War Room in Pune

Service progress in India 

I know everyone was expecting my Diwali blog but I just had to put this one up first!  Dave's dream since arriving in India (other than having me here!  Oh and eating a great burger! HA!) has been to have one central service center.  That dream has been realized after a lot of very hard work!

It started off as a blank canvas.  A room that no one was using!  Nothing in it but great light from windows!!  Every one knows it is important for a service center to have lots of sun coming in because you are taking calls all day and most of them are customers that are not very happy!  That is where the sunshine comes in handy!!  : )  Can you believe this room was not being used??



War Room before renovations

 


War Room before renovations



After lots of thought and meetings the carpenters finally start!  Remember now, all this furniture is being built from scratch! I don't mean buy at Ikea and put together, I mean totally from scratch!!!



War Room in progress




War Room in progress




War Room in progress



War Room in progress

War Room in progress

War Room in progress

The room was completed in record time once every one was on board thanks to Samina!!  Samina, did you have a whip?  : )  Kidding!!!

Tada!!!!  War Room Completed!!!!

Dave in War Room finished



War Room finished




War Room finished




War Room finished



First comes the ribbon cutting!!!



David cutting ribbon to War Room



Dorina, Tarannum and Tulsi at ribbon cutting





















Tulsi, Rakesh and Jyoti at ribbon cutting

Blessing of War Room

Now, the room needs to be blessed before any one can work in here.  In India, Ganesh, The Elephant God is always asked to bless a new adventure or business.  Ganesh is considered the God to remove obstacles!   The Pooja (Aarti) was beautiful!!  Dave, Haresh, Rakesh and Jyoti did a wonderful job!  Rakesh and Jyoti performed the ceremony for the Pooja and Dave and Haresh smashed the coconut and sprinkled the coconut water.

Tulsi getting Pooja ready






Haresh and Jyoti entering room for Pooja




Rakesh performing Pooja, putting Tilak on Ganesh



Offerings for Ganesh




Garland being placed on Ganesh by Jyoti





Sweets offered to Ganesh




Rakesh lighting oil for Pooja




Haresh asking for blessing on room




Dave breaking coconut




Rakesh sprinkling coconut water




Rakesh kissing floor, part of Pooja




Money offerings collected during Pooja




Stone used to crack coconuts




Staff clapping during Aarti ceremony




Staff clapping during Pooja ceremony




Incense being lit by Rakesh for Pooja



Guys in office clapping during Pooja



Every one had an opportunity to be part of the pooja.



Debbie performing Pooja



David being blessed by Rakesh with Tilak




Dorina performing Pooja




Samina blessing Tulsi




Samina blessing Nitin




Samina blessing Rakesh




Samina blessing Digambar






Samina blessing Tarannum




Samina blessing Haresh


 

Samina blessing Jyoti


 

Samina performing Pooja



The picture of Ganesh that will hang in the office is beautiful!!!

Dave and Debbie at Pooja ceremony in War Room in Pune!



Debbie and David during Pooja in War Room









Debbie and David in front of Ganesh

 

Dave, I love you and am very proud of you!!



Quick Indian lesson on the difference between a Pooja and an Aarti.  I used the word Pooja in this blog because the terms are often used synonymously.
Aarti is the offering of ghee lamps, candles etc. to the deities (murtis or "idols"). Basically a rite of light.
Pooja is more general worship.
Often in mandirs (temples) there will be a priest on the alter offering ghee lamps in an Arati while the people chant mantras and sing. Both the priest and the congregation are "performing arati."
Pooja is always an individual performing ritual worship.

Trip to US!!

We took a little break and went back to the US!!!  Dave had meetings in Maryland for a few days and we had a few doctor appointments but other than that, we spent time with family as much as possible! 
First stop was my Mom and Dad's house.  We ordered steak bombs and New England chicken wings!  mmmmm...  delicious!  : )  Every day from then on was a treat of some food that we knew we would not get once back in India.  Hamburgers, hot dogs, whoopie pies, greek salads, ...  HA!!  the list could go on forever!  I'm not saying we don't enjoy Indian food but it was nice to eat some of our favorites!
Of course we brought gifts for every one!!  We had to mail off the gifts to Tami, Greg and Gabi.  They sent a picture of Gabi in her Bindi and glass bangles!  Cute huh??

Gabi in her bindi and bangles

We brought my Dad a new pair of Indian shoes.  They kinda look like elf shoes!  He loved them, can you tell?  : )  Tracie, my sister, wore her bindi all day!!!  She kinda looks like an Indian woman, right?   Then there was Moofy, Mom and Dad's dog, he wore the bangles on his head!!!  King Moofy!!  : )


Dad in his Indian shoes




Moofy wearing bangles




Tracie wearing her bindi with Shaun






















I flew down to Maryland the first weekend to meet Dave after his meetings and to hang out with David, Natalie, Finley and Natalie's Mom!!!!  Yeah!!!! We went to the train museum and out to dinner in DC with some very good friends, The Reddens!  We had a wonderful time.  As you can see!  The visit was wayyyyyyy to short!!!! 
 

Grammie, Finley and Abuelo at train museum







Finley and Abuelo on merry go round at train museum



















David, Finley and Mimi




Grammie and Finley on train tracks




Grammie, Finley and Abuelo on train




David, Finley and Natalie on train



















Dinner with the Reddens in DC

We flew back into Boston and had a whirl wind visit for the rest of the week!!!
Dinner with Tracie and Katie at Olive Garden!  Chinese food at Michelle and Zacks new home. Beautiful home, thank you for having us!  Lasagna at my brother Donnie and Marcelle's house with his 3 daughters and their boy friends and husband.  Very yummy lasagna, Thank you Marcelle!  : )  There seems to be a pattern here!!!  FOOD!!!  HA!!
We also went to the Topsfield Fair with my niece, Jessie.  We hadn't been there in years and had a great time!  Once again, ate lots of fair food and watched the pig races!  Later that night we went out to a new Mexican place for dinner in NH with my brother, David and Diane.  Next day we drove into Boston to see the Pompeii exhibit.  It was really interesting.  Hard to believe that there was any thing to find after all these years!  After the exhibit, off to The North End for canollis!  Food again??!! YES! If you have never had a canolli from Mikes, you just have not lived!!  : )

Dave n Deb at Pompeii exhibit

Pompeii exhibit



David and Diane Pompeii exhibit



Part of walll from Pompeii Italy



Jess, Deb and Dave at Topsfield Fair




Dave getting cinnamon bun at fair



  

Jess with Dodge Ram at fair



Dave and Deb at Fair



Chris and Nick at Donnie's house in G-Town



Donnie and Deb G-Town



Marcelle making lasagna!



Michelle, Zack, Jen and Mike



Dave, Deb, Diave & David mexican restaurant in NH


















We also had great visits with Aunt Trudy (Mom's sister) and Uncle Junior (Mom's brother) and Aunt Jean (Uncle Junior's wife). 


Mom and Aunt Trudy




Uncle Junior and Aunt Jean




Uncle Junior and Mom




David, Debbie, Mom and Dad


 

Mom and Dad







  














Our final burger before heading back to India was at Fudruckers!!!!  It was delicious!!  : )  Thank you David and Diane for taking us there and... driving us to the airport!!


David, Debbie, David and Diane





David and David at Fudruckers




















Deb and Diane at Fudruckers




Dave n Debbie last burger at Fudruckers

 
















We are now back in India celebrating Diwali.  Stay tuned for the Diwali celebration blog... coming soon!