My Family Moves to India

How long can this alliterative streak go on?

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I love this video. His talk was excellent.

I feel personally that creativity is one of the keys to happiness in life. Any way to make the world a more beautiful place is soul-satisfying.

One of the best qualities about India is the creativity of its people. I have never seen such ingenuity. Within their own framework, albeit different and limited by some western standards, they do marvellous works. I especially love what they do with textiles - the amazing colors, embroidery, and design astonish me. I still feel that the sari is the most feminine, elegant garment I have ever seen worn by women (although I can't properly wear it myself. )

Every time I go shopping for clothing here I look at the saris and think of the beautiful quilts, draperies, and other things that could be made out of that much fabric. I finally succumbed and made some pillows - my own attempt at creating - using the sari pallau (elaborate fold that falls down the back) and trim:


Part of the pallau (diamond patterned fabric), and some of the sari trim, paired with some brown silk.




More detail from a different part of the pallau.




Very American - patchwork with ruffles (made from the sari border). The grey is the original sari color; the brown, a separate fabric that goes with our couch. As always, the ruffles took forever!




Floor pillows for the kids to sit on!

I can't lie....I used a lot of stitch witchery!

Is serving others. Especially when they appreciate it. I have so enjoyed utilizing the seemingly "useless" information about sewing and homemaking that my mother took such great pains to impart. In this modern age, it seems so outdated (and often looked down upon in the U.S.) to know much about making clothes, but twice in the last two weeks it's come in very handy. Makes me feel good.

Now I just have to figure out a way to impart that knowledge to my kids....J is keen on such things but I'm not sure L can sit still long enough to absorb much of it. Guess he'd better marry someone clever about such things, ha ha.

I dared to comment to a friend that I thought the electrical issues were all fixed, which of course jinxed me. Within 48 hours S and I both got mildly shocked in the shower. It's our electrifying personalities.

During the same time frame, we had the same fuse blow out (the giant one) with a possible fire - either the fire went out by itself, or it didn't happen, or no one told me about it. It's in a different building than our house. Whatever. As God would have it, the relief driver that day was an excellent electrician, so he and S went out and fixed the sucker. Again. The fix isn't permanent, though, so now we're in the usual runaround as to who will pay to replace the fuse. Argh.

To add to the party, four AC units have been out, some of them over a month. The maintenance company came out one time, while we were gone, and fixed one unit. Since then they have claimed that Ayudha Puja (the blessing of machinery) prevents them from doing anything. Amazing logic.

The end of September marks the start of the Indian festival season - the festival of Ganesh, Ayudha Puja, Diwali, and probably a few more that I've forgotten. I keep track of Ganesh because there is usually a safety warning out about going to the immersion (statues of the elephant God Ganesh are thrown into the ocean); Ayudha Puja is pretty much forced upon us because S works making heavy machinery; and Diwali is the one which we choose to celebrate as a family. Diwali is, to us, essentially a festival of light over darkness, which ties in with our own beliefs. It's also rather unforgettable because the staff expect a month's wages at that time, a tradition which, if you forget, you may live to regret. Basically Diwali means getting a lot of candles and firecrackers to set off that evening, and going to the ATM every 24 hours for days to collect enough cash to pay everyone at once.

Of course as soon as the Indian festival season ends, the US holiday season begins, with Halloween (religously celebrated at the school, to my dismay); Thanksgiving; and Christmas. Overall it's a fun but very busy time for the coordinator of all things, ie, me.

Maybe I need to begin a festival of my own. We'll call it "Thegatheringofallrepairmenatourhouse" and the theme will be "youwillnotleaveuntileverythingisfixed." Bwa ha ha ha ha.....

This one is much shorter, I promise.

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