What's Gotten India?

2010-10-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

These are some Taxi cab drivers we have gotten to know. Most Taxi drivers are Sikhs and all Sikhs have the last name of Singh. It's going to be so hard to do their genealogy when the time comes. I suppose they have an oral history of some kind.

Most of the Indians who have joined the Church here don't have birth certificates or last names. Most times they will take their father's first name as their last name when they join the Church. It is hard for them to get used to using that for their last name especially when they go on a mission. Dolly is going to have a hard time answering to Sister Arjun.

2010-10-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

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This little boy was so cute tending this sidewalk food business.

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Malti and I outside her apartment and then we got a snap of her running into her apartment on the second floor to get something she forgot.

2010-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Take a close look at the tree limb in the second photo. It's really crazy the way they prune the trees and shrubs here. Mostly they just rip and break thinks off. Sometimes they will use a primitive tool like a machete.

2010-10-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

The colorful laundry hanging out to dry is a common sight. The second picture down is of the auto richshaws lined up to get gas and the third picture down is of our flooded market place. A sewer line broke and flooded the whole place. What a stink. All the vendors had to head for higher ground.

2010-10-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

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This is one of our neighborhood guards in his new uniform. His name is Vishnu and his brother who is also our guard is named Kreshna after two Hindu Gods.

2010-10-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

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The first picture is just of our view out of the front of an auto rickshaw. The second picture is of some girls working as gas station attendants. They have a special gas called CNG for the auto rickshaws and they always make the passengers get out while they are gassing up. It must be more flammable or something.

2010-10-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T16:19:00.001-07:00

Elder Hansen and Elder Partcsh in our apartment.

2010-10-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

This Sikh is located in the little market next to our apartment. His wife makes these big pots of food every day. I take my five tiffin pots over and have him load them up once a week or so. If we don't have company to help us eat all that food it will last us almost a week. I pay only around $5.00 for a weeks worth of delicious rice, beans, and chipatis. Also, behind the Sikh on the left of the photo is a stitcher who is making me an outfit right now.

2010-10-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

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2010-10-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

A sidewalk auto repair business. I believe this is the only kind they have here. I like the guy sitting and waiting. He tells it all, doesn't he?

2010-10-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

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2010-10-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

This street dog had a very neat patch of fur shaved off and it looked like she had had some kind of surgery. These people here take care of the street dogs and get them to vets and everything.

Also this wrecked auto rickshaw was an unusual sight. I had never seen one wrecked before this one.

2010-10-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

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2010-10-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

The guy in the red turban is an ear cleaner. Fred would like to try it sometimes but I have to explain to him that this is undoubtedly a very unsanitary business.

2010-10-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

The little boy showing his muscles is a cooley who works at the market. He will carry all your groceries in a basket on his head. Many of them follow us around wanting our business and this is how they show us that they are strong. They are pretty cute little fellows. I hire one once in a while.

2010-10-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

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These are scenes of the flooded roads during the monsoon season. It was really fun to experience the monsoons this year. Last year there wasn't any rain but about three or four times. It looked so dry and dirty. This year everything is all green and beautiful.

2010-10-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

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The woman in the orange saree three pictures down is really a man, otherwise known as a eunuch. Some of them are really quite nice looking and it's hard to tell what they are.

2010-10-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

2010-10-15T09:11:00.001-07:00

Isn't this a great idea for a tow rope?

2010-10-15T09:10:00.001-07:00

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The city had been trying to get the sewer rivers covered over before the Common Wealth Games. Then the monsoons hit for over two months. These are cool pictures of what normally floats down the river but with all this rebar in the middle of it and the water getting so deep everything got caught. This stuff on the rebar is just trash.

2010-10-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

2010-10-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

Dolly got her mission call to the Phillipines. She's happy but scared.

2010-10-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

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I just loved this little baby girl. She didn't have anything on her bottom, just a little top. Her beggar mother just handed her to me. I wanted to kidnap her more than anything.

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This elephant almost ate Fred's bag of postage stamps and envelopes. It took the bag right out of his hands and put it almost into it's mouth. Fred was freaking out. He had gone to so much trouble to find those cool postage stamps and then they were almost eaten by an elephant.

2010-10-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

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2010-07-10T10:46:00.001-07:00

I just had to get a picture of this tiny old guy bending rebar. He really had it down to a science.

2010-07-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

2010-07-10T10:36:00.001-07:00

This is Shelley and Boozer. It's amazing how people live here. They only have one room which they share with three people and Boozer. He's a big dog too. There is no yard and to get their house you have to wind around a narrow dark three meter wide passageway between apartment buildings. Luckily Boozer has nice manners and he's very well loved. The Aroras are well loved also and theirs is the favorite home for all of the missionaries to hang out at.

2010-07-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

2010-07-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

We found another wonderful market close by. Renu and I are haggling over some mangos. This looks like very serious business doesn't it? I really like the picture of the bowl of carrots so precariously propped up on top of the rock rocks and bricks. It's amazing to see all the makeshift businesses and stands. It gives us a lot of new ideas for when we get home and back to selling fruit.

2010-07-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

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2010-07-10T10:09:00.001-07:00

These little girls were having so much fun playing with a match box. One had the cover and the other had the box tray. While I was trying to get a picture they noticed me and jumped up to pose. Luckily I got a snap of them while they were playing. It's so cute how little kids will play with just any old scrap of junk. Very few have regular toys from a store. I have seen some very creative toys and musical instruments made out of CD discs, old broken PVC pipe, sticks and rocks, cardboard boxes, styrafoam boxes, match boxes, bricks, etc. None of the kids use nets to play badminton. One neighborhood dad said it develops imagination and creativity.

2010-07-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

2010-07-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

These are two of our friends here in India. Shelley and Renu Arora. They were all dressed up for a wedding. This was the first time I had seen Shelley in a Saree. Can you believe that beautiful hair?

2010-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

2010-07-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

We thought this was an interesting scene. One guy was up the pole and four others were sitting on the rope which was steadying the pole. The fifth man was stepping on and squatting over the end of the rope.

2010-07-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

2010-06-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here's Dolly in her Harem girl outfit. She was required to make it in white. Doesn't she just look fabulous? I had a lot of fun helping her. Tomorrow I am meeting with another girl to help her get her missionary wardrobe together. I knew there was a reason for me to buy a sewing machine first thing when I got here to India. This is the second girl I've helped with missionary clothing. I will be helping Dolly get hers together also. She's getting her papers filled out.

2010-06-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

2010-06-17T10:59:00.001-07:00

Some sights we see are funny like the man standing urinating on the tree but he's also asleep. That one is funny. Other sights are just pitiful and then others are so gruesome and unbelievable. We weren't sure if the man laying on the sidewalk was dead or not. This sight is so common but nobody even checks to find out. Blow the picture of the man with the twisted leg up. It is just amazing what some people suffer in this life.

2010-06-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

2010-06-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Look how tidy this man is. His shoes are so neatly placed, his mat so colorful, and his clothes so white and cool looking. He doesn't even want to put his feet on the mat so as to keep it nice and clean. It's as though he knew that he was going to need a nap while he was out and about so he came prepared to just stretch out and take a rest on the sidewalk.