It's hard to say goodbye

It's our last day here in India. Everyone is moping around. We kept getting visits from Mani, Mahalakshmi, and Sahji in our apartment, and Mr. Jacob (landlord) engaged Dawn in a long conversation about fruit that grows on the trunk of a tree here, and the fish in his fishpond that eat mosquito larvae. It's the longest conversation I've ever had with him.

Mahlakshmi and our new maid, Davey, said goodbye and lingered for an extra 20 minutes pinching the girls' cheeks and Mahalakshmi kept dapping her eyes with the edge of her saree. Mani has given me his address twice and wants us to email photos of our family to him. Sahji has asked me twice for our home address and says he's accompanying us to the airport to help us with our bags (even though he has one arm in a sling--from a mishap on Saturday morning when he fell off a ladder while cleaning a ceiling fan).

We presented our world map to Chandra Shake-uh, our beloved asst. cook, who used to stand and exclaim over various countries while we would eat our meals. He seemed embarrassed and surprised and rather ecstatic to receive the map. He has been in a mopey mood since Saturday, saying that we shouldn't return to America and saying that he was coming to America with us. Today he was snapping at Sahji and then he left as soon as supper was ready. We expected him to come back to say goodbye, but Sahji says that Chandra-Shake-uh has gone home. Lily started to cry, and the other two girls were astonished that Chandra-Shake-uh wouldn't say goodbye, but from the way he was acting, I think he just found it too hard to bid us farewell.

I think we'll be sending several postcards to India as soon as we get home.

So, we're both looking forward to coming home, and already missing India. Pray that we will survive this very, very long airplane ride (stopping for a day in Paris), and that our dear Indian friends will stop being so sad, and will find comfort in knowing that we are just as sad to leave them.

We'll be home soon! Must dash and finish packing.

Dad's report on the Agra / Delhi Trip

Here is Dad's report of the trip:

The Taj Mahal was as beautiful as promised especially at 6 o'clock in the morning when i arrived and was able to hear "the echoes of the ages" for about 5 minutes before the masses arrived. It was awesome. I walked on every path, I visited every area for 4 hours until Dawn & Byron and the kids arrived and then visited many of them again as the temperatures climbed.

We tried pedicabs, auto rickshaws, and horse drawn carts but didn't get to use the camel cart.

We were thwarted in taking a rental car and driver from Agra to New Dehli because of the political blockade of all roads into New Dehli so we had to take the 6:00am train to New Dehli. Imagine the lack of sleep. (Imagine the auto rickshaw ride to buy the tickets the night before with 7 people in a space designed for three, in the rain without windshield wipers, competing with dump trucks, cows, and half of India. )

In New Dehli, the Red Fort was closed because a woman terrorist pledged to blow it up and the authorities didn't want us flying high without paying for the experience. Breakfast was two frozen chocolate bars by the roadside.

The car was a hot car - unfortunately not air conditioned although promised.and paid for. Forgot to checkout the Ganges river where your mother's father spent the war making the water safe for allied troops to drink during the war. Remember?

If you've ever asked the question, "Where is everybody?" I now know the answer. They are in New Dehli. Chennai is crowded and I didn't think that it could contain more people in a space but New Dehli packs in a lot more with more of the unpleasant stuff too. We were probably influenced by the bad karma of the hot car and shopping when people grab your arm and insist that you buy stuff.

We were finally driven to the airport with Byron praying in the back seat that the car, which was only able to go 30 miles an hour and was overheating drastically in the middle of several lanes of traffic and might have broken down any minute, would make it. Unfortunately he forget to pray that the car would take us to the right airport. We took an airport buss to the right place

I was amused because when we went to the gate to board the plane we were again put on a bus and driven for about 10 minutes before we found the plane - meanwhile we were passed twice by the mobile stairs which I assume were also looking for the plane. We were allowed to board the plane when the stairs arrived.
We arrived In Chennai about midnight.
Illness report:
Montezuma's revenge,
Erin - Agra
Lily - at church in Chennai
Dawn and Byron - Sunday
The Father = Caught air pollution and koffs a lot

South India- Home sweet home!

