Floods

Chennai does not get a proper monsoon like other parts of India but it does have a few months when rain is more likely, especially overnight.  This then leads in to a 'winter' season with slightly cooler temperatures.  However, after the rains of November which were caused by an unusual weather system off the coast Chennai received the worst rains for 100 years.

On the 1 December it started to rain heavily at about nine thirty in the morning.  It wasn't letting up and by eleven the school was texting to say they were monitoring with a view to early closure.  By lunchtime most of us decided to pick up the children and most of the offices took the decision to shut. Some companies bussed their staff straight from the Chennai office to Bangalore to work from there, others didn't shut and had workers stuck in the office for several days.

It rained nonstop all night and following the previous flooding our maintenance team brought in a huge lorry to pump water out of our compound, all night.  We later learned that there had been ...... Of rainfall in that one night alone.  Power went off fairly early on and the generators failed to cope so we were on limited power.  By the time we woke the next morning the Internet and phone networks were done.  But we were safe and mainly dry.  Our only concerns were getting diesel for the generator and making sure we had enough food and also cash as the cash points stopped working.

Luckily we are surrounded by amazing neighbours and we all worked together to share car runs to get supplies. To our utter surprise Arun, our driver and Indumati, our maid made it to our house on the Friday.  I went out on a supply run and we stocked them up too. Arun had horrific stories of the flooding in the city and the lack of food available.

Luckily the rain eased and then stopped over the next few days and the sun came out.  However, the power was off in much of the city and we started rationing our diesel by switching the generator off overnight.  At the end of the week we got together at our friends Natalie and Saki's house for a cook up and the power came back on!

Gradually things began to return for normal for us but as people who work in our compound, with Sam at Ford and at school returned we found out how badly affected people had been.   Accounts were given of people who had been stuck on the second floor or above of apartment blocks, people who had lost their lives in underground car parks and hospitals where a large number of high dependancy patients died because of the lack of power.  Countless people lost everything they own and around 500 lost their lives.

One thing became clear throughout the disaster and that was that the people of Chennai are amazing!  Everyone rallied round and did what they could to help from donations to handing out care packages to providing accommodation. Rich and poor, Hindu and Muslim and locals and foreigners all worked together.  The only blot was the Chief Minister who refused to meet with the heads of the Army and Navy to coordinate relief efforts and who also insisted on sticking her political stickers on relief boxes she had nothing to do with.

Smiths visit

Ellie, Dan and George arrived in the middle of Diwali and despite jet lag they all managed to stay awake and see some fireworks.  They even got treated to some up close during a walk to the beach!

Unfortunately Chennai was beginning to experience its worst rainy season in 100 years during their visit.  However, we still managed to get out and about.

In the first week we had a rather random visit to a local artists village.  The guidebook said it was unmissable but we should have realised what we were letting ourselves in for when it only cost about 5p each to get it!  The boys had a couple of rain days which they made the most of and a pretty wet trip to Mahabs was also squeezed in and we ended the week with a beer and Byriani party.

Despite the wet weather we managed to pack in some shopping and a few meals out.

Their visit culminated in another visit to Mahabs on a dry day and the contrast was highlighted by the fact that Ellie and I got sunburned!  George also managed his first visit to the beach.

India Month

Diwali, the festival of light, is the most important festival in the Hindu calendar.  At school the boys took part in India Month where they had extra activities to learn about and celebrate Diwali and Indian culture.  On one day they dressed in traditional Indian clothes, they watched displays by Indian craftsmen and even learnt to sing the Indian national Anthem which was performed in a special assembly.  Oliver's class performed scenes from traditional Indian stories and

William's class performed a Bollywood dance.  India Month culminated in a Diwali Mela (festival).  The boys' Taekwondo class put on a display and we were treated to a number of different performances rounded off with an Indian feast.

In our compound we also got in to the festival spirit.  we started with a festival that celebrates women and lots of dolls are put on display.  Our neighbours invited us to celebrate with them and we all dressed up and had lots of delicious food.

 We then moved in to the celebrations for Diwali.  Fireworks shops spring up all over the place so several of us purchased fireworks and all the neighbours set them off together.  This 'homemade' display lacked the safety regulations of the normal UK events!  We had one rocket that went under a car, another that exploded two feet off the ground (the children thought this was great!) and another which rammed in to our neighbours front door and exploded!  Remarkably we ended the night with no injuries and it's safe to say that we feel that we have done Diwali fireworks now and don't feel the need to repeat it next year!! 

Family, Friends and fun times

It was with great relief that we cleared UK immigration and realised that Emily's passport was genuine, the holiday could finally begin.  The first leg of our hols were in Kent and John and Jo met us at the airport.  Sam and John went off, with minimal luggage to collect a hire car leaving Jo and I to squeeze three children and various suitcases in to one car! They had an uneventful journey home quietly chatting while we had a screaming baby and a vomiting Oliver!  However we finally made it back, got the children to bed and relaxed with a glass of wine.

Aside from introducing Emily to her family and seeing any friends we could, our aim was to have a thoroughly British holiday.   We began with an attempted walk to Pooh Bridge but, after following John's advice and dressing for dry weather, we abandoned the walk when the rain soaked us.

Luckily we were able to retreat to The Gallipot to dry off and eat delicious food. Luckily the rain didn't last and the following day the children rediscovered Harry's old zip line ove the pond.  We also managed an unseasonal BBQ with the Hawkridge/Grant/Clark clan.

We all managed to spend lots of time outside and William and Oliver even managed to fit in some farm work with Grandpa and Granny.

A brief catch up with the Magee's was squeezed in with the added bonus of Sophie and Libby.  We were treated to yummy sausages, eggs and bacon. The girls and boys all played well together and saying goodbye was hard but made easier knowing it won't be long before they are in India!!

