Wow, our trip has ended and we have been back home for over a month.  Re-entry was ameliorated by a lovely three week trip to Europe.  Most of you know my sister Melinda and her family live in Switzerland.  The girls and I  left Chennai on March 24, had a last meal of chapati and Dal in Mumbai, and made our way to Amsterdam.  I will never forget how  a simple, airport supermarket meal of fresh milk, three different cheeses, French bread, Dutch cookies, plums, and salami, eaten in  an airport lounge could completely, thoroughly and sublimely thrill Isabel and Clio: it was an epic meal, a meal to remember for the girls who struggled for six months with spice.

We landed up in Geneva, to the warm and welcome embrace (and daffodils) of Melinda, Michael, Marina, Leo and Action Man.  We decompressed on milk fat, beautiful bread, the Swiss country side and spring.  And then, we headed to Corsica: Seven people, gear for a week and a Volvo station wagon.   We sat, too cramped to move and watched the wonder that is Europe pass by our windows.  We saw the Swiss Alps, the French Alps, the Italian Alps.  We ate superb food at a slow food restaurant in Bra, Italy.  (Thank you Michael, that Panna Cotta may never be equaled.)  

Corsica:  I could live there.  A vista that includes the Mediterranean and snow capped mountains is something too wonderful to forget.  And sadly, I fell in love with Columba beer.  I may have to return to Corsica one day.....

Thank you Melinda and Michael for that wonderful three weeks!

February Adventures

In February, we spent several weeks in Madurai at the home of Sheik Dawood and Bathu Begum--parents of Ismail.   The girls enjoyed living in an extended family and delighted in Shahrukh, the youngest grandchild.  I enjoyed the spectacular food cooked by the talented woman of the household.   From Madurai, we took a quick trip to Coimbatore to visit relatives and received a tour of clothing factories from Hasina's nephew.  (see Isabel's blog entry)

The girls and I went to a village temple festival with anthropologist Sara Dickey and her family.   The excitement and energy of the festival trumped the oppressive heat and provided me with many photographic opportunities.   The girls were not thrilled to find themselves even more of a spectacle than usual but they did get to see a village.  (Not all field trips have to be fun do they?)  The photo album "Madurai and More" contains many portraits from our trip to the village.  You will notice babies and children with black smudges on their faces.  The smudges serve to mar the perfection of the children and protect them from the consequences of envy or admiration.  

Catherine

P.S. Clio's birthday was celebrated back in Chennai.  We spend the day south of Chennai at the Crocodile Bank.  Despite the heat, it was enjoyable.  After viewing the crocs, we visited the puppies we had met three weeks earlier at our stay at the Tamil Nadu Hotel. (see Clio's blog entry) 

 P.P.S.  The girls and I leave Chennai on March 24 for Switzerland to see Melinda and family.  We will all travel together to Corsica.  We will arrive stateside on April 14th. 

To view pictures from our latest adventures, click on the slideshow entitled, "Madurai and More".

 

Our Trip to Coimbatore

     We got up early to go to Coimbatore with three other people: Hasina, Nida, and Babu.  We drove for five hours, during which we were quite cramped and uncomfortable.  We visited the house of Hasina’s nephew, who owned garment factories.  We went up the stairs of his house, to see the clothes catalog containing the pictures of clothes that were to be exported to stores in the United States and Europe.  Upstairs we also saw a fish.  It was huge, gold colored, and it moved in crazy jerks and glides, all over its tank.  It was an Arowana.

       We went to three factories that day.  The first factory we went to had twenty machines in one room, ten to each side, with an isle in between.  One side was embroidering ten, black and yellow New York T-shirts.  The other side was starting a complicated, gold embroidery pattern on a white T-shirt.  At the end of each of the rows of machines, there was a computer.  The computer counted the number of stitches, and stopped when one of the machines made a mistake.  When a machine made a mistake, all the other machines halted, waiting for the mistake to be resolved by the machine or by one of the workers.  Most of the time, though, the machine would automatically fix itself and then resume work with all the others.  All of the machines did everything in perfect unison.  The machines were moving so fast, you couldn’t see them, but you could see the designs growing. 

     We left that room and went to another, where two people were working with a fusing machine.  They straitened out two huge pieces of cloth as they entered the machine. At the end, the cloth was fused together to form one piece.  Next to the fusing machine was a person with an extremely sharp razor, cutting out the logo for one of the New York T-shirts.  

