Now that I'm a blog writer, I should start doing important things like keeping a notepad and pencil on my nightstand in case my next big idea hits me during the wee hours of the morn.
Because nothing much has happened today. Vera is running a low grade fever which is making her almost as high maintenance as her sisters, not to mention the alarm it is causing her parents.
Ear infection? Virus? Teething? I always hate wondering if we should take the kids to the Doctor or not. I'm usually wrong. Maternal instincts, my eye.
.
So Vera and I have been doing a lot of cuddling and then I sneaked in a workout while she took a nap. Raja's sister, Sailu, took Ammon, Maya and Teja to buy clothes for Ammon. Since my boy is almost 8 but the size of a 10 year-old, they didn't buy him any clothes in advance like they did for the girls.
New clothes are important here. Everyone gets new clothes for every special event. And clothes are given as gifts to children quite freely. It is the festival time here. Kind of like our Thanksgiving, except don't hold your breath for any turkey. Even if I could get my mitts on some, it would be burn-your-taste-buds-off spicy.
Raja had to remind his sister to not buy Ammon pink and purple clothes. Last time we came, he was given a cute little outfit, all in pink. We considered keeping it because we didn't want anyone's feelings to get hurt, but the fact he could only wear it in India without being mocked and scorned drove us to exchange it for something in red.
You see, those are not girls' only colours here. Which actually makes a lot of sense if you can ignore your upbringing. Our supposedly progressive society is awfully backward in this regard: Girls you can be anything you want to be, just like the boys, but please start out as a pretty, pink princesssss!
Whenever I buy new athletic shoes, they invariably have pink or purple accents on them. Raja has a passion for new athletic shoes and the same ridiculously large shoe size as mine. Our discourse always goes a little something like this:
Raj: Woo, I like your new shoes. Can I try them on?
Ren: Knock yourself out.
Raj: These are nice. Do you think anyone would notice that they're women's if I wear them here?.
Ren: Everyone definitely will notice they're women's and point and laugh at you.
But be my guest.
Raj (petulant now): Well no one would care if we were in INDIA!!!
Guess what? Now that we're in India he's only been wearing sandals.
Since it's January, the temperature drops down to a brisk 14 C or 57 F at night. When we got here, I saw a grown man on the bus wearing a powder pink coat with faux fur trim. It fit as three quarter length sleeves on him. I promised myself I wouldn't laugh AT anyone here but that sight for sore eyes just about did me in.
I warned Raja that my blog would likely disparage his beloved Motherland- just a bit. Because of my tendency to be honest. He said that was fine but expressed concern that his privacy might be invaded.
Hahaha. Privacy. Good one, Raj.
Just wait until TMI Tuesday hits.
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