A Mussoorie Sunday

  I had a good Sunday, spent all morning looking at online resources for the courses I will be teaching.  Only have a week to prepare a subject I have never taught--rather challenging!  Then I did yoga, took a bucket bath (where you pour water over yourself out of a bucket using a small mug--if the whole world did this we would save a lot of water!), made a banana shake and walked down to the bazaar with stuff I bought yesterday to decorate my little house.  The School took new staff on a shopping trip to Dehra Dun, down the mountain yesterday and out to lunch in a nice restaurant there.  I particularly liked spending time with Sue, the new principal's wife.  They invited new staff for dinner the night before and I was so impressed with both her and her husband.  He is British and she is South African, both have worked all over the world.   Woodstock School is really lucky to have them here.
   Last night I went to a dinner party at the home of Sanjay, one of Mussoorie's most distinguished citizens whom my son had met in Mumbai.  He lives in a gorgeous place right on top of the hill, only one of his many places around the world, apparently.   It was warm, full of light, interesting international people and delicious food.  Who could ask for more?  Walked down the path late last night and couldn't wait to sleep.  I never started my fire all day yesterday.  

     Back to interior decorating, I must be nuts because I am doing this place up all in off white. Even bought an off white rug!  Crazy but I will be here alone most of the time so I guess it can't get too bad.  So today I took all those materials to the tailor, a 20 minute walk downhill with fantastic views along the way.  Enroute I met famous Mussoorie author Ruskin Bond on the road and said good day to him.  I hope it happens again, I might have time to stop and chat.  Next Saturday the Tailor will have 3 throw pillows, 2 bolsters, two long curtains and two window curtains ready.  I will have to pay him about $15. or so for his work.  

     Then I kept walking down down down till I got to the place in town where I was married (now a parking lot, the house was torn down many years ago) and checked out the shops there, to see how they have changed.  It was a trip down memory lane.  Many more sophisticated shops but many of the old ones are still there too, including the food stalls where Jayant and I used to drink hot milk and eat tikkis-- potato burgers.  

     I kept walking up the hill now to the Kashmir Emporium where I had a ball with the owners, bargaining and generally giving them a hard time.  I bought material for 2 curtains, you won't believe it, white wool with embroidery in white, and he only charged me $12. a yard.!  I dropped it off at the tailor's on the way backup the hill, lightening my load considerably.  I also bought a heavy wool robe to wear at home and a firan, one of those long white wool Kashmiri caftans with embroidery around the neck for $20... left two home, should have brought them!  This new one is white with black embroidery.  I wonder what my white kick is.  At least now I have plenty of clothes to layer.  

    On the way back I stopped for a cup of hot sweet milk with cardomom in the place Jayant used to take me, sitting at a table with some locals.  My vegan diet has gone by the wayside for now but I am not eating eggs.  I It was a long walk up the hill again, took me about an hour from the Mall.  It was great catching the scenes of local life:  some boys playing soccer in the street using old cardboard boxes for goals;  old women sitting in what was left of the sun sorting stones from rice;  some rag pickers who live in makeshift plastic covered sheds by the side of the road sitting around a fire, the father scolding and pulling the hair of a crying young gjrl. I stared at them hoping it would stop but then a man walking his dog behind me began to intervene telling the man "Why are you doing that?  It is wrong!"  as the younger man tried to explain why he was "disciplining" her.   It pays to speak the language in order to know what is going on!  

     From the steep path to my house I could see the sun setting over the town.  It looked so nice in the distance as all the lights began to come on.  Now I am making some lentil soup with potatoes, onions and rosemary.  My fire is going full tilt and my little place on the side of the mountain is warm and beginning to feel like home.

From the Foothills of the Himalayas

Hi Everybody, after an 8 hour taxi ride from Delhi where I spent two days with my environmentalist friend Vikram, I made it to Mussoorie.  A lot has happened so I am copying here the message I wrote my mom a few days back...Things have actually improved since I wrote this, I got my wood stove going and actually have water now...  As I write I can hear a pack of coyotes outside my door howling...yikes, glad I am not on the trail tonight!   

