Observations of India 1

So a few observations over the first few days in Delhi and Ranchi.

Indian houses seem to have an obsession with marble. Being cold, N had to wear cotton fleecy pants and a jumper. Thus without feet or knees to get proper traction whenever she moved too fast there was slipping movements and occasional (scared) tears. Marble is not baby friendly. Not that we like to let N fall over in Aus, but at least here if she falls while trying to stand, she hits her head on the carpet and she cries a bit and we move on. Marble doesn't quite give like carpet does.

Indians do love babies and small kids, but I felt how people view babies and mum's is very different between Aus and India. I can't really put my finger on what it is, how it is different, but certainly, the attitudes are very different. One twerp, and I use that term as insult to modern twerps, decided to lecture us on "You are not allowed to give the baby milk during take off". To say I was unamused was an understatement. This was from a guy who refused to give Deepti an aisle seat so she could get up and walk with N up and down during the flight. Cuttingly, I told him to mind his own business. He insisted on carrying on with his lecture. My next words were still quite "choice" but a little more cutting. He was quiet after that.

Getting back to marble. Arriving at the hotel in Delhi, N took a look around the room. She also started to ... um... lick the marble. We'd never noticed this before. Obviously Melbourne houses don't feature a lot of marble. We think she could see a slight reflection in the marble of herself and wanted to be more involved. This continued in Ranchi and Patna. She cleaned the floors better than the housekeeper did. Stamping of feet never really stopped her. I will have to ask Deepti if N is still up to this one.

Final observation, getting Naina in to a bath tub for a bath and wash is difficult enough. Using bottled water to wash her hair and face out of fear of her getting sick is plain ludicrous. N would try to drink the water from the shower so we were left with only the difficult choice in this matter. Thanks to the hair handicapping, at least Deepti doesn't have to wash any hair for a few more weeks.