A journey to times past

Three generations women went to visit our "origin" so to speak ...

This is the church in Bosarp, the area where my mother grew up and where I spent most of my summers with my grandparents as a child.

My grandmother, Ellen Ungesson, passed away November 2013 at the age of 104.

She has found a very nice spot for her final rest.

A few kilometres away we drove through the woods surrounding the birth place of my mother - another paradise on earth, so I will stop chatting  now and let the pictures speak for themselves ;-)

Fresh air, silence and ... the sea = Holiday in Sweden

Maia and I have already spent a week in Sweden. Time flies ... as usual!
It feels like we have been in India for a lot longer than just 7 weeks. I felt like it was a bit of a waste to go to Sweden after such a short period of time already, but being here now is just right, and I can't wait to go back to India, back home!

The contrast is stark ...

 This is the harbour in my home town of Landskrona in southern Sweden. The fishermen's village is called Borstahusen - it was founded in 1776 by the brothers Rasmus Andersson Borste and Jöns Andersson Borste.

On the other side of the pier is a fabulous beach area - the best one in the world if you ask me, although I might be slightly biased ... The bit of land in the distance is the Island of Ven situated between Sweden and Denmark. Here a short film about the island.
It was up to 25 degrees the first week we were here, so although the water is still cold, many ventured in :-)

Maia and I forgot our swim suits in India (!!!!!!) but had to try anyway ...

Our new digs

Maia and I spent the aftersoon together with an estate agent, Monty, looking at an apartment in the World Spa condominium. We have now decided, that is where we want to live.

Now we only need to choose the apartment. We have already seen 4 apartments there, one of them will be our new home.

The system here is that when a condominium is built, the apartments are sold mostly to people who use it as an investment and they then let them. Some people could not afford to live in their apartment themselves ... yet ... but hope to one day. There are owners who leave their apartments empty for a long time, because they do not find tenants they are happy with. Hopefully we will be attractive enough to get the apartment we want.
The club house looks really great - it has a party hall, a café, squash court, table tennis, library, pool and card room (! - makes me think of colonial times. Not sure the average Indian has that facility very high on the list) outdoor pools ...

... and it is also the only condo we have seen that has an indoor pool open all year round.
The maintenance team was cleaning the indoor lap pool when we were there.

 The gym looks fab! Maia spotted a sign on the door saying you have to be 15 to be allowed in the gym - she is not happy :-(

All these amenities plus e.g. 24/7 security including video surveillance, stand-by maintenance team, power back-up (kicks in during power cuts), water storage and rainwater harvesting, etc. seem to be pretty standard in the condos we have seen, i.e. condos where most expats live.

Monty said we will negociate with the owner about whatever we need in the apartment to make our lives comfortable ... Ok, I don't think that will be very difficult!!! I will certainly enjoy while it lasts. In a few of years it is back to reality for us ...

Had to show this picture also - this is what the lobby looks like in each of the towers:

This philosopher will greet us every day.

Welcome to our new digs!

One down, one came

Our friend Lars, aka Uncle Lars, has arrived. In 2000 we move to Ohio together. He has lived in Switzerland the last 10 years, and now we are moving here together. The Nestlé world is small!

As he landed in the middle of the night and we knew we would not be awake to greet him, we asked the hotel to put a beer in the fridge, and Ian thought it would be fun to have some balloons in the room also!
The staff here at Optus Sarovar really thought outside the box:

... complete with a box of candles and a box of matches :-)
The following evening Lars very galantly shared the bliss with us.

What else this past week? Well, it has been same same actually - hindi lessons, house hunting, school and work. Oh yes, Ian landed in hospital on Thursday. Mmmmm, rather inconvenient. He has been to see a doctor twice, both times getting drugs for gout, but it did not get any better. Last Thursday he was in so much pain and the foot was so swollen that he called his doctor who managed to get him an appointment in the afternoon the same day. Once there, the doctor took one look and concluded: " this is not gout!", and admitted him immediately.

