Paintings in Process & Quick Journey Update

Here are two pieces we are currently working on (tentative titles only): "Women At The Wall," (Janis) and "Girl On The Path," (Chuck). They were started at the Creative Conscience Workshop this Fall and will be part of the Workshop's exhibit this February. The theme of the Workshop was "Violence against Women – Exploring gender identities and the roots of violence against women in India." You may need to have visited India, and observed some of the common outdoor bathroom behavior on the street - especially Delhi - to fully understand and appreciate "Women At The Wall." :)!

Amazing opportunities have been developing at the Gallery the last couple of weeks. One aspect of that was a friend was visiting his sister in Germany over the Christmas holidays. As he was returning to India, he picked up a German newspaper to pass the time while waiting in an airport. To his surprise, when he read the op/ed page, there was a column on art in India. The Gallery was referred to by name, and specifically mentioned was one of the Orissa interns' body of work! Until our friend returned from Germany no one in Delhi even knew about this level of publicity.

Some more personal opportunities:

• a chance to continue piloting our Creativity Workshop for adults in a series of Saturday coffees at local bookstore. This came about by a growing relationship with the managers and at their initiative;
• another chance to continue piloting our Creativity Workshop, this time for young people in the slums of Delhi, specifically young girls at the age when they become most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. This will not only help us in another piloting opportunity but will also help the Gallery as it finalizes its legal status as a trust;
• a possible commission to paint 20 abstracts for a local guest house! The arrangement for this would entail our retaining possession of the originals and preparing a limited edition run of reprints on canvas, one of which would be owned by the guest house. This last is very new, just presented to us yesterday and involves entirely new kind of legal and artistic arrangements than we are used to.

Home-Stay Exchange - Part II

Last October we spent about 10 days in Mussoorie staying with a national family as the first part of a home-stay exchange. We celebrated Eide with them and enjoyed many memorable cultural experiences, though we didn't exercise our Hindi as much as we had originally thought we would.

This month they returned the favor by being amazingly courageous in coming to Delhi - the big city - and by staying with Americans for 9 days (5th-13th). We think they enjoyed their stay, and know they got to see some of the sights, did a little shopping, and checked on a school for their son. According to them, they felt like they were in America! Interesting the difference in cultural expectations and values because we tried to be as Indian as possible!

We all experienced some things for the first time - we rode on a "Blue Line" bus for our first time (the average fatality due to Blue Line buses is 1/week!), and they very much enjoyed seeing and riding the Delhi Metro. As we toured historical sites they were impressed by their significance, but were most impressed that the site entry fees for internationals are 10 times what they are for nationals.

Here are some of the sites...

A Store in Shahpur Jat with her name on it

Doing what all 19 year old boys do - eat!

The Qutb Minar












The entry to Humayan's Tomb

At the Crafts Museum before a carriage for dignitaries that was pulled by elephants


Before the Lotus Temple

Our Daughter in Delhi

Qutb Minar





























Chandi Chowk









Bargaining with our friend Kim



Humayan's Tomb

A Sikh Gudwara near Humayan's tomb

Christmas in Our Building

It was an interesting time attending our building's first ever Christmas celebration. We think it was planned by the Hindus on the floor below us. It included:

• dancing - Punjabi-style and Bollywood-style (Janis joined in for one dance after being begged to several times before),
• dinner (though we think they ate before we came - rather awkward), and
• birthday cake! One of the kids started to sing "Happy Birthday!" but one of the adults interrupted him with "Jingle Bells."

Christmas in India With Some Of Our Family

Chris, Nicole, Esther and Ayden arrived from Lucknow on the 15th to spend Christmas with us. Also our eldest daughter Elisabeth arrived on the 16th to spend about 10 days with us! We sorely missed Heather & Matt, and Brandon :(.

Below are a few pictures of Christmas in India for the Lindleys...

Construction Project - Sequel

Well, we think the construction project shown before (11/26, 12/8) is as finished as it will be.

Unfortunately, there are a few "rough" spots yet. The one below claimed a victim on December 30th. Fortunately, as attracted as Janis seems to be to ditches in India, it wasn't her. Unfortunately, it was Nicole this time!

Our ride to some friends' flat near Jamma Islamia was late. Chris ducked into the little general store in our building to buy some last minute items for their train trip early the next morning. Nicole, with Esther and Ayden, went in to join him. Our ride finally arrived and she rushed out with the kids to get in the car, not noticing the "slightly" unfinished section of the ditch. She stepped into the hole by the steps and her right leg went all the way in. Fortunately, nothing was broken or cut (though she did receive some pretty deep bruises), Esther didn't fall with her and, even though she was carrying Ayden in a front sling carrier, Ayden didn't hit her head.

The Post Office Adventure

The Malviya Nagar Post Office was the site of an interesting adventure for us this week. It is an example of even doing ordinary life tasks in a cross-cultural setting proving adventurous.

Here's Janis' story...

Ok, the trip this morning to the post office to send rupees to the family from Mussoorie to help with their train tickets for their visit here, was THE weirdest experience I’ve had in India - (other than the time Nicole and I stopped two thugs from beating up our auto driver). This was my 5th trip this week to the post office to do this one “simple” procedure!

So I go into the building, see a long line of people for the window I need - for sending money orders, posting packages and other more time intensive kinds of procedures right? So unlike everyone else who came in AFTER me, I quietly went and stood at the END of the long line to obediently wait my turn, like my home culture has taught me, right? (BTW I was the only foreigner present :)). The people who came in after me would take a look at the long line and then proceed to worm their way up to the window they needed. Thankfully, most were unsuccessful (or I'd STILL be in line!) because of one vocal guy who would yell at them to get into the line. So all this goes on for at least 30 minutes and I am finally the 3rd or 4th person from the window. Suddenly the line behind me of about 30 or more men (I am the only woman in line) go into a yelling, pushing and shoving match, leaving the line and trying to get to the window. The vocal guy is now not being listened to so I yell in my most eloquent Hindi - "Ji na he! Wappas!" about 5 times and all the men go back to their respective places in the line. Can you believe it? I was shocked! Maybe because of being a foreigner, or a woman, or old, but most likely it was your prayers - but for some reason they listened and I was then quickly helped by the man at the window too! Amazing!

So thanks for your prayers!!! I am sure they made a difference today - oh yeah, I didn't mention how the printer stopped working when it was printing out my receipt and that took about 10 minutes and three people messing with it, but it suddenly just started working on it's own, right after I began to specifically pray about it. He is so good!

Chuck's experience: while Janis was having this adventure inside the Post Office, Chuck was waiting outside with an interesting experience of his own...

While Janis was busily organizing the queue inside, I was sitting on the curb outside holding our bags for the journey to the Gallery and watching the comings and goings. One such event was the postman collecting mail from the bins thoughtfully and carefully placed on the street in front of the Post Office. There are at least fifteen separate slots labeled for mail to various cities around India. Each slot leads to a separate bin. The bins are accessed from the other side by five double doors. I watched the postman opening the doors and collecting the mail from the various slots/bins and putting it all into one large, unsorted bag.

Doing life here in India continues to be an adventure for us, even in the ordinary tasks as we try to sort through differences in cultures - attempting to identify when things are simply different, not wrong.