We are in Chennai at Mercy's parents' winter home. It is quite warm here and humid. Pune was higher and drier, so this is a change for us. Papa Charles has taken the day off and slept in while the rest of us went to church at St Andrew's. The service was surprisingly Methodist!!!

There are quite a large group of us. Mercy's sister Grace stayed home with PC to fix his breakfast; she is second oldest, with Mercy being eldest. Samuel is is next, a tall young man and Imunuel is youngest. All are beautiful or hansome. To that add Mom and Dad, myself and the driver. After church we picked up Mercy's Aunt and Grandmother. They had ordered food to be delivered that was there when we got there. Lunch was was a wonderful spread of a variety of dishes and several rices (white, brown and fried). The afternoon was full of sitting and talking and giving of gifts. Now Nikhil and Sam and I have come to a brousing center.

We spent yerterday shopping at Spencers, a very large shopping mall. We spent so long there that we had supper in the food court and went home very satisfied. I really think PC had too much shopping + higher temp + humidity + not enough water = an exhausted old gent!!! He is with us now, though and is feeling fine.

We've done a lot of driving, since this is a much larger city than Pune, so I have had lots of opportunities to snap photos. I've seen cows - lots of cows - in the road, standing with their front 2 feet in a house entrance, and did I mention ON THE ROAD? Of course I tried to take a picture of this activity, and every frame did not "take". I began to think the cows didn't want their photo taken, but the driver stopped for me to take one and it did "take". Will send photos when we get to a home computer and someone can help me.

We miss you all Love MJ

Christmas Day

The Farm

The trip to the farm was a delight to the eye. We saw the ever present scooters, cars, ox carts and bullock carts plus, of course, walkers. It took about an hour, and we passed lots of construction of huge buildings for computer companies. Ashwin, Nikhil's dad said that the customer service people will be housed in these buildings, but for now he doesn't know where they're located. Something I found interesting is that the scaffolding around their modern buildings are made of bamboo poles, lashed together - some low tech is still the best.

At the farm the first thing one sees is vegetation - 80 mango trees plus lemon, papaya, almond and various flowering bushes and trees. The family that live on the place have worked for the Parikh family for generations. They have a house made of corrugated iron sides and blue tarp roof. When we got there they brought out a festive umbrella with several lawn chairs. It was sunny and breezy - very pleasant. The lady fixed Nikhil's favorite bread for all of us. Sunita, Nikhil's mom, brought out cheese sandwiches and boiled eggs she'd prepared at home for our "picnic". There is no house yet, but a leveled place where it will be - a 5 bedroom 2 story home to be used on weekends. The front of the property will be subdivided and sold for others to build their own weekend get-away. Now the water system is the primary project.

After we'd seen and walked the farm we went into the village to the farm foreman's home. It was a large adobe-type building with tile roof. Just to the right as we entered the front door, we saw the cows. There were 4 water buffalo and 1 cow plus 2 other adult cows and a baby calf. He runs a dairy. I was amazed at all the stainless steel containers, so shiny and clean, all stacked on shelves. We were shown the cooking fires and storage room. Like I said, a very big house.

We saw several young children and had candy for them. Their parents encouraged them to come up to us, since they were shy. Aswin and Nikhil talked to the men. We stood around and smiled. We had expected more children, but a cricket match in the field occupied the older ones.

When we got back to Pune, we had supper at McDonalds - much like the one in Berlin with the place to order downstairs and the dining area upstairs. There was a group of young teen girls and a couple of moms that were having a birthday party, singing and embarrassing the honoree - some things are universal, I guess. What a wonderful day!!!

We're Here!!!

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Those above the line are out of order, sorry.

The apt was furnished with everything we could have needed or wanted, including 2 baskets of fruit and 2 flavors of icecream.

bath area ( no tub) stool for sitting (above #2)


Bathroom (notice water - they provided every drop of water we drank or used)

dresser, with lots of room for suitcases Very nice bed, big screened windows, light weight curtians let light and air in.

Frig and table for work space, glasses, silver and a toaster oven
(at top #5, sorry)

gas stove - the countertops and floors are marble
sink next to big, sunny window, dish rack above and microwave and stove. Marble tile on wall.



View from our balcony #1 (notice 2 wheel hand cart and shiny new auto)
* If you know how to fix this, please let me know. I'm sure it's very simple, but I'm even more simple)

across the street from our building - another 4 story apt on right (redish with small garden) and a small family dwelling on left - another contrast right next to eachother.

Our balcony #4

Looking from the livingroom to the balcony

This (#3) is the view as we first came into the livingroom of "our" apt. - to the right, the balcony and bedroom. To the left, the kitchen and dining area.
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We landed in Mumbai a little ahead of schedule Fri Dec 12th about 12:10am and waited on the runway for a few minutes. Nikhil had told me to request assistance, so I was given a wheelchair and a young man to push it. His name is Ganish, and he took very good care of us, retreiving our checked baggage, walzing us straight through customs and out of the airport. We saw Nikhil and his dad almost as soon as we exited the door. I was never so glad to see him! Ganish rolled me right to the car and Nikhil and his dad, Ashwin, tipped him for us. The Parikh's driver loaded our bags in jig time, and we were off for our 3 hour trip to Pune. We visited and laughed and answered eachother's questions. PC and I watched out the car windows as Mumbai slipped past us. It reminded us of Mexico City. The roads are good, and there are plantings in the medians - in pots!!! It looks really nice.

