The Nandi Hills and Fort Devanhalli

On Monday Jan. 26 it was "Republic Day" here in India and it was a day off from work. We had been invited to go to the horse races here in town- there were to be festivities and racing. However, two days before, someone realized that there was to be an eclipse that afternoon. Horses, being superstitious creatures, apparently did not like the idea of running that day, so the races were postponed to Jan. 28. Thus, we had a free day to do as we pleased. We decided to have our driver work this day and take us north of the city to the "Nandi Hills". The road north is generally good because the new airport is in that direction. Once off of the main road, the road was less good, but not bad. Along the way many people were holding out bunches of grapes for sale but we kept going. The Nandi Hills stick up out of the earth somewhat abruptly and the climb up is along a winding road. We saw a number of monkeys sitting on the walls by the road watching the cars go by. The traffic was surprisingly light considering it was a holiday. We arrived at a point where we had to pay money to go further and we decided to walk into the upper part of the hill. The sun was bright, but it was not too hot, still the climb took effort since we both have had respiratory illnesses recently. We stopped and saw one monkey eating pieces of watermelon. They come very close to people and vice- versa. The crowd was not bad at all. We continued to walk and a few people said hello. Near the top we found a hotel and some temples and a home built for "Mark Cubbon" who was a British administrator in the 1800's. There is a road in Bangalore named for him- as well as a large park. He apparently went to the Hills in the hottest months. The views from the Hill are very nice long distance views. There were many monkeys around of all ages from very tiny to fairly large. We got separated and wandered on our own until we both headed down to our car after awhile and we met on the path. From time to time we impress ourselves by how we seem to end up in the same place at the same time. Once, around 1991 Jim was in England on business and Janet was going to try to join him there for some vacation, but we were not certain we could do it and Janet was not feeling well. The day that we were to meet in Oxford or London, Jim got a message from the hotel saying to "call Janet". Since it was early morning in the US, Jim decided to take the train onward to Bath and Call Janet from there later in the day. the train ride was uneventful, but when Jim got up to leave the train in Bath, there was Janet walking down the aisle! Not only did we get on the same train at different stops, but we were in the same car! The message she gave the hotel was much more complicated and explained that we would meet in Bath, but the hotel staff apparently did not feel compelled to record such trivia and just wrote "call Janet". Anyway, meeting on the trail was not quite so surprising as that. We wlked down closer to the car and saw "Tipu Sultan's Lodge" . We mentioned him before. He ruled this area in the late 1700's and was killed in a battle with the British at Srirangapatna- near Mysore. He had a small lodge built on this mountain at some time. We then found our driver and went down the mountain. We stopped to have lunch at a resort, but they had no restaurant. We did get some grapes.

On the road home we saw some fortifications near the main road so we asked the driver to drive in to take a look. This was "Fort Devanhalli". We thought it was built by the British but the signs said it was built by Tipu Sultan and his father in the 1700's. The sign said that Tipu Sultan was actually born here! We noticed several markings on the fort with a sort of "Mughal" decoration, so it made sense after seeing that Tipu Sultan had built parts of the fort. There are now houses all over inside the walls, but vistors can walk up pn the ramparts and look out over the countryside. We then road back to Bangalore and had a light late lunch and went home. It was a nice day and we got to see some historical sites.

