Weekend Update

We had a fun but tiring weekend.

We had brunch on Saturday with Rushil's classmate's family. His parents, both Caucasian Americans from California have an interesting story, they moved to India because she has always wanted to live here for a few years. She was a few months pregnant when they arrived, delivered her 3rd son here. Her husband was with an MNC and quit recently and they are both trying to get a start-up going in India on their own. It's inspiring to hear people's many reasons for moving to India.

After running a few errands, we had snacks at Adayar Ananda Bhavan at BTM Layout, mmmmm is all I need to say.

That evening, we went to Prasad's classmate's housewarming party. He and his wife work full-time, have 2 children and somehow managed to pull-off the construction and design of this stunning home. It had many interesting features, high ceilings throughout, rock formations, water features, unique light fixtures, hardwood flooring, tons of balconies, and their daughter's wall painted pink with fairies. We were simply in awe when we walked into the home, I guess I was expecting a run of the mill home and this was definitely not that, designer all the way.

The next day, Prasad and I went to an annual art event called Chitra Santhe. Artists from all over India sell their paintings at a street-side festival. It stretches over 2km on both sides of the road, so you can just imagine the amount of artwork that was displayed. We picked up a couple of paintings. One was by a Mangalorean artist named Raghputtur who now resides in Bangalore (raghputtur@gmail.com). The second was by a Bengali artist named Subhashis Mandal (9836147839) I have been eyeing his work for one year at a framing shop which also deals in artwork. He was being heavily promoted by the owner of the gallery and they had an exhibition of his pieces a few months before. Today, we met the artist and purchased a small water colour painting for 1/3 of the gallery price. Meeting the artists enriched the whole experience. We will definitely go there again next year and if you are ever in Bangalore the last Sunday in January and you have any interest in art, I would highly recommend a visit.

Prasad's Birthday and Ravi's Visit

At our place for dinnner on the 29th


Blowing out the candles the day after his birthday

Coffee at Ashok Lalit Hotel on Sunday. This time we met Pranav, isn't he a cutie?

Today is Prasad's birthday. To mark the occasion, Prasad's long time buddy, Ravi and his wife Sunita, visiting from California came over for dinner. Prasad and Ravi go back a long way, they knew each other from Sacramento when Prasad first started off at Intel. They recently had a baby boy, Pranav whom we didn't meet as he was not well but we did see lots of cute pictures of him. It was great to see them and catch up. I had a cake all ready to go but unfortunately, I waited till after dinner and Rushil fell asleep. It is no fun cutting a cake and blowing out candles unless S&R participate so we postponed it till tomorrow. Both S&R made birthday cards for their dad. Sindhu's card had red cutout hearts, a small pop-up and a maze (classic Sindhu) and she said that she had the best dad and hoped that he had a great day and liked her card. Apparently, she even hugged him. Rushil's card said and I quote," You are the best dad in the world. Even if I say you're bad, that doesn't mean that I don't like you. I love you." And my present to Prasad, a solo ski trip either here in India or in the US if he goes in the next couple of months.

Republic day and Movie Talk

Today's India is celebrating it's 60th anniversary of Republic Day. I don't remember where we were last year on this day. This year, our complex had a flag hoisting ceremony and the children sang patriotic songs. The children then made 50-70 mud seed balls each which would be taken to a forest to plant. At least Rushil and Sindhu now have some awareness even though I had to drag everyone downstairs to participate :-)

On to mindless chatter about movies.

We've seen quite a few movies in the last couple of weeks.

1) Avatar - We saw it in 3D and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. During the first half, I was sitting next to my cousin and at the intermission, I was so lost in the movie, I forgot where I was. During the 2nd half, I sat next to the kids and was disturbed every 10 minutes, Rushil drank Sindhu's juice and she made sure everyone in the audience knew about it, Rushil dropped his popcorn and cried, Prasad felt the need to share his coke every 10 minutes, I wished I sat next to my cousin in the 2nd half too :-) It was a long time we had seen a movie in a theater and this movie was definitely worth it!!

2) 3 Idiots - Entertaining movie. Definitely worth a look. Aamir carried the movie, most of the other actors were probably replaceable especially Kareena who was miscasted in my opinion. I don't get why she is the highest earning Indian actress at all.

