In Review: A Year in India

It's so hard to believe that a year in India has come and gone as I write this. It seems like just yesterday that we were carrying our luggage up the steps to Tannie and Murad's bed and breakfast in the cold, foggy night. Looking back on this experience is quite surreal: I remember walking onto the airplane in Newark, walking past the bulkhead area with the bassinet, and thinking that in a year that would be us, leaving with 2 but coming home with 3. Although most of these moments have been captured in one form or another in previous posts, I thought a whirlwind year-in-review post would be fitting for the end to this particular adventure. Please pardon me if either your favorite picture, or the crazy adventure we had together, isn't on here. Just know each of you made this an unforgettable year in India.



DECEMBER: Arrival


Good news that would define our trip




Underwhelmed with our furnished apartment





Beautiful scenery from a trip to New Year's Orcha with Tannie and Murad




JANUARY: Getting Settled


Working with the plant walllah




Dave hard at work





Who could forget Mumfli, the adopted street dog?


Dave travels to the Northeast




Root bridges




FEBRUARY: Ellora and Ajanta


Ajanta and Ellora with Sarah


APRIL: The Weavers visit


 The Taj



 Benares
 


Waiting on/for/in a train


 Jaipur


MAY: The Meeks Arrive


Back to Nanda Devi: Reconnecting with People and Places




After five years, screening the Nanda Devi documentary I helped produce in Lata village




Soaking in the scenery in Kurseong



Toy train to Darjeeling




 Relaxing in Kalimpong



Darjeeling and a special anniversary


 Playing in Kashmir


JUNE: To Ladakh

Learning about Ladakhi agriculture






Bluegrass in the backwoods




and the three M's, not Meek men, well, them too, but:


1. Mountains



2. Mustaches


3. Monasteries 


JULY:


Benares with Jon: As the Monsoon Arrives



Benares with Jon: Sitar Lessons


Benares: Ear cleaning


AUGUST:


On Day 1



Starting the life-long process of learning to be parents


Wonderful times with wonderful friends




SEPTEMBER



Grandma Gail arrives!!!



Getting legit


OCTOBER:


Birthday Bash at the Spa


Jantar Mantar


Surprise birthday party!!!


A Diwali to Remember


NOVEMBER:


Kerala Adventures




Good friends


Great times

Life-long relationships





DECEMBER: Liftoff!!!



Weighing in one last time

One Last Hurrah

Last night was a quite fitting end to our adventure in India. We decided to visit some of the folks that Jo works with and so stopped by their house for a photo session with Annie. They were so cute, grabbing her as soon as we walked in the door and starting their own photo shoot!




After a few hundred (in all seriousness) photos of them and Annie we were able to squeeze in a group shot.



and then I noticed this really beautifully back-lit wall adornment, and well...you guessed it.



But the larger excitement of the evening was that we got an unexpected call early that day from our friend Adam G. at Fulbright who was extremely gracious, and perhaps a little crazy, inviting Jo, Annie, and I to a small function Fulbright was having, and requesting that I bring my banjo! So we invited our friends Adam and Em for one last hurrah, and all trouped over to CP.

This was my first "invited" public performance. I stress invited as I have (un)willingly exposed countless thousands across the world to the banjo, harmonica, fiddle, and mandolin over the years. And to you all, I'm sorry. But this was an invited performance, complete with full sound system. I had a lot of fun performing and played for.... maybe a half hour? Maybe less. I tried to expose people to a little bit of banjo history and humor in the performing style of Banjoists such as Tony Trishka (I also realized I really really need to purchase the Pickin' on the Banjo: The Original Banjo Jokebook for future performances) For those of you who couldn't be there check out this video.

My favorite part of the video is Jo's face when the camera pans by her; if you couldn't read it, that was the "that's not my husband" expression. Annie was making a "that's not my daddy" expression as well, but her face was buried in her snuggly purple suit.

From this event I took the following lessons: 1) always have an array of banjo jokes to legitimize your out of tune playing (note: most banjo jokes revolve around a banjo's finnicky tuning; i.e. what's the difference between a banjo and a chain saw? Answer: A chain saw has a dynamic range.....ohhhhhhhhhhhhh no!) and 2) wear a funny combination of clothes, like a dressy Indian outfit with crocs to distract folks from the music.

It was a last night to remember.

Changing of the Seasons

Another vapid post, but this one with a good costume and auditory adornments. Here's me wearing a traditional Kasmiri hat and vest, in Delhi, India, playing a clawhammer banjo version of Frosty morning on a frosty morning. Note that not only the late great Michael Jackson wears one glove.