Monday Jan 23:   Am here in the mountains freezing my butt.  Actually it's not that bad during the day, it is about 30 at night and when you sit in the sun it maybe feels like high 40's or so.  It snowed before I came but now most has melted.  Been here 3 days and the place they have put me is a little cottage type thing that resembles the level of a migrant worker's camp.  It has three small bedrooms, a long narrow sitting room with windows all along one side, a kitchen that is not half bad and a bathroom with tiles and a mouldy shower curtain (they said they would give me a new one).  (See photos attached below)  I have had no water from the time I arrived as the pipe had broken. For 2 days no bath, yesterday could not even wash my face.  I made a cup of tea from bottled water and ate peanut butter on white bread.  
   The night I arrived I was surprised to find no electric heater.  There is a rusty small woodstove in the room (who knows when the chimney has been cleaned if ever) and thank god the first night I was there a couple showed up because she wanted to nab me as an employer...Sunita is her name and she will clean for me five days a week, an hour or so a day.  They found me freezing with my coat, hat and boots on trying to unpack.  So right away that night her husband went and got wood and leaves, etc and started up the woodstove so I didn't freeze.  Otherwise I would have just gotten into bed around 7 in order to stay warm. There was not much wood so by morning it was again freezing.  I had to go outside in the sun to warm up. 
     When I woke up and looked out the window there was a family of monkeys on the roof next door staring in at me.  Yesterday I got in wood (many pieces too big to fit in the stove I am afraid) and myself collected a few twigs for kindling.  Today I will try to get some pinecones because the fire won't start with such big chunks.  Anyway one more month of this cold weather and then it will be beautiful.  Just have to survive it... it is not that bad, kind of like camping.  They are fixing my water today and I will be able to turn on the water heaters and have a hot bucket bath.  
  I also plan to buy some rugs, a bedspread and a hanging to brighten up the place. The walls are bare.  I moved my bed into the main room (it will double as a couch although no one will be fooled... just looks like a bed in the room!) and made a little empty room for yoga (wish someone could have filmed that... Sunita the woman who is working for me and me wrestling this heavy bed, we finally had to rope in the plumber.  After several unsuccessful tries to get it around the corner of the narrow hall we had to flip it on end and almost took out the flimsy ceiling.  It was hilarious.)  But now my little yoga room is great.. just big enough for me to do my asanas, it faces due East and the sun comes straight in and warms it up to the point I can do yoga with the window open.  Best of all I am looking over the rooftops to a fantastic view of the valley.  The scenic views are spectacular.  To walk to school I have to go about 25 minutes on something akin to Buttermilk Falls trail down the steep hill.  The uphill walk home takes more time as I can literally feel my heart pumping. But somehow you don't mind all the climbing when everywhere you look it is so beautiful. 
  We walk along the mountain trails to get everywhere.  Last night I was invited to the Wildman's, Dot who teaches religious studies and her husband Peter, the head of development. They have been here 10 years, retired British teachers, and they have transformed their cottage into a beautiful home with TV, stereo, great kitchen, washing machine, etc.  They made veggie lasagna (forget being vegan when you are starving) and soup and I found out he plays guitar and mandolin and all kinds of string instruments.  I showed him David's website. He had not heard of HIpshot but was checking it out, seems like a good musician.  I like Dot very much, she has been so helpful and even lent me a hot water bottle to heat the bed up at night.  After dinner I had to walk home alone along the mountain trails and tried not to get lost. After I got to my door two big dogs ran down the trail. I was glad I didn't meet them on the way.  Monkeys too can be a problem but not at night.  I think they sleep in the trees.  You can hear them settling in around sunset.
   All the people here at the school seem very nice.  I met Amy who is head of academics and we hit it off great.  She told me about the classes I will be teaching and about the kids who sound quite extraordinary.  Everyone raves about them.  Amy knows my son as do some of the others here.  One of his friends told me they have been friends every since Kapil beat him in a class election for class president.  Everyone here is so nice to me, offering if I need anything I can contact them.  Hot shower anyone?  Somehow the idea of showing up at someone's house with my towel and clothes in hand doesn't make a good impression.  I should have hot running water pretty soon. 
  Well that is all for now from the Himalayas.  Here are some photos:  

Inside my main sitting room, this is the "before" photo.  Stay tuned for the "after"!

                                            This is my little house called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the outside...  

View when I start down the path to school.  That is the school in the distance...

 

Bye Bye Mumbai

Leaving Mumbai today for Delhi and the mountains.  Don't give up on me, as it will take some time to transition to life as a hermit in the Himalayas.  I am sorry to leave this vibrant place with its warm ocean breezes.  I hear it is cold in Delhi and that there is record snowfall in the mountains...

Last night we attended a program put on by the US Consulate called "Make Chai, Not War" with 3 very funny Amero-Indian comedians.  Apparently they are going to broadcast the show on Comedy Central India sometime in the near future.  Highly recommended, fell in love with all three guys, each a different personality and approach to the subject of growing up Indian in America.  

Till we meet again in Mussoorie... Sayonara!

With Dhruv in Mumbai

Rox Outside the Box

Roxanne to World:  As promised I have begun my own blog to take my friends along with me on my latest "Journey to the East" and beyond!  Welcome to my world and I hope you will enjoy my usual rants and raves about the good, the bad, and the ugly I encounter on this magical mystical tour.  

I am beginning this literary journey in Mumbai where I have been enjoying time with my son and his family in this amazingly cosmopolitan but user-friendly city by the sea.  Their spacious apartment in West Bandra, one of the more exclusive neighborhoods, overlooks the sea but with a small fishing village and crowded makeshift houses crammed with life in between.  From here we can walk to the bazaar, to countless shops and restaurants, and the seaside walking path that is usually quite busy in both the mornings and evenings.  The contrast between rich and poor is stark and to be expected.  But what is most surprising is the contrast between rich and middle class.  The prices here in the malls are higher than New York City and every designer and expensive brand seems to be flourishing.  Fortunately India is a country where next door to such places you can find a dhaba or chai stall where the poor can also buy some cheap eats or snacks.  Every level of society is catered to in one way or another in the urban setting.  It is in the villages that the poor fare the worst.

So stay tuned for more postings.  I will try to keep them brief and will soon be able to upload photos as well.   Take care and lot's of love from ROX OUTSIDE THE BOX!