Monday, September 29, 2008
I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again
I fell! No one knocked me down, I just fell. One second I was walking along and the next I was down. I had a few images flash before my eyes, which was a new experience. But nothing about life. They were just images of falling. I either stepped on poop or slid on mud. Either way, I went down. One leg went straight out in front, the other stayed bent, which helped in the quick get-up. I put one hand down to catch myself and now that hand is all bruised. From the wrist to the palm is black, blue and red. But the worst part of falling is all the people around. Thankfully it was getting dark out, which may be why I didn't see the "mud". It was right where the cycle rickshaw drivers wait for customers. I heard a few "tsks" which is like saying "oh, too bad." Then I shot back up and dusted off my behind. Usually I laugh when people fall, but this time I didn't laugh.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What's Wrong with Your Face????
Several of my Indian friends have asked me lately, "What is wrong with your face?" This is never a question you want to hear or answer. When I look in the mirror I ask the same question though.
Yesterday my good friend was over and of course the subject of my face came up again. There is a wedding in a few weeks and she hopes my face will be alright by then, because everyone will be looking at me.
The problem is that my body has betrayed me. Here I am, 37 years old and I have more pimples then I ever have had before. And it really doesn't help to pick at them. So I have red spots on my forehead, chin and cheeks. I am a big freak!
Indians are so honest with their comments too. Like when you gain weight they say, "You are fat (healthy)." Or when you lose too much weight they say, "You look thin and sickly." And now with zits on my face, "What's wrong with your face?"
Yesterday my good friend was over and of course the subject of my face came up again. There is a wedding in a few weeks and she hopes my face will be alright by then, because everyone will be looking at me.
The problem is that my body has betrayed me. Here I am, 37 years old and I have more pimples then I ever have had before. And it really doesn't help to pick at them. So I have red spots on my forehead, chin and cheeks. I am a big freak!
Indians are so honest with their comments too. Like when you gain weight they say, "You are fat (healthy)." Or when you lose too much weight they say, "You look thin and sickly." And now with zits on my face, "What's wrong with your face?"
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sealed again!
The story continues....
The MCD let us have three days to remove our items from the basement, known as "the gym". We got everything out except an old shelf that probably has a next of cockroaches under it. There was no electricity so we had to work in the dark, damp basement by just the light that came in the door.
My friend and I stood outside the gym waiting for the MCD guys to show up to de-seal the door. I'm so thankful for this friend. She is so loyal. Then we looked inside. What a mess. After four months it can get pretty dirty. Most of the equipment is too heavy for us to move so we just started gathering the smaller things. A guy friend showed up and got things rolling. He hired a truck and a few guys to help load everything. A lady from the gym is letting us use her basement as storage so we had everything taken there. What we didn't realize is that her basement is worse than ours. It has about an inch of water on the ground. But what can we do? So it all got moved there.
Three days later the MCD came again and sealed the door shut again. This means they wrapped the lock with gauze and dripped candle wax on it.
Now what? Well we wait to see if anything can be found to rent that is in our price range. I am trying to sell some of the equipment before it rots in the flooded basement. And I am going to try to teach aerobics during the week. That is the plan. May God lead!
The MCD let us have three days to remove our items from the basement, known as "the gym". We got everything out except an old shelf that probably has a next of cockroaches under it. There was no electricity so we had to work in the dark, damp basement by just the light that came in the door.
My friend and I stood outside the gym waiting for the MCD guys to show up to de-seal the door. I'm so thankful for this friend. She is so loyal. Then we looked inside. What a mess. After four months it can get pretty dirty. Most of the equipment is too heavy for us to move so we just started gathering the smaller things. A guy friend showed up and got things rolling. He hired a truck and a few guys to help load everything. A lady from the gym is letting us use her basement as storage so we had everything taken there. What we didn't realize is that her basement is worse than ours. It has about an inch of water on the ground. But what can we do? So it all got moved there.
Three days later the MCD came again and sealed the door shut again. This means they wrapped the lock with gauze and dripped candle wax on it.