An Art Show

Today we went to a street art show. Perhaps 5 or 6 weeks ago we were told about a place that has art shows of various kinds. We have since gone 3 or 4 times to see special exhibits that we read about or heard about. One of those was mentioned previously- it was a stone sculpture exhibit with generally high quality work. Others have been more craft oriented or textile. We recently went to hear a talk by a couple archeologists who also introduced a series of old photographs of the ruins at Hampi. We just happened to hear the talks which we didn't know were going on. We went to see the old photos. In any case, its an interesting place and at one of the previous visits were were told about an street art show there on Jan. 25. So, we decided we'd go if we had time.
This is a 3 day weekend here- Monday the 26th is "Republic Day", so we considered going up to Hampi, but since Jim got sick and Zoe was been ill we decided not to go. Thus, we were home and could go to the art show. We were told that the police close the whole street to vehicular traffic and people display theie work all along the street on both sides. We were also told that the quality would vary alot, as much of the work is by students. We went with some friends and walked and walked and looked and looked and, oh, what is that in the picture? My! It seems to be a car driving down the closed road! Well, we learned that the road was "mostly closed". The cars that passed through, presumably, had some business being there, like they lived on the road or a side road, and there is a hotel on the road too. However, there seemed to be a lot of motorbikes going too fast. In any case, we didn't see anyone hit. It was an interesting experience. A large amount of poor work, but most was at least mediocre and some was very nice. Our friends bought some very nice watercolors. Janet did not like much of what she saw and the few that one or the other of us really liked, seemed a little expensive so we didn't buy any. Hampi has been getting a lot of attention these days, so there were quite a few watercolors and oils of the ruins there. We realized that 150 years ago, such watercolors were precisely what the tourists would buy if they came to see ruins anywhere.
It was an interetsing show. Maybe next year!
A couple weeks ago Janet wanted to get a speaker system of some sort to connect to her computer in order to hear "Sunday Baroque" from the USA by Suzanne Bona. Our driver took us to the "electronics district". It is a group of several narrow streets- very narrow -with a lot of people and motorbikes on them. We went from shop to shop and finally found something that seemed acceptable for about $55. The shops are very small and the sellers have a narrow range of things they sell- very specialized. They don't really service anything they sell- they just show you how to use it and send you off with your bargain. You can get warranty service from bigger name companies, but you never are quite sure who is doing what to your electronics.
We bought a Canadian made air purifier sometime back and it stopped working soon after we got it, but we didn't realize it. With the help of our driver and about 4 phone calls we were able to find the tiny (one room) service center. We suspect they actually did the work in their home. However, we got the machine back about 5 days later in working order with no charge to us, except the phone calls and trips to the place. Ziggy and Zoe are pestering us to let them write now.

Boring, boring, boring! They should be playing with us more! We'll have to bring that dopey feather to them to get them to do something they seem to enjoy. It was a little too quiet here today, so we brought out some of our toys and theirs for them to enjoy!

The BEES and things

What is that strange sound? Its a little like the purr of other kitties only awfully loud to our ears - especially when we don't see any friends or competitors out there.... Why won't the humans let us go out there and see who it is? This is no fun! None at all! Let them explain!

Janet wanted to have more light in the kitchen so we arranged to have the lower door panel replaced with glass and the upper panel replaced with mesh or screen. Of course, the guy who arranged the work didn't get something quite right and they could only put the glass in on Thursday. He said he'd do the screen part on Friday. This guy is a little more dependable that other people who do work for people, but he is imperfect as well. On Friday just after he finished he said something to Janet about some bees hanging around. Later in the afternoon Jim got a text message from the landlord saying that bees were building a nest on our balcony just outside the kitchen door that just had the screen installed and we should not go out there. They would send an exterminator in the morning. When Jim got home the mass was quite impressive and scarry considering only a thin plastic screen was between us and the bees. When Janet got home she asked "why there was such a fuss about a few honey bees?" When she saw the mass she better understood. Our driver said there were "lakhs of bees". 1 lakh is 100,000.
We don't know how many there were, but it was a lot. We got some plastic to cover the new screen so that when they sprayed the next day it would more likely stay outside. We went to bed with some concern about the bees breaking in, but they didn't. We took pictures in the morning and wondered how they would spray them. We pictured a couple guys coming in all suited up in the kinds of outfits beekeepers wear. We were told they would come at 10:30, then 1PM. A little past 1 a young guy came- could have been anywhere between 16 and 20 years old. Unfortunately we didn't take a picture, but he was barefoot and wearing a long sleeve shirt and long pants, a glove on one hand and a sort of scarf covering most of his head and face. Our driver acted as translator and also instructed the guy on what to do for parts of the job. He stood on a plastic stool and was not more than 4 feet from the mass of bees as he sprayed then with some insecticide. It also went all over the balcony and on him. It was certainly not an OSHA approved operation. Layers upon layers of bees fled and most were probably killed. At the center of the mass was the beginnings of a honeycomb about 4 inches by 4inchs by 1 inch. That was built in less than 24 hours of work. The kid cleaned up quite a bit after spraying and we thought he did an admirable job considering what he had to work with. He told our driver that he was stung twice by bees- it is surprising it was not more like hundreds of times!
We left the house to meet friends for lunch and when we returned a few hours later only a few bees were still flying around. We hated to see them killed, because honey bees are so beneficial, but we also could not imagine having a massive hive right outside our kitchen door. The balcony there is used everyday for laundry, cooking gas and as an outside area for Zoe and Ziggy.