Thanks for the many responses from our beloved readers (note: if you're a reader, then you're automatically beloved!). If you haven't responded yet with your "aye, aye!" then I am personally holding you hostage and insist you take a moment to say, "Oh yes, here I am!"



On Friday night, we returned from our long, long train ride (30-hours) from Chennai to Agra (we actually enjoyed our train ride, but kept feeling like we were on a rocking train for days afterward), and our Agra experience, and our dubious "Day in Delhi." Erin got sick on Friday morning, Lily was sick Saturday, and Byron and Dawn came down with it on Sunday. Heidi seems to be sick today (Monday) and Dad has a terrible cough. I think North India took its toll on us, and can I tell you that nothing, nothing looked so good as Mani's smiling face and the familiar Chennai roads and our own beds and bathrooms and our beloved cooks upon our return to Chennai.



Now we're trying to get all of us healthy, and going through a lot of pepto-bismal and charcoal pills. Will post when we have more time, but for now must mention that the Taj Mahal was really incredible. The rest of Agra was good also. Our time in Delhi, on the other hand, was one of those experiences that is so dreadful when you're going through it, but the next day you sit around talking about it, and you start laughing so hard your stomach hurts. But then you get that cramp in your stomach that started in Delhi, and you go off in search of the Pepto Bismal and/or charcoal again.



Took lots of pictures, and hope to post before we return home. At this point, I can see us doing our last posts when we're home in Kansas!



Remind me to tell you about the attacking monkeys, the many Muslim calls for prayer blasting over speakers several times a day from mosques in Agra, the dozens of people who were at the Taj with us who went home with pictures of the Burkes on their cameras, Dad being the first one in the Taj on Thursday morning and hearing the most incredible echo ever in the burial chamber, the kitchens you don't really want to look too closely at before you eat there in Agra (and the mouse we saw running across the tops of the chairs in the NICEST restaurant we ate in in Agra!), the experience of riding in an auto-rickshaw in the rain, the argument Dawn got into with a petty-cab driver and her fear that he would lie in wait for her the next morning, Dad's discovery of some little bananas that are so sweet (and which he seemed to subsist on whilst in Agra), the protestors who shut down most the roads going into Delhi on Thursday so we booked train tickets instead of renting a car on Friday morning, and the vendors, vendors, vendors, vendors that were so "in our faces" the whole ten-minute walk from the Taj to our hotel.



Hope to find time to post soon. Please pray that we'll recover our health! It's not fun having our stomachs churn and having the smell of food make us nauseous.



We leave in exactly one week, to arrive home on Wednesday, June 11, in the evening. My list of things to do before we leave is so long that I have to sit down everytime I read it.



Dad leaves tonight. We're so used to having him here I'm not sure if we'll be able to cope without him! Please pray for him as well, as he's got a nasty cold and that's NOT fun to have when you're on a 21-hour plane ride, followed by 3 hours of driving to get to work on Wednesday morning.



P.S. Please also remember Dawn that she'll find time and experience God's blessings in composing a sermon they have asked her to give this Saturday at church! Though I don't like to write out sermons/talks word for word, it would be helpful to find time to compose my thoughts into a basic outline. . . !

All those present, please say, "Aye!"

Hello Burke Blog Readers,
We have been hearing bits and pieces of who is reading the blog, but we haven't been getting a large number of responses or emails (thank you to those who HAVE emailed us!).

We thought it would be interesting (okay, and Dawn wants to know how vast her audience is, if indeed it is more than a handful of readers, which would be okay. . ..) for each of you to email us a brief note to say "I'm here!"

Would you please take a moment to email the following:
Your first name
Your city
Your state
Some people have said they're having trouble posting to the blog, and if that is the case, please email us at Burke.DB@mindspring.com.

