(Another early Bombay letter by my wife.)<\/p>\n
April 5, 1998<\/p>\n
Dear Family and Friends,<\/p>\n
We\u2019re in our new apartment now, fairly settled.\u00a0 Our two household shipments plus our consumable shipment arrived the day we moved in, so we had LOTS of unpacking to do.\u00a0 The most fun to unpack was the food: sure is nice to see, smell and taste something from home.\u00a0 Aaron was happiest being able to unpack and set up his computer stuff, which includes a new scanner.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty amazing what he can do.\u00a0 Now all we need is our Internet connection and he\u2019ll be all set.\u00a0 That will probably be another week or so in coming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We have a new maid already (with lots of others who wanted to be hired as well since the word got out quickly that we were looking for someone).\u00a0 So far we\u2019re quite pleased.\u00a0 Her English is pretty good, though she can\u2019t read it.\u00a0 She\u2019s also eager to work and doesn\u2019t mind doing floors and bathrooms.\u00a0 At this point, I still find it uncomfortable to tell someone what to do.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s easier to do it myself.\u00a0 But Patsy likes to say, “Just show me, madam, and I can do it.”\u00a0 I gave her a new sponge mop I brought to do the floors with.\u00a0 She asked me how to use it, then asked if she could just do it her way…by hand.\u00a0 So we\u2019re having to get used to each other, which I find stressful at times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sounds funny to complain about having servants, but like I say, I find it stressful.\u00a0 However, you can hardly do without them here.\u00a0 Even if I wanted to do all the cooking I could hardly do it because of the shopping.\u00a0 We have no super markets.\u00a0 You go to a butcher for your meats, a baker for your bread, the dairy for your milk, the produce stands for your produce…you get the picture.\u00a0 And being obviously NOT local, the prices for me would be at least twice as much.\u00a0 So you really need a maid to just do the shopping for you.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you about our apartment.\u00a0 The living room has a built in bar.\u00a0 Aaron has always wanted a bar, and has now taken over as bar tender.\u00a0 He has a few books now to help him with recipes.\u00a0 I need to get some decent glasses, though.\u00a0 (I guess I left all my crystal in storage so don\u2019t even have wine glasses with me.)\u00a0 We\u2019re on the fifth floor, though here the ground floor is 0, the next floor up is the first floor.\u00a0 So we\u2019re really six floors up.\u00a0 Confused?\u00a0 There are two apartments per floor.\u00a0 And I better tell you, we don\u2019t say apartment here, we say flat. There\u2019s always at least one guard downstairs by the lift (Don\u2019t say elevator, either) who makes sure people look like they should be here.\u00a0 He also makes sure the servants and any delivery people use the service lift in back. That way our maid can come up and be at our back door, the one that opens into the kitchen.\u00a0 That\u2019s also where her room is.\u00a0 Through our front door you enter a small hallway with Aaron\u2019s room immediately to your right.\u00a0 It\u2019s really more of an office, with a built in desk and cabinet for a T.V., but it makes a nice room for him.\u00a0 It also has the best view of the ocean, since we have a building directly in front of ours that blocks a lot of the view.\u00a0 He has his own bathroom as well.\u00a0 The entrance hallway has a door to the left that leads into the kitchen.\u00a0 For India, we have a very nice kitchen.\u00a0 Most kitchens, since they are usually used just by the servants, are not very nice, of course, with no air conditioning, and very little decorating.\u00a0 But ours is quite nice with marble counter tops (which are nice and low for our short maid), marble floor, and lots of cupboards.<\/p>\n
The washing machine and dryer had to be put in the kitchen so it\u2019s a little crowded, but not bad.\u00a0 Again, most Indians would not have laundry facilities but would either send it out to be washed by a dhobi, or have the maid do it by hand.\u00a0 Or maybe a washing machine, but definitely no dryer.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had to introduce both to Patsy, and since she doesn\u2019t read English, it will be a while before I assume she can run the machines without my help.\u00a0 Down the entrance hallway is the living room and dining room with the dining area to the left\u00a0 and the living room and bar area to the right.\u00a0 It has built in cabinets in both rooms and little alcoves with special lighting, we guess for art work.\u00a0 Really, it’s one of the fancier places in which we\u2019ll probably ever live.\u00a0 The bedrooms have wooden floors again, something very unique for India and many built in closets and cabinets.\u00a0 There are plenty of lights and light switches.\u00a0 Every outlet even has a switch.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a switch for each hot water heater, one in each bathroom and another in the kitchen.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t we feel dumb to have to call out the plumber our first night here because there was no hot water only to find that all we had to do was push a switch that looked like a light switch to us.<\/p>\n
Tonight, Gary and I will be going to a charity ball where Richard Gere is to be the special guest.\u00a0 Gary gave an official welcome to Mr. Gere.\u00a0 I got his autograph for the kids. We won the tickets in a little lottery where Gary works.\u00a0 They put names in a hat and his was chosen.\u00a0 He bought another ticket so we could go together.\u00a0 I even had a fancy dress to wear.\u00a0 It\u2019s called a gagra choli, which means skirt, blouse.\u00a0 It\u2019s a long skirt, with some block printing on it, with a short top that has hand embroidery and little mirrors sewn on it. It\u2019s green and purple.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a scarf to wear with it.\u00a0 It\u2019s Indian of course with a pattern from the state of Gujurat, a place known for color (also where Gandhi was from) but I hope to be able to wear it in the States too.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be wearing it here for weddings and other fancy things.\u00a0 All these fancy places to go is again one of the perks of Bombay.\u00a0 Today the kids and Gary joined a group from work to go visit one of the movie studios in town.\u00a0 They\u2019ll get to see a local movie being shot and meet some of the movie stars.<\/p>\n
Katie and I have a lady coming to give us massages this Wednesday.\u00a0 My British neighbor downstairs set it up for us.\u00a0 The lady does only ladies, so Gary and the boys will have to find their own masseuse.\u00a0 The price for an hour massage?\u00a0 70 rupees.\u00a0 (Just under 40 rupees to the dollar right now.)\u00a0 We could also have someone come in to do manicures if we like, again for 100 rupees or so.\u00a0 These are the perks of India that help us deal with the hardships.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re probably saying, hardships!\u00a0 What hardships?!<\/p>\n
We love and think of you all.\u00a0 Soon, we will be able to call the US easily.\u00a0 You never know when we might be calling!\u00a0 Keep us in your prayers, as we keep you in ours.\u00a0 Happy Easter.<\/p>\n
Anita and the Red Heads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
(Another early Bombay letter by my wife.) April 5, 1998 Dear Family and Friends, We\u2019re in our new apartment now, fairly settled.\u00a0 Our two household shipments plus our consumable shipment arrived the day we moved in, so we had LOTS … Continue reading
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