Now what? Well we wait to see if anything can be found to rent that is in our price range. I am trying to sell some of the equipment before it rots in the flooded basement. And I am going to try to teach aerobics during the week. That is the plan. May God lead!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
MCD
To me, the letters MCD have never brought happy thoughts. But yesterday that changed. Yesterday the MCD came and opened the gym door so we could move our things out. MCD stands for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. What I see them doing is removing store items that have been placed on the sidewalk (displays or signs) and removing cows from the streets of Delhi. The last couple years they have been enforcing the property laws regarding businesses in residential areas. They have closed thousands of businesses in the last few years. Mine was closed by them in May.
This wasn't my first run-in with the MCD. About three years ago they came in our neighborhood to remove signs and merchandise from sidewalks. I had a sign out in front of the gym that was a sandwhich board type sign. While I was away at lunch the big truck came and they loaded my sign in the back along with all other items they had confiscated. I was truly naive to the situation and felt it was unfair that my sign would be "stolen". I came back from lunch and my employee/friend told me what had just happened. She went with me to track down the truck. We walked through the market and found the truck with my sign in the back. Thankfully it was near the rear of the truck. I handed Micah over to my friend and climbed up on the truck to get my sign. There were probably 50 men standing around watching all that was happening and two men in the truck. I stood on the edge and while I grabbed my sign I told the guy in the back of the truck (like a garbage truck) how wrong it was and how bad it was of him to take my sign. The crowd of on-lookers cheered me on, some telling me to run. The man in the truck told me that I couldn't take it, but I did anyway. He didn't try to stop me, probably because of my skin color and being a woman (not a lady at that point). I walked home with my sign and my friend holding Micah still. We walked fast. As it hit us of what I had just done we started laughing. It was really a funny thing I had just done.
A few months after this incident the MCD returned to our neighborhood and took my sign again. This time we didn't know until it was too late. They got my sign.
Then came the "sealing" campaign. That is what they call it when a business is closed. The MCD show up and put a seal on your door that you aren't suppose to break. We knew we weren't in a proper commercial building but the landlord insisted we were fine. He said he had connections. So we continued to operate there. We are in a basement of an apartment building just across the street from the market. Gyms were not allowed in residential areas nor in basements (both stupid rules I think). So we were looking for a new location.
One day we got word that MCD was coming to our neighborhood. We decided to hide the gym. We painted over our sign on the wall and closed for the day. Apparently the MCD guys came and had chai at the restaurant directly across from the gym. We went unnoticed.
After that day I decided I wasn't going to hide anymore. If they came then I would deal with it. So on another day MCD came to the neighborhood. I saw the guys outside so I went out to talk to them. I pointed out the gym, told them it was in a basement, and asked what should I do. They said it was no problem and that I was fine there. I felt a little better. But Indians have a reputation of saying what you want to hear, not necessarily the facts. They didn't do anything that day.
It was over a year later when they came and sealed the gym. Business was the best it had ever been. There was going to be a good-bye tea in the gym that day for one of the employees. But the MCD came while we were away and locked it up. No warning at all. They put the seal on the door and cut the wires for the electricity. Everything has been sitting in a dark, damp basement for four months now. That is, until yesterday. But that story will have to be told at another time. I need to go visit a friend and drink some diet coke with her.
This wasn't my first run-in with the MCD. About three years ago they came in our neighborhood to remove signs and merchandise from sidewalks. I had a sign out in front of the gym that was a sandwhich board type sign. While I was away at lunch the big truck came and they loaded my sign in the back along with all other items they had confiscated. I was truly naive to the situation and felt it was unfair that my sign would be "stolen". I came back from lunch and my employee/friend told me what had just happened. She went with me to track down the truck. We walked through the market and found the truck with my sign in the back. Thankfully it was near the rear of the truck. I handed Micah over to my friend and climbed up on the truck to get my sign. There were probably 50 men standing around watching all that was happening and two men in the truck. I stood on the edge and while I grabbed my sign I told the guy in the back of the truck (like a garbage truck) how wrong it was and how bad it was of him to take my sign. The crowd of on-lookers cheered me on, some telling me to run. The man in the truck told me that I couldn't take it, but I did anyway. He didn't try to stop me, probably because of my skin color and being a woman (not a lady at that point). I walked home with my sign and my friend holding Micah still. We walked fast. As it hit us of what I had just done we started laughing. It was really a funny thing I had just done.
