Another wonderful family experience. I'll say it again...we are so spoiled.
This morning, Marcelo and I were graciously and unexpectedly invited to dinner at Chandrashekar's house. We have had so little opportunity to socialize during the day at SSS, so we were delighted to come and meet his family, chat, and have more amazing food.
At about 6pm, we got an email from Sonia saying that we would have a different driver for tonight. I wonder what happened to Pradeep? I hope he is okay. Laxman drove us from SSS to Chandrashekar's place, which is in an area of town that we have never been to before. In this neighbourhood, there are many new building complexes. Chandrashekar says that in their complex, 100% of the residents are working in IT. We left the office at about 6:45PM and the traffic was very light, so we got there in no time.
Once arrived, we met Chandrashekar's wife Brundavani, son Amandeepgupta (4 1/2 years old), daughter Madhulikha (2 1/2 years old), and cousin Pooja. Srihari, who is also on our team, was there as well. He just moved to Pune from Mumbai one week ago in order to start working on our project and he is living in one of SSS's guest houses, which are in the same neighbourhood. Srihari has only known the family for a short while, but the children are so comfortable with him and treat him like a favourite uncle.
Chandrashekar's place is very large (3 floors, I think) with a front terrace and back walk out area. Across the way in the centre of the building complex, there is a lovely yard and playground. It feels like a very safe and fun place to have children.
When we arrived, Chandrashekar's little guy took lots of pictures of us. He and I took pictures of each other taking pictures. Madhulikha was adorable and she spent much of the evening in Srihari's arms.
At dinner once again, Marcelo and I were the only ones eating while everyone else attended to our every need. Since it was the same at Shirish's, I assume that this is the way guests are treated all the time? Vijay and Sukhi, you didn't tell me this! Again, we were so spoiled and the food was so good. Chandrashekar's family is non-vegetarian, so we had both vegetable and meat dishes. There was chick pea curry, chicken masala, kofta (made from gourd), fish, roti, rice, curd, rasmalai, sweets, apples, and pomegranate. The rice was the last thing eaten and just like Shirish he said that the meal isn't complete without it. He also said that you shouldn't have the sweets (rasmalai, etc.) until you finish the main meal, which I think is the same rule everywhere. I tried to dive into the dessert early, but I was advised to wait. :) Everything was so incredibly delicious. Earlier on in this blog, I have been raving about the restaurant/hotel food, but it isn't even in the same universe as the home cooking that we've had over the past two days. The hotel food always felt very heavy and hard to digest while the home cooked food is lighter and tastier. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to have some real Indian food. Like Shirish last night, Chandrashekar kept serving us more and more food. Everything was delicious and we ate so much! Brundavani and Pooja are amazing cooks.
I asked Chandrashekar to write everyone's names in English, Hindi, and Telugu for me. I love Telugu script. It's so curvy and pretty. He also wrote my and Marcelo's names in Telugu. It's so cool. I tried to write Chandrashekar's name in Japanese Hiragana (I realized later that it should be written in Katakana because it is not a Japanese name), but it's been so long that I forgot some characters. I promised to look them up on the Internet tonight and be ready for tomorrow.
After dinner we took a short walk around the neighbourhood and Srihari and I talked about Canadian vs. Indian weather and festivals. Srihari has only seen snow in the movies, so he was asking how much we usually get. I said not that much regularly, aside from a few big snowstorms per winter. I wonder if people from India would enjoy the cold weather and snow as a novelty? Marcelo thinks it would only last for a few minutes and then they would hate it like he does. I don't hate it, but I definitely can't say that it's fun or comfortable. Srihari asked me what kind of festivals we have in Canada and I said that they are completely different from Indian ones. All Indian festivals have so much history and are centred around religion. I can't think of any big, religious celebrations we have except for Christmas (which most of the time has more to do with shopping than religion) and Easter (which is a big deal for Christians, but my experience only involved chocolate and a bunny). The more I talk about Canada, the more I feel that our country is an absence of everything (history, culture, religion). Of course, I can only speak for my small experience and life. But, other than native culture, what culture do we have that wasn't imported from somewhere else?
Chandrashekar had seen the pictures we took last night of me in Prasanna's sari, so I think Brundavani wanted to dress me up in her saris and other clothes. I would have been thrilled to do so, but she is probably 3 to 4 sizes smaller than me and I know I wouldn't be able to squeeze into the top and slip for any of her saris. I explained this to Chandrashekar and he said, "yes, it may not be possible." Yes, definitely not possible. But, I appreciate the gesture. Before I left, Brundavani put a bindi on me with red powder. Poor Marcelo doesn't get to dress up. All decorative clothing, jewellery, and other things are for women. While we were talking about clothing, Chandrashekar asked me how old I am (maybe something to do with certain styles of clothing?) and he was shocked to learn I was so old. He thought I was 27, so I decided that is going to be my new age. Everyone please go along with it.
We had such a wonderful time. Chandrashekar's family is so beautiful, generous, and kind. It's so nice to meet the families of the guys who are working with us. I'm so glad that we came on this trip at the beginning of the project and started everything on such a positive note.
Well, tomorrow is our last day in SSS's office. We're there for a full day and then we leave at around noon on Friday for Mumbai and the whirlwind sightseeing weekend. I took quite a few pictures today, so if you like to see them, click here. Goodnight all.
