All Packed and Off to Kashmir!

No, we have not fallen off the blogging bandwagon just yet. And yes, we intend to continue writing about our transition back into "real" life in America. We have just had a CRAZY week packing up. Who knew that having eight people do the actual packing could be so exhausting? But I think it's all the categories and the weight and size limits that kill us. And having all those people in your house making things disappear all day for 5 days is rather unnerving. Add to that the 3 adorable kids running around moving things out of their designated spots, and let's just say I had a few moments of meltdown (though no sobbing yet, just a little yelling). I think we had four categories of stuff to separate:

1. The sea shipment, which has to fit into a 40-foot container (shouldn't be hard, but once you add all the packing materials, the bicycle rickshaw, furniture, and swing we've acquired, it will be tight). This shipment supposedly takes 8-10 weeks to arrive, but I'm counting on 12 or more based on late shipments for us and others we know. So you've gotta make sure everything you pack in this part you can live without for three months (or more).

The craziest part about this shipment is that some of the furniture we had ordered came only a few days before the packers arrived. One beautiful antique cabinet we bought had termites in it, so the day the packers arrived we had them come take away the offending piece and treat everything else. Then the outdoor cane furniture we had custom-made was 6 inches too tall and made you feel like you were a munchkin when you sat in it and they'd sewed the cushion covers wrong-side out, so during the first two days of packing the cane-furniture-wallahs were working furiously in the yard and in the house to fix their mistakes! Add to that Mr. Shyam Lal, the cheerful old gentleman who was re-upholstering our couch and chair and only finished the second day of packing, and we had a lot of stuff going on those first few days! I'm glad I'm a few days away from that and can laugh now . . .

2. The air shipment, which is supposed to arrive in a few weeks and can weigh up to 300 kg. At first we were going to put our bikes in this shipment so we could get away with having one car and ride our bikes to school. Then we found out we likely won't be moving into our house until August . . . or September . . . or October . . . or November. Whenever our tenants decide to move out (they don't legally have to move out until September 30) and we get the house ready to move in--that's when we will be moving into our house. So where will we be living when we get to Austin? We don't know! And I definitely don't want to unpack our stuff twice, so that sea shipment might be sitting in storage for a few months once it arrives in August or September while we figure out what we're going to do! This shipment was especially frustrating because it turned out to be 250 kg, but since the sea shipment had already been packed, I had nothing else to add to it! I wanted to run out shopping to fill it with textiles and spicy snacks, but I was just too exhausted at that point.

3. Stuff to sell or give away. We sold or gave away all of our appliances and air conditioners (220-volt stuff doesn't work very well on American 110-volts) and some various other junk. We did a garage sale/auction India-style with this guy named Mr. Pawha. He did all the advertising and set it all out two hours before. He had 5-6 guards there with him and I stood by him while the people (mostly Sikh men) crowded around making bids on stuff, then I approved the final bid and people shoved bills into my hand. In just over an hour we had sold EVERYTHING and I had a giant wad of bills that added up to about two thousand dollars (should help pay for our frivolous travels on the way home)! I'll post a picture later to give you a sense of the craziness of it all. Things are often slow and inefficient here in India, but this was a pretty slick operation I'd say!

4. Stuff to pack in suitcases and carry with us. Three sub-categories here: stuff to take camping in Kashmir, stuff to take to Scotland, stuff we'll need in the USA until our air shipment arrives. Throughout the week we threw this stuff into a designated room and I've still not entirely sorted through all of this. We think this will all fit into 11 suitcases, but I'm hoping to pare it down a little bit when we get back from Kashmir.

Last night the branch had an activity to bid us farewell. It was beautiful. The young women and young men did dance numbers, the Primary kids and missionaries sang songs, our driver Anil sang a beautiful Hindi ballad about submitting to God's will, and (worst of all) Boddu showed the DVD Rich made for the Pulsiphers and our family with Graham's 1st Year, a slideshow of India, and Walk a Weekend With Us. It was fun to walk down memory lane, but it was strange to see these videos that were never intended for that audience! We will surely miss all these faithful, loving souls we have come to know in the New Delhi 1st Branch. The future looks bright for them and we're excited to see their growth from afar.

