Periamalai (Big Hill)

About to head off on our hike

Priya in the kitchen.

Ashwin and a jackfruit tree!

At Lalbagh Gardens

Bengaluru palace, home to the Wodeyer family, former rulers of Mysore State

Last week we took a short break and headed to Periamalai, a village near Bangalore where Prabhu has been several times to help with a surgical camp. The SMART clinic there was founded and run by Dr Jeyachandran and provides free care to the residents of the nearby areas (many are tribal people) who would otherwise have very limited (if any) access to health care. Over the years the clinic as grown into a small hospital and apart from in addition to medical visits, surgical camps are conducted every 3 months or so.

We had a wonderful time in Perriamalai -Leann saw patients with Dr Jeyachandran and Dr Rohan, Prabhu assisted with some minor cases, Ashwin and Priya had fun playing in the cool fresh air, and we all went hiking in the nearby hills - and got caught in the most beautiful thunderstorm (outside of Minnesota) we'd ever seen. (the thunderstorm did cause a very small stream we had forded on the outbound leg of the hike to become a three foot deep torrent on the way back, which sucked the shoes right of Ashwin's feet, which was a little exciting!)

After two days in Perriamalai we spent a pleasant weekend in Bangalore, where we enjoyed getting to see our nephew /cousin Vijay. Bangalore bears the 'Garden City' title with pride. The world class Lal Bagh and Cubbon parks are oasis in an otherwise hectic urban landscape. We also enjoyed a great Japanese meal at Harima restaurant which included good Chimay beer( worth it even at 7 dollars, says Prabhu).

Report Card

On April 29th, 2009 the results of the annual exams were released at Jessie Moses School. Students and their parents go to meet the teachers and receive report cards. Ashwin did very well - he scored 100/100 in Math, English, Social Studies, Scripture, General Knowledge and Computer Science. He score 98/100 in Science and 92/100 in Tamil (which was a huge gain from early in the year). What a great acheivement for Ashwin. We as parents are very proud and Priya was also very happy for her brother! After picking up the report card we went out and celebrated with a mini tiffin meal at Hotel Saravana Bhavan .

Archana weds Vijay

With Archana's sister, Aarathi

Last Tuesday evening we had the honor of attending Archana and Vijay's wedding reception. For those blog followers who don't know, Archana Nagaraja is a second year resident in Internal Medicine who is doing her primary care clinic at my office. I was her preceptor until September when I decamped for Chennai. Archana's family is from Tamil Nadu, and she (and her twin sister) attended medical school here, so she and her fiance planned to come back here for their wedding. The reception was great fun. Ashwin and Priya especially enjoyed the clowns (a first at a wedding for us) and the band. The food was delicious, and of course the bride was ravishing and the groom very handsome. We had a wonderful time - here are some photos from the big day!

Happy Easter

We would like to wish all of our blog followers a blessed, peaceful Easter (or Passover, or Spring). Thought you might like to see a picture of Ashwin, Priya, and their new friend Sneha (who moved in to the apartment across from ours a couple of weeks ago) coloring Easter eggs. We managed to find some food coloring at the store and the kids did a great job creating beautiful, original eggs! Sending Easter love to all of you!

Leann, Prabhu, Ashwin and Priya

Congratulations Graduate

This Monday, Priya graduated from the nursery class at Jessie Moses School. We were all very proud of her - she had a great year, learned a lot, including some Tamil, and adapted very well to the academic culture in India. We were fortunate that Priya had a very kind and patient teacher, Mrs Rose Augustine, with whom she is pictured, above. At the graduation, she was selected to give the "vote of thanks" from the students to the teachers and staff, and she did a wonderful job. Congratulations Priya!

Summertime

Early one morning a few weeks ago, Ashwin asked me why he was sweating even when he was standing still. I put my hand up and answered. Global warming. Thank you Al Gore, I said. Summer was always hot here, but now it's starting earlier. For the next 4 months the temperatures will be in the 35-40 degree C. range. If we are lucky we will have some rain in July and things will cool off a bit.

One thing everyone in South India looks forward to is that summer is mango season. Varieties like alphonso, banganpalli, malgova, neelam, rumani and Killemouku will flood the markets. Mangoes are just starting to come to market, so for now we have to be satisfied with watermelons (which are currently selling for 8rs/kg, or just about 7cents a pound). The photos of mango tree is the view from our bedroom window. Prabhu

Weekend in Colombo

Downtown Colombo

1,500 year old Banyan tree

National flower of Sri Lanka

'Flying foxes', a very large type of fruit bat

On a field trip.....

Roadside lunch sales...

Flipping roti

I (Leann)spent the first weekend of March visiting Colombo, Sri Lanka. The visa I'm on here in India mandates that I have to leave the country after 180 days, so in order to comply I headed east. Naively, I assumed that Colombo would look and feel pretty much like any big Indian city. I was rapidly proved wrong in this, for there were many notable differences between Sri Lanka and India. For example, the streets were wider and less congested, with sidewalks that you can actually walk on. On strolling through Colombo's largest park I was startled to see dozens of young couples holding hands, hugging and kissing (quite passionately, it seemed). India is quite conservative, and PDA's are pretty much taboo (I hasten to add, however, all the couples in Colombo were male/female - Sri Lanka isn't that liberal)! Most women I saw were wearing western clothes, many fewer saris and only a few salwars. Instead of roadside tea stalls or 'tiffin joints' that are omnipresent here in India, the fast food option of choice in Colombo seems to be 'packets'. Each day people drive into the city and then set up card tables with dozens of lunches they have made that morning at home, all individually packaged and wrapped in newspaper. The going price, 800-100 Sri Lankan rupees - or 80cents - 1 USD. The other major easy to note difference in Colombo is an eerily creepy security presence, particularly in the downtown. In a twenty minute walk along the beach promenade, I counted 67 armed military personnel (plus dozens of what I presumed to be army recruits out for their morning jog). Despite this, I enjoyed sightseeing, shopping and some delicious food. Above I have posted some photos of the Lankan flora, from the Viharmadevi park, as well as some food photos - of one of the street corner lunch sellers, and of the chefs at the wonderful Sri Lankan restaurant at the Hilton making roti - I'm posting these especially for my friends Liz and Carlene. Liz, they make their roti different in Sri Lanka - they flip the dough onto the table with both hands until it's stretched out very thin - they were happy to let me try, and it's harder than it looks!