how to cook, and taught them
how to invest and save their money. She opened
a bank account for each and deposited part of
their earnings in to their accounts.
Eventually the lady left and no longer needed
their help, so the sisters left to find other
jobs. Now, over 20 years later, Priscilla
has a son who graduated from university in
England and works full time as a software
engiineer in Edinburgh. She often reflects on
her life and how lucky she was to have found a
"Ma'am" who took such good care of her.

How interesting to reflect on our different
perspectives - I feel a little sad that she lost
her childhood so soon and probably had to deal
with a lot of things at a young age. But she
feels joyous and grateful to have learned
so much from a wonderful lady.

Yet again I am spending a considerable amount
of time reflecting on our different ways.

I am losing Priscilla soon - she will be moving to
Scotland to join her son and start a new
life in a different culture. I'll miss her,
my children will miss her, and my life will
never be the same for having known her.

Project Management

A friend here decided that she really did not
like the decor in her dining room, so she
sought out some tailors in the market and
arranged to have slip covers made for her
dining room chairs. The next day 6 guys
carrying their wares showed up at her door.
She cleared a space in the living room and
the 6 of them got to work measuring, cutting,
and sewing. They measured the chairs and
fabric using their hands and arms as
measuring sticks. One of them pulled out a
sewing machine, set it up on the floor, and
started sewing together the bits of fabric
that had been measured and cut by his
colleagues. All 6 of them had tasks to do, and
all of them worked quickly and efficiently to create
some very well made slip covers in only a few hours.

Now that's what I call project management!

Lunch Options

Today's lunch option were:
fish curry, pea curry, or cheese curry.

Just once I'd love the options to be
T-bone steak, hamburger, or lasagna.

But for 50 cents, I guess I can't complain.

India's Treasures

The other day there was an article in the newspaper
celebrating the rich culture that abounds in India's
domain. Inclusive in the list was one of only two
remiaing original copies of Boccaccio's Decameron.
Apparently, this 650 year old book lies on a shelf in
a museum in India. Preliminary web searching has
left me empty of facts --- but I intend to pursue
this to discover if indeed I may be able to glimpse
the historic manuscript before it decays entirely
to dust.

Speaking of the Plague ...

A friend of mine was walking through the market
looking around and enjoying the day when he accidently
stepped in something soft and squishy. In the instant
before he looked down his mind flicked through all the
possibilities of what he'd see sticking to the bottom
of his sandals; rotten fruit, dog poo, people poo,
blackened mango, a puddle of filth.

No ... it was a rat.

We spent a weekend in Goa not too long ago.
Goa is marked by beautiful beaches, cool
breezes off the Arabian Sea, and a beautiful
architecture that originally stems from
its Portuguese heritage. The locals speak
a mix of Hindi and Portuguese. The break was
wonderful - I had forgotten what it was like to
drive on roads without potholes along lanes
devoid of rubbish. We did not see desperate
poverty everywhere we went.

As I sat on the beach a young lady came up to
sell her wares. She was very chatty, very kind,
and exceptionally good at getting me to look at her
beautiful things. I picked out what I wanted and
we started to haggle over the price. After a bit of
jousting, she said,
"Ma'am, do not think of the money you are spending,
think of poor Nicki and her 2 boys."
And she was absolutely right --- what an excellent
piece of emotional blackmail that really worked!
There I was, a well off tourist staying in a beautiful
hotel with time to sit on the beach whereas she
was living on the beach with her 2 sons, struggling
to survive. So that comment ended our negotiations
and I paid her the price she asked.

That night we ate in a shack by the beach. A rough bamboo
frame supported a roof of braided palm fronds. Seafood
was fresh, so if you ordered seafood from the menu
you walked to the display area and chose which critter
you wanted to eat. My husband chose 2 jumbo shrimp ---
the two shrimp alone weighed over a pound. As we ate
our meal 2 cats wandered through the restaurant looking
for scraps. They curled around table legs and customer
legs waiting for a morsel to drop.

Goa really was a perfect break from city life. I like
Mumbai, but so many people crammed into one city
has definite disadvantages.

Rain, Rain, Come Again

We have been here now for 2 months and in that time
there has been not one single drop of rain and not a cloud
in the sky. Every day is like the one before, but perhaps
a bit warmer. I miss the rain. When the monsoon comes
in a few months we are told to stay inside. The falling
rain is rich in pollution and the standing puddles contain
entire civilizations of diseases. As the drains back up
the rats emerge, followed shortly thereafter by the
snakes. Most ex-pat families leave during monsoon,
leaving spouses behind to work alone for 2 months. When
the rains abate the families return to continue life as
normal. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I
look forward to seeing rain again, even if it does last
for 30 hourse and makes life a bit more difficult.

Parakeets

Every morning I wake up and look out
the window to see our 'pets.' The
tree outside our flat is home to small,
green parakeets and even smaller kingfishers.
My daughter and I love watching the
parakeets preen or regurgitate leftovers
for their babies. She thinks this bird method
of feeding is disgusting, but appreciates the
care and attention with which the mommies look
after their babies. Also lurking in the trees
we see several beady-eyed crows looking
for a free meal. Pigeon feet and feathers bedeck
our porch, a startling testament to the
ferocity of the hungry crows. I thought
my 5-year old would be horrified by the remains,
however she expressed great interest in them
and stated that it was a good thing we didn't
eat other animals. Oh dear ...

A colleague at work has eagles nesting in the
trees outside by her porch. The eagles have
nestlings, so any time she goes on the porch
she gets dive-bombed by 2 protective parents.
The eaglets have grown somewhat, so now she is
at least able to step outside without fear of
raking talons. I think I prefer my little green parakeets.