Other events of the week included Zoe getting a little sick again. The vet had said that he thought her bladder felt odd and asked us to try to get a urine sample and he would prescribe an antibiotic if it was infected. She has had bladder infections in the past. On Monday she seemed very sluggish so we started giving an antibioitic even though we had not gotten a urine sample. She seemed better within a day and seems close to normal now.
Janet is getting over her cold or bronchitis or whatever it is, but Jim picked up a new upper respiratory illness. For those who are counting- that is the 3rd in 3 months. That is not a good recommendation for Bangalore. He is feeling better after 2 days of relative rest, but congested and coughing enough that another illness is a concern.

On Tuesday evening w ewent to a local hotel where we thought we had reservations for an inauguration party, but it turned out to be scheduled for the day AFTER. This seems odd, but maybe its in keeping with other things that go on here. We went to the restaurant in the hotel which has a good indian buffet as well as selections of western food from the menu and we had a pleasant meal. The restaurant had a 2 man band of Indian musician/singers. They actually started playing and singing country and western songs which we didn't care for like "I'm an Okie from Muskogee" (sung by two Indian guys). However they were actually quite good. They sang with little accent and played well. They did a variety of music and songs that were all good. Janet spoke to one of them during a break and he said he is a teacher in Bangalore schools. We went home and stayed up to watch the Inauguration ceremony on a CNN webcast before going to bed. (It was noon in Washington and 10:30PM in Bangalore). The Indian newspapers seem to express the same kinds of hopes that many Americans have, that this new administration will make big changes and the world will become a better place. Zoe and Ziggy want to write a little bit more.

What happened to that purring sound? They locked us up in a room for what seems like days and then come back and the purring is gone! And we didn't get to find out whether it was friend or foe! And when can we go back outside where we heard to purring? Hmmm?

A Movie Experience

We went to a movie in Bangalore for the first time on Wed. Jan. 14. This was a holiday here so there was a lot less traffic than usual around. Our friend Linn went too. She has been before, but to different theaters than the one we went to. We decided to see "Australia" and see one of the Indian films another time. This is a relatively new theater with nice seats. The system is quite civilized too. The seats are assigned on your ticket and you can call ahead to reserve seats too. We arrived about 2 hours early to get our tickets and were in the second row, which was fine. They let the people in a little too close to the movie start time so people were still being seated when a message quickly flashed on the screen asking people to stand for the national anthem. One of us saw the message so we knew what was happening and we stood. A film was shown with various people singing the national anthem. We presume it was in Hindi since Hindi and English are the national languages and it wasn't in English. When we sat down again there was a commotion several rows back with an Indian man yelling at some foreigners who apparently did not stand during the anthem. They settled down fairly quickly, but it was clear the man was quite disturbed and he said that Indians stand for Anthems in other countries. The film soon started and the audience was generally quiet, but there were a lot of cell or mobile phones ringing throughout the film. Fortunately, they were not so loud. "Mobiles" are much more common here than in the USA. It seems like almost everyone has one. The infrastructure required for mobile phones seems like it should be much less expensive to build and maintain compared to land lines, so the costs are relatively low compared to the US. The film was good. There is normally an intermission or break or interim in Indian film showings because they are typically longer than US films. This film was about 2.5 hours long, so a break was good. We enjoyed the evening and day off from work and went home.
The avid patriotism shown by the fellow, who was mad at the foreigners for not standing during the anthem, may go along with the anger people are expressing after the Mumbai attacks. The local papers have frequent mention of the attacks and who may be responsible with discussion of what proof exists. It sounds a little like the "drumbeat of war"... getting louder and louder...
It reminds some of us about being in the US in late 2001 and 2002 where there was a continuous noise to go off to war with someone. The "proof" of who that someone should be was mounted and we know what resulted. There is need to be careful. Ziggy and Zoe want to say something now.