A few months after this incident the MCD returned to our neighborhood and took my sign again. This time we didn't know until it was too late. They got my sign.
Then came the "sealing" campaign. That is what they call it when a business is closed. The MCD show up and put a seal on your door that you aren't suppose to break. We knew we weren't in a proper commercial building but the landlord insisted we were fine. He said he had connections. So we continued to operate there. We are in a basement of an apartment building just across the street from the market. Gyms were not allowed in residential areas nor in basements (both stupid rules I think). So we were looking for a new location.
One day we got word that MCD was coming to our neighborhood. We decided to hide the gym. We painted over our sign on the wall and closed for the day. Apparently the MCD guys came and had chai at the restaurant directly across from the gym. We went unnoticed.
After that day I decided I wasn't going to hide anymore. If they came then I would deal with it. So on another day MCD came to the neighborhood. I saw the guys outside so I went out to talk to them. I pointed out the gym, told them it was in a basement, and asked what should I do. They said it was no problem and that I was fine there. I felt a little better. But Indians have a reputation of saying what you want to hear, not necessarily the facts. They didn't do anything that day.
It was over a year later when they came and sealed the gym. Business was the best it had ever been. There was going to be a good-bye tea in the gym that day for one of the employees. But the MCD came while we were away and locked it up. No warning at all. They put the seal on the door and cut the wires for the electricity. Everything has been sitting in a dark, damp basement for four months now. That is, until yesterday. But that story will have to be told at another time. I need to go visit a friend and drink some diet coke with her.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Gym news
Our gym has been locked up since May 7th. It is the craziest thing really. We have a beauty parlour in the gym also and the mean ole city people came when the gym was closed but the beauty parlour was open. So the lady that runs the beauty parlour talked to the guys and made them angry, which may be why we didn't get a warning about the closure. They asked her to step outside and while they were talking to her they put a lock on the door. That's it! So everything is inside (hopefully no customers).
This past week we have gone to the city office to see if we can get the door opened for a day to get the equipment out. This isn't the first visit to the city offices. Back in May there were several visits and then in June too. So it turns out that some of the workers have not been showing up for the past three weeks, kind of a strike. I guess they are striking because of a new rule being inforced regarding the removal of cows off the street. Anyway, the guy in charge of our case is one of the workers who has chosen to not come to work. Not very helpful for us. And aparently he is being transferred to another department so our case has to go to someone else. But no one knows were the file is right now.
So now where things stand is that we will go back to the city office and find the new case worker and plead with them to open the door for us. Even other city workers tell us they are surprised it is taking so long just to get our things out.
This past week we have gone to the city office to see if we can get the door opened for a day to get the equipment out. This isn't the first visit to the city offices. Back in May there were several visits and then in June too. So it turns out that some of the workers have not been showing up for the past three weeks, kind of a strike. I guess they are striking because of a new rule being inforced regarding the removal of cows off the street. Anyway, the guy in charge of our case is one of the workers who has chosen to not come to work. Not very helpful for us. And aparently he is being transferred to another department so our case has to go to someone else. But no one knows were the file is right now.
So now where things stand is that we will go back to the city office and find the new case worker and plead with them to open the door for us. Even other city workers tell us they are surprised it is taking so long just to get our things out.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Umbrellas
Today I used an umbrella to shade me from the sun for the first time. I have always thought that people looked silly using umbrellas for the sun. But today I was visiting a friend and when I left her house we commented on how hot it was. She said I should have an umbrella. I told her I didn't even own an umbrella. So she rushed back inside and brought me out a new umbrella to have. So of course I used it. The thing I like about it is that when I come up to men on the street it hinders the eye contact and conceals my identity a bit. So maybe I will continue to use the umbrella.
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