Guess who is 4 months old?
Namaste hamare dosteyaan,
We’ve been quiet on the blog front, but things have not been so quiet on the home front.
Almost two months ago we had a very smooth trip to India with Kara, but it took quite a while for us to find our feet again here in India.
It was especially hard for Marga who has been in South Africa for almost 6 months and was surrounded by family and friends during her pregnancy and the weeks following Kara’s birth. Suddenly we were alone in a somewhat familiar and still somewhat foreign and somewhat unhygenic country, with a vulnerable newborn.
And to top it off we arrived at the start of the swine flu pandemic in the East and it has since just gotten worse. (Swine flu and babies don’t mix well).
New House
To make things even more interesting we also moved to a new house in Hyderabad. It is in an area called Whisper Valley. Here are a few pics.
Friends, visitors and couriers - lend me some white powder
Before the move we were pleasantly surprised to discover that my mom and aunt would be popping over to India for a blitz visit. We asked them and our friends Japie and Elmarie (who visited SA) to “smuggle” a powdery white substance for us into India. (Who knew you could make baby formulae sound so exotic).
It was great to have family here with whom we could explore Hyderabad (and who could babysit …). During this time we also visited Ramoji Film City - the largest film studio in the world. I took way too many pictures - but I will try to sort and post them one day! Here are a few snaps of our visitors.
Flu - it does not only happen when pigs fly
I made a trip to Delhi for work and I suspect that I contracted a nasty bug on the airplane. I was struck down by flu for quite a few days and we were also really worried that I could infect Kara. So precautions had to be taken - and a regiment of quarantine and masked appearances was prescribed.
We sent the resourceful Raju on a shopping expedition to buy some gear. The end result:
So, after a rocky start we have been finding our feet again. We now live in a beautiful area called Whisper Valley in a somewhat smaller house, but one that is definitely a safer environment for an active child. We’ve also been extremely lucky to find a wonderful au pair to help out with Kara.
Another addition to our family
Alexandra is from Montana in the USA. She is studying early childhood development to become an elementary teacher, but is taking a semester off to broaden her horizons. At the age of 20 she is already a seasoned traveler and have even visited South Africa before. She is really good with Kara and we are lucky to have her here. She is an absolute master at rocking Kara to sleep!
Broken promises - the name and shame list
I must admit that I have been more frustrated with India the last month than ever before. Having moved from a furnished house to an unfurnished one we had to arrange for everything from furniture, telephone, internet and even drinking water. The dozens of “false promises” and deadlines that came and went and came again and went again, and so on …., really started to hit a nerve. So, to get it out of my system - let me name and shame a few companies.
To date we still do not have either a telephone or an internet connection at the house. (And we were assured by 1 August it would be ready).
I have also spoken to 4 supervisors and countless staff at Tata Indicom - everyone made me a promise that someone would either call me / visit my house that day, or the following day. To date I have never received a single phone call or a visit to my house. What I did get after relentlessly pursuing the matter for a week was a cancelled order. Apparently the “signal” is to weak at my house - the fact that my neighbour next door and the one across the road has the exact same connection made no impression on these tele-nazis working at the call centre. I have been promised an alternative connection by Saturday or Sunday, but on Thursday I found out that again the order was cancelled and the connection was “impossible” - despite the fact that several residents here have that connection.
Next on the thumbs down list is Kinley - a brand/division of Coca Cola. They sell mineral water. We got a water dispenser and wanted to get water delivered to our house. Unfortunately we were mistakingly under the impression that Kinley would like to acquire new clients. After ordering water with a promise that it will arrive the next day, nothing happened (not unusual), but 3 days later I called to ask what happened to the water. “Oh, there is a problem at the plant, so we are only delivering to our existing customers.” What about phoning the people you promised to deliver water to and telling them that its not coming?? “We have never heard of such a foreign concept” (some paraphrasing here) “but sir the problem will be resolved tomorrow or the day after and we will definitely call you then”. That was 2 weeks ago - to date no call, but Raju was successful in getting water from Aquafina (Pepsi’s brand).
I would love for Kinley to one day show up with the water so I can give them suggestions about where they can put it.
With the furniture I did not fare much better. The first things we bought were a fridge, water dispenser and a stand for the tv. (Yeah we have our priorities in order!) The tv stand arrived, the following day a technician comes to “assemble” it. Upon opening the box we realised that the stand was damaged. After a phone call to a manager at Reliance he promised that by 6pm the following day there would be a new tv stand, or else I can take any action against him that I wish. This was intriguing so I asked whether this would mean I could come and beat him up. A nervous manager agreed. (Keeping in mind that I am two to three times as big as the typical Indian male this could have been “interesting”.) At 4pm the next day a technician and delivery crew arrived with a “new” tv stand. And when they opened the box they realised that this one was broken even worse than the first one. I couldn’t resist, so I picked up the phone and spoke to the manager and told him to speak to his people to confirm that they have delivered another broken piece of furniture, and that I would be “seeing” him in 2 hours.