"Home" is an apt on the 4th floor on the same lane as the grandparents live. Nikhil and Ashwin showed us all around the apt and made sure that we were comfortable. At about 5 am they took their leave, and we went to bed; I slept til 3:30pm, PC was up earlier. The bed is better than ours at home. We took our time, and Nikhil came for us about 6pm, taking us to his folks home which is not so far away. Sunita answered the door and welcomed us warmly. We sat and visited and had a little icecream (PC's reputation preceeding him) before we went out - first shopping for me some a cool cotton top and a traditional 3 piece silva, which was more than I pay for clothes, but I had some birthday money and decided to splurge. Sunita says I look "very smart, very Indian". Next we went right next door to an up scale Chinese place for a lovely dinner and interesting conversation and getting acquainted, such a sweet family, very kind to one another.

Sat we were suppose to go for tea at the grandparents home at 4pm and slept right through til 6:30. I was so embarrassed. Not to worry, they said. We needed our sleep, they said. They brought dinner to us, and Nikhil served it. Sunita had made the spinish dish I like with rice and a couple of side dishes. Sunita had a wedding and Ashwin needed to check on his patients. After Nikhil left to go out with his 7 friends from kindergarten, walked to the main street and looked around and bought a paper, came home and enjoyed our first newspaper in a few days.

Sun the plan was for all to have breakfast with grandparents, and drive to Ashein and Sunita's "farm" in the country, which we did. The breakfast was the largest I've ever had, even including Sally Coy's in Lubbock.

we leave behind
grandson, Josh, Domino
and Lady

This is the last update til we actually get to India.

Fri night at our CAYA (Come As You Are) service, Raul prayed for PC and me. I was thinking of a prayer for safety and for us to receive God's blessing as we adventure out of our comfort zone. What he prayed seemed to assume we would be safe and that we were blessed already, just to be in the position of having "family" to visit in India. He prayed for us to be a blessing wherever we went, to show God's love and learn as much as possible. Thank you, Raul. You have been with us from the beginning of this adventure, and your prayer was what we needed to feel prepared to go. Thank you to our friends who wish us well.

Today, Sun Dec 7th, we had many well-wishers at church. We were moved by the real concern of our friends for our safety. We feel safe, safe as we are here, driving in the traffic and living in this world. We're told that it's safer now in India than before the terrorist attacks and that we should expect delays. In our view, delays = safer conditions, so delays will be no problem to us.

My blog master, Sarah, is coming over tomorrow to finish installing the router to power the little XO laptop we're taking. Hopefully, even though time is running out, we can get the computer working. (I say "we", and I really mean "she"). This is all new to me, but this ole' dog is willing to learn new tricks!!!

The bags are packed and the house is clean. Our ride to the airport is in place, thanks to Clyde and Ann-Marie. I think we're ready, just a few last minute chores and instructions for while we're gone still need to be done. The clothes we're going to wear are hanging on the closet doors.
Yes, we're ready - ready for our adventure to continue.

Mama Joy and Papa Charles have been adventuring together for 56 years - mostly raising kids, getting an education (formal and informal) and teaching. We invite you to join us on our latest adventure - a trip to India!!!

Our goal is to learn as much as we can about people and culture and history and whatever else God has for us. Today is Tue Dec 2, 2008 - only a few days past the terrorist attacks in Mumbai/Bombay. We never unpacked our bags, but certainly watched closely by TV, computer, news print and updates from our "Indian" connection, Mercy and Nikhil Parikh (more about these precious people later). As of today, we are planning to leave DFW Wed afternoon Dec 10th to continue the adventure, always willing to re-think if wisdom suggests it.

The adventure began when our pastor, Raul, welcomed a young Indian couple - she Christian, he Hindu - to our church as they walked by on a weekday afternoon. Mercy had recently arrived from India to join her husband of only a few months who was here to attend the U of N Tx to get his masters in public health. They are both graduates of med school in India and desire to get their AMA certification, as well, serving their internships in the US. They desired the additional study required to pass the med exams here, to better qualify them to serve their country.

They attended a service. Mercy's first request of the ladies circle she met with later was, that she have a prayer partner, specifically an older woman. I came to the ladies' minds, so the contact was made. The rest is history. We met and prayed at a coffee shop. Papa Charles and Nikhil met with us for dinner, and we were fast friends. They are the age of our grandchildren and were lonely for family. That was more than four years ago. We have grown to love and appreciate each other. They have worked very hard on the various exams that physicians must take, and have done very well on all of them. They are now both interns at Advocate Hospital in Chicago.

The trip was talked about in wishes and "wouldn't it be wonderful if..."s. The idea that this could become reality was slow coming to PC and me. At this age? A 3rd world country? How could we ever afford...? But, here we are - packed (well, I'm packed) and writing my first blog - ever - on The Adventures of Mama Joy and Papa Charles.

So, dear friends and family, join us as we embark on the trip of a lifetime. I'll update you from time to time, telling you what we're seeing, feeling, understanding and loving about the whole adventure. decolores,mj




PS 'De Colores' is a greeting (kinda like Aloha) that we use. Love,mj