3) Wake up Sid - Loved the movie! Konkana Sen and Ranbir Kapoor did a great job in the movie. I was already a fan of Konkana's but now I like Ranbir too. Enjoyed Rocket Singh too. In Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Ranbir did fine but I'm not a fan of Katrina Kaif so didn't really like the movie.

4) Paa - Touching movie, finally a movie that showcased Vidya Balan's talent and beauty. Abhishek acted well but I guess the shining star was Big B, it was a bit awkward to see a 12 year old be that tall though. The only negative was they only provided limited education on the disease, they had a good opportunity to bring it more into the limelight which they didn't capitalize on.

5) A couple of months back, we saw Love Aaj Kal - Good movie, a little different from the rest, I liked the vibrant kurtis that Deepika Padukone wore,. She's likeable, I'm sure she'll do well. Dil Bole Hadippa - Rushil was inspired by Shahid and tried to imitate the way he bowled in the movie. Rani Mukherjee looked fantastic, I felt bad for her that the movie flopped, you could tell she put her heart into it. Not sure why she's not getting good roles, the Indian movie industry is harsh on 30+ year old women regardless of how talented they are.

6) Time Travelor's Wife, I've been waiting for that movie, I read the book many years ago and the movie did not disappoint although it was a bit sad. We saw "New York I love you". It's an interesting concept, different parts of the movie were directed by different people including Mira Nair, some scenes connected and some not. I didn't enjoy the movie as I didn't see a point to it and wouldn't recommend it even on video. "Up in the Air", I'm a Clooney fan so liked it but the ending was weak.

Yes, we've been on a roll and we have more in the pipeline. I probably should get back to reading.

So Brangelina broke up! I guess it's not too surprising but not sure why they were having kid after kid with a failing relationship. I hope he gets back with Jennifer, she seems to be mess without him.

Belief in the Paranormal?

Recently we've heard a number of "ghost" stories, what do you think, believable?

1) A few recently graduated students were looking for an apartment. They found a well-priced furnished apartment and moved in. Shortly after, they heard the fridge opening and closing on its own, doors slamming unexpectedly and other unusual sounds. When they complained to the owner, he replied, "Why do you think I priced the rent so low?"

2) Some students moved into an apartment and at night-time, one of the tenants felt someone combing their hair, stroking them and locking bathroom doors behind them. They moved out and later found out that a woman was killed in the apartment.

3) A tenant in a house used to hear someone running across the room upstairs at night-time. They however knew that noone was living upstairs. They suspected it was rodents for many many months. When they ruled out the rodents, they weren't sure what to believe. A friend of theirs walked into their house and said the vibrations were bad and without any prior information, he described what they were hearing at night. He told them they had to move out, and that the house was "haunted" and later they confirmed that a girl was killed in that home.

Spooky but real stories and not sure what to make of them but if the topic comes up, everyone has a story to share.

Family Visits and Sankranthi

Prasad's uncle and aunt from Carbondale Illinois visited us last week for a few days. Sadasivam uncle was here last year but we had not seen Yashoda aunty in a few years so it was nice to catch up. They are both doctors and lead very busy lives back in the US. I had some interesting conversations with Yashoda aunty as she works as a university psychiatrist. It seems there are a lots of students that need help in handling the stress at school. She sees 30+ patients a day (mostly followup) and 70% of the students stay on the medication till they graduate. There are counsellors and other support staff but she is the only psychiatrist on staff. Sadasivam uncle is a neurologist at a veteran's hospital and also has a busy schedule.

The last evening they were here, there was a bonfire (bhogi manta) at the complex to celebrate Sankranthi. Last year, at the other house, we had lit up a bhogi manta in in the early morning hours before the sun came out, since there are so many people at the apartment complex, it was environmentally friendly to have a combined bonfire although even that was frowned upon by some. The next day, we went to my cousins place for a mouth watering Andhra lunch and they had the bhogi pallu function for the children. They showered the mixture of puffed rice, regi pallu (something like cranberries), and coins on each child's head. It seems the regi pallu protect the children from the evil eye or dishti. This ceremony is typically done for younger children but since this is only the 2nd year we've ever done it, Sindhu and Rushil were willing and enjoyed the attention.

