Yes, I'm still here

You may have wondered if I had dropped off the edge of the world or something. Actually, I just came back and fell back into like and work and all that. Not a terrible thing, but less time for updating blogs.

So, I'm going to comment on the weather. This is practically demanded, because I live in Saskatchewan, and we have lots of weather. It changes practically minute by minute, though this year it is slow to give us the warm part. We keep waiting for it to be summer, or maybe even spring, and hoping that that warm day in May wasn't all of it.
That was one thing I noticed in India. While it was obvious that monsoon must be a really big thing, they really didn't seem to have much weather in February, and people didn't talk about it. That would be reasonable, if it pretty much stayed the same from day to day. Who knew how much effect weather has on culture though.
So, then, there is the part when you live in Saskatchewan and you have to decide day by day what to wear, and or what to wear and what to carry with you, just in case. The jackets that come in layers are just made for this place. I have taken out the inside layer of my winter jacket, but not bothered taking off the hood, or taking the gloves out of the pocket. I don't think I took the gloves out of my pocket all last year. I used them in July too. ( when camping. It always gets cold at night when we are at camp.) I think it likely takes more space for us to keep our wardrobe here than in most places, just to go with the weather variations.
This morning, I wore a skirt to church, and then felt cold all morning. But I consoled myself with the fact that we had no snow today. It felt like it for a bit though.
I'm having trouble picking the right hat to wear, as well. I'm really eager to wear my summer hats, but it has been to cold most of the time, and I'm tired of my winter hats. Roll on summer.

Observations on the trip

I am going to try making a few observations about India, and Canada, keeping in mind that both are big countries, and that I spent only 5 weeks in one corner of India, and live in one small corner of Canada. These are in no particular order.

People in the areas of India we were in dress very colourfully. I loved this. Often I was the only one wearing any black. I found the colours a feast for the eyes. It was also interesting that even in the few cities we were in, the dress varied a great deal, and even the usual colours for the saris were not the same from city to city.

It appeared that women sometimes dressed in western style for casual and at home, but dressed in saris or salwars to go out. Men seemed to dress in western style to go out or to work, but in Indian wear at home for casual, or when doing hard physical labour.

The houses in India were built to keep the rain off, or maybe to protect from the sun, but not to keep anything else out. So the building styles and building materials are not what we use in Saskatchewan. The most common building materials we saw are bamboo, and bamboo slat board,and corregated metal roofing. Buildings not made of this combination are usually concrete, or concrete and brick. Or a combination of all of the above. But glass in windows isn't a necessity.

Mosquito nets for beds are great things, and the plug in mosquito killers in homes really seemed to work, and were pretty much odorless.

Cell phones have made a huge difference, especially in the small villages. People are able to communicate quickly and easily, and at small expense.

The whole land seems to be living in anticipation of rain. It was very dry while we were there, but there are deep ditches, and dugouts and ponds nearly empty of water, and rivers flowing in a very small part of the flood plain. Having said that, I wondered about some of the houses we saw built on the sides of the mountains and high hills. If the water came as they seem to be expecting, I would think they would have major erosion problems. Also, in the cities, there are deep ditches outside many of the stores. They are used for dumping garbage. I understand that the rational is that the monsoon comes and washes everything away to the sea.

Most problems in India are solved with manpower. The same problem in Canada would be solved with machinery or some kind of technology. For example, concrete. In Canada, if you want to pour a concrete floor, you call in a cement mixer and it dumps concrete across the space, and a couple of guys smooth it out. In India, a truck comes and dumps off the sand and gravel and other ingredients, and then it is mixed in a little cement mixer on site, and dumped on the ground, from which someone dumps a couple of shovels full at a time onto flat pans, which other people put on top of their heads and carry up to where the floor is being made, and dump it.
People carrying cement to make a new story on a building
A bamboo ladder for the cement workers to walk up. This is not so fun to walk in sandals, and I would think it would be very difficult balancing with something on your head, as well.


In Imphal, and Churchandpur and Shillong especially, almost all the schools had Christian names. Many of the businesses as well, and the vehicles, had Christian signs. Christianity has made a great deal of difference for these people. This was not nearly as noticeable in Guwahati, or Kolkata, or even in the small Assamese villages where we visited. In Assam, the churches where we visited were mostly house churches, with small groups of people attending.

Traffic control is mostly self control. The only traffic lights we saw were in Kolkata. Everywhere else, if there was need for more than self policing, there would be a traffic officer on duty directing traffic.


People from Saskatchewan would be astonished to find out that there is a use for the horn on a vehicle, and that it has specific rules. On the other side, people from India would likely be astonished about seat belt regulations, and helmet laws for motorbikes.
I think it would be difficult to ride sidesaddle on the back of a motorbike, while wearing long, draping scarves and driving through heavy and unpredictable traffic, but it was definitely the order of the day.

It was very interesting seeing the variety of vehicles and how they are used. Many of the vehicles have no counterpart in Canada, and the ones that do are not used in the same way. I am in awe of how people adapt to their environment and circumstances.
One of the large Public Carrier trucks which were everywhere, carrying everything. They were often overloaded, to the point where it was not unusual to see one with a broken axle, being repaired in the middle of the road.
A motorized rickshaw, parked in the motorbike parking. These are great little vehicles.


It was a great experience to be allowed to take this trip. I was pleased to have my horizons broadened, and my assumptions challenged. It is good to know that just because I have always done something one way, it doesn't have to be the only way.
Of course, the part I enjoyed the most was meeting new and friendly people. Friendship across the world is a wonderful thing, and makes the world a smaller place.

Home again.

It has been incredibly busy this last two weeks, but I don't want to leave you all hanging. Let me see if I can fill in some of the gaps.

