Rufus in Musoorie

Today we adventured out of our new home for the summer, Doma's Inn on a walk. Rufus insisted that he wear the monkey backpack so Mom looked like an overprotective freak. Rufus had the below comments to make:

"We are in India. Their are guardians outside of our house. There are cool bathrooms here. My room is not ready yet. Today I saw a beetle. It was my twin, blue like my eyes. Blue is my favorite color. Shanti Auntie Chachi is my babysitter. I forget what I had for breakfast. There are some goats and some cows. There is tigers. Tigers. Tigers! ROOOOAAAAAR."

Pictured above are four shots by Rufus. He did them himself as well as chose the subject matter. His medium of choice is a fisher price digital camera. Hipsters get jealous. Subjects are Sunil the Inn Manager, a blue beetle, crazy Nols, a leaf on our climb up the mountain road and the obvious.

Rufus B, Superstar

Rufus has always been a bit of a ham, he gets it from his mother... no his father... no both. At last his hamminess realized proper audience in Haridwar. Amidst pilgrims using public toilets (the parking lot itself) and hawkers pressuring us to buy tickets of devotion for the evening river pooja (a prayer on the Ganges river) Rufus was "discovered".

Young men who we first saw leaping off bridges into the churning current of the Ganges river in their underwear swarmed towards Rufus. Everyone wanted a "snap" or photo on their cellphone with the foreign boy. They wanted to see if his hair and skin felt different from theirs. They thought the mere sight of him was hilarious. Mom of course was very nervous he would be kidnapped or harmed by the horde of strangers but Rufus was delighted. Despite often refusing to smile when Mom or Nolan takes a picture he grinned broadly in the shots with his new friends. Eventually the police broke up the crowd to allow us to return to the plastic sheet on the riverbank the family was sharing with a generous Gujurati family.

After the ceremony, the purchase of a strange rotating fan and a quick foot dip in the holy river by Rufus and Nolan we scurried back to the car to mosey on over to Rishikesh.

From the man himself:

"We went to the ceremony. I don't know what else we did there. The guys were so underweary and they had underwear and water on. We dipped our feet in the holy river. I made one friend I don't know her name it was a little girl. We played with her bracelet. I was tired and she wasn't listening to me. I peed in an on the ground toilet. I did not like it cause there were some flies in it. I saw a cow eating food off the ground, all kind of different color cows. We see them next to houses and stores and there were two in the middle of the street And one on the side of the street it's so cool!"

Delhi Belly Bonanza 6-23-11

We arrived in Delhi two days ago and then promptly fell asleep for 15 hours. The stillness was ultimately broken by Rufus vomiting into Mom's hand (later reprised onto Nolan's leg). Luckily some bubble gum pepto bismal and an enormous brunch did the trick of setting his system back in order. Those on the circuit refer to this phenomenon as "Delhi Belly".

Today's adventures included a romp to the National Railway museum in 100 degree heat. This required ice cream for both mother and son and Nolan's first dealings with the videshi or foreigner "discount" so often presented to tourists. Both Rufus and Nolan bravely fought and subdued a very dangerous and handsome tiger (see pictures below) while Mom thoroughly enjoyed the letter that inspired toilets to be added to India's trains under the English. The letter demonstrated a certain Mr. Sen's frustration that he was forced, after evacuating his bowels at a rest stop, to chase the train only to have his lungi fly awry and expose his parts to the the shocked ladies and gentlemen aboard.

After getting our fill of engines and caramels (having inexact change Nolan was presented with these in lieu of rupees by a cashier) we left the slightly disappointing museum for a sticky ride over to India Gate, the Red Fort and the tombs of India's first family (Nehru, Indira, Sanjay, Rajiv) and best known agent of change Gandhi. This required, obviously, more ice cream.

For those missing Rufus most it should be known that he is loving his TRAFFIC JAM game, in excellent health and spirits and a proud photographer. His photos will be updated once Mom figures out how to delete the one he took of her in the shower when he burst in on her yesterday morning. Perhaps he has a future in tabloid journalism.

(Check back soon for photos of the tigers, the trains and the Rufus)

Baby Lily! Rufus returns to the UK for one day 6-22-11

After our flight from DC to London we paused for a day to adventure in London. Rufus was happy to show Nolan the ropes as it was his first visit. Highlights included Big Ben, the Globe, the Thames and her many bridges (Millenium, London, Tower), St. Paul's Cathedral in which the queen herself was paying respect on the building's 300th anniversary of being open to the public and the enormous and confusing Victoria Station. As for favorite moments, everyone's had to be seeing beautiful, charming, windy baby Lily and her wonderful Mommy Stephanie. Together we all enjoyed a pub lunch and sunshine on one of London's nicer June days. Maxime, Lily's proud Pop was sorely missed due to work commitments but we felt him there in spirit, especially as we were in iphone contact a few times!

Mom's favorite hot spot was surely the Tate Modern where she held concert with her beloved Stills, Twombly, Newman, Matisse and Rothko's. That woman (me) sure has a thing for color. Rufus probably best enjoyed simply riding the public transport and Nolan was pretty jazzed about, what else, the "Full English Breakfast" he ordered for lunch.

Pictures coming soon!