That evening we went to dinner with some friends at Toscanos at the Forum Whitefield Mall. The dinner was delicious, it had been a long time since we had authentic Italian wine and food.

Unfortunately Sankranthi landed on a Thursday so we were back at work the next day. Next year, we'll have a long weekend for Sankranthi.

Out of Touch

We watched a few minutes of the Golden Globe Awards this morning and realized that we're completely out of touch with the latest television shows and movies. We did not recognize any of the movies that won awards except for Avatar. We were even more clueless when it came to the television shows, it was as if we've been away for years. I took note of the movies that were nominated and we'll slowly catch up. We'll get more plugged in after the Academy Awards. The tickets for the 3D version of Avatar have been sold out every weekend. Sindhu said she is the only one in her class that hasn't seen the movie. Now ask me about the latest Hindi movies, we've seen most of the hits, ironic considering I don't speak the language :-)

New Year's in Cairo

We agonized over how we should celebrate New Year's Eve (or at least I did), should we stay in our hotel room that night, play games and watch television or go to a New Year's Eve celebration at the hotel. We opted for going out which I think was a good choice. The hotel had a celebration in their ballroom, there was a DJ, music, dancing, 4 or 5 course meal and a belly dancer. The guidebook recommended that we see a belly dancing show but I must admit the dancer was a bit of a disappointment as we've seen dancers at a couple of the Moroccan restaurants in California who were no less talented. She did add a festive touch to the night. The food was average, the music was 80s and 90s English music which I enjoyed. Overall a great way to ring in the new year.

Not sure what the new year has in store for us but here's a list that I'd like to focus on.

• Hopefully more travel which includes a trip to the US/Canada.
  
• Exercise and stay healthy. Rushil's skin is better but needs to improve more, planning on trying pranic healing this year.
  
• We hope that more of our family and friends visit us in India.

• I would like to attend more family weddings this year, we missed so many of our relative's weddings over the past few years and I would like to get my fill before we move back. (and I can justify more shopping)


• Would really like to learn some Hindi this year


• Volunteer/charity work, I had that in my list last year but didn't do anything about it, hopefully this year.


• Entertain more and participate in the activities organized at our complex.


• Would like to get the kids engaged in activities. Rushil has started soccer but it's early in the mornings on weekends, something we're not used to but I think we (meaning Prasad) need to start sacrificing our weekend mornings like most parents. Sindhu has yet to decide what she wants to do.


• Would like to continue blogging. When we first moved here, everything was a novelty and there was always a story to tell. We have now settled into a routine, hope I'll have enough to blog about.

• Spend quality time together as a family. I think we've improved on this front after moving to India but there is always more room for improvement.

Egypt - Luxor

Karnak Temple

Edfu Temple

Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo Temple


Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo Temple


Karnak Temple

This is how they occupied themselves at the temples

Fresh noodles

Sofra Restaurant

Huge cabbages

Street-side falafel place

Young boy on the felucca

Views of the Nile from the felucca

On our drive to Luxor, we visited two temples along the way, Edfu and Kom Ombo. Both temples were built by the Romans in ancient Egyptian style. Edfu temple, better preserved than Kom Ombo temple was dedicated to the god Horus, it was hidden under the sand for many years. Kom Ombo was more dilapidated, it seems many of the pillars and parts of the temples were used in kingdoms in the later years. One interesting section we saw at the Kom Ombu temple was a hospital, they had separate rooms for operations and mummification, the first stethoscope was discovered at that hospital. They have drawings of the medical tools they used and details of the procedures that were performed. Tourists are not allowed to stay in Edfu and Kom Ombu so there have very limited restaurants and no hotels. After looking around, our only option was a street-side falafel place in Edfu (4 falafel pita sandwiches for less than a $1).

We reached Luxor that evening and had Indian food at a restaurant near our hotel called "Taste of India". Although that restaurant was not listed in our guidebook, it must have been in some guidebook as most of the customers were foreigners. The food was pretty decent. Even though Luxor is not known for its restaurants, we had some of our best meals there. Sofra's, one of Lonely Planet's favourite picks, had delicious baba ghanoush, soup and vegetable stew. Oasis Cafe, another Lonely Planet recommendation, is more of a lunch place and I would recommend it as they have a non-smoking section. We had a full course meal at El Hussein our first night, decent food but there are probably better choices out there. We also had some great street food, delicious falafel sandwiches and kushari for lunch. We really enjoyed the food in Egypt more so than in Bali and Malaysia.