The last 2 days of our time in India we spent in Kolkata. We spent some time downtown in the bazaar, which was very interesting, and not as crowded as in Shillong. This was just a one day quirk I suspect, because we ended up in Kolkata on Holi, which is a major festival, and many shops were closed. There was a huge parade going through the streets, which we managed to wind around on our way from the hotel to other places.

We spent some time at Mother Teresa's compound, and toured through the museum, and went by the orphanage for a few minutes. We were not able to find anyone at the orphanage who could give us a tour, or direct us anywhere, so we did not stay long.

In the afternoon, we went to say goodbye to Swami and Violet, and had a good visit with them.

In the evening, we wandered through some of the area around the hotel, and saw many people being splashed with paint, for Holi, didn't manage to get too painted ourselves, and turned in early, since we had to leave for the airport at 2:00 am. Unfortunately, because of the really loud music from the pavilion across from the hotel, none of us slept particularly well, in the four hours available. But it meant it wasn't as complicated to get up in time to get to the airport.

We got through all the check in steps at the airport in reasonable time, and then just had to do the waiting and waiting, which by then we were quite good at.
We shall quickly pass over the trip. Just think: 9 hours from Kolkata to London, 7 hours from London to Toronto, with not enough time between the two flights to get to a washroom in the airport. I really dislike the set up at London airport. You have to come out of the secure area and go back through security to pass between flights. So if you wanted to take you're little water bottle with you, or anything like that, you are out of luck. And you are held up for no reason between flights to do this extra security check which is totally unnecessary.

We had a 3 hour layover in Toronto, during which time we not only got to find a washroom, but also managed to find the Tim Hortons, and roll up the rim. T the 4 hour? flight to Saskatoon. We arrived in Saskatoon at 10:10 pm, still on the same Wednesday. Definitely the longest day I have ever had, and likely the least sleep. We were met at the airport by a wonderful crowd of friends and family and enjoyed a short visit, before heading home to try to sleep.

We had a most interesting day. We drove to Shillong, looked around and visited, and then came back to Guwahati. That is the short edition. Now let me add details, and some pictures.

The road from Guwahati to Shillong is 101 km, according to the signpost in downtown Shillong. The road itself is really good: recently paved, no sections under construction, and well maintained. Having said all that, it takes 3 hours to drive the distance, because it is up through the mountains, hairpin turns and bends all the way. Now, combine that with the usual road hazards in India: cows and goats, motor rickshaws ( but not bike rickshaws on this road) lots of people walking on the road, as well as huge numbers of overloaded trucks, and continous traffic, and you get a little of the feel of this road. Keep in mind, that although part of this road actually has a centre line marked, which not all roads do, but it has no yellow line, just white dotted line all the way. Of course, that is just to save paint, because everyone is passing anyway. The proper way to pass on a blind curve, by the way, is to honk first, so if someone is in your lane coming the other way, they will know you are coming. And then drive as if you are expecting someone to be passing in your lane around every blind curve. Likely that will be a good guess.

Anyway, Bob and Ray tell us that Shillong has grown and expanded hugely since they lived here in early 1970's. I think likely all the hills are still there though.

Here are a few pictures from the day.


Just a little view of some of the passing. This was taken while we were out of the vehicle, so only traffic one way at the time.

How would you like to travel by bus this way? You see it all the time here, on the buses and on the bus taxis, which are jeep type things that travel around and pick people up from the side of the road. Anyway, a 3 hour trip this way up a winding road seemed like a hard way to go.

Another view of the same bus.

Just a little view from the market at Nong Po, which is halfway up the mountain. We stopped to buy fresh pineapple. I was trying to get a good shot of the shopping bags, like the one you can see the lady carrying on her back here. Everyone was using them. Nice size, too.

Some pictures of the Elephant falls, by Shillong. The falls are in three steps. This is the upper falls. The sign says that the falls are better during the monsoon, and I'm sure that's true, but we didn't think we could wait that long. A picture of the steps going down to the lower falls.
Andrew, standing in front of the lower falls.

Finishing up the quilt blocks

Thursday we worked on putting a back on one block each. Here are some pictures

Becky came from Ray and Ellen's for the afternoon, and did a block as well.


.One finished pillow cover.

a peddlar came to Kalipani.


Kittens playing around the door.

Buildings, and other items of interest.

Addition to a church building, in Churchandpur. Construction is on hold at present, because the well has run out of water, so they can't make concrete.


A staircase, in a house in Churchandpur. It isn't so plain to see, but you are looking over a fence here, at the second floor of the house. You can see the edge of the porch roof, just under the stairway.
The stairway to Fat James Restaurant, where we ate in Churchandpur. Note the individually hand poured concrete stairs. We sometimes negotiated this staircase after dark, with almost no light available. Very interesting.

A household goods shop in Churchandpur.

a cradle, in a family courtyard outside Bagdogra.

Cow pats drying in the sun. These are not the poop sticks I wrote about, but are also used for burning, and are collected the same way.

a loom, in a family's courtyard around Manikpur.

The kitchen stove, at the school at Kalipani

Pictures of people, especially children

a loaded school bus headed home, in Bagdogra. Also going uphill.
Taking a rickshaw home from school. They are going uphill, which is why the man is pushing. I didn't catch the picture quick enough for you to see inside, but there are 5 or 6 children in the rickshaw.
Getting ready to sing, at Lenin colony.
Children at the Lenin leper colony in Siliguri. Their parents are recovering from leprosy.
They sang for us, in 3 languages, including English. They sing beautifully.
Naresh's family, in Siliguri. His little boy is named Asis. Very bright child.
Cute little girl at the guest house in Churchandpur