We're #1.

We're #1. In air pollution. One account said it's the worst it's been in 17 years. You would not believe how toxic and smokey the air is. Our Utah air quality website says that any fine particulate/PM2.5 above 250 is hazardous: a red, no burn day. In Delhi we hit 999; maybe that's how high the meter goes. People are walking with their heads down and I hear sounds of respiratory distress all around. My eyes sting. I don't want to hang my clothes and sheets in it. It's bad in the house too.  We have to stay calm. Not many people wear masks. Do they even work? I looked for one today in my market but they only had surgical masks. Now I know what it's like to live in the  most polluted city in the world. It stinks. 

Mentally processing a lizard in the kitchen (This was my first entry in September. It jumped the queue.)

Blog Schmog.
But it's a good way to record and communicate our experience here in Delhi--in India! So I'll start with my most lasting impression today and work backwards and forwards from here.
We've been here more than a month and today I saw our first house lizard crawling across the kitchen wall. We knew lizards lived indoors, but this one was a little bigger and courser skinned than I might have wished. Do lizards avoid humans the way mice do? Are they interested in fragrant lotions and shampoos? Will  lizards drink from the water glass I left on the counter the way cats do? These are the questions keeping me up tonight.

Nizamuddin

The alley leading to Nizamuddin's tomb. 

Lucky me. I went to the Nizamuddin neighborhood with friends who wanted to "buy meat," meaning water buffalo. My friend brought an extra scarf. I talked them into visiting the holy site. Nizamuddin was a 14th century Sufi mystic admired for his "piety and disdain for material desires...His daily assemblies drew both the rich and the poor." (That's from my DK India tour book.) Several hundred years later Muslims still read his sayings and go to his tomb with prayers and offerings. We saw supplicants, but not until we had walked through a long covered alley with several right angle turns. It was a little claustrophobic. All along the way men in white sold colorful Muslim alter cloths, flower petals and for ten rupees, wanted to watch our shoes while we were at the tomb. You can see the ground is covered in rugs or tiled. Photography was not allowed at the tomb, where women prayed outside of lattice-work walls while men knelt directly around what looked to me like a bed. It was very foreign and a little scary. A man approached me with a guest book to sign and asked "what he could put me down for." (That's paraphrasing Dickens.) I left a hundred rupee note on a separate table where others had donated. On the way out my friends told me they had never been "inside" before and they marveled at my courage. Fools rush in?

Diwali!

I wrote about Diwali at about 8pm, which was way too early for a proper assessment. The fireworks got more intense so we went up on the roof again, where an exhilarating scene of chaos and lights burst all around us. On  the ground and on roof-tops people were lighting fireworks and crackers in such profusion that we felt like we were at Provo's Stadium of fire or at the National Mall on the 4th of July but with fireworks from every direction lasting for hours. Here the fireworks appear to be completely unregulated; there was no fire marshal to create a fallout zone. We had some enormous gold fireworks explode in the sky directly over our apartment. We saw several floating lanterns, like in the Tangled movie. I especially liked the fireworks that shot in a horizontal arc to explode seconds later on random rooftops. Our landlady and husband came up with a gift box of  nuts and dried fruit for us. YUM! Even as we reveled in the reckless abandon of our neighbors and people all across the city, we were choking on the smoke, but some things are just worth the consequences. The next morning our floor was lightly covered in dust and I could taste and feel the dust on my teeth. It's a little better today, and I can see the Lotus Temple, our air pollution gauge. We're SO GLAD we got to experience Diwali from our rooftop in Delhi!

I've been forgetting to mention that humidity is down and our days are in the high 80's now with nights in the 60's. It feels lovely.
Word of the day from Scott's English for Indians app: "knee: She kneed to open the door." 

Christy's birthday and Old Delhi

We love our Christy!

