Auspicious and Inauspicious Days!

We have discovered that things get done (or not) according to whether the day is auspicious or inauspicious!  It was definitely an auspicious day last Saturday.  In addition to being Parents Day it was the day the children were to leave the property with their relatives to go home for a two week holiday. You can not even imagine the excitement on the part of both the children and the parents (or family member that came to claim the child. )   It is our first experience of seeing first hand this mass exodus from the property and it was lots of fun.  The parents came as near to 10:00a.m. as they could.  We had let them know there would be a program with their children being highlighted.  We had an awning set up and rented some chairs, so we would have a captive audience.  Behind this plan, was Padma.  With the property spread out the way it is, she has a hard time gathering the parents together to talk about their micro-loans, and other things that relate to their children and their relationship with Rising Star Outreach.  She teaches at that time, also: hygiene, finance, parenting, etc.  They all love and trust her, but sometimes they would like not to talk about their loans!

The morning went according to schedule, and after the program and discussion the parents are free to talk with the teachers; mid-quarter exams were the week before the break so the parents are always anxious to find out how their children are doing.  For many families (probably most) this is the first generation to have a real school experience.  There's a lot of pride in that.

An example of a day being inauspicious, when our new General Manager was to begin, he was scheduled to begin on a Monday.  He called on the preceding Wednesday to let us know he would be starting on Friday, not Monday, as Monday was not an auspicious day!?  Our chief accounts officer was offered a brownie one day.  He asked if he might take it home to eat it the next day, because the present day was not auspicious for eating the brownie.  We figure it all has to do with the horoscope.  I've wondered how many days I have jeopardized all kinds of things by not being more in tune with auspicious and inauspicious.

The snake hunters have not shown up for the last two days--inauspicious I guess.  They have found a number of small to big harmless snakes, but so far have not come up with the cobra. We keep hoping--it would make our walks around the property less worrisome.  The children never think about it, which is a bit scary.

Ron and I have been in Chennai since Sunday.  We were told (and read parts of it in the paper) that a couple of our missionaries in Bangalore were put in jail.  The Hindu's have been attacking the Christian worship centers, and somehow our missionaries found themselves in the middle of it.  Our missionaries in Chennai have not been wearing their badges identifying themselves for several days, but on Sunday they had them back on.  The church is not officially recognized in India--the name on the front of the building reads, "The Indian Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."  Monday and Tuesday we have worked to try and put our apartment in order.  We now have beds, but we have spent the better part of two days looking for bedding.  There is definitely not a Bed, Bath and Beyond in this part of the world.  We think the apartment will make our lives a bit easier (and less expensive) than the Marriott--our peanut butter sandwich tonight reminded me how much I shall miss the Marriott, however.  It's also going to take weeks to get an internet hookup in the apartment, so we're back to Bluetooth even in Chennai.