This is Zoe and Ziggy. We don't know what our humans are talking about! They are mysterious creatures! Zoe had a bit of a relapse. She coughed up more fur onto the soft things again and went back to see the vegetarian. He thinks it is still related to the fur we keep swallowing and told the humans to brush us more- Ziggy likes that! Zoe doesn't like it much. Meanwhile, all the soft things on the floor are rolled up where we can't sit on them or put our fur balls on them! This is no fun!

Sickliness

This is Zoe. I didn't feel so good the past week. I just got under some of the soft things and slept and slept. My human companions decided to take me to the vegetarian, but I didn't want to leave my home. The vegetarian office was a scary place. There were dogs making noise and I just wanted to crawl back under the soft things. The vegetarian had 2 or 3 human helpers but no feline translators, so I couldn't explain that I felt bad, but just wanted to be home. They poked me and felt my ears and other things too delicate to describe. They said my temperature was high- that's what I kept trying to tell them! They poked me with something pointy, but I acted like it didn't hurt. They took me back outside and put me in the big box with wheels. I started to feel better over night, but my humans insisted that I swallow some little white things. They claimed it was good for me, but it tasted reallllly baaaddd! It made my stomach feel bad too. Ziggy tried to be nice to me during this time too. After a few days they stopped forcing those into me and I feel better too- especially after they stopped giving me the white things. Now, after a week, I feel normal and don't feel like crawling under the soft things any more! Ziggy didn't seem to get sick. They think it was an inflection caused by coughing up a fur ball (I like leaving those on the soft things!).
I feel a lot better now and feel protected by my surroundings. The humans can write some now.
Janet got some sort of flu or othe respiratory illness that seems similar to what Jim got a month ago and which still shows signs from time to time. It was just starting on the 2nd and got much worse on the 4th or 5th, but she is doing better now. Zoe seemed sick on the 2nd and was spending most of her time under some bed covers. We took her to a vet used by some friends for their dog in the evening of the 2nd. He thought she got an infection from an internal cut from coughing up a large fur ball a day or so before and he gave her an antbiotic injection and gave us some more in pill form to give. Zoe already seemed better the next day, but we gave her the pills for 5 more days. Giving pills to cats is challenging- like making a kid eat spinach or maybe like putting a motorcycle in your own mouth. Anyway, it seems to have worked she has been behaving quite normally for the past few days.

A Trip to Mysore part 2

On Sunday Dec. 28 we learned from the previous day's experience that there were a lot more people on holiday than we expected, so we went to Mysore Palace soon after it opened at 10AM. The palace was built between 1897 and 1912 to replace one that had burned, so it has many modern features built in that an older place would have added at a later time- Like electricity. It was designed by British architects living in India and the style is called "Indo- Saracenic" . In any case, it is a beautiful building. We paid the entry fee after standing in a line that was not terribly long. Of course, we paid the foreigner rate, but we soon learned that this included an audio tour that was quite good. Over the years we have found that many of these audio tours are quite worthwhile. Somehow Janet knew to keep the entry ticket. Then as we went through security they told us that we have to check our cameras , so we did- 10 Rs fee plus a ticket and key. Then, we went to the palace to go in before the crowds came. We had to take off our shoes and check them (10 Rs + a ticket) and go barefoot or in socks through the palace. Some where before going in we saw the signs for an audio tour for 100 Rs, we decided to do that but that is when we learned that the tour is included for foreigners, but we had to leave a picture ID and get another ticket (for those who are counting, that comes to 4 different tickets). We went into the palace and found the path fairly well marked, but the audio tour signs were not in order and not always visible, so we had to back track at times. The narrative was quite good. The palace is also beautifully decorated with carved teak ceilings, wood doors with elaborate ivory inlay (use of ivory is now banned) pietra dura floors (marble slabs with inlaid patterns in other stones) and Ceilings elaborately painted. It was all very impressive. We then walked the grounds and took lots of pictures. We had to hand over one ticket when we returned the audio players and got our passport back and we turned in another ticket to get our shoes back, then we turned in a 3rd ticket to get our cameras back. As we left the grounds , Janet got ahead of me and the guards detained her until I came out with the ticket for entry to show that she had not jumped over the walls. They were relieved to find that I had the ticket and their security system was in tact.