Just before 6pm a third tv stand arrived that was mostly unscathed. (In a large company like Reliance, getting a delivery to take place in 2 hours is only slightly less difficult than turning water into wine - so I guess someone was really scared).
With the water dispenser they fared slightly better - after delivering a damaged one they managed to replace it successfully the first time!
But after a number of initial promises were not met by Reliance staff, the concept of “or else” seemed to have “encouraged” some staff to take ownership and at least they resolved the problems.
Sajid
Sajid seems to be really enjoying our move to Whisper Valley. We suspect his status might have increased now that he is working here. But his status comes at a price (to us!). Earlier this year Sajid had financial troubles (relating to medical expenses for his mother) and while we were outside of India his creditors came calling, so he had to sell his motorbike and buy a cheap old scooter. This was okay when we stayed at the other house, but it was a serious matter for him after we moved to Whisper Valley. So he came with brochures of new motorbikes, financing plans and schemes, etc and it became the daily topic of conversation, until I agreed to loan him the money to buy a new bike.
So Sajid is very happy with his brand new stylish bike.
To further adapt to his new role as a “Whisper Valley driver” he also bought some material and commissioned two “driver uniforms” to be made - which was both a surprise and a source of amusement for us.
Tooth-ache
I have managed for the first time in my life to break a tooth. Not something I recommend.
I was also not particularly planning on having a root canal or crown implantation done in India - but faced with a raw exposed nerve versus Indian dentistry it was a simple choice. Not having received the best in terms of “service” that India has to offer, I was a bit nervous when I entered Dr Mahendra’s practice. He started off by giving me 2 injections - 1 in the gum (where you would expect it) and another in the roof of my mouth (ouch!) - a first for me. Thereafter it felt like he had a jackhammer in my mouth (I was fearing a concussion), before the hand-file came out to remove the nerves from tooth’s roots - but too his credit and my surprise / delight, the procedure was virtually painless.
I still need to get the crown, but thus far I give a big thumbs up to Dr Mahendra.
And about the star of the show - who recently celebrated her 4 month birthday!
Kara is healthy and happy and she is doing really well. She is very active, smiles at us (except when we hold a camera!), loves to talk, hates to be ignored and still is not fond of day time naps. She averages around 6-7 hours of sleep per night - so we count ourselves pretty lucky.
She has also learned how to roll over from her stomach to her back, and she is quite comfortable on her stomach as well. Sometimes Kara and I lie on our stomaches facing each other and she will lift up her head with ease and smile at me. (Yeah, I’m a big softie when it comes to Kara).
At night, right after bath time, I still give her one bottle of formula as a last meal before bed. It is really a special time for me to spend with her and I will be sad the day that she no longer needs that bottle.
Kara has developed quite a personality, and she communicates very effectively. She is extremely cute in everything she does. She loves her bath, but afterwards she gets very impatient for her bottle and makes it clear that the drying and putting on clothes should be done quicker so that she can enjoy her bottle. By the time she is my lap her mouth is already open and her eyes locked onto mine to ensure that I am aware that she is waiting.
We plan on remaining in Hyderabad for quite a while still - the swine flu and other illnesses in general is bit of a barrier for us to explore India further. We hope that things would look more healthy around October so that we can introduce India to Kara (and Kara to India).
Hamko subse acchi beti sub duniya me hain. Hamari choti rajkumari bahut khoobsurat aur bahut khaas hain. Meri biwi aur meri beti mera zindagi, meri piyaar aur mera duniya hain. Ye se pahelle, mera dil ko jaise khushi kabi nahi maloom hain.
Pir milenge
Theo Scheffler
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Ai, nou verlang ek eers !
August 22nd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Pir milenge to you too! (and the rest of the foreign language sentence at the end). Julle drama’s met die nuwe huis lees soos ‘n lekker sitcom. Gits, lyk my julle moet hare op julle tande he om deur die dag te kom. Hoop alles word tou uitgesorteer!
Kara is te oulik
August 22nd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Pir milenge to you too! (and the rest of the foreign language sentence at the end). Julle drama’s met die nuwe huis lees soos ‘n lekker sitcom. Gits, lyk my julle moet hare op julle tande he om deur die dag te kom. Hoop alles word tou uitgesorteer!
Kara is te oulik
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Ek moet saam stem, dit kilink na een groot avontuur daar!! Wat swine flu betref gaan dit net so mal hier in die Kaap. Almal is paranoies en seker met goeie rede!
Ek kan nie glo hoe vinnig Kara groei nie! Sy is regtig oulik!!!!
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 am
Hiya
I enjoy the photographs and anecdotes about Kara, as Amber our granddaughter is almost the same age. Enjoy too, the humorous tales about your Indian experience.
We’re friends of Theo’s parents with whom we “kuier lekker” when we’re back in ZA. Currrently we live in Cape Schanck Victoria Australia
Enjoy the little lady
Best wishes
Debby & Roland