sey042

Throughout this process, living in India, I have felt like a fish out of water. Sitting with non-Indian expats today, it reminds me of just how much of a culture shock it is to come and live in India. There are soo many wonderful things here. But the shock to the system is massive and often debilitating. Although of Indian origin, I am totally foreign to all people here and I feel very frustrated very often. I am Indian in some ways, but I suppose that being an NRI, being born and raised throughout in the west, has shaped me and made me who I am today. So I am more familiar and comfortable with the western systems and culture. I miss being in a country where I speak the language properly, I miss having friends calling just to say "hi", I miss being in a place where I can get around without feeling lost. I have so much admiration now for people that just up and move to India without even being Indian; they are really brave and adventurous. I am really really ready to go home. ...

So after we officially became mother and daughter, one thinks that's the end of the process, right? Think again! We still do not have the requisite permission to travel out of the country. Step 1, birth certificate. The ashram say it will take at least a month. I think I can't wait that long. I am ready to leave! So, we take it into our own hands. We stopped into the the ashram on the 16th, 2 days after the Adoption Deed was issued. Not surprisingly, although they were supposed to have started working on the BC already. We go into the office, to be told, oh, there is some new procedure. When asked, what is it, we are told, it's hard to say. When we ask, how are you going to overcome it, they respond, let's see. I have heard them lamely say "let's see" over and over and over and over in the past 9 months, and that usually means, we don't plan to do anything, let it fall from the sky like a miracle, because we don't give a shit about the speed of you...

We have been to see a new paeditrician in Delhi just to check in and see how Sofi is progressing.  He was recommended to us by the American Embassy nurse. We came up with some interesting new information about Sofi's birth weight. He has said that since she was 3 kg at 6 & 1/2 months, he estimates she would have been approximately 1.7 kg only at birth! Pretty small. He has tracked her height and weight growth in the past year and said I had done an amazing job of taking her from being soo under on all points, to putting her into the 50th percentile for height and weight. She is now at age exactly 21 months a whopping 12.1 kgs. I am happy she is healthy. He is a little concerned about her head diameter as it is a little small still, but we can demonstrate growth of 2 cms in the last 8 months, so it is not totally an issue. We will have to monitor it and ensure that she is growing. Initially, June 2010 the Dr in Jalanadhar had assessed her as having symmetrical growth delay. Now ...