Happy Birthday to Christy!
We gave her a capo for her ukulele and some very scarce and therefore highly prized cheddar cheese with crackers with a promise to take her shopping for another Indian kurta and leggings. We ate out at a Moghul restaurant with delicious chicken curries and breads. Some foods they cook slowly in clay pots sealed with flatbread dough. I bought a fudgy buttery chocolate birthday cake that is so dark it will probably keep me awake tonight.

This week we went to a Halloween party at the home of an international arms dealer. Captain Rambo Wallace, US State Department, is our young men's president at church and a really nice guy. (His name has been changed...)He hired a dexterous magician and a less skillful caricature sketch artist and spread a variety of Indian and American foods on three tables in his big house on his wide empty street. His family has three floors of a house with big trees, a gate and a guard. An embassy couple lives on the ground floor.  That's where the living is easy!

Traffic is in a snarl this week because India's biggest holiday of the year culminates on October 30th. Diwali is the festival of lights, signifying the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance etc. My online source says Diwali is an official holiday in Fiji; I wonder why. Many shops and a homes hang Diwali lights, so our city looks festive at night. Maybe related: a couple of nights ago our landlords family went out in their most formal blingy saris and suits to celebrate the end of a day of fasting for the women. It was the day women fast for the long lives of their husbands.

We've discovered a Taco bell that delivers.

Bulk pulses, rice and tea.

I felt ridiculously lucky because some members offered to take me to Old Delhi with them to do their monthly food shopping. I thought I'd be getting the inside tour, but we just made a beeline from the Metro to the street with pulses and rice, pushing past people and watching out for dogs on the sidewalk and for every kind of conveyance imaginable in the streets. We even saw a big high cart with two men swinging branches to keep two big bulls pulling. I just don't seem to like noisy crowded cities, although I did see some wondrous interesting things. Don't believe for a minute that the sidewalks were as un-crowded as in the picture. Also note three different common clothing styles of the women on the right. My friends asked if I wanted to go look at the rows of clothing shops but I was already paralyzed and just wanted to get out.

Here's what I really loved! Tree nuts and dates in bag-barrels. Can you see the proprietor?

Later: October 30th. Tonight people all over the city are lighting off "crackers," or "cracka's" as they say it here. The skies have been thundering for over an hour and it just got dark. Word on the street says it will go on all night. Some of the crackers are fireworks but most are industrial sized firecrackers. Diwali is a festival lasting a few days. Yesterday morning the air was so smokey from pollution and crackers that for the first time we couldn't see the Lotus Temple from our window. We all have sore throats. If Pakistan wanted to start bombing Delhi and not get caught for awhile, tonight would be the night. Now we've got Indian drums going in the neighborhood. Festive!
Fun fact: Danny and Christy's school plastered posters all over the school: "Say no to crackers." We're about ready to call in the ACLU, since Danny and Christy are the only cracka's  at Bluebells.

Acknowledging the Lord's hand

From the beginning of our "next sabbatical quest," Scott felt guided to come to India and we've been blessed by the Lord throughout this whole India endeavor. On this page I will write about a few things that make us truly thankful.

Scott went to India a few weeks ahead of the rest of us, then he came back to the Oregon Coast for a Bradford family reunion. Then we all flew from Portland to Delhi, via Amsterdam. In Oregon, he developed a high fever (without congestion or sore throat) and terrific pain all over his body, especially in his joints. He was very sick for 4 days, hardly eating or getting out of bed. We diagnosed him with dengue fever, a common mosquito-born virus that was afflicting Delhi-ites in August, but we never did a blood test. Now we know that chikungunya fever is also a possibility; it has similar symptoms. Dengue fever is far more dangerous because if you get it twice your chances of bleeding to death internally go way up. You can only get chikungunya once. (Scott says he wants to have his blood tested when we get back to the States.) Scott still has pain roving through his joints, but he's a trooper, and otherwise very healthy. Here's what I want to give thanks for: that the illness struck while we were together and in the US, where mentally, I knew we had access to good familiar medical care; that we were staying right on the beach in a well-ventilated room with plenty of clean water; that we were supported and distracted by the Bradford clan; that many Bradfords fasted and prayed for Scott's recovery in time for our flight to India; that Steve Bradford gave Scott a Priesthood blessing of healing and comfort that was realized; that Scott's fever broke on Fast Sunday and we were able to travel on Monday morning.

