Disha Institute

On each Monday afternoon, I go with Ann-Sofie to the Disha Institute to play with the children and help teach them some basic English. Today, we decided to bake them cake as a treat for studying very hard on their exams this past week. I left home at 10:30 am in order to bake 40 little cakes and help prepare the day's lesson.


Here is our first batch of cupcakes. Notice how small the oven/microwave is in comparison to those at home.

Ann-Sofie holding the cupcakes . . .

This is the Belgian children's cookbook we used for the cake recipe, it is so easy to use even I am able follow Flemish instructions . . .

By 2 pm the cakes were finished as well as flashcards we prepared to teach the children European and Asian geography. Off we go to Disha . . .

We arrive at Disha and quickly realize that the children are quite tired from exams and do not feel like learning geography. So we instead decide to teach them the Makerena dance.

After the Makerena dance, we go outside to play musical chairs to, of course, the Makerena. Here we are explaining the instructions to the game.
And they are off . . .
Vijay does not race to his chair fast enough, so he is the first to remove his chair . . .
A little one watches the big children have fun playing musical chairs . . .
Since I was taking photos, Laxmi helps me pause the music while the game is in play.
The children are quite hungry from musical chairs, so we decide to take a 5 minute "cake" break. They all enjoy their little treats.

After the snack is finished, they decide to teach us cricket. We played cricked for about 45 minutes, and then head home for the evening, leaving behind the exhausted children to enjoy their dinner.

How to Perform a Dussera Pooja

Today was a devotional holiday to Dussera in which Hindus perform small poojas to celebrate their "tools of the trade." Obviously, our drivers wanted to celebrate the automobiles they drive on a daily basis. We are down to one driver this week, with my new driver starting tomorrow, so Rahul insisted he perform poojas on both of our cars and that we needed to assist him. Here is how to perform a pooja on your car.

Step 1: Wash your car.

Step 2: Decorate the car with a garland of marigolds, red powder in the form of a swastik to the god Laxmi, bindis on the license plate, branches to signify an offering of gold to Dussera, and a box of sweets to place on the hood (in this case very nice almond and chocolate birfi).

Step 3: Surround the car in incense.

Step 4: Have madam smash a coconut on the ground. (This is actually a lot harder than it looks.)

Step 5: Have madam pour the coconut water over the car and place the shells on the garland of marigolds. Then, ask madam to eat the birfi. Now, the pooja is complete.

Here Paul stands with his car, Rahul and Lily after his pooja.

Motorbikes after the Dussera pooja is performed.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Since we have arrived in Pune, we have been looking for some sort of biergarten type of establishment, a place to simply unwind and relax. Some new friends, Jo and Ted, from Atlanta invited us to join them at ABC Farm's Soul for Sunday brunch. When we arrived we quickly realized that indeed this was the Indian version of a biergarten. With kebabs and pitchers of beer (though not great) we enjoyed this afternoon while listening to Bob Marley and Coldplay--and yes, the band was actually good!

Interestingly enough, Jo and Ted also invited some other friends from Eaton along to brunch. We quickly learned what a small world it truly is when Valerie, Chris and Eva were from Rochester Hills and very good friends with our old neighbors Nathan and Laura! It made us definitely feel like we were at home in Michigan for a little while!

Here's a photo of the group below . . .

And here was the beer . . . Next weekend there will be Oktoberfest at ABC Farms and we are looking forward to these pitchers and real pretzels!
We could only stay about 2 hours as pest control was stopping by to take care of a small cockroach issue that was cropping up in the apartment. After they left, Paul and I went on our Bangalore beef deliveries to our friends in the neighborhood.

We decided to head out to the local veggie and fruit market in Koreagaon Park and ran into Jo and Ted again. They were heading to a bicycle shop to purchase helmets, so we tagged along. Paul decided to try this "chopper" out for a spin down Lane 7. I am extremely pleased he at least put a helmet on while riding along side the bus.
As you can see, a very nice, relaxing afternoon in Poona.

Highlands Hash @ Khadakvasla Lake

The Highlands Hash at Khadakvasla Lake had over 120 participants to demonstrate their "athletic" abilities. The site of the hash was situated at Lakewoods Retreat on Khadakvasla Lake surrounded by mountains. It was a fun filled day of beautiful scenery, friends, and food.

On our way to the event, we passed some men who were getting ready for the Durga festival in the evening.

Here is a photo of the lake from the foothill we climbed up to upon arrival . . .



Here are some cows grazing . . .

The caber toss--this event involved five men tossing this stick the farthest.

Paul hikes up the hill to go to the next event.

Here you can see the beautiful landscape behind me as I climb up the hill to the next station . . .

Team 9 creates a strategy. The object of this activity is to build some sort of human ladder to ring a bell that was hung over 3 meters in the air.

For the first attempt, Jan climbs up Paul's shoulders.

Jan reaches for the bell, but is about 4 inches short.

So, the next tallest person was recruited for this event. Guess who? --Me! Paul crouched down to the earth to let me climb up on his shoulders. I am pretty impressed with my balance in this activity.
Here I am actually reaching up to touch the bell, which I easily did on my tip toes.
After this event, we played European style dodge ball. Needless to say, it was very interesting. Then, we walked over to the Lakewoods Retreat to have our potluck.

On our way home, we passed by the Durga festival in this local village. Here you can see the men beating the drums and the lights from the shrine behind them.