Ganpati Bappa Moraya...

It is a gloomy day in Suzhou today - the lazy kind of day that makes you want to get back into bed and sleep till noon! Or curl up in an armchair with a cuppa tea and a wonderful book and read the day away. No such luck though - all my kitchen stuff sitting on my overloaded table has been calling out to me! Finally managed to get most of it put away today - my kitchen is looking more like a kitchen and less like a disaster zone! The rest of the house is pretty settled now. The last big thing remaining is the TV setup in the family room. Lot more complicated than it sounds - our TV is bought in the US, our sound system is from India and the cable box and the modem are local. The US should just switch to 240V and save globe-trotters like us a lot of trouble! And what is it with all connectors and plugs being different everywhere we go? I can't hook up anything without buying all kinds of fancy adapters for all our gadgets! Standardization? God forbid!

Our house has a little storage room on the ground floor. When we first saw the house, we thought this would be an ideal location for our devghar - a little puja room by itself. Of course, all the cabinets would have to be moved elsewhere, preferably, into the garage. The landlord moved out all his furniture, but said he would be back to care of the cabinets later. A week went by, and I was getting desperate. I needed the devghar to be installed before Ganesh Chaturthi! Finally, I called our agent - after a lot of three way calling, the landlord agreed to move the cabinets on Tuesday. I waited all morning for him, and when he finally did show up at 2pm, he was alone. The only tools he had were a hammer and a screwdriver. Now these cabinets are huge - 8 of them with lots of shelves and drawers, which had to disassembled and reassembled in the garage. Certainly not a job for a single person. Wait, did I forget to mention to him that I needed this done TODAY?? Well, he started unscrewing the doors off the cabinets, painfully slow work! When I couldn't stand it anymore - which was about 15 minutes later - I offered him Ajey's power drill. But no, he wanted to stick with his screwdriver. Two more helpers showed up after a couple of hours, but they didn't bring any tools with them. So now, three guys, 1 hammer, 1 screwdriver! When the cigarette smoke got to be unbearable, I left them to it, and went upstairs. It took them an awfully long time, but they did finish by 9pm. Now that the cabinets were moved out, the little room looked huge. Plenty of space for our puja room!

Former storage room...now our puja room!

Next day, with the help of my maid, I scrubbed the room - there was years of filth which had been hiding behind the cabinets - and moved the devghar into the room. Did I mention that our devghar, which we bought in Chennai, is about 4 feet tall, made of solid rose-wood, and is incredibly heavy?? We had to half pick up and half drag it to get it into place!The next part was easier - polishing the wood and silver, and then installing all our frames. That evening, we did a modest aarti, as opposed to the more elaborate puja we usually perform on Ganesh Chaturthi. No modaks either- I didn't have all the ingredients, and my kitchen is still not fully functional!!


Now Ganesh Chaturthi is essentially a public function - sarvajanik as we say in Marathi. It was celebrated as such since the times of Shivaji, who established the Maratha Empire in the late 1600s. The practice was discontinued with the fall of the Peshwas, who were the rulers of the Empire till its end in the early 1800s. Only to be revived in 1893 by Lokmanya Tilak, who popularized the 'Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav' - public celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi - as a means to generate nationalistic fervour against the British colonial rule. Ganesh Utsav is still widely celebrated all over India, and is one of the most popular Indian festivals. I have fond memories of my entire extended family gathering to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi at my grandparents house in Sangli - hard to imagine now, about 50 people and only 1 bathroom!! Those were indeed, simpler times!

In India, Ganesh Chaturthi is a public holiday - but elsewhere, Ganesh too, must bow to the exigencies of work hours and school bed times! Celebrations are usually reserved for the weekend closest to Ganesh Chaturthi. Where ever we have lived, we have always managed to celebrate this festival with a large group of friends. So it was really special to share our first Ganesh Utsav in China with some of our new friends! We had planned a simple pot-luck, which actually evolved into a sumptuous feast! Ganesh got his modaks, and so did all of us! After a rousing aarti, and a late lunch, we spent the afternoon playing cards. What a wonderful way to spend the day!! Looking forward to many, many such weekends!!!

