Happy New Year, Kerala style


Aswathy Gardens management company is putting on a big new year's bash right here in our compound. There's a pavilion just across the pond from our house where all the festivities will take place, including fireworks. That would be nice, except that we're not terribly festive people to begin with, and have been going to bed at 8:00 every night.

I think the kids will be able to sleep through all the commotion, but the music is going to be really loud, so we'll see how the adults fare. The live band is warming up and playing tunes like Mrs. Robinson. That beats the recorded tunes they were playing earlier while setting up the amplification system, unless you like "Achy Breaky Heart." There will be food, dancing and who knows what else. I'll have to head over for a spell to see how Indians celebrate New Year's.

Luc's New Year will be slightly better than his December 30. This afternoon, after a particularly wretched period following a nap, during which he largely cried, wailed, and grabbed at his face inconsolably, the fever finally broke. His down for a late nap now (5 p.m.), so who knows, maybe he'll stay up for New Year's after all.

Here are a few pictures of a sunset on the beach last night, and one of the fishing boats, up close, that I've described elsewhere. We watched a man, the owner of the boat, repairing his nets. It was amazing to watch him reweave big patches of net where fish had bitten through. It was also interesting communicating, since rahul said he spoke a seaside dialect of Malayalam different than Rahul's dialect. The man asked about whether people fish in boats like his, and with nets like his, in America. So I got down on the sand and drew for him a picture of a big trawler and tried to explain how everything is mechanized (no paddling, no puling in nets by hand). I don't think he got it.

Happy New Year to all our family and friends, to any one, in fact, reading this. It's been a rough week, which has made us miss everyone all the more. We wish everyone a safe New Year celebration as you welcome in 2006.


Posted: Sat - December 31, 2005 at 03:53 AM          

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