India Part III

I should preface this post by sharing that this day I found my grandfather died.  He had been battling with leukemia, and was not doing well before we left, but he told me to try to have a good time and not worry about things back home.  It definitely kind of marred the rest of the trip for me, but I definitely felt his presence with us at the top of Sinhagad.

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Hi everyone.  Time for a little update...

 Day before yesterday we went on an excursion to an old fort outside of
Pune.  It was on the top of the mountain and called Sinhagad, meaning
Lion Fort.  It was absolutely beautiful.

We climbed all over the mountain and Emerson was extremely cooperative in her wrap.  We could
see for miles down into a valley and I just prayed the whole time we
were there that Grandpa would know the peace of that place.  It was
truly amazing and I felt his spirit there.

Last night we went on an excursion here in the city.  We stopped at a
museum that had Indian artifacts.  It was moderately interesting, but
I was sad and the museum just didn't hold my attention.

 

When we finished walking around we had to wait for the rest of the group, so
we crossed the street to look at a little table of junky wares an
Indian man was selling.

While were where looking I noticed people across the street starting to pile up.  First it was two girls, then six, then it turned in to a group of about 20 people.  At the same time, all of the sudden the junk table became very popular, people were standing all around us.  Suddenly, I realized they were all there staring at US, or rather Emerson.  All of them.  They were all looking at her, taking her picture, squeezing her cheeks, and just generally assaulting her.  I am so thankful that I brought a wrap so she could be held close to me.  Not only do people touch Emerson they also try to pull her out and hold her.  Not cool.

This student was with us, but she did actually pull E out of her wrap during all of this chaos.  I think that is part of what caused the frenzy of others trying to hold her.

While we were at the junk table a man, who in general appeared to be homeless, came up and
starting rubbing all over her head and face.  It was awful, but I just didn't know how to get him to go away.  Finally, our group leader, an Indian man, spoke to him in Marathi and convinced him to leave. As we left I realized the entire sidewalk on the WHOLE street was absolutely gawking.  It was unbelievable.  I never want to be a celebrity.

 
After that we went the Aga Khan Palace, where Ghandi had an interment.
 The palace itself was beautiful, but to be where Ghandi lived and
walked was absolutely amazing.  We saw the room that he stayed in, as
well as where his wife died.

Once we exited the palace we walked to a
beautiful garden that held Ghandi's ashes.  It was breathtaking, and
I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to be there.

We then did a little shopping again at Fab India.  Expensively disappointing once again. After that we had coffee and returned home and went to bed.

This morning I went over to the professor's house and went to Yvonne's niece's (I'm not entirely sure of the relation) apartment.  It was decorated to the nines and it is always interesting to see an Indian home.

Shopa's apartment

We then went to a store called Motherworld which was crazy overpriced and filled with Western style clothing.  I was so disappointed because I was hoping to get E some really cool Indian
clothes, but when we go to Indian children shops they only want to show me western clothes too.
In the end I bought Emerson a little pull along wood dog that looks like Pippin that she ADORES and a sweet little dress for next summer.  It only cost about $40.  lol Oh golly...

E playing with the Yvonne & the Professor's maid.

Tomorrow Yvonne is going to take me shopping again to get a few last minute things and then we'll go over to their house tomorrow afternoon to say goodbye.  We've really enjoyed our time here, but we are all exhausted and ready to get home.  E has adjusted fairly well, but I think she'll be happy to be able to play and roam the floors instead of being confined to a wrap when we're out of our room.