Luxor was our favourite city in Egypt although Aswan was a very close 2nd. It's a fairly small town so it's easy to walk from one place to another. Our hotel was right across the street from the Luxor temple so we passed the temple daily. Luxor has been beautified for tourists, they have a lovely boardwalk where you can can rent feluccas (sail boats), and caleches (horse drawn carriages) , they cleared the stores and homes in front of the Luxor temple to create a large open courtyard and the plan is to create a walkway to Karnak Temple with sphinx lined up along the street.

Our first day, we went to West Bank, to see the Valley of the Kings, and the Valley of the Queens. Even though many of the tombs were well hidden, most of them were looted, even all the mummies were found in one tomb and not where they were intended to be. We saw a few of the tombs and what was most impressive was how well preserved the carvings and the paint were on the walls. Since many of these tombs were buried in sand and not exposed to the sun and wind, they did not erode. After you have seen a few of them, the novelty wears off pretty quickly. We did however learn about Egypt's first female "king" Hatshepshot and her fascinating story.

On the second day, we covered the East Bank, mainly visiting the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Temple. Karnak temple had by far the most impressive pillars in Egypt and the pictures do not do justice at all. The temples in Luxor are dedicated to Amun-Ra, a local Luxor God. We had a wonderful guide who walked us through both temples and then later took us to a great falafel and kushari joint.

There are other sites to see on the West Bank but we decided to relax our third day. We visited the Luxor musuem which is worth a visit since many of the statues from the temples are on display at the museum. We also watched the sunset on the Nile on a felucca. The owner of the felucca hired a young boy to help him. I asked the boy if he went to school to which he answered yes but I have my doubts.

We spent a couple of hours at bookstores and purchased some wonderful books for the children. Rushil picked out a book on mummies, Sindhura a book on "100 Facts on Egypt" and myself a book about Hatshepshot. Prasad also bought me a couple of bestseller English novels written by Egyptian authors, "The Yacoubian Building" and "Khul Khaal, Five Egyptian Women Tell their Stories". On this trip, I read "The Alchemist", Khul Khaal and I finished the last book in the Twilight series on a Kindle (which was very easy to get used to) so it was a productive vacation.

Luxor is a lovely town and I would love to go back one day.

Nubian Village in Aswan

In front of the school

Views from the village.

Lovely paintings on a building

We visited a Nubian village on another island near our hotel in Aswan. Nubians are a tribal group similar to the Berbers in Morocco. We had the impression that we would see a makeshift village with some houses, a school and a mosque similar to the berber village we saw in Morocco. We walked 20-30 minutes through the villages, got lost, asked for directions multiple times and finally reached our destination. It was a quiet, serene island with narrow roads, and none of the hustle and bustle of the Egypt we saw thus far. For the first time, we only saw a handful of tourists. Women were sitting with their children on their front porches, elderly men were sitting and chatting, we saw a few women carrying water in a bucket on their heads and we also met an elderly female sheep herder. The village reminded us of India, garbage on the side of the roads, and open water drains along the streets of the village, it was still neater than most of the Indian towns. Egypt in general was clean, something that Sindhu commented on when we first arrived. Very few spoke English on the island. The mosque was simple and nothing to write home about.

We arrived at the school , we were fortunate that even though it was Sunday (Fridays are off) , school was in session and it was recess time so the teachers allowed us in. They had pretty decent security, you couldn't just enter the school unnoticed. It was a middle school so most of the children were between the ages of 11-14. A few girls crowded around us and started speaking in English, one particular girl was a little bolder and was very interested in speaking to us. She gave us some basic information about the school, the subjects they learned (Math, English, Arabic, Science, Geography, etc..) and she also asked us a few questions. The school was very neat and clean, it was far more impressive than the government school we visited in Bangalore. She asked us if we were Indian and then rattled off a list of her favourite Indian actors and actresses, (Big B, Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor) . They asked me the meaning of our names and when I told them the meaning of Sindhura's name, they asked me why I didn't wear a bottu (bindi). The girls sat on one side of the classroom and the boys on the other side but there was plenty of camaraderie between them. United Way provided them a snack or lunch and it was served during their recess period. Most of the teachers were male I believe. They had some computers and one of the teachers asked Prasad if he could fix his computer. Unfortunately they had loaded a set of pirated software and some of the software had expired. Meeting the children was one of the highlights of the trip.

