June 10, 2008. Birthdays, Shopping & Flame Throwing Air Conditioning Units

Only a few pictures this time:

These are three of Winnie & the General's six dogs. (L to R) Big Boss, the Yorkshire Terrier; Lamaji, the Beagle (a.k.a. Kyle Korver for his tan coat, knee high socks, and magnetic pull on the women in the office.); and finally Buddy, the Lab. While Buddy is the friendliest dog in the office, you could argue that he "doesn't have the belt through all the loops".


Winnie brought cake in for Kaitlyn's birthday. (L to R) Kaitlyn, Winnie, Me, Jenny, Shenahz, The General (Retired Director General of the Indian Military Special Forces - yeah, he's the man), Nancy, Sonali, & Sonal. Winnie & the General are the founders. Sonal, their daughter, is CEO.

Scott treated us to dinner at TGI Fridays in Connaught Place with Liz. It was great to have some good old American cuisine for a change. We also enjoyed hearing about their excited adventures this summer in China, Singapore, and Cambodia.

The 2007 Kamas Valley Fiesta Days Demolition Derby

As Jenny and I were getting ready for bed two nights ago, our air conditioning unit started making loud cranking sounds. About 20 seconds later, the A/C unit emitted a large flame and clouds of smoke. So we talk to the handyman on Monday, and he goes into our apartment to fix the unit while we’re at work. We get home from work, and there is a pile of dirt, wires and pipes in the corner of our room, as well as a mysterious dirty rag. So I open the bathroom door, and the toilet seat is completely covered in urine. Front, back, everywhere. I’m giving Jenny the benefit of the doubt this time and blaming it on the handyman.

As far as work goes, Jenny and I are both working on some pretty exciting projects right now. Jenny has put together the first Maitri quarterly newsletter, and is also creating a twelve week course on health for Indian women. She is putting together a curriculum and I am drafting a proposal on ways that Maitri can incorporate microfinance into their operations. I have made a spreadsheet delineating how much money Maitri will need to raise to start their operations, and different interest rates they should charge to create funds for additional loans. If the project gains traction, it could be an amazing experience. Winnie has said that she hopes to implement the proposal before we leave. This weekend I believe we are flying to Shillong, a mountainous city in Eastern India, and, while it’s still unclear what we will be working on there, it should be a good time.

After traveling three weekends in a row, and with a trip tentatively planned for next weekend Jenny and I decided to stay put for a change. Our first three weekends consisted of lost luggage, bumpy bus rides, and Indian night trains. This Saturday morning, we slept in. That’s one of the nicer things about living in an area for a while – you don’t feel rushed to do everything at once. You can take time to relax. When we were in Washington D.C. last spring, I remember walking along the Mall and passing a family that was obviously on a trip. The mom listed seven Smithsonian museums, and then said, “we have four hours left before we need to go to the airport, which ones do you guys want to see?” It reminded me of my childhood. I felt relieved that I didn’t have to go to the airport for another 2 months, and I felt spoiled because I had already had two entire afternoons in the National Portrait Gallery alone.

In the afternoon, we went to Kahn market. The word “market” is very ambiguous in India. On the one hand, a market could be a row of thatched huts along the street, with cuts of meat hanging from the ceiling, or mangoes piled up in front. On the other hand, a market could have a movie theater, a TGI Fridays, and a United Colors of Benetton. Kahn market is somewhere in between. You ask yourself, as you drive up alongside Kahn, why anyone would have highly recommended this place to you. It doesn’t have the authentic market look of say, Pikes Place in Seattle or the fish market in downtown Boston, or an Indian roadside market. And it definitely doesn’t look like a higher end mall. Imagine a gray, dilapidated strip mall that you pulled out from under a viaduct. That’s Kahn market. Once you get past the façade, though, the shopping is world class. That’s one of the things that blows me away about India. While many of their streets and buildings are dirtier than mud, their styles and colors are probably the most unique and extravagant in the world.

As I was with three females, the shopping was done mostly in jewelry stores, clothing stores, and home décor stores. I’m hesitant to say that after six and a half hours of shopping, I was saying “cute” and “fun” with way too much ease.

We made a reservation for lunch at a Western restaurant called The Big Chill, and then climbed a narrow, dark flight of stairs to FabIndia, India’s version of IKEA. FabIndia was actually very impressive. They had everything from men’s leather slippers to wool rugs to colorful Indian curtains to pottery and table cloths. And it was all pretty high quality stuff. We bought a leather bag for Jenny, and two table cloth and napkin sets. All together it set us back about $65. From FabIndia we went to The Big Chill for some Western food. Jenny and I shared a barbecue chicken salad and pepperoni and gouda baked pasta with mango shakes and a tropical smoothie to drink.

After lunch, we went back through a number of clothing stores. We stopped briefly in a book store and thought seriously about buying a large coffee table book entitled “The Monumental India Book.” We decided against it when we saw that it cost $300. Jenny bought three pairs of silver earrings and a shirt, and we called it a day. Honestly though, for the ladies out there, India has some pretty outstanding shopping.

Back at our apartment, we hung out and watched a movie. Nothing too crazy. Our cook, Janki, made us puri (think fried scones) and stir fry. While we have a pile of Bollywood movies by our DVD player, we opted for Best in Show for a second straight evening.

At church on Sunday, Jenny and I met an American family from Ogden. The Miners were in India with their daughter and son-in-law, the Speths, picking up their grandson Elder Speth. Elder Speth had served in the branch we attended, and had also served in a branch just down the street from where we were in Hyderabad. Apparently the Church is growing rapidly in India. The branch president of the Vasant Vihar branch we were attending had only been baptized one year earlier. Elder Speth had actually done his baptismal interview. Brother Miner introduced himself to the Elders quorum as a retired chemistry professor, and I thought I would mention to him, after the meeting, that my Grandma was Henry Eyring’s younger sister. Not wanting to come off the wrong way, I decided against it. It turns out I didn’t have to mention it though. Jenny had made a connection with his wife in Relief Society, and Brother Miner’s mother was Caroline Eyring, Grandma’s sister. Brother Miner (Bryant is his first name) is my Mom’s first cousin, and we had a good laugh about the connection. What an interesting coincidence that I bump into a close relative from Ogden, who I’ve never met before, at a branch meeting in Delhi, on the other side of the world. Brother Miner talked about being a missionary in Europe, when Aunt Rose and Uncle Grant went to Germany to buy Mercedes and travel around Bavaria.

Today we celebrated Kaitlyn’s birthday in the office, and tonight, Uncle Scott took us to TGI Fridays in Connaught Place. It was fun to get caught up on all of Scott and Liz’s travels around the world, and hear about their reactions to Indian culture. Fortunately it doesn’t sound like anyone has urinated on their toilet seat (yet).