For the last two nights we've stayed at the lovely oasis of Bnineteen where we have everything we need (except a clothes dryer--still not sure how I'm going to get the clothes dry in the next hour before we need to leave!), and including a few things we don't need like a neighbor who doesn't like kids and their noises early in the morning, and tea served at breakfast.

This morning after we go to sacrament meeting we are off to the mountains of Kashmir where we will stay on a houseboat for three days and go trekking (hiking) and camping for three days. We're doing it sahib-style with pack-horses to carry gear and kids, and a guide and cook to help us along the way! We figure we deserve it after a week of madness.

I don't think I've ever been more exhausted in my life. On Tuesday we went to a farewell dinner with Rich's co-workers and the whole time I was nodding off after our first big exhausting day (and this is really out of character for me). And every night I've had plans to stay up and pack or do paperwork or even blog, but I have been falling fast asleep even before the kids some nights! I have no idea how anyone moves without packers and movers. I imagine it's easier when you're moving shorter distances and don't have so many categories and wait times, but moving is definitely a herculean effort no matter how you slice it.

On Monday we will be leaving on a jet plane back to our homeland. We'll stop on the way for a quick trip in Scotland with Brandon, and then we'll be safe at Grandma and Grandpa's house ready to start the scary process of rebuilding our American Dream.

I Am A Part of All That I Have Met: Sariah

I was going through my closet this morning and found an old T-shirt that brought back a flood of memories from high school. My best friend Sariah and I (Iah and Rind) were nerds and we knew it, but we made our own kind of cool. She is the coolest, most passionate, most opinionated, most crazy person I think I have ever met. She changed my life for the better, for sure, and still does.

Iah & Rind
I'm a Supreme (pizza)


L+L=W
Loner + Loner = Winners

"You see things and you say, 'Why?'
But I dream things that never were, and I say, 'Why not?'"
George Bernard Shaw

All the stuff we did . . .
mountain-tromping
jam-canning
cover-cuddling
Easter-dating
window-peeking
boy-dumping
stupid-story-telling
puddle-jumping
finger-painting
BOM-reading
cartwheel-faking
Boston-baking
E-mail-bonding
Hepburn-watching
wedding-planning
thumb-sucking
country-hopping
zit-popping

9 Ways to Get Killed in Delhi

Now that our last guests and essay winners Todd and Hilary have booked and paid for their tickets, the gloves are coming off. We can now tell you about the top reasons why we will be lucky to make it out of here alive.

Here are are nine things that can kill you in Delhi. All of these we or somebody we know has had a personal experience with.

1. Fire

As I sit here writing this the lights are flickering on and off. About five minutes ago the lights went off and I saw a very bright light outside the house across the street accompanied by a loud sizzling sound and a bunch of smoke. It didn't start a fire, but it could easily have. This happens all the time.

Our friend Laurie Goering who lives a few streets away and is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune stopped in earlier today (pictured here in her mostly cleaned-up state). She was covered from head to toe in black soot. Half her house just burned down due to her air conditioner bursting into flames. Their family was all gone from the house at the time, but she got lots of frantic phone calls from the servants while sitting in traffic trying to get home!

So, call the fire department, right? Thankfully we have a fire department within walking distance. After being called, they showed up nearly an hour later. The house was still smoldering inside. Turns out, they have absolutely no equipment. The first thing the firemen did was ask her if she had a flashlight. When she suggested that they try to go in the house and, you know, put out the fire, they said that they needed an oxygen mask, and did anyone have one? After a while someone brought an oxygen mask, but they still didn't go in and use it because it was the only one and they didn't want to waste it! So they just sat out with Laurie and her household staff and neighbors and watched the place burn down. And then they left.

We had our own electrical fire on the side of the house once. You can read about it here. Thankfully it only burned down the wooden electrical box.

A family in our branch once had a fire in their house too. When we arrived to help clean up there was tons of water on the floor, the room was in darkness except for the sizzling of the electrical outlets which we never could figure out how to turn off, and the place reeked of burned plastic. They had a similar experience with the "helpful" fire department.

If all the houses were not made of brick this city would have been burnt totally to the ground a long time ago.

2. Angry Cow

On our street there are two stray bulls. We pass by them every day in the car and frequently encounter them while walking to the market or the ATM (Graham's all-time favorite outing).

Here is a picture of us walking by one of them.