Frosty Morning (Clawhammer banjo) from David Meek on Vimeo.

The Purple Monster

This will quite likely be the most vapid blog post to date, but it also might be the cutest. An upshot of having an apartment without central heat in the Delhi winter....you get to dress your child up in outfits like this!









Now, don't you agree that was blog worthy?

An Indian Thanksgiving: Part 2

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving for a a second time with good friends and a great dinner, which was strikingly similar to the one from Thursday night, as we had made all the dishes in advance (save the paneer turkey of course!).  If you thought the Thursday night Thanksgiving looked wild, well, you were right, but the Saturday night one was just as lively, if without all the dancing! We had, depending on how you count, 19 people in all (depending on at what age an infant or child comes to count that is). It was a pretty fast-paced night, and so unfortunately, no group picture, but I did grab a few shots.





It was quite an eclectic group of people, but they all found many things in common, whether it was research, or just knowing us!



or a love for cute babies!


Sibghat with Samantha

Not surprisingly, as Adam was there, we managed to play some old time music.


Roopa's daughter was quite fond of meeting Samantha!



and finally, at the end of the night, everyone was exhausted!

An Indian Thanksgiving: Part 1

The centerpiece sizzles away: Paneer turkey in toaster

Although I was originally sad about not being home for Thanksgiving, I quickly realized that this was the perfect opportunity to have all our friends over to celebrate together, sharing a bit of an American culinary and cultural tradition. As you'll see it was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember! (the blog is subtiled part 1, as we're going to repeat the festivities on Saturday for the 12 friends who couldn't make it!)

The morning was an amazing swirl of action. We all went out to the neighborhood vegetable market and bought  ton of provisions. Upon returning home we all sat around the living room with a task: peeling carrots (for carrot coconut soup), shelling pomegranates (for pomegranate apple crisp), or holding Annie (for obvious reasons), we all had a job to do.


Many hands make short work


Annie and Beth survey the scene



Katy shelling pomegranates to make a delicious substitution for cranberries



Emilia the carrot master

With a small kitchen that was not furnished by us, the day required significant adaptation.

Peering quizically at the casserole dish....how much can it hold?

As the ladies and I cooked, Jo and Sneha worked diligently on transcribing their last interview...after one year and 300 some odd interviews it was all over! Now that's something to be thankful for!



Done!


In addition to all the running around and cooking, there was time for some fun. Below is a video I made in honor of Thanksgiving, it's called "Chinquapin Pie", likely in reference to a pie made from nuts of a tree that indigenous people in the Western US consumed.




I doubt it was that song, but there was definitely a festive spirit in the air, as typified by the dancing ladies.


Who knew our closet-like kitchen doubled as a dance floor?





Or that Katy knew the ancient soda bottle dance?

Annie was pretty amused with all of the Thanksgiving preparations, she particularly enjoying learning about making stuffing!




The centerpiece of Thanksgiving is almost always the Turkey. Being in India, I wasn't sure about the availability of Turkey, or the feasibility of cooking one in our toaster, plus I was a bit lazy, and double plus, I was seized with a vision: paneer turkey!

Now, before you get any crazy ideas about making a sculptural turkey, just hold on for a hot second. No, Grandma Gail heard of my idea and came to the rescue, sending a turkey-shaped cookie cutter to India! So paneer turkey time it was! Luckily, Katy saw my vision, and helped me to actualize it.


Paneer turkey being spiced with turmeric, chili powder, cumin and mustard seeds for eyes!


Paneer turkey on platter

Once all the food had been prepped it was time to get all gussied-up and presentable like. Sneha had recently gifted me (Indian English phrase) a beautiful full length kurta.


Annie was quite fond of Dad in his new outfit



Even Annie got a new outfit; Emilia brought her this cute little (emphasis on the little!) dress from Gujarat. Now we know that our three month old stresses the seams of a six month Indian dress!







After a while though, Annie needed to slip into something a little more comfy, and so she and Shubra got a little snuggle time.




Then it was time to continue the photo shoot at an official level, shooting some shots for the Smith Quarterly magazine.



And maybe a few humorous shots as well, including a little photoshop alteration to highlight Jo's beatific nature.



and one of the whole assembled group!

from left on couch: Adam, Dave, Jo (with Annie) Dan, and sitting on ground, Shubhra, Beth, Sneha, Katy, Emilia

And then....dinner time! On the menu: paneer turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans and mushrooms, corn on the cob broccoli, biscuits, chicken, pomegranate apple crisp, carrot coconut soup...I think that was IT!

