I’m Back in India…

…after my visit home.

Home.

Is it where your heart is or where you lay your head at night?   Anyhearth, I’ve been back for two weeks.  The airline didn’t lose any of my bags this time, but somehow I seem to have lost my words, which is why I haven’t been posting. 

It’s been hot here.  Really hot and it’s not even summer yet…which doesn’t mix well with a woman going through menopause.  I don’t know why I bother putting on pajamas when I go to bed because during the night they just end up on the floor.  My first morning back did not bode well for Paul.  Let’s just say the sheet over him that normally resembles a pup tent turned into the big top when he realized I was naked.  Imagine his surprise when he reached for me expectantly  and my response was, “You can join me in the shower, but it’ll be a cold one for both our sakes.”

The heat is doable with air conditioning, but when the power goes out it’s another story.  On my second night back it went out about 2:00 a.m.  Normally our battery back up would kick in and we’d still have power in the master bedroom, but that wasn’t the case.  Oddly, the power was only on in the living room, which is not hooked up to the back up.  When morning came, Paul asked our neighbor if she had power.  She did, and then explained how our units have more than one phase and we obviously had some phases out and the ‘Society’ (aka Home Owner’s Association) needed to be contacted.  She made the call for us; thank goodness, and an electrician showed up about an hour later.  I could bore you with all the details…or summarize:

• A main breaker was replaced on the first floor of our building.
• The breakers in our electrical box were then checked.
• One of them sparked and when removed had water dripping from it.
• A plumber had to be called.
• Apparently the cleaning person, who decided to clean the stairwell that morning, left the water running on the terrace above us.
• Apparently said water dripped down into our electrical box.
• Thank goodness the breaker went out the night before, otherwise the water issue would not have been realized until…who knows when or what.
• Someone from the Society, the plumber, the electrician, the cleaning person and the guard for our building came to my apartment.
• I asked my neighbor to come over to translate.
• Rags were stuffed into my electrical box and a hair dryer applied.
• Everyone left for the day to allow the wires and such to dry.
• The electrician came back the next morning and replaced the wet breaker.
• Half an hour after my power was finally restored, the power went out in the entire building for the next six hours.
• Welcome back to India…

On another note, Christmas movies are still being run on TV here.  Why?  I can only speculate.  Maybe because there are so many Hindi holidays and festivals that are celebrated they don’t want the scant percentage of Christians here to feel left out? 

Today is Good Friday and ‘The Ten Commandments’ was on.  Mayhaps they’ll change the line up and replace “Elf” and such with “Easter Parade” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.  One can only hope….not.

With my track record of late and a shopping expedition tomorrow (yeah) and a luncheon on Monday (double yeah), I probably won’t post again for a few days.  Happy Easter to all and please enjoy every bite of ham or lamb you ingest for me.  My option for Easter dinner at the grocery store other than chicken is leg of goat.  I’m not sure what sound a goat makes, but if it’s ‘bah’, it’s just one letter off from bad.  If it’s ‘nay’, nay is the word for ‘no’ in Hindi.  If it’s ‘mah’, it translates to “Is mah table ready?” when I go to Hard Rock Café.

Namaste~