We then went to Chamundi Hill which has a nice view of the city. We took several pictures, but you see one view of the Palace from the hill. There is a big Nandi Bull carved from a piece of granite up there and an old temple that we avoided due to expected crowds. The Nandi Bull was crowded enough that we thought we might not get the car out, but the driver assured us there was another way out. There was. We then went for Sunday brunch at the Lalitha Mahal Palace which is now a government run hotel. It was built about 1930 for friends of the Maharaja to stay. The guide books say it is grand to stay in most of the rooms, but they say the service is rather lax. We had a decent lunch and walked around a bit. There are shops with keepers trying to sell stuff. The only one where we seriously thought of buying was a little book shop that had no sales person, so we left.
We then went to a small train museum that is outdoors. It had 5 or 6 old locomotives and 5 or 6 cars. In a small building were two cars that had been the Maharani's private cars. They were not very grand, but pleasant. Some of the locomotives were narrow gauge. India has some trains still running that have locomotives dating from the 1800's on narrow gauge track. The most famous is in Darjeeling. There is another that is not far from Bangalore. The museum cost 5 Rs- about 10 cents. There was also a little narrow gauge train that we road- just a 5 minute loop with battery power.

Our next stop was a part of some national museum of mankind that has Indira Gandhi's name on it. This one is mainly about people in the far north of India near and in the Himalaya's. No pictures allowed inside so we took some outside that show these terra cotta like figures. It is a small place and somewhat interesting. We were curious about the gift shop that a guide book recommended, but it was disappointing.

We returned to our hotel to rest for an hour or two before we went out again to walk to the Palace grounds to see the lighting of the palace and grounds.

The walk was not very long, but the roads are just as hazardous as in Bangalore. They did not charge an entry fee at night but you pay a price by fighting your way through the crowds to enter the grounds. There are thousands of people going in and they actually had them funnel down to a width to pass through a single metal detector! Very amusing thinking. People were squeezing through the metal detector 3 at a time. How much this improved our security is questionable. But, we got in and took one picture just before the lights came on. The guide books say there are about 95,000 bulbs and it is impressive! The palace is outlined, but many of the gateways and temples are as well. We stayed around to take pictures for awhile. They only light the place for an hour. The electric bill is probably a bit much. After returning to the hotel we went out for dinner at the "Tiger Trail" in another hotel. It was good and reasonably priced.

On Monday Dec 29 we went to a few places to shop and a music shop to get a "tabla"- a small drum used in much Indian music. We attempted to go to a folk art museum on the college campus, but when we got close we saw that several bus loads of people were just entering and we decide the visit could wait. We decided to head for home about 4PM. This allowed us to make the trip in daylight- at least to the outskirts of Bangalore. There are many stories about horrible accidents on the roads at night. The road from Bangalore to Mysore is considered one of the better ones in this part of the country, but there are still cities and villages to go through and lots of farmers on the roads with their ox carts. We saw many examples of farmers working the fields with ox drawn equipment.
We arrived back in the Apartment quite tired, but very happy with our trip to Mysore. It is our first trip away from Bangalore and, hopefully, the first of many more to other parts of the country! Ziggy and Zoe want to add a few lines now.