Dawn is cajoling, begging, enticing, and indeed coercing you to PLEASE RESPOND, as it would just be fun for us to see who's reading and where they're from.
Many thanks!
--The Burke people in India

Now we know where we live! (Pictures 3 of 3)

Something that hasn't stopped amazing us--seeing cows pulling carts down the street, along with the cars, buses, and auto-rickshaws. Many times the cows will have jingle-bells tied to their horns, probably to help them make a little more noticable as they trot down the street. Usually the cows will be pulling carts full of fruit, or baskets, or sometimes wood. When Dad asked Mani if the cows ever got hit by cars, Mani just grinned. (?) I do know that Mani told us that Gandhi declared that certain animals are sacred and should never be harmed, including cows, dogs, and cats. We've seen many pretty skinny cows and dogs--so apparently they aren't to be harmed, but they aren't always taken care of very well, either. We also found out that the cows with these long horns are females, and the bulls have very short horns. Since we've seen nothing but cows with long horns walking around and pulling carts, they've all been female. I asked Mani why all the cows we see in the city are female, and he said, "They give milk."

This is what an Indian street-cleaning team looks like. Why clean the streets with a machine when you can hire 7 ladies wearing orange vests? The photos we haven't included here are the photos that we took immediately following this one. The ladies noticed us taking their picture, stopped sweeping, and swarmed over to us. We kept taking pictures, and they came right up to us, one of them coming to pose right in front of the camera.

The Burkes on camels, going down a major thoroughfare in Chennai. Front camel: Lily's in front with the blue shirt, Heidi's in the middle with Dawn in back clutching Heidi for dear life. Back camel: Erin in front, Byron in back.

Grandfafa with Erin and Lily. Notice the bus zooming by right near them.

The Hindu god procession we ran into. See the drum player in the front, and one man pulling, another pushing the decorated cart with a Hindu god figurine riding in the cart? They just walked down the middle of the street, with traffic streaming past them on both sides.

A closer look at the procession (Another, larger platform was coming down the street behind this one. The larger platform included a Hindu priest riding in front of the Hindu god figurine, and was much more elaborately decorated). I am getting pretty used to men wearing skirts, and Byron said he'd buy a skirt if I'd buy and wear a sari. (!)

Now we know where we live! (Pictures 2 of 3)

At Pothy's Dept. Store in T. Nagar, the shopping district in town. These pretty ladies stood at the entrance, and would either smile or give a little bow if you caught their eyes. They look somewhat like the brides I've seen pictures of--all decked out in their jewels and pretty saris. I wondered what kind of job it would be to get all dressed up and stand at the entrance of a store all day--basically functioning as a live mannequin. These ladies got pretty excited when our girls talked to them. Heidi's wearing one of her chudy-das and some bangles in this photo, and was convinced she looked, "just like an Indian."


These are some of the white swirly designs we see marked on the sidewalk in front of some of the houses and businesses here in Chennai. From what I understand, the woman in the house will make these designs fresh every morning as a sort of good luck charm (?). Traditionally, these markings were made using rice powder (to feed the sparrows and ants), but nowadays it's common to use a synthetic chemical spray.


This is our most common view of Mani, our driver. I think Lily took this picture, so this is her angle of Mani. I don't know if you can tell from this picture that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. They drive on the left side of the street here (sort of--if there's more room on the right side, then they drive over on that side instead!). I wish you could hear the incessant "beep, beep, beep," while you look at this picture, and see the cars and auto-rickshaws driving within inches of our car, and feel Mani swerving all over the road to get to our destination.





Erin in her favorite chudy-da, with jasmine flowers in her hair. I had thought that these jasmine flowers were plentiful all the time, but Mani explained to us that jasmine flowers will become more and more expensive, as they are "in season" now, but in another couple of weeks they'll be harder to get and more expensive. I guess that's one advantage we've had from coming to Chennai in the hottest part of the year--jasmine flowers have been very cheap and very plentiful!