Being Indian cows, we just always assumed that they were of the non-violent type. But the other day, we saw the following article in our little community newsletter. Just a note, the "lane facing Mata Ka Mandir" in this article is the street where we live, and the bull in the article is probably the one in the picture above.

Bulls of NFC (New Friends Colony) In A Nasty Mood - Resident Becomes a Dreadful Victim!!

Animals have always been a serious cause of trouble in our colony.

Time and again, there have been stories about residents bitten by dogs. The dog population has become intolerable now, and it has become a menace for people. A large no. of cows, too have been spotted in the colony. The lane facing Mata Ka Mandir, is like a zoo in the mornings, with cows and dogs arranged in a unique array.

The incident which happened recently is indeed shocking and substantiates the problems faced by NFC residents due to animals. A lady resident Padma Verma had gone to the NFC market for some work. At an arm's distance from her, two bulls were quarreling. One bull broke out from the brawl and attacked her, inserting its horns into her flesh.

Padma Verma lay in a pool of blood with an enormous spectrum of bruises on her face and body. It was just then that the Almighty sent his messenger Bailu Khanna to her rescue. She too, happened to be in the same market and was sitting in her chauffeur driven car when the incident happened and witnessed it completely. A big crowd surrounded the victim. Bailu jumped out of her car and with her driver's aid, lifted Padma, dragged her into her car.

Bailu felt pangs of anguish as she could see foam oozing out of her mouth and she lay unconscious. She rushed to Sujan Mahindra, a nearby hospital in the colony to provide her immediate medical aid, which was critically important.

Padma was later shifted to Vimhans. She is still in the Intensive Care Unit, under the inspection. The doctors said that it was indeed one of the most shocking case ever.

The incident is a shame on the life in NFC, which is considered as a dream colony by most!!

Simultaneously, it is a reminder for those who show their love for animals by feeding them wholesome, as in the case of the lane opposite Mata Ka Mandir, at the cost of their fellow residents in the colony who are attacked by these very animals. The residents are requested to seriously take this as an awakening and rectify their causes and deeds - not to stop feeding street animals, but only to the extent that they don't become accustomed to it, and start collecting in huge numbers at certain sopts and create hindrances in the flow of public and attack them.

We also wish Padma Verma, sound health. We hope that she soon gets back to her normal self, and comes out of the trauma of this incident.

3. Bit By the Wrong Mosquito

Most of you know Merinda's fun with Dengue Fever last year. You can read about it here.

Unless you are in a village or in a situation without proper medical care, the first time you get dengue, it won't usually kill you. The second time is supposed to be worse, however. Thankfully, Merinda survived the last dengue season without a hitch.

4. Murdered by Your Servants

There was a Belgian lady who was brutally murdered by her driver a couple of years ago. We didn't know her personally but know people who did. The driver was driving crazy (which most of them do) and his employer threatened to fire him. Here's the news article about the incident.

There are often stories about this sort of thing in the papers. Sometimes the servants are mad about getting fired. Sometimes they just kill everybody in their beds and steal everything. Thankfully we employ a full-time security guard, but you never know about him either!

5. Trampled to Death

There is absolutely no concept of crowd control here. Every year we go to the Republic day parade and most of the walk onto the parade grounds is OK, except they always have one part somewhere where they will block off the path except for one tiny opening. Everybody will be pushing and shoving trying to get through that opening.

Or there will be a long line, waiting for something to open. The minute it opens everybody runs forward and starts pressing on each other. The picture on the right is one I took while being crushed along while leaving a cricket match.

The feeling of being in a crowd situation like that is truly terrifying, especially with the kids. You are literally smashed from all sides, there is not a spot on your body that is not pressed with the human flesh of another person and you just have to keep moving forward. There is no choice. If you were to trip or try and stop, there would be nothing to stop the mass of people from trampling you down to the earth (Merinda the Editor here: Funny how Rich's tone is starting to sound just like that dramatic stuff from the NFC newsletter and the Republic Day Parade!).

6. Blown Up

Many of you probably read about our trip to Hyderabad where we were on our way to the Charminar when it was bombed. Had our plane or car been on time, we would have been right in the middle of it.

A couple of times a year there is one of these things. There's been a couple in Delhi while we have lived here. What's amazing is that there will be a bombing in a crowded market, and the very next day, the market will be bustling again. People just get used to it and move on.