Egypt - Aswan

Perfume bottles at the Aswan Market

Aswan market - Man selling lemons

Aswan Market

Hookahs (sheeshas)

Spices at the Aswan Market

More Spices at the Aswan Market


Philae Temple

Philae Temple

Abu Simbel

Pizza place in Aswan. It was fun watching him make the pizzas.


Views of Nasser Lake from Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel

We took a flight to Aswan at an ungodly hour and we were exhausted by the time we arrived at the hotel. We hired a car and guide for the afternoon to see some of the sights in Aswan. Aswan is a more laid back town with a strong Nubian influence. Our hotel was off the mainland so we took a boat every day to cross the Nile River to reach the mainland. The three main sights in Aswan are : the Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk and the High dam. Philae temple is located on an island and the temple was relocated to another island as the high dam flooded the original location of the temple. This temple is dedicated to the goddess Isis. Sherri, our guide recounted one of the more famous Egyptian myths about Isis, Osiris and their son Horus, Sindhu was fascinated by this story. Many of the temples have some connection to one of these gods, so the story is reinforced multiple times during the trip. The temple is really quite beautiful especially due to it's location on the island. The 2nd sight, the unfinished Obelisk is a little less interesting but you get an idea of what a quarry looked like and the children enjoyed the open space and climbing the stones. Later on, Sindhu was able to identify obelisks at other locations. The high dam provides 90% of the power in Egypt and it has produced the world's 2nd largest man-made lake called Lake Nasser. The Nile River which is the only source of water in Egypt (it doesn't rain in Egypt) is impressively clean. All the towns, cities and farm lands are located along the river or along Lake Nasser and the rest is dessert and pretty much uninhabited. The importance of being close to a source of water is very evident in this country unlike anywhere else we've been to. That night we went to the Aswan market. It was less crowded and the vendors were more friendly than at the Khan el Khalili market in Cairo. The more popular items were spices, perfumes and perfume bottles, I bought a few small statues for my Bommala Koluvu collection

The next day we went to Abu Simbel which is located about 3 hours from Aswan. It was all desert right up to Abu Simbel. It is a must to go in a convoy which is a caravan of cars escorted by two police cars for protection. As a tourist, you can't stay overnight at Abu Simbel, you have to go back with the convoy. There are several locations in Egypt that don't allow tourists to stay overnight, probably for the safety of the tourists and therefore do not cater to tourists and are frozen in time. Driving through the dessert, we experienced first hand what a mirage was. Depending on the landscape of the dessert, there were several times that we thought we saw a lake or a small body of water when in fact there was nothing but sand there, it was very deceiving. We could appreciate how difficult it would be to survive in the dessert, you see miles and miles of sand and nothing else.

Abu Simbel is very impressive, the tall statues are mind boggling. This was another site that was relocated as it would have otherwise been submerged under water due to the high dam. The view of Nasser Lake from Abu Simbel is beautiful. If you have the time, Abu Simbel and Aswan are definitely worth a visit, you see a more serene and peaceful side of Egypt. That evening we had Egyptian pizza which is quite tasty, all the cheese and vegetables are placed inside the pizza dough and not on top. We observed that most restaurants have an English menu with separate pricing for tourists and a menu in Arabic for the locals. It might be worth learning Arabic numerals as Egyptians list the pricing of items in Arabic unlike in most other countries, the prices are in English even if the menu items are listed in the local language.

The next day we headed to Luxor by car. We visited a Nubian village at a nearby island on the Nile River in the morning and then headed to to Luxor but stopped at Kom Ombo and Edfu on the way. All coming in up the next post.

