Random musings

Anirudh dressed up as Krishna for a Fancy dress party at school - he was one of three Krishnas, but the cutest and most authentic, methinks:) The Fancy Dress party was a marketing event by MetLife (the insurance company) masquerading as a school event. The American marketing machine has moved to India with a vengeance. Several kids were decked out in hired costumes and dripping with makeup - parents going overboard! Digital cameras and diamonds were common at the event, and I felt quite plain in my blue salwar kameez.. an NRI mom was declaring her status with her bright and tight BANANA REPUBLIC t-shirt and Target accessories. Wonder why I never thought of that ;)??

Its raining cats and dogs here right now, and I'm coming across the first set of stuff I should have got from the US and did not - good quality raincoats for the kids. Anyone reading this, you know what to get for us when you come next on that three-weeker to India.

We've decided on Seimens for our washer, dryer and fridge. They're relatively new to India but we've decided to trust German engineering. Most people here think a dryer is not necessary, but the half-dry clothes decked across my in-laws' bannister for days now say otherwise. After all, people in Phoenix use dryers don't they??

D and I talk frequently about our "dream house" that we'll build one of these days. One thing we'll definitely have is "dry" bathrooms. We'll be walking around in wet bathrooms in our rented house for now, but will keep dreaming of that dry bathroom in the dream house :D

The Post Select Cranberry/Blueberry etc. cereal is available here! But the price is a cool 260 rs a carton. I used to stockk up on this when it was on sale (2 for $5) at Safeway once in 2 months - somehow 260 rs is too much I think. Right now am enjoying idli, dosa etc prepared by my MIL but will have to settle for Kellogs Cornflakes (Rs. 90 for smallish carton) once we're on our own.

Progress

Lots of things have happened since my last post:

1) We found a house! It is a 2 minute walk from my in-laws' place. All in all a good choice, I think. We had shorlisted two houses - one in Mahindra Hills, very big,quite modern, asking a cool 30k pm. We never really got into a negotatiation phase, the owners were dilly dallying and lost a darn good tenant! The other one was a new contemporary bungalow in RK Puram built by a DINK couple from Microsoft. AGain asking 30 k and again got stuck at negotations. I had some reservations about this house, it was not kid-friendly at all. Then we saw this house, and decided this was it. Rent is 10k. Its an old late 60s house, 3br.3 bath, but is quite spacious, well maintained,very close to our inlaws place and suiits us great. Right now we're getting it fitted with ACs, doing some electrical work (basically plug points for all our appliances and gadgets) etc etc. The neighbours are wondering what we're upto. The owner is lucky to get us ;) He's a retired professor of the medical college, and gave us his blessings to do all the work as long as he does not have to spend any more money. He has recently renovated the bathrooms at the insistence of his wife - thats what attracted D to the house in the first place. As long as the bathrooms are good, D feels the rest of the house can be "adjust madkolona" ;)

2) Our container is here! D went today for Phase 1 of the unloading/release at customs. They unloaded all the stuff onto the floor of a huge shed in the Customs place. Clearance is tomorrow at 10:30 am. Will post about the experience soon.

Settling in

Its been a while since I "blogged". We are in Hyderabad now, and the
internet connection in my inlaws place is dialup. When it rains, the
line gets bad and right now the speed is 4800 bps. Not very conducive to getting on the net!

We are slowly getting settled here. One big achievement is that
Anirudh started school. We decided to stay away (at least for now)
from the big bucks international and public schools and admitted him
to a local montessori school. It is run in a huge old house by two
sisters and is called Bhavishya. There are 36 students. He is enjoying
it so far.

The handsome twins are getting bigger and naughtier. They eat solids
twice a day now and by breastfeeding is slowing tapering off. I have
switched them to a local formula (Nan 2 by Nestle) and they seem to be
thriving on it.

The biggest frustration so far has been that we have not found a house
to rent. I suspect our in-laws think we are being too picky, but
Deepak and I are determined to find a nice place. We want an
independent house, close to where my inlaws live. It looks like all
the new construction with "American style" amenities is on the other
side of town, which will mean a horrendous commute for Deepak. So we
are trying to look around here (Secunderabad) itself.

Deepak is enjoying working with his Dad. He is ordering broadband in
all the factories, getting new furniture for himself, asking various
flunkies to prepare Excel spreadsheets about production estimates etc.
He's having a ball ;) I'm quite busy with the babies etc. We have not
found anyone yet to help with them too..

One thing, though. Daily life in India is getting harder.. traffic is
just horrendous, and the whole city (whether Blore or Hyd) looks like
a giant garbage dump. Civic amenities are breaking down left and
right. In that way, India is definitely a "hardship posting" as Deepak
says. Most people cannot believe we came back for good, they think we
both got laid off or something over there. I also got lectures from
most of my aunts and uncles and my grandma about how I should be a
good daughter-in-law and stay with in-laws (ie not look for another
house ;))

Our container is not here yet, which Anirudh cribs about everyday. BTW
Anirudh speaks very good Kannada now, and is eating most Indian food
very well..