The girls knew that I have been disappointed about not being able to find any classical Indian dance performances here, so they surprised me by getting all dressed up in their Indian outfits and performing a lovely "Indian" dance for Mama.
3

Now we know where we live! (Pictures 1 of 3)

Snake Park: The hooded cobra striking at the red handkerchief. This was the only snake that was placed into the glass cage during the snake demonstration. (The other snakes were allowed to slither off this rock into small nooks within the walls of this large rock after their demonstrations were complete.) Doesn't the cobra look menacing with its hood up? We saw that it can take its hood down and up in a moment's notice, and when the keeper wasn't waving the red kerchief, the cobra would calm down pretty fast and take its hood down.

How many zoo-keepers does it take to scrub a crocodile? See those bright red walls? They're freshly painted, and I guess no one bargained on what would happen if a croc scooted up against that wet paint. The keeper at the crocodile's head would intermittently sit on its head depending on how much the crocodile struggled. After awhile, I think the crocodile thought it was soothing to be scrubbed, because it just sat quietly after a few minutes and let them scrub all they wanted to. The keepers were doing a lot of yelling and jumping around, though, as though they expected the crocodile to became impatient at any minute.

At the zoo. Although this wasn't a part of the formal exhibitions in the zoo, I thought this ant-hill (or possibly termite hill?) was rather remarkable. Mani (our driver) is holding Heidi. Lily was not too eager to get that close to a huge ant-hill, but Erin fearlessly posed close by. It's pretty common to see huge ant/termite hills around Chennai wherever you can find dirt (we're in the middle of a city, so we're among paved streets and sidewalks and most the dirt we see is constantly being moved within a construction site). But whenever we go to a park or zoo area, we see lots of these ant/termite hills. Not all are as big as this one, but all are quite a bit larger than the anthills I've seen in Kansas.

Isn't this albino peacock pretty? I've never seen one with its tail all up and shimmery. I thought it looked like an angel.







The girls are standing beside a baby banana tree (to Erin's left, near her ear, between Erin and Lily). The girls are showing how tall they are compared to the baby tree that was about Lily's height just a couple of days ago. Here's some banana tree information for you: Indians use every part of the banana tree (much like the American Indians used all parts of the buffalo). Banana trees also grow extremely quickly--we've been measuring the daily growth of this baby tree in our apartment's courtyard, and it's grown between 3 and 5 inches per day! Within about 10 months of being planted, the banana tree can produce bananas. But we were shocked to find the banana tree (that had bananas growing on it when we first arrived) cut down the other morning! Just a stump remained. I asked Mr. Jacob, the landlord, why they cut it down, and he explained that once a banana tree produces ripe bananas, that the tree will never again produce bananas (it's a one-time happening) and so they cut it down and plant a new tree in its place. Also, did you know what a banana seed is? I've always wondered. Well, you don't plant a banana to grow a banana tree. You dig down a few inches under the soil at the base of an adult tree, and find a bulb (much like a tulip bulb, if I understand correctly). You dig up that bulb, plant it where you want a banana tree, and wa-la--in a few days you'll have something as tall as a human toddler.
Banana tree uses:
Leaves = disposable plates (Although Byron said he saw banana leaf-shaped paper plates at the wedding reception!)
Banana flower bud = edible, and used for medicine
Banana = food
Trunk = grind up and use as medicine for stomach problems
Long white tube inside the trunk = edible--tastes vaguely like asparagus

Incidentally, Mani reports that all parts of the palm tree are also useful:
Palm tree uses:
Leaves = weave for baskets, roofs, walls, etc (we've seen whole houses constructed of woven palm branches. These are the fisherman's houses by Marina beach--they don't look like very permanent, nor strong structures, but they protect from sun and rain.)
Trunk = burn for fuel
Coconut = food and drink
Coconut husks = make rope
(Doesn't this information just make you want to run out and grow a palm tree?)