Day 9 - Hyderbad

(Sorry nanna, I had to make this the main picture). On this day the family was reunited. Nanna met us at the train station that morning in Hyderbad and arrived just 30 minutes after us after his trip to Tirupati. As unlce and I went to look for him I walked right past him and did not recognize him, but uncle did, after 14 years. And to your right is the reason why I could not recognize him (many people after going to Tirupati shave their heads as a sacrifice to something better to happen). Then we got to Sununda pinni's house (mom's younger sister) where Sujuna atha was also there (mom's older sister). They definatley look like triplets, I'll put that picture up for the next day. That morning, Deepak was still sick and Amma was recovering. So Deepak, along with Pranathi who was also sick, lay in bed while I got aquainted with Prathik, the 17 year old son of Suparna pinni, and Sandeep anna, Sujuna atha's younger son. After a little while we had a traditional Indian lunch and then got accustomed to the power cuts that are going on all around India. The heat was stifileing and in the second story apartment was low on ventilation because of other equally high buildings next to it. I think that night my mom and Sunanda pinni went shopping, expected, while we rented a movie -Jaane Tu- which I thought was really good even though it was cheap quality and we were routinely interrupted by the adults. One of those inturruptions was because me and my Dad had a little arguement on what to do with the lost medicine. That morning when Prathik was carrying my duffel bag out of the train station he turned around to me and said he felt something fall out, but we didn't see anytihng on the ground. What we think happened was that someone stole the bag hanging on one end and got away with all of our mediction, specifially our malaria medicine. That night ended pretty quitely and we rolled our the sheets and had I think 8 of us sleep in the Living room, just like the good 'ol days with all family that come over.
A note that I wanted to talk about is the idea of wealth and use of service. While pinni was not significantly well off she still had a servant come in every morning to sweep, mop, do the laundry, and in general clean up. While that, in America, is reserved for the upper-echelon and the very wealthy, in India it is quite common for what would be considered middle to upper-middle class families to at least have a part time servant. They seem necessary when in India but all their chores are done by the family here. So I feel that in America the family works a little harder to compensate for the lack of help for a little extra pay. I am not trying to critisize Indian's in their actions, especially because this tradition and convenience has been bred into families for generations, but I really do not beleive that it is absolutely to have a servent. I must also add that having hired a servant can be beneficial to both sides. Help for the family and an income and sure supply of food for the servant, which may be all that they are looking for anyways.