 Adam serving it up (note: the blue bottles are water, not Bombay Sapphire)

Just when we thought the night was winding down, we realized it was just winding up: Bollywood dance party style! Here's Katy, Beth, and Emilia doing a pretty spirited rendition of Pretty Woman. Note: no alcohol was consumed prior to this performance. I think I can guarantee it's a show stopper!

I think the above text and videos can buttress my assertion that this was the most fun Thanksgiving ever! What's even more amazing than the huge success that this holiday turned out to be, is that we made DOUBLE of everything, and so have a freezer/fridge full of dishes just ready for tomorrow!

Getting Legit

Having a baby while in the field might conjure up all sorts of mental images, or it might not. If you're considering it though, this is one image that might give you pause.


The epitome of red tape: files to ceiling

Bureaucracy was one of our biggest hurdles (so far) in having a baby in the field. While any child born to United States citizen is by U.S. law granted citizenship at birth irrespective of the location of their birth, one still needs to get a passport, and very likely an exit visa, in order to leave the country. All of this meant, that we had to become very adept at negotiating the mountains of red tape surrounding the Indian government.

Now, while the particulars will almost surely be different in whatever country your field site is, and rapidly change even here in India, the following are the steps we had to go through, and might provide some signposts.

We had hoped Annie would be able to have dual US-Indian citizenship, but unfortunately, no. India does not allow dual citizenship. In fact, it currently has extremely strict citizenship requirements. For example, a baby born to one Indian parent and one non-Indian parent IN India would not be Indian, nor would a baby born to both Indian parents in another country.  India does offer various non-dual citizenship options, such as a PIO (Person of Indian Origin), OCI (Overseas Citizen of India), and NRI (Non-resident Indian). I had hoped she would be able to get one of these designations, as she would get a lifetime Indian visa, and, really, just a whole lot of street-cred. But, once again, no. The requirements for all these classifications were so complicated; i.e. what constitutes "origin", that I finally gave up, knowing that the rest of the process was going to be very frustrating on its own.

The first step was the birth certificate. Whereas in the United States this is issued the day the baby is born, or at least before you leave the hospital, this isn't the case in India. The reason: many Indian families follow tradition and don't name the baby for up to six days following birth. We were told getting the birth certificate would take a month. Of course, this contradicts the regulation that you register the child within two weeks...but so it goes.

The above photo was taken at the Delhi Development Authority office, which issues the birth certificates



The rupee stops here

We were concerned a bribe would be either implicitly or explicitly required, but whether the sign above had anything to do with it or not, no bribes were required and I was able to get the birth certificate without a problem.


With birth certificate in hand it was time to get the all-important U.S. passport. For that we needed the all-important passport photo. For a baby, the government requires the baby be looking forward with eyes open. Not an easy task with a newborn. Although we got a passport photo of Annie taking with me holding her, the local photo place was able to photoshop me out of the picture. Of course, this ended up looking a little funny, giving her a flattened head, but so it goes.




Getting Annie's passport photo photoshopped


Look Mom, no hands!

With pictures taken we then had to amass a mountain of documents, including Jo's ultrasounds and other exam reports, which were to prove that we hadn't stolen, adopted or used a surrogate to have the baby.

The giant pile of documents 


The day before our appointment at the U.S. embassy they called me to tell me that they had other requirements that were not listed on the website. "Great.....and now what do you need?" "A family photo", they said. Ok......well, if we were going to get a family photo than it was going to be a funny/ironic one.


Our ironic family photo...NO SMILES as per traditional Indian style!

As one might expect, the U.S. side of this whole process was pretty straight forward. We went to the passport office at the appointed time, gave them the appointed documents, paid the fee, and then picked it up a week or two later. That was the easy part. Unfortunately, once we got the passport we then needed to get Annie an "exit visa". Now, she was born in the country, but she still needed a visa to leave the country. Don't ask me why.

For this we had to go to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, which is where we had to come to once we first came to India to register. The place is unbelievable as it is where everyone needs to come and register who are going to live in the country.

May I help you?






The airplane-hanger waiting area is divided into two halves. One for Afghan refugees and the other for non-Afghan refugees. Can you guess who is sitting where in the above photo?

I won't go to far into details here, but let's just say it was traumatic. So traumatic that I can't retell it here as it involved me having to come back to this office six times, waiting for several hours each time, in order to finally get the requisite exit visa stamp in her passport! Homeward bound we are!