Continuing with our British holiday theme we met up with Sue and Suresh and managed to fit in a trip to the farm, a castle and lots of time outside.

Food followed a similar vein with lots of sausages, fish pie and, of course, steak and kidney pie.

Although on our final night in Kent we steered away from British and alleviated our Chinese homesickness with crispy duck and pancakes!  

At the end of our first week we headed to Guildford for the next leg of the holiday.

The weather continued to be kind and we spent lots of time outside in the garden and going out for walks.  There was even a game of rugby but the less said about that the better!  A gathering of the Smiths, Smiths and Jarmans was fun and William and Oliver enjoyed the time with their youngest cousins.

A visit to the Rowlands was squeezed in and was far too brief but good to catch up and the children slotted back together as easily as ever. We didn't seem to get any photos - too much wine and chat!

Towards the end of our visit we needed to go to London to get Sam a new passport (we love doing passports!).  It was decided that we should combine it with a visit to the science museum and a meeting with Anna, Harry, George and Ellie.  Amazingly Meeta managed to head down to London to catch up with us too.  The boys were aware that we were seeing Meeta but didn't realise that 

Ria was coming.  The look on their faces was brilliant as they caught sight of her.  The nine months apart vanished as they happily explored the museum together.

The end of the holiday loomed too quickly but I managed to take my mother out one evening to check out her new local and the boys enjoyed watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (a Smith favourite) with my father.  We also managed Guildford castle and, of course, a trip to costa coffee!

The two weeks went by pretty quickly and the goodbyes were as hard as ever but we are now looking forward to next summer. 

The Emily has landed!

Leaving India is never a smooth and easy process as the love of paperwork extends to immigration at the airports.  Whenever we leave we have to take with us our registration certificates (a convenient A4 size!) and printed copies of our tickets.  Despite being told that we didn't need registration certificates for children, the immigration officer asked for them then went off to phone to check we didn't need them! 

When he came to check Emily's passport he asked about her being born in Chennai  and then made sure that we were bringing her back! I am now slightly nervous that being born in India means belonging to India!!

The flight to Dubai was pretty straight forward and we had an extra seat which was handy.

                                   

                                   

                                   

 When we got to the airport in Dubai we found a great area for the boys to play.  There was an area for Emily to sit and play in too but unfortunately someone was sleeping in it!  

                                  

                                  

Sam has automatic access to the Emirates Business lounge but cannot take us all in so decided not to go.  However he then realised that Emily had never been and quickly whisked her off!

                                  

The flight to the UK was equally smooth and everyone managed to get a bit of sleep.

                                 

                                 

                                 

We all felt a huge sense of relief as Emily's passport was checked and we were ushered through immigration. 

                                 

Passport Pandemonium!

We should have known when the hospital here in Chennai failed to put Emily's name on her birth certificate, that she was destined to be a child for whom obtaining official documents would be a nightmare.  This fact was quickly confirmed a few weeks in to the passport process.

Due to the slow issuing of her birth certificate we knew that the 16 week processing time on new passport applications from India would take us right up to the date we wanted to fly.  But that was not a problem we thought, we would just have a shorter trip home this summer. 

After the UK passport office had had our application about six weeks I gave them a call to find out where in the process Emily's passport was.  Undergoing routine security checks was the response.  I happily ended the call thinking that it was good that it was progressing.  However, the following week my father was admitted to hospital and I telephoned the UK to see if I could speed the passport up in case we needed to fly home.  I was promised a phone call from the examiner dealing with Emily's passport, to this day I have never received the call.  I was also advised to go down the route of an emergency travel permit.  Therefore I contacted consulate services and they gave me an email address of someone at the Deputy High Commission in Chennai.  I sent an email explaining the situation and got one back not saying they were sorry for the situation we were in but with a first line which asked 'how did you get this email address'!  From there everything went downhill.

I began to phone the UK once a week to track the progress, each time the response was that it was undergoing routine security checks.  It was incredibly frustrating being abroad and not being able to get any sort of response.  Eventually we were called to an interview at the Deputy High Comission.  Everyone else there was Indian, the woman interviewing us even did a double take when we sat down.  When I questioned why we had been called for interview she said that all overseas passport applications go through the same process. I informed her that I knew of three British family's in our situation who hadn't been called and she basically insinuated that I was a liar! 

Following the interview it took a further two weeks until the passport was finally printed.  It was then couriered to Delhi where is must have sat on someone's desk for over a week!  I tried to telephone but was told they didn't take phone calls about passports and if I needed further information I should phone the UK!!  I was transferred to consular services who told me in no uncertain terms that this was nothing to do with them.  Eventually the passport made its way to the visa office in Chennai where we went to collect it.

                                  

                                 

                                  

                                

Having received the passport we were able to book our flights and begin the, not so simple, process of getting Emily a visa.  For the visa they require fresh copies of all the information they already have, letters from Sam's work and any other bit of random information they can think to ask for.  Sometimes despite what is on their website they ask for further documents!

Finally we got a date for an interview at the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) and Sam, Emily and I went along.  The first hitch (because whoever you are and however well prepared you are there is always a hitch) was that the photocopy of our marriage certificate provided by the immigration specialists was missing a cm, basically the outside line of a box! However that paled in to insignificance when we realised the 'specialists' had forgotten to included the Form C- the most important document. The agent headed back to his office to collect the paperwork needed, telling us he would be twenty minutes.  An hour and a half later he turned up and the visa process began. Finally Emily was issued with her visa after being at the office for five hours!  

       

   

And the exciting thing is we are all due back there in October to begin the visa renewal process for all of us!