Report of 18 Mar 2007
Hello from bright sunny exam country -
We are well, just finished brunch and had some lovely fruit, sapotas included. Navin is studying, he just moved from the living room as we had too many questions for him; Scott has traipsed off to look in on Navin; Naren is at his friend Anshuman's house. Anshuman's sister, Nisha, is their chem and phys tutor. Anshu spent the night here on Friday and Scott did his part to prep them in phys, which they have next week, along w/ chem. I like Anshuman and Nisha a lot; their mother, Kalpana, is separated from her husband, a phenomenon that is still somewhat rare here, and both children are rather considerate of her. Anshu is given to the usual teenage high jinx, but is a true friend to Naren.
After exams are done, then I start preps for my U.S. trip. I need to find out from folks if they know of anyone who can give me a place to stay in San Diego, California, from 17-20th April, while I attend the conference of the American College of Physicians. I simply cannot afford the hotel room, and last year, my friend Olivia and I were extremely privileged to stay w/ Ann and Phil Bagley, whom I will see again this year. The truth is that I can't let a little thing like affordability get in the way of sopping up all that knowledge that is shared at ACP - annually, a very worthwhile show.
Scott and I got to see a movie yesterday, as both boys were occupied. We saw "Water," which is about Indian widows in 1938. It was excellent: a sad depiction of widows' ostracism and their plight, and I wept through much of it, including the joyous scenes (which are so few in a widow's life). The actress Seema Biswas stole the show. Widows here are not expected to dress in bright colors, wear a bindi or flowers in their hair or glass bangles, and are kept away from family functions as they are considered bad luck. The movie had an 8 yo child widow, whose bangles were broken and head shaved. Not all widows are now treated poorly, and I had a revelation about my own parents, who, in the midst of their grief after my brother died, certainly did not even think to insist on my sister-in-law, Susan, removing glass bangles and dressing drably. Susan's mother told her to remove her thali (the necklace that signifies married status, like a wedding ring), and not to come out of the house for 11 days, and Susan told her, somewhat politely, to go jump.
One of my great joys is that Susan knows she can count on all of us for help, and joins us happily with her children for family occasions. We are a weird lot, and she could easily choose not to do so.
No one showed up for tutoring, busy cramming for exams, I think. Naren turned 16 last week and we had pizza and cake, in the midst of exams. He had wanted a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD, which I'd scoured for and is not available here, but settled with good grace to some movies and a book called Shantaram - written by an ex-convict from Australia who gets into Mumbai's underworld. Naren had wanted this book for a while.
"God gives us relatives; thank God we can choose our friends." - A. Mizner
Unw -
Renu
We are well, just finished brunch and had some lovely fruit, sapotas included. Navin is studying, he just moved from the living room as we had too many questions for him; Scott has traipsed off to look in on Navin; Naren is at his friend Anshuman's house. Anshuman's sister, Nisha, is their chem and phys tutor. Anshu spent the night here on Friday and Scott did his part to prep them in phys, which they have next week, along w/ chem. I like Anshuman and Nisha a lot; their mother, Kalpana, is separated from her husband, a phenomenon that is still somewhat rare here, and both children are rather considerate of her. Anshu is given to the usual teenage high jinx, but is a true friend to Naren.
After exams are done, then I start preps for my U.S. trip. I need to find out from folks if they know of anyone who can give me a place to stay in San Diego, California, from 17-20th April, while I attend the conference of the American College of Physicians. I simply cannot afford the hotel room, and last year, my friend Olivia and I were extremely privileged to stay w/ Ann and Phil Bagley, whom I will see again this year. The truth is that I can't let a little thing like affordability get in the way of sopping up all that knowledge that is shared at ACP - annually, a very worthwhile show.
Scott and I got to see a movie yesterday, as both boys were occupied. We saw "Water," which is about Indian widows in 1938. It was excellent: a sad depiction of widows' ostracism and their plight, and I wept through much of it, including the joyous scenes (which are so few in a widow's life). The actress Seema Biswas stole the show. Widows here are not expected to dress in bright colors, wear a bindi or flowers in their hair or glass bangles, and are kept away from family functions as they are considered bad luck. The movie had an 8 yo child widow, whose bangles were broken and head shaved. Not all widows are now treated poorly, and I had a revelation about my own parents, who, in the midst of their grief after my brother died, certainly did not even think to insist on my sister-in-law, Susan, removing glass bangles and dressing drably. Susan's mother told her to remove her thali (the necklace that signifies married status, like a wedding ring), and not to come out of the house for 11 days, and Susan told her, somewhat politely, to go jump.
One of my great joys is that Susan knows she can count on all of us for help, and joins us happily with her children for family occasions. We are a weird lot, and she could easily choose not to do so.
No one showed up for tutoring, busy cramming for exams, I think. Naren turned 16 last week and we had pizza and cake, in the midst of exams. He had wanted a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD, which I'd scoured for and is not available here, but settled with good grace to some movies and a book called Shantaram - written by an ex-convict from Australia who gets into Mumbai's underworld. Naren had wanted this book for a while.
"God gives us relatives; thank God we can choose our friends." - A. Mizner
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
1:06 AM
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