Domestic Duties...

My wifely tasks here are not onerous: make sure Mr. Chirptrousie’s business wardrobe (of tie-dye shirts and jeans and unmentionables) is rotated through the hotel laundry services, and especially that all of the pieces come back; maintain his after-hours snack and cold drink inventory by shopping at the ex-pat-oriented grocery; liaise with staff who will liaise with staff who are welding and using noxious chemicals after hours in the garage under our room (which come right through our air vents) to cease and desist after 6 p.m.; liaise with staff to figure out why our Internet connection went dead yet again before he returns from his hard day at the office; shop to spend his hard-earned rupees and support the local economy; make sure to exchange bills of larger denominations for smaller ones at the front desk so we have appropriate amounts at all times for tipping staff and drivers; order in tea when tired from my duties; aaaaand that’s about it! A hard life, yeah?

I spent a lovely day yesterday with our friends Janine and Heinz at their house. Janine is from the Netherlands and Heinz is from Austria; they settled here about eight years ago independently and met here. Heinz is studying guitar intensively. Janine designs a line of jewelry and has it made through a group of local women, does floral arrangements for hotels and special occasions, as well as selling her paintings and landscaping services to these same places. Geez - I meet people of talent! Plus, I believe animal lovers gravitate to each other.

Their house is on the outskirts of Pondy. It has a large courtyard and garden area surrounded by a high thick wall with a gate – as so many of the French colonial style houses here do. The wall offers protection and security from wandering animals and people – a place to drive your car or bike inside when not using it – and offers that most valuable of commodities – privacy! The dogs cheerfully announce all visitors before they can get within ten feet of the gate. It doesn’t keep out visiting snakes and froggies and it doesn’t fend off any insects, but this is a small inconvenience when compared to the benefits. They have many animals they are devoted to; three dogs, three cats; 7 tortoises, 1 terrapin, and various fish in the pond - including a small shark which did not surface for me. The terrapin also was very shy and only poked his/her short pointy snout out from under the lily pads in his/her water area for a short snack. You can just baaaarely see him/her in the upper right corner.

Here was the first greeter doggie when I arrived:

I brought make-friends-fast dog biscuits with me and got to know everyone. This is the charming and totally squeezeable dachshund they adopted about a year and 3 months ago. Is he adorable or what?

Here's Rose:

and rats - my picture of Izzy (I never get his full [Dutch] didn't turn out. They were taken in as puppies from the resident street doggy population. They live outside, are very slow to warm up to strangers and still retain some feral characteristics, though well-loved and cared for in their secure compound. The cats eyed me speculatively and I had more success with some than others. Well, maybe not so much success. Rome wasn’t suborned with treats in a day.

Look at the cute Star Tortoise babies!

Heinz brought them out for me and we waited about 5 minutes after he put them on the ground for them to feel safe enough to put their heads back out and go exploring. Here’s one checking the view from Mom’s back.

“Mom! Hey, how are you! What’s up? Gee you’re big! Who are you again?” Mom lays the eggs, goes about her biz and the babies hatch later without assistance in life - so it makes sense they are a bit confused about how the big person got big. I was so into taking pictures of the animals, I forgot to take pictures of J and H!

Mom's underside. Aren't the feet the cutest!?!

Janine made us a fabulous lunch salad of all-organic produce washed in filtered water with local cheese and smoked tofu from the Auroville community. Since raw produce is something to be careful of if you don’t have a local stomach – I’ve been DYING for a big salad - and this was heaven. Later I sewed and knitted while Janine worked on a painting commission and Heinz practiced guitar upstairs and the dogs had woofy dreams. We had a spate of monsoon rain and some small frogs lined the tops of the outside louvered windows while it came down. What a lovely blissful quiet day.