More information on the Ganesh festival is available on wikipedia.org - those interested can look it up! From all the Coolkarnis here in China - A very happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all of you! Ganpati Bappa Moraya!!

Sea shipment arrives!

Finally, the day arrives! Our sea shipment is here....after 3 long months!! In Peoria, the movers arrived on 11th June, and the truck was loaded on 15th June. We were scheduled to fly on 20th June. As it happened, the paperwork for our visa did not go through in time and we had to delay our departure by a month. So there we were, in this big, empty house - we had a king sized mattress and a table with 3 chairs, and nothing more really! But we were near the park, so Manasi could still play with her friends - and we didn't have to move our pets for such a short time. Besides, it is a lot easier to take care of a house when there's nothing in it - so lots of free time for me!!

Things were a lot better on the China end - the house was reasonably well-furnished, and the landlord agreed to let us use his furniture until our shipment arrived! This led to a small logistics problem - the landlord's furniture had to be moved out, but we had to time it such that we didn't have to spend even a single night without furniture! In the end, it all worked out with clockwork precision. The landlord arrived 8am on Monday, and proceeded to shift his furniture. It took about a couple of hours, and then, as if on cue, our truck showed up!! One thing to be mentioned...almost everyone here in China is amazingly punctual. The driver, the maid, all the other service people - they all come at the time they're expected. Unlike Chennai, where 'Yes ma'am, don't worry ma'am, today at 4pm ma'am' could mean anywhere from tomorrow to next month to never!

The Allied movers who came with our truck were also lot more professional than what I was expecting. I'd heard horror stories of boxes being tossed carelessly, knives slashing furniture along with the wrappings, and other general carelessness! I'm glad to report that nothing of that sort happened! The supervisor numbered all the rooms, and then set up a chart at the entrance, with the number and name of the room - making it easier for me to direct the non-English speaking movers. There were about 8 people, so things moved along pretty quickly! They manged to bring in all the boxes, and even assemble most of the furniture by the end of the day. The crew returned the next day, finished unpacking all the boxes - they even had time to assemble our gazebo!

Of course, when you move so much furniture overseas, there is bound to be some damage! The best option would be to keep your really good furniture in storage, and not subject it to the hazards of shipping! For us, with no permanent place to call home, there is no way out but to ship everything, and then hope for the best! My biggest worry was when we moved from Chennai - not only had we bought some expensive furniture in India, my confidence in the abilities of Indian packers was not too high! However, they did such an excellent job, that I was sorry I had under-estimated them so badly! All my furniture came through with nary a scratch!

Surprisingly enough, it was with the US movers packing our furniture this time, that we had a really bad experience. They were seriously under-staffed, only 2 people showed up for the first 4 days. And then, it was different people every day! So I ended up giving instructions on what to pack and what to leave behind almost every day - with the result that a lot of stuff we wanted to give away was anyway packed into the shipment! And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone at Allied had run a Six Sigma initiative on cost-cutting - the packers were so, so stingy with the packing material! I was practically begging them to add one more layer of cardboard onto my china cabinet! I was a nervous wreck by the time they loaded the truck, totally convinced that half my stuff was going to end up in pieces!

Predictably, almost all our furniture is badly scuffed. The low point was when a mover walked into the house holding a broken chair leg - one of my dining room chairs, the leg snapped off! I almost hit the roof!! And the china cabinet that I had nagged the packers to wrap more securely? Fortunately, no structural damages, but the shelves inside the cabinet are missing. Three solid wood shelves. Disappeared. Into thin air. Unbelievable! The supervisor here was very apologetic, taking pictures of all the damage, reassuring us that insurance will pay for it. At the end of the day, what can you do? What's broken is broken. Insurance money certainly can't replace everything. So let go and move on. It is just a chair, after all!

