Prize Day 7/22/09

Cant believe its Prize Day again. It was a year ago that Priya gave the welcome speech at the 2008 Prize Day. Ashwin and Priya had a wonderful year (and six weeks) at Jessie Moses in many ways.   The icing on the cake was Ashwin being awarded first prize in third standard in Scripture. Here are some pictures from the prize day  Fitting the occasion was a celebratory happy meal at the Annanagar Mcdonald's which is still the hip place to go in Chennai.

School's Out

Here are some pictures of Ashwin and Priya's last day at Jessie Moses school. As some of you may know, Ashwin and Priya came to Chennai in June 2008 and immediately started school without any summer break. To help make up for that, this year they will have two summer breaks. The school year here ended in mid April, followed by a seven week summer break. Ashwin and Priya resumed school, in fourth and first standard, on June 3rd (since all the friends were going back and there wouldn't be much to do at home). We thought they deserved a little break before they started school in Boston, so we took them out of school on July 17th. On the last day of school Ashwin and Priya wore colored clothes and distributed candy to their friends and teachers. We are proud of how well Priya and Ashwin did in a school (both academically and socially) which was very different from what they were used to. Great job guys!

Mango Madness

This blog post is dedicated to Leann's mom, Naren. Naren LOVES mangoes, but was sad to have missed the season by coming to visit in January. Well Mom, mango season is now in full swing. Everywhere you look someone seems to have set up a cart on the street selling them, and the shops are full of all different types... Rumani, Alphonso, Banganapalli, Malgoa, Neelam, Kilimuku and more. We're eating them up with great abandon - see above!

July 4th, 2009

What can one do to celebrate American Independence Day in India? Well, go to the opening of the latest Mc Donald's in Chennai, right around the corner from us. It was a grand affair - and it looked like all of Chennai was there! We went with Priya's friends to celebrate. The local paper reported that during the opening "Mrs Aishwarya Danush ( a Tamil actress) gave a traditional welcome to Mr Ronald Mc Donald , Chief Happiness Officer of McDonald's. " Sadly we missed that part.

Ashwin would have liked this venue to be open a year ago and Leann would likethe Paneer Tikka Salsa wrap to be included in the menu of US restuarants. Some of the other Indian menu additions were McAloo Tikka, Chicken Maharaja Mac, McVeggie burger and the Veggie Pizza Puff. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Happy Birthday Prabhu

This past weekend we had a great time celebrating Prabhu's birthday! June 19th was the day, and that evening we took him out for a south Indian fave, dosa at 'Dosa Calling'. The next day we had lots of family over for a celebratory dinner. Prabhu loves shrimp (aka prawns), so he got up early Sat am and headed to the dock where the fishing boats come in. There, he was able to purchase 4kg of large cleaned shrimp fresh off the boat, for a mere 500 rs (about $10). So, we had a great dinner of shrimp curry, fried rice and other tasty Chinese side dishes. Here are some photos from this fish pier, and of the Prabhu blowing out his candles (with some help)!

ps - For Prabhu's birthday gift, I had a suit made at one of Chennai's finest tailors. He wore it to his friend Cephas' wedding - nice, eh?

Extra Photos

Here are a few more photos which capture the spirit of our time in Sikkim. We had a special night of entertainment arranged through Manoj Chettri our tour guide/friend in Pelling. The Nepali troupe was great and the Millet Beer was the right drink for the occasion.

After a particularly cool and wet day of travelling in search of the Alpine Cheese factory for Priya we were treated to a wonderful meal at Manoj and his wife Tara's home. Prabhu was especially happy to have steamed rice, and Leann loved the pumpkin.. The wet day turned out to be Cyclone Aila which we were thankfully ignorant about.

Priya's is seen on top of the Royal Enfield motorbike with a little girl she befriended while we were staying in the town of Yuksom. For those who haven't heard of the Royal Enfield; its origin is from the Royal Enfield bikes in England. The UK company is no more, but the Royal Enfield bikes based in Chennai are considered to be the oldest motorcycles still in production. Though they are a bit temperamental and not as reliable as the Japanese bikes; the ride has been described as "one which only birds would know of " (a quote from the novel Santharam).

The rafting pictures are from the Teesta river in West Bengal/Sikkim. We had an awesome time - the river was high due to the recent rains, and Ashwin and Priya thought it was the highlight of the trip!

Sikkim

We had a wonderful trip to Sikkim. Sikkim is India's second smallest state, and one of it's newest, officially being part of the Republic only since 1975. It's sandwiched between Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet in the Himalayas., and is home to the world's third highest mountain, Kangchendzonga. It seemed as if we were in a different country, as the people looked very different. spoke different languages (Nepali, Tibetan and Bengali, as well as lots of English, thank heavens), ate quite different food, and of course the topography, flora and fauna were much different than what we're used to in Tamil Nadu. The major religion in Sikkim is Buddhism, and we got to see lots of scenic temples and monastaries. We had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed the warm, open people. Highlights were hiking in the Himalayas, white water rafting on the Teesta river, touring small villages, and eating momos and other local delicacies! Honorable mention for Ashwin would probably be playing pick up soccer in the Himalayas, and for Priya, a visit to the Alpine Cheese Factory, to indulge in one of her favorite foods (rarely found here in Chennai...) Here are a few photos of the scenery - more to follow.