7. Die Waiting for an Ambulance

If you get into some sort of medical emergency in Delhi, just get into a cab. The ambulances here are almost completely useless. One big reason is that they get no respect on the roads. We see them occasionally with their sirens wailing and everybody is cutting them off and treating them just like any other car.

Of course the reason the ambulances get no special treatment on the roads is that they are typically just flip on their sirens on their way to lunch or something instead of there being an actual emergency. Out of all the ambulances I've seen here not one has had an actual sick person inside. They are usually full of people sitting there calmly just like any other car while the sirens wail away.

A few months ago at a birthday party Merinda met a lengendary woman in town--a Panamanian woman who gave birth to her baby in an Ambassador car. She was at home and her contractions started coming really fast. The first person she called was her meditation teacher who wasn't successful in slowing anything down (apparently the baby didn't feel like meditating). Then she called her sister who brought her official Panamanian Embassy Ambassador car to pick her up and take her to the hospital.

Unfortunately, the baby didn't wait and she gave birth in the car while sitting in traffic with the driver in the front seat and everybody else averting their eyes. Once she arrived at the hospital she figured that she had gotten this far on her own, so she just had them get out their scissors, cut the cord, and then she went home.

But then it came to the matter of the birth certificate. She went back to the hospital later and asked for one. The told her that since the baby was born in the car and not in the hospital that they wouldn't get one from them. Then she went to the Indian government to get one, but they wouldn't issue one because the car was a Panamanian Embassy vehicle and technically while in the car she was in Panama. So now she is working with the Panamanian government to try and get a certificate for her new little Panamanian baby.

8. Death by Mysterious Causes

Since we are telling stories here, this entry is an excuse to share one that was told to us by the Wallys. The Wally family lived here in India for about ten years while working for the American Embassy. Just before they left we took them out to dinner to get some wisdom about living here and they did not disappoint.

Among other enlightening things, they told the story of this family they knew. There was this old cook who came with the house they rented. They didn't know much about him, he just sat there and cooked. They had not lived in India very long when they walked into the kitchen, and there he was, keeled over in the soup. Dead.

Not knowing what to do, they loaded him in the car and took him to the hospital. The people at the hospital looked at him and told them that he was dead. Yes, they knew that, but wouldn't they take him? No, they replied, they only took people who were alive. So they went to the next hospital where they got the same answer.

Hospital after hospital would not take him. Finally, totally frustrated by all this and at their wits end, they quickly drove to the last hospital, laid him out on the door, and quickly drove off.

9. Angry villagers

For a place with the reputation of being non-violent, there is sure a lot of caste-related violence here. Every once in a while we will be driving around and run into some mob shouting and carrying on about something. A couple of days ago it was a bunch of Sikhs, some of them with swords. ("Hey, kids, can you lock your door, there's a bunch of guys with swords outside").

Here's a picture we've shown before of some angry villagers who had blocked a road out in Andhra Pradesh. They were upset that somebody in their caste was thrown into jail.

One day this week I went into work late because the Gujar caste had shut down all the roads leading into and out of Delhi. They burned some buses and were causing all sorts of problems. Why? They want the same treatment as the lower castes. In India there is an equivalent to affirmative action where there are government jobs and places in schools alloted to the underprivileged castes. The Gujars were protesting for their caste to be included in the lower one so they could enjoy such benefits!


Now this blather may sound completely crazy (and it is), but the truth is that there's a part of us that will miss all this danger. First, of course, it's all very exciting.

I remember when we first arrived in India. I looked at those three wheeled autorickshaws where you sit out in the open with no seat belt, and thought that I would never get in one of those things. A year later we were buzzing around Delhi in them all the time, not just us adults, but with the kids. They love them, and the truth is that they don't go any faster than a bicycle. (Earlier today the one I was in with Margaret and her two daughters got a flat tire and I held it up while they guy put on the spare out on a busy road!)

Second, there is something quite empowering about being in a place where, if something goes wrong, nobody is going to help, where there are no ambulances or fire trucks, no 911, nobody to swoop down and rescue you. It is not easy to get used to, but there is this enormous sense of personal responsibility that emerges when there is no "nanny state" or an army of lawyers there to make sure that you live a safe and bubble-wrapped life.