There are some little things. Danny has access to a piano at school twice a week and he is our LDS branch sacrament meeting accompanist, so he's fairly motivated to practice. Fulbright-Nehru reimbursed our hefty Bluebells tuition, even though we learned that Bluebells had not officially enrolled our kids but recorded our payment as a donation. Bluebells is letting D and C ride the bus to school as guests, which was a huge relief those first few weeks. Christy is most grateful for the friends she's made at Bluebells; she was worried about being socially isolated. Danny is most thankful that McDonalds delivers. From the Mission Home we got the referral for the woman I hired to help me set up my Indian kitchen and teach me how to cook several things. We have a wonderful family renting our house who has been alert and gracious about an outside pipe bursting.

Stepping into church our first Sunday here was such a relief. The building is air conditioned; it's so much easier to feel the Spirit when you're comfortable. :) The hymns were familiar. The branch members were friendly and I got my favorite church calling: primary music teacher. Church still feels like a haven from the noise and bustle of the city. By the way, the congregational singing doesn't sound great here, especially in Relief Society. It's kind of funny. The women and men who lead the branch have a good understanding of the  doctrine and strong testimonies. I've been very impressed. The meetings are in English but some talks and  many comments are given in Hindi. We've done some socializing with members. I love going to Church.

Finally, I have found an occupation!  I've become friends with a family of Afghan refugees that live near me. The father and some of  his extended family converted to Christianity in Afghanistan, where they had to hide out in their house and rely on brave and generous neighbors to bring them food after the word got out. As I understand it, the grandmother had to go to the hospital and was shot en route. The man's brother also got killed and this family, comprised of the grandfather, the two parents and five children got on a plane and landed here. That was in 2007. India is not a signatory to the United Nations refugee laws, but the UN has a refugee office here and there are some NGOs. For reasons that remain unclear, the family has no Documents, and their children, ages 6-14, have not attended school regularly in several years. Think of it! Five children, spotty school and no books, very little money and no legal jobs.

I connected with the Mom, who is gentle, hopeful, indefatigable, from our first meeting. Maybe it's because we're both strangers here. My happy occupation, which is very useful and not at all draining, is to walk to their tiny apartment (it's down a tiny alley and then down an even tinier alley) four mornings a week and teach them English for a few hours. Every morning when I walk in, the children, who are standing around a low table say in chorus: "Good morning, Sister." The mom and the oldest daughter are my most diligent students, but all the kids are enthusiastic and cooperative. The oldest daughter has excellent English.  She wants to be an ophthalmologist. I bought English workbooks and reading books with a donation from a friend at home who told me to "find someone who needs it in India." As we work, I realize that they need to learn math and science too, and really, their situation is intolerable, even though they have a happy home as far as I can see, and they're all grateful. About once a week they serve me lunch. Last week it was savory rice with raisins and delicious red beans with a raw tomato and onion salad. We have a deal that they'll pick up a sheet of their favorite Afghan bread for me twice a week. The two little girls like to sing the "Let it Go" song like shy Broadway stars. Yesterday I picked up some math workbooks, but my curriculum is helter skelter and my time here is limited. I've begun research in earnest on options for improving their situation. It will be very  hard to leave them here in their current state. I wonder if the Lord led us to India or to this particular neighborhood to help this family. I know He loves them and they have been praying for a long time for relief from their problems. Whatever the reasons, our coming has opened our eyes and changed our lives forever and we feel God with us every day.

Flattering photos

Here's a couple of sweet photos. We're making India look good!

Fish tacos and curry. Yum!

This auto (tuktuk) is rare because it has curtains and beads at no extra cost. Not to mention the handsome driver.