We don't know where those people were, but we got a little lonesome here by ourselves! The human who helps keep our place clean came each day and that was nice, but we really don't like it when these people think they can just go away without permission. Of course, we don't really like to go along, but, still, they should ask permission. Also, why do all those nice cane things have to get moved outside where we can't get to them to sharpen our claws?

A trip to Mysore- Part 1

Note that you can double click on the images to get a larger view
Zoe isn't feeling well and Ziggy isn't in the mood to write, so they will not add much now.
On Sat. Dec. 27 we left the apartment for Mysore. Our driver once drove for one of the hotels in town and said he made the trip around 150 times, so he knew the way. We stopped at "Barista" for coffee and a sandwich and a modern bathroom on the way. They appear to be an Italian chain with very good coffees and reasonably good light food and snacks, but we just learned that they are owned by the "Tata Group" which is a huge Company here that seems to be respected by most Indians. We continued on to stop at "The Big Banyan Tree" it was a few km off the main road on a good road. Depending on who you believe this one tree covers from 2.5 to 4 acres of land and is the second largest tree in the world in terms of area covered. Banyan trees have branches that drop roots down to the ground that supply nutrients and we guess they grow underground too and send up new trunks too. In any case, the trees looks more like a forest and one would not realize that its all one tree if no one said so.
We continued on to Srirangapatnam. This was a large fort built in the 1700's on an island in a river. The fort was largely destroyed by the British in 1799 and "Tipu Sultan", who was the man in charge of this part of India was killed at that siege. There is a very nice looking Mosque on the grounds, but we did not go in. We went to a Hindu temple that dates from around 1100AD. There were a lot of people at the temple and as we were getting out of the car we thought the driver was telling us to go inside, so we stood in a long line of people that moved very slowly. The line got narrower and narrower as people streamed in and pushed and shoved quite a bit. It was quite unpleasant. We got separated by the crush of people and many pushing in front of each of us. It was also rather warm inside. At the first major shrine inside, Janet went in with the crowd, but was not impressed with what she saw, so we managed to jump out of the line and go around. Once past the first shrine, it was quite open inside and easy to move around and we headed for the exit. Like most temples and mosques, you have to remove shoes to go in and it is normal to pay a small fee to some people who are supposed to keep an eye on them for you (though we have some doubt that they do). Our Driver said 5Rs each. Of course, there was a big group of people trying to get their shoes and when Jim grabbed ours a kid said it was 50Rs. It is customary to ask more of foreigners, we have learned, so we gave him 20 Rs, he insisted it should be 50, but we insisted that 20 was enough and left. The visit to the inside of the temple was unpleasant, but educational. Our driver wondered what took us so long and then said that he said we should NOT go in the temple. The pictures are not in the proper order, but you can probably figure out which is which.
We left the temple for "Tipu's Summer Palace". This is a very interesting place. It is highly decorated with all sorts of colorful patterns and artwork. Much of it has, presumably been restored at one time or other. The guide books like to point out that every surface is decorated and it seems to be true. It is a bit dark inside, but interesting and pretty, none the less. It was hot in the direct sun, but ok in the shade. The fee for foreigners is often 10x to 20x that of Indians.
We then went to the tomb where Tipu and his father are buried. This is an attractive place, but we did not feel like taking our shoes off again, so we did not go inside.
Our next stop was a wildlife santuary- mainly for birds. There were a lot of people around, so we did not take the boat trip on the lake. There were some birds in the trees and there were a few monkeys around looking for food to take. A young one jumped on a sign while we were watching.
We then drove to our hotel in Mysore and checked it. It was not a fabulous place, but OK. We rested for awhile and had a quick dinner. We wanted to visit "Brindavan Gardens ", and the driver said that it would be very crowded on Sunday, so we decided to go on Sat. evening. We road toward the place , but then got stopped in traffic. The driver saw a number of cars and small buses being directed off onto a dirt road, so he followed. After what seemed a long trip on a rough and dusty road we arrived at the Gardens. It was very crowded with cars, buses and people. We left the driver who said he'd park the car, and we waded into the long lines. People pushed ahead and actually stepped over railings to get ahead of us, but we got in. Once inside we were not so impressed- the crowds made it seem less pleasant, but we could not figure out where the music and light show was supposed to be. We finally concluded we should be on the other side of the lake and started the walk over there. It was a big crowd of people making the trip and once on the other side we were practically knocked down by little kids in school uniforms running all over. We decided to make the trip back to the other side of the lake and leave. It was slow and shoving all the way, but it seemed like the Indians were used to it. Once on the other side we tried to call the driver and Jim's mobile phone battery died then. Fortunately, our driver was waiting for us at the exit and found us right away. We went to the car only to find that it was blocked in by 3 other cars. We were afraid we'd be stuck here all night as there were still cars and big buses bringing people in. Our driver is pretty resourceful and so started directing some traffic to get the 3 cars out that were blocking ours- fortunately the drivers were close by. After awhile we hopped into our car and started the long trek out of the garden. It was painful with 2 lanes of traffic trying to come in and one lane trying to go out - on a 2 lane road! The road was in rough shape too! However, we made it back to our hotel safely and decided to start our morning visits early. As we left the place we learned that they had postponed the music and light show until 8:30 from 7:30PM because so many people were still coming into the Gardens. We left about 8:15 without having seen the show. There may still be people waiting to get in! But, this is part India! We had vastly underestimated the number of people who would be traveling over the Christmas long weekend. Sunday was much better. that will be in part 2.