This baby greets all visitors to the Fortis Hospital in Gurgaon.

That is me standing next to this giant baby.

Ian spent the first afternoon in a twin room together with a man of the muslim persuasion, who apparently had a rather large family ... and they all wanted to visit pretty much at the same time ... and they all had mobile phones with more or less inventive ringtones, and they were all constantly receiving calls. My brave husband did not complain ... at first, but after a few hours in this improvised call centre, he did, and got a single room with a view ...

Due to the sandstorm with a little rain following, the window is VERY dirty.

 ... his own bathroom, tea making facilities, a rather large flat screen TV, WiFi, a visitor's sofa, very sexy PJs (NOT) and, of course, the sofa bed for the spouse. On Friday, when Maia and I were there to visit, one of all the staff (yes1 truly amazing: floor cleaner coming almost once per hour, the gauze carrying person, the gauze applying person, the soup bringing person, the tea bag refilling person, the occasional medical staff ...) entered with 2 trays with supper - one for the patient and one for the spouse. I kindly declined and was greeted with utter surprise! "Ma'am not staying?" I stood my ground - "No, I am not moving in."

So, you might ask, what is the problem then? Well, all I know is that Ian has a severe infection in his right foot. It was indeed very swollen, to the point where the toes looked like they had joined forming and extension of the foot.

He is still today (Sunday) not allowed to put any weight on the foot, which, he was told, could risk the infection spreading. In spite of this forced inactivity and the guilty conscience for not being able to go to work, he is in a good mood and happy that the pain is decreasing and that the foot seems to finally be on the mend.

Where could this infection have come from? Who knows, but one of the theories the doctor mentioned was the lovely carpet in our hotel room! Needless to say, Maia and I are NOT walking around barefoot any longer.

With tea today they served ... Mariekex! Mmmmmm. Just like home ;-)

Get well soon! We miss you

xxoo

HOHO Delhi Part II

I take my hat off for this fantastic politician. She was indeed a very active and engaged person, even though she might have possibly lost sight of reality towards the end of her life.

Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India.

Gandhi was born into the politically prominent Nehru family; her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, served as India’s first prime minister. Gandhi served three consecutive terms as prime minister, between 1966 and 1977, and another term beginning in 1980.

She lived in the house, which is now a museum. Also, her son Rajiv lived here with his Italian wife Sonja and their children until they found other digs.

The surrounding garden has many beautiful shaded areas.

The rooms seem to have been kept relatively untouched. Her personal affects, pictures of family members, memorabilia and gifts from leaders from all over the world were displayed here in her study.

 Below you can see her bedroom - she must have been a well read person!

At about 9.20 on the morning of October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi walked down this path to her office to be interviewed by Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary. As she passed a wicket gate guarded by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, her Sikh bodyguards, they opened fire. Over the next four days, thousands of Sikhs were killed in retaliatory violence.

Today, the spot where Indira Gandhi was assassinated is marked by a glass opening in the crystal pathway at the Indira Gandhi Memorial.

This guy just had to turn his head and look at me - my lucky day. Wonder what he is thinking ...

A very interesting memorial well worth a visit if you ever happen to be in the neighbourhood.

We got back on the bus, REALLY hungry by now! So, back to where we started - Connaught Place, officially called Rajiv Chowk, is one of the largest financial, commercial and business centers in New Delhi. CP is also a good place to look for restaurants - time for some grub.
Lots of exciting things to see on the way there ... here a shoemaker, who had set up business on the sidewalk.

 This guy will be on the phone a while if he is trying to call his buddy next to him ...

Had to take a peek into this backyard ...

 An electrician's nightmare - and, yeah, power cuts are frequent.

Not sure, but I think this might be a safety issue.

It was HOT and you can't really blame a guy for needing a break.

This old man was taking a nap in the shade ... or maybe I was actually intruding in his bedroom ...

We found a restaurant that did not look like much from the outside, but we ventured up the stairs

and found a really nice room with great food!

Another wonderful day in India.