Anyway, the movers left, and I had this huge mess on my hands. Clothes, towels, linen, quilts, toys, books - all over the house - enough to drive the sanest person crazy! The worst is the kitchen - I have next to none storage space - so all my china and glassware is sitting on my dining table. Pots and pans are still in their boxes. Can't put away anything until we buy a new cabinet! And the garage? I'm almost afraid to step into the garage - surely all this junk can't belong to me? But despite the chaos, it is wonderful to sleep in my own bed at night! Manasi actually hugged our couch when she got back from school! It feels so good to have all our belongings around us once again!

It is going to be at least a couple more weeks before we're completely unpacked. Slowly, but surely, we're getting there. This house is beginning to feel a lot more like home. Our home - for the next 3 years!

Old friends...and new!

"Think where man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends" - W.B. Yeats

I really envy people who make friends effortlessly - every time I meet someone new, I get butterflies in my stomach. So, for me, one of the most daunting aspects of moving every few years is finding a new set of friends that I'm comfortable with. By their very nature, expat circles tend to be very fluid. The people you meet will share your life for at the most a couple of years, and then its time to move on. Not a very ideal situation in which to make lasting friendships. Conversely, it is incredibly easy to make friends - most expats are eager to meet new people, and to help them get settled. In this changing milieu, you sometimes do form relationships that stay with you no matter where you go.

I was very lucky in France - we were assigned a mentor family, the Rs - the most amazing, wonderful family I've ever known! They helped us in every possible way - introducing us to other Cat expat families, translating for me at Manasi's daycare, taking me shopping for antiques and groceries, and on one occasion, sitting up with me for a whole night when Manasi was sick. They became our family in France, and to this day, after so many years, they remain one of our closest friends!!

India, of course, was my home turf! I tried to pay forward what the Rs had done for us in France, and hopefully, I did manage to help a couple of people in small ways. As everything else in India, our expat friends were a rich blend of culture and nationalities! I had my Cat American families - a much smaller group than in Grenoble, but just as well-knit! Then all the Indian expat families - especially the Ks and Ss - what a privilege to have known these wonderful ladies! My French friends - who were so happy that I had lived in their beautiful country and had loved it! And of course, our dear neighbors, the Ks, who will always hold a special place in my heart!

Back in Peoria, it was like we had never left! We had returned after almost 7 years - turned out to be for a really short time, just a year - but what a year we had, thanks to all our friends! We picked up right where we had left off, and what a great feeling that is! This time around, our kids became friends too, making things more special! So much laughter, so much fun!!

When we moved to China, I was again struck by how lucky we were to meet so many different people. I have been immediately welcomed into a group of really warm Indian ladies, and I'm already in the middle of a social whirl with them. Our neighbors, once again, for lack of better words - are very neighborly! The few Cat expats I've met so far, have all been very helpful! So many new people, so many friendships waiting to happen!! And, as Ajey wryly commented, so many more Facebook contacts to be added!

Just the other day, an old friend of mine from college came over for dinner. I must say I was a bit surprised when he called, we hadn't been in touch for years! That got me thinking of all my older friends - not 'old' older, most of these friends are as old young as I am, I've just known them a really long time! 20 plus years, and some of my school friends, almost 30 years - which is almost my entire life!! We have all changed so much, that sometimes it is hard to recognize the person you knew all those years ago. I have a love-hate relation with Facebook, but I am so glad that it has made it possible for me to reconnect with all these friends who were once such an integral part of my life!

And when speaking of friends, how can I not mention my 2 awesome gal-pals? 2 decades of friendship, and still going strong! These are women who have seen me at my worst, and still love me - they have seen the best in me, and helped me see it too. They remain my confidantes, my staunchest supporters, my true 4am friends. I can only hope that I have been as much a friend to them, as they have been to me!

