Colors of India

Hair Braids and pony tails

Crafts galore!



Indian Woman

Colors of India

Not having cake and and not eating it too

I can imagine that you might think that the title of my blog is about dieting. But it isn't. While living in India, and attending church with the local Indian population, I have learned that the foreigners that live here, myself included, seem to be the only ones with ovens in their kitchens. When I go to church, they think it such a treat if I bring a baked good. So rare is it for them to have home made baked treats, that they never have just one. They take for themselves to eat right then, and then they turn around and pile their plates with more to take home to their families. I never, ever leave church with left overs if it is something that came from my oven. I wondered why they would load their plates with dessert every time I brought it until it occurred to me that it's because they don't have ovens in their homes...thus, they don't bake. If they ever get cake or cookies, it's because they bought them at the store and brought them home. That luxery doesn't happen often, as bakery goods cost a lot for them here.

I baked cup cakes for my Inidan maid, Sanjana on her birthday. She cried as our family sang "Happy Birthday" to her. I asked her why the tears, she said that her family has never celebrated her birthday before like this, with cake and a song. She was very touched.

What caused me to write today is my darling little piano student Sophie. Sophie is a petite, ten year old Indian girl. I teach her piano lessons on Saturday mornings. Her family can't afford the piano lessons, so I don't charge them, because why should I? I don't need the income, and she has talent. Why let it go to waste? I love Sophie because she learns quickly, has an obvious talent and understanding musically, and wants to learn. I was touched however, when her father told me that it was her birthday on Friday, but he could not buy her a birthday cake due to lack of funds. I was so sad to hear that...because whipping up a birthday cake is so easy for me. I could have done that for her so easily. Isn't that amazing how we live in our homes, we have ovens, and microwaves and all the conveniences of a kitchen, and we forget how the other 95 percent of the world lives....with out ovens and microwaves. They are lucky to have a gas stove, and often struggle to cover the purchase of a gas tank each month. Those who can't afford that, gather wood and cook over an open fire. Yes...they still do that. Here in India. I am sure they do that in many other parts of the world making it difficult to even imagine making birthday cakes for their children. So....next time you have your cake and eat it too. Think of the many, who don't have their cake, and will not eat it too.

Although I know I have no followers right now and no one is reading my blog, I still want to write. So I decided to chose one topic and write about it. So today, an Indian young man was at our home accompanying our computer guy that was here to work on our laptop. He asked me "what do you like about India?" The first thing that came to my mind was "It is magical". He kind of laughed at me because I don't think he understood what I meant by that. So I told him. I think India is magical because of all the animal life we see every where. I think it is magical because of the beautiful plant life, and the big bold bright colors that people wear here. I mean, the women wear these beautiful Saris that are so full of "bling" and "color". Even the women that are street cleaners wear their lovely colorful Saris to work in. I find that every day in India is an adventure. I love the fact that I can walk out of my house and see a few monkeys sitting on the light post of my apartment building, or I can walk down the street and along come trotting a bunch of donkeys. Of course, I don't want to leave out the cow meetings that frequently take place on my street. One day I even saw a goat standing on the roof of a car stretching his neck as far as he could stretch it to bite off the lowest hanging leaf from a tree. I mean...how often does one see that? I have seen an elephant walking down the street, monkeys in skirts jumping through hoops on the streets. I see every living thing share the road with cars here. Not only do we have to watch for cows strolling in the middle of the road going the wrong direction (they don't know they are going the wrong direction), but cars share the road with people (lots of them), animals of every kind like donkeys, monkeys, elephants, dogs, and cows. Cars share the road with bicycles, ice cream push carts, carts being pulled by animals and Rikshaws. I also see many street children begging for money. They tap on my windows and motion for food for their mouths. I have never seen such busy, occupied streets as they are in India. There are always interesting things to see. Every day is an adventure! That is why I love India. All of the above makes it magical. That is why I love India.

Guilty!

Guilty! I am so guilty of being a horrible blogger. I am a wanna be writer...with zero motivation. Thus, I have a blog that I haven't written on for several years. It is pretty lame, but I do feel the guilt. I know that I have so much to share, but I can't seem to make myself take time out to sit down and write. Why then am I so good at face book? I am on there several times a day...posting one-liners and photos and I have no problem doing that. Why can't I sit and write a few paragraphs in a journal each day, and why can't I update a blog once a month? I think it is just because I am one of those who can't sit still for too long at a time with out feeling guilty, like I should be up and doing something else. I always seem to have laundry, dishes, meal planning, cleaning, errands, lessons to prepare and more just waiting for me. I am one of those who has a hard time relaxing, because my mind is thinking of my "to do list". I think it over, tally up what I haven't done yet that needs to get done, then I add more to it, until it gets to the point that I have to get up and go start working on it. So...here is my pathetic apology to all my family for not documenting our amazing Osorio adventures. After all, we live in exotic places and see and do amazing things. It's time to start writing about them. So be watching...there is more to come!