We left the factory, and went to another.  This one was a huge workroom where some of the people were taking the embroidered cloth and assembling clothes. Then, some of the clothes were stamped and approved, while others were put in a stack to be taken apart and redone.  The approved clothes were put on hangers, ironed, and then folded into boxes, ready to be shipped.  We were generously given some approved clothing from the pile.  It was near the end of the day, so we headed home quickly, so we could get some sleep.  It was a very educational trip, and we all enjoyed it.

Isabel

Puppies at a Hotel

 

     We were at a hotel when Isabel and I saw a dog and we could tell that she had puppies so we followed her until we found them.  There were six, four-week-old puppies and they were all female. They lived under a stout bush.

 

    We played with the puppies all weekend. When we went on a walk to see a big, dead puffer fish their mother followed me.   We fed the puppies some egg and they liked it and ate it ravenously.

 

    Yesterday, for my birthday we went and visited the puppies again. One puppy had been adopted and two were missing.  I went looking for the missing ones and found one behind a tree root far away from her siblings.  I found the other one, after a long time, hiding behind a refrigerator.  Their bush had been chopped down so they now live under a huge stack of chairs.  I look forward to seeing the puppies again.

 

Clio

Ants in the Kitchen

Ants in the Kitchen
by Isabel

    The ants in our house used to invade the kitchen and the surrounding areas. My mom did not like this and wanted to put out poison. I started putting out dishes filled with sugar water, bread soaked in honey, grape juice, and anything I could find that I thought the ants would like. Soon we noticed that the ants stopped getting into our food. They did not need to forage anymore because I was putting food right near their nest.
    There are several things I have noticed that the ants do when they collect food: If it is a liquid, they will hold on to the lip of the dish with their back legs, and drink the sweet substance. The three armor-like plates on their abdomen swell as the ants drink. There are transparent folds of skin-like material in between the plates. (You can see this in the picture.)
     The ants that have been collecting food will feed newcomers some of whatever they have collected. I think this is so the newcomer can see the type of food she is supposed to collect. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems like the ant will go directly to the dish that contains whatever she has been given, and no other.
     There is a predator for the ants, the pallis. They are little geckos that come out at night and eat bugs. The pallis have found the spot where the ants come to get fed. You rarely see pallis beyond three inches but pallis that eat our ants are five or six inches. They are being fed ants that are large already but are made even larger by the sweet nourishment they are bringing back to the nest. The food these pallis eat are both nutritious and and filling.  Pallis eat as much as they can and the ants are so consumed with their work that they don't even realize that the pallis are there.  The pallis are able to eat quite a bit, and they get really big. 

    I have created a predator-prey situation that is quite effective in keeping the ants under control.  Some people put out poison, and this kills off the both the pests and the predators. Then the pests come back and there is nothing to keep them under control except poison which you have to put out all the time.

    The ants in our house no longer invade the kitchen, and we did not have to use the poison my mom was thinking about getting.  This is an all-win situation, even for the ants, because they get most of the food back to their nest.  This is a strategy that is better for the environment, the ants, the geckos, and us.

Our Trip with Noah

Our Trip with Noah

by Clio

  Noah came to India for Christmas vacation.  We went on many exciting adventures while he was here.  Here are three of them:

                     Horn Bill Camp

We went to a state called Kerala.  In Kerala we went into the mountains to a camp site called Horn Bill Camp.  We went kayaking three times. Once, my kayak almost tipped over.  Another time, it bumped into a big stand of bamboo. 

    One night at camp, we heard elephants eating bamboo and trumpeting. One morning we went birding  and saw:  a Black Buza , a Cormorant, a Snake Darter, a Horn Bill, Haring Tree Pies , Frog mouth, Oriental Robin,  Paradise Fly Catcher,  Red Bellied Ground Thrush, and a bird called the Seven Sisters.  (We saw more birds but I can’t remember them.)  At Horn Bill we also went on an exciting bike ride and saw a half-sunken canoe and a dog that looked like a sausage.

   The Cardamom Club

    Next, we went to a plantation called the Cardamom Club .  At the Cardamom club, there was a tree house and a big yard where Isabel and I liked to play.  We went on a big walk and saw  woodpeckers ( it was the Common Golden Backed Woodpecker )  and we saw a Gaur (wild bison) and her calf.

         The House Boat

   Then, we spent a night on a house boat; it was terrifically fun.  Isabel and I went fishing and caught fish.  They were grayish-brown, pretty fish with two, big, red spots above their tails.  We let them go because they were too small to eat.  Besides the fish, we were told there were water monitors in the water but we did not see any.  

On the house boat, we ate delicious, bony fish with yummy, fat, Kerala rice. 

                  

Here we are waiting for the train after our trip.  Noah and Isabel are playing backgammon and I am reading The Little Prince

Isabel Has Been Drawing Too