Egypt - Cairo

Oldest mosque in Cairo


The Sphinx

"Are you from India ? Welcome! I love Amitabh Bachchan." We heard this multiple times in Egypt. The Egyptians seriously love Big B, especially the men. Egyptians are warm, friendly and forthright. First thing we noticed right off the bat, 90% of the Egyptian men are chain smokers and therefore smoking is allowed pretty much anywhere. When they're not smoking cigarettes, they're smoking a hookah or sheesha as they call it there. You'll see elderly men sitting in front of shops merrily smoking a sheesha for hours on end. Many of the restaurants offer flavoured sheeshas to the tourists. Sindhu is terrified of smokers so we had to constantly tell drivers and guides to put out their cigarettes or move to different seats in restaurants to avoid the smoke and many times we just had to deal with it. Rushil got a real kick out of Sindhu's fear and constantly teased her by saying the word "cigarette" to get a reaction out of her.

Cairo is a modern city and has all the problems of pollution, congestion and traffic of an urban city. It has huge malls, gated housing communities, international schools and all the modern conveniences of any city. Although the majority of the women do wear hijabs, you'll find more women uncovered in Cairo than in Aswan or Luxor. More men wear western style clothing unlike in Aswan where you'll see many of the men wear traditional garb.

The plan was to see the Pyramids on Day 1. Ashraf, our guide gave us an excellent introduction to Egyptian culture on our drive to Giza. 80% of the population is muslim (no surprise there) and the remaining is Orthodox Christian. Apparently, "love marriages" are common and arranged marriages are no longer the norm. Joint families are also not common in the cities. He felt that their culture is similar to Morocco and Tunisia but their food is more Lebanese/Mediterranean. Our guide had a double college degree, was married to a doctor, grew up in Dubai, and has his own tourist guide company, not the typical guide.

The Giza Pyramids are impressive, three large structures, in the middle of nowhere. What's more interesting is the story behind them. What are the theories on how they were built, why were no coffins found in any of them, who built them, were they built by slaves, etc.. The same family built the Pyramids of Giza, the grandfather built the largest, his son, the 2nd largest although it appears as if his is the largest as it is on an elevated piece of land and the 3rd by the grandson. There was one theory that slaves built the pyramids, but Egyptians believe that due to a flood many workers didn't have farming jobs and were available to build the pyramids and were provided food and shelter as compensation. It's really an engineering marvel as many of the sights in Egypt are. The Sphinx was equally impressive. The Sphinx was built 5000 years ago, the colours have faded and some pieces have fallen off and most of the erosion has happened in the last 100 years.

We had a quick lunch at Felfela which serves authentic Egyptian food. We enjoyed the mezze (pita with hummus, tahini sauce, yoghurt dips and baba ghanoush), lentil soup, kushari (mix of rice, lentils, pasta, fried onions and tomato sauce) and falafel. We pretty much lived on this diet for the next 10 days.

Next stop was the Egyptian Museum which is somewhat like the Louvre in Paris, it is such a large museum and impossible to see all of it in one day. Ashraf showed us the highlights. We saw the treasures found in Tutankhamun's tomb, the most famous because it was intact. We saw the Mummies, this was the moment Rushil was waiting for during the trip and all he talked about afterwards. He and Sindhu were simply fascinated by the whole process of mummification. It was amazing to see how much emphasis the ancient Egyptians placed on their after-life, and the trouble they went to preserve themselves and their possessions in preparation for it.

That same day, we squeezed in a trip to City Star Mall, Cairo's newest mall. We hadn't bought any Xmas presents for the children so we thought of letting them choose a gift there but unfortunately it didn't work out. Yes, I know pretty pathetic, don't worry Sindhu and Rushil didn't let us forget. But seriously shouldn't the trip be good enough?

We returned to Cairo at the end of the trip and this time we stayed in downtown. Some of the key places we saw during our last few days were Islamic Cairo, Khan El Khalili, the famous souks of Cairo, lunch at Khan el Khalili & Mahfouz Coffee shop, shopping in Zamelek which is an upscale shopping area with interesting stores. Zamalek store vendors are less pushy. We bought a lovely lamp at Loft Gallery, they have unique lamps and antiques, definitely worth a look. Coptic Cairo merits a visit as you get a flavour of the Coptic Christian influence in Cairo. There are other places to see but we took it easy the last few days.