As I forge ahead with my new friends, my old friends remain with me always - just a phone call or email away! What's that old saying - Make new friends, but keep the old. For new is silver, but old is gold! Truer words were never said!

This Saturday...

Suzhou has many interesting places to visit, and as the weather gets milder, I hope that we will be able to do a lot more than our usual grocery shopping and eating out on weekends!

This Saturday, our first stop was at Plant Street. Exactly as the name suggests, it is a street where you can buy plants - lots and lots of plants. I'm not much of a gardener - in fact, I think I have the opposite of a green thumb, whatever that is! But even I'll admit, that pretty house plants is their pretty little porcelain pots do add a certain je ne sais quoi to any decor! So anyway, we drove for about an hour to get to this Plant Street, It was about a kilometer long, with shops on either side selling only plants, plants and more plants.


From full size pomegranate trees - now that is something I can live with! - to tiny finger sized cacti, from a multitude of palms to all kinds of flowering shrubs and bushes - Plant Street has them all!






And you know you're in China when you see so many beautiful arrangements of bamboo and orchids! 

We did buy a few plants - the prices are so low, it is impossible to walk away without getting something! I would highly recommend this place to all place enthusiasts in Suzhou!!

Shopping done, we headed off to meet our friends, the Ms, for dinner. They, too, have moved here recently from Peoria. Interesting thing is, we had first met them in Grenoble - they were there on assignment about the same time as us - and now 7 years later, our paths cross again in Suzhou! Goes to show you what a small place the world really is! The place we had picked was Ollie's, kind of an international pub, which serves mostly European and American food, with some Mediterranean and Asian dishes. Meeting up with other Cat expats is so relaxing. There are so many shared experiences, and a complete mutual understanding of the unique and sometimes funny problems that all expats face! Of course, our agents and their ability/desire to provide help is always a favorite topic! For instance, I've been trying to get our landlord to have the windows cleaned since the day we've moved in. Our very helpful agent is the translator/go-between. Its been 6 weeks now, the latest excuse is that it's expected to rain this week, which would dirty the windows again, so let's wait till there is a forecast for clear weather! So, is it never, ever going to rain after the windows are cleaned?? The best part is, the window cleaners showed up at the Ms' house completely unannounced and ready to work! Well, as long as someone has clean windows...

The best part of the evening was yet to come!! Over dinner, the topic of karaoke came up. Turns out the Chinese are crazy about karaoke, and it's a very done thing to visit karaoke bars with family and friends. And what do you know, there was a karaoke place called Ktv right next to the restaurant. The kids were all bored and tired at this point, but how could we just leave now?! We were met in the lobby by a liveried attendant, who led us to an elevator - not just any old elevator, but a special access one - the attendant had to swipe a card to get it to open! Very la-di-dah! At the main reception, there was some confusion regarding the entrance charges. The receptionist kept pointing to the figure 160RMB and then holding up 1 finger, which we all interpreted as 160RMB/per person. That works out to be $28, and we almost walked out at that point. Finally, Ajey managed to figure out that the cost was actually 160RMB for 1 hour for all of us! After we signed in, we were led down a corridor - cool lighting, marble flooring, the works - with doors on either side. Our little karaoke room was about 8ft by 6ft - just big enough for 6-7 people. Plush leather sofas on 2 sides, leather paneled walls, a marble topped table and a big screen TV - not at all what I was expecting!! It took us a while to set the language options to English, and then to actually find the English songs - but after that, time just flew! From Shakira's 'Waka waka' to Elton John's 'Circle of Life' - the songs just kept getting better and better! Manasi surprised us - she knew the words to 'Call me maybe' and 'Dynamite' - and she wasn't afraid to sing! We had an absolute blast!! Thanks, Ms, for a fabulous evening!!

Inevitably, the much awaited weekend is gone, and its back to the weekly grind again! And what does this week have in store for us? The answer, as always, que sera sera! Until next time!