This morning, Marcelo and I were graciously and unexpectedly invited to dinner at Chandrashekar's house. We have had so little opportunity to socialize during the day at SSS, so we were delighted to come and meet his family, chat, and have more amazing food.
At about 6pm, we got an email from Sonia saying that we would have a different driver for tonight. I wonder what happened to Pradeep? I hope he is okay. Laxman drove us from SSS to Chandrashekar's place, which is in an area of town that we have never been to before. In this neighbourhood, there are many new building complexes. Chandrashekar says that in their complex, 100% of the residents are working in IT. We left the office at about 6:45PM and the traffic was very light, so we got there in no time.
Once arrived, we met Chandrashekar's wife Brundavani, son Amandeepgupta (4 1/2 years old), daughter Madhulikha (2 1/2 years old), and cousin Pooja. Srihari, who is also on our team, was there as well. He just moved to Pune from Mumbai one week ago in order to start working on our project and he is living in one of SSS's guest houses, which are in the same neighbourhood. Srihari has only known the family for a short while, but the children are so comfortable with him and treat him like a favourite uncle.Chandrashekar's place is very large (3 floors, I think) with a front terrace and back walk out area. Across the way in the centre of the building complex, there is a lovely yard and playground. It feels like a very safe and fun place to have children.
When we arrived, Chandrashekar's little guy took lots of pictures of us. He and I took pictures of each other taking pictures. Madhulikha was adorable and she spent much of the evening in Srihari's arms.
At dinner once again, Marcelo and I were the only ones eating while everyone else attended to our every need. Since it was the same at Shirish's, I assume that this is the way guests are treated all the time? Vijay and Sukhi, you didn't tell me this! Again, we were so spoiled and the food was so good. Chandrashekar's family is non-vegetarian, so we had both vegetable and meat dishes. There was chick pea curry, chicken masala, kofta (made from gourd), fish, roti, rice, curd, rasmalai, sweets, apples, and pomegranate. The rice was the last thing eaten and just like Shirish he said that the meal isn't complete without it. He also said that you shouldn't have the sweets (rasmalai, etc.) until you finish the main meal, which I think is the same rule everywhere. I tried to dive into the dessert early, but I was advised to wait. :) Everything was so incredibly delicious. Earlier on in this blog, I have been raving about the restaurant/hotel food, but it isn't even in the same universe as the home cooking that we've had over the past two days. The hotel food always felt very heavy and hard to digest while the home cooked food is lighter and tastier. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to have some real Indian food. Like Shirish last night, Chandrashekar kept serving us more and more food. Everything was delicious and we ate so much! Brundavani and Pooja are amazing cooks.
I asked Chandrashekar to write everyone's names in English, Hindi, and Telugu for me. I love Telugu script. It's so curvy and pretty. He also wrote my and Marcelo's names in Telugu. It's so cool. I tried to write Chandrashekar's name in Japanese Hiragana (I realized later that it should be written in Katakana because it is not a Japanese name), but it's been so long that I forgot some characters. I promised to look them up on the Internet tonight and be ready for tomorrow.
After dinner we took a short walk around the neighbourhood and Srihari and I talked about Canadian vs. Indian weather and festivals. Srihari has only seen snow in the movies, so he was asking how much we usually get. I said not that much regularly, aside from a few big snowstorms per winter. I wonder if people from India would enjoy the cold weather and snow as a novelty? Marcelo thinks it would only last for a few minutes and then they would hate it like he does. I don't hate it, but I definitely can't say that it's fun or comfortable. Srihari asked me what kind of festivals we have in Canada and I said that they are completely different from Indian ones. All Indian festivals have so much history and are centred around religion. I can't think of any big, religious celebrations we have except for Christmas (which most of the time has more to do with shopping than religion) and Easter (which is a big deal for Christians, but my experience only involved chocolate and a bunny). The more I talk about Canada, the more I feel that our country is an absence of everything (history, culture, religion). Of course, I can only speak for my small experience and life. But, other than native culture, what culture do we have that wasn't imported from somewhere else?
Chandrashekar had seen the pictures we took last night of me in Prasanna's sari, so I think Brundavani wanted to dress me up in her saris and other clothes. I would have been thrilled to do so, but she is probably 3 to 4 sizes smaller than me and I know I wouldn't be able to squeeze into the top and slip for any of her saris. I explained this to Chandrashekar and he said, "yes, it may not be possible." Yes, definitely not possible. But, I appreciate the gesture. Before I left, Brundavani put a bindi on me with red powder. Poor Marcelo doesn't get to dress up. All decorative clothing, jewellery, and other things are for women. While we were talking about clothing, Chandrashekar asked me how old I am (maybe something to do with certain styles of clothing?) and he was shocked to learn I was so old. He thought I was 27, so I decided that is going to be my new age. Everyone please go along with it.We had such a wonderful time. Chandrashekar's family is so beautiful, generous, and kind. It's so nice to meet the families of the guys who are working with us. I'm so glad that we came on this trip at the beginning of the project and started everything on such a positive note.
Well, tomorrow is our last day in SSS's office. We're there for a full day and then we leave at around noon on Friday for Mumbai and the whirlwind sightseeing weekend. I took quite a few pictures today, so if you like to see them, click here. Goodnight all.
posted by Kaori @ 11:19 PM
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