New year and reeking furniture

This is great! Our humans got us these great things to sharpen our claws on! They call it "cane", but we like the softer parts just as much- it really does help us keep the claws sharp for any time when we might need them- like climbing up those things they hung on the walls for us. Then they also got us a soft thing for the floor, but then that was taken away again and we haven't seen it since. Ziggy really liked that. He like to sit on the soft things rather than the hard things. He is a little annoyed. One thing that is odd is that the sharpening fixtures smell funny. However, we like smells! They can write some now.
Its has been a very busy week since Christmas. We'll have to add a couple entries to catch up. On Dec. 26th Jim took a vacation day and we did a few chores and then went to examine the sofa and chairs we had ordered about 4- 5 weeks ago. They arrived in good shape at the store, though they made a mistake on the fabric. Fortunately, Janet realized that she likes her earlier choices better than the final choices and they gave us the earlier fabric! The cushions are a bit firm and they tried to make them softer before delivering the furniture that same evening. It arrived in good condition and looks good in the apartment, though we have to figure out how to arrange it. One option is shown in the picture, but that will not be the final choice. Some rugs were brought over from a local store for us to check out recently as well. - the Z's loved that, but we didn't care for most of the choices or the prices.
On Sat. Dec. 27 we got up early because we made a driving trip to Mysore- more about that later. We noticed the strong smell of kerosene or diesel fuel in the apartment and realized that it was coming from the new furniture. The smell was quite strong when some windows were closed. That was disconcerting, but we left for a couple nights. The cleaning woman came each day to clean and feed the cats, but when we returned Monday night the 29th, the smell was still very strong. We were told by someone that the varnish is often "polished" with some sort of solvent and Janet heard that people had to put their furniture outside for 2 weeks to air out. On the 30th Jim put most of it outside on the balcony, and the smell inside is better. We'll hope it gets much better soon! We will write about Mysore soon.
On New Years Eve we went to a close restaurant for an early dinner- about 7PM to 8:30. We were told that the police close many roads coming into the city center, so we wondered if we'd get around alright (no problem). We had the impression that the place was mediocre, but it was actually quite good western- mainly American style- food. We got home before 9PM and felt tired enough to go to sleep around 10PM. The fireworks set off around midnight did wake us up though. The evenings have been chilly for the past few days- probably upper 50's F.
We mostly relaxed today (Jan. 1, 2009!). We had a delivery in the late afternoon and then walked to a fancy mall to have dinner and look for some sort of music system. Crossing roads is still hazardous here. Fortunately, the route we take has reasonably good sidewalks and traffic lights that most people obey at the bigger intersections. There are still a couple small streets to cross that can be tricky and we have to pay attention. It is hard to believe it is 2009 and we're in India!