Coffee, Courts, and Exploring the Old and New in Patna

It has been a busy week that included a visit to Missionaries of Charity, the old and new Bihar museum, a birthday party, the Chocolate Room, and most importantly our first court hearing.  Sunday marked our one month as a family.  We celebrated with homemade kheer and Adam made cocktails with ginger syrup and pomegranate juice for the parents.

First of all, we met with our advocate and the MOC advocate at Missionaries of Charity.  For Anjali, this was a bit of a surreal experience.  Everyone was so happy to see her.  Anjali went into stunned mode.  I think she was worried we were returning her to the orphanage.  All the children were calling out her name.  One of the other little girls grabbed Anjali, picked her up and ran her back to the room to be with all  the other kids.  I just love this orphanage...so much love here.  While she was in the back she exchanged kisses with all the kids, and all of the caregivers took turns holding her.  When she came back out, all the Sisters came to greet her and showered her with hugs and kisses. She was still a little stunned, but I think happy nonetheless.  When we met with our advocates, Anjali sat on my lap and eventually fell asleep.  Sister Meera was there and we felt really good about the meeting.  We felt like everyone was in support of our case and that a lot of eyes are on the case which is what it seems to take to get things to move forward.  Sister Meera will attend our second court hearing which should help.  I am realizing that MOC has a lot of political pull here in Patna.  Sister Meera is at the courts often so they know her there.  Hopefully with her eyes and ours on the judge, he will provide a quick judgement in our favor.

We went to the new and old museum of Bihar which offered a stark contrast between the past and what is to come for Patna.  There is a big push for order and progress here in Patna, which apparently wasnt the case up until 8 years ago.  Bihar is a very important site for some of the major religions especially Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.  The old museum had amazingly beautiful statues of various deities and there was also some pretty amazing taxidermy animals from the region and beautifully intricate buddhist paintings.  The new museum is the pet project of current CM Nitesh Kumar and is apparently being funded by the Japanese.  It is a giant building that spans the equivalent of one city block.  Only a couple rooms are completed, but they are allowing visitors to promote it.  You have to go to the old museum to get tickets for the new one.  It is a beautiful building and has interactive exhibits that are kid friendly.  Lots of space for Anjali to run around so she enjoyed it.

This week Anjali went to her first birthday party at the local Pizza Hut.  She was a little overwhelmed and didn't interact with the other children, but it was good for her.  She isn't that fond of cheese, we have found out, but enjoyed the pizza crust.  It was nice for us to meet some other people who live here.  There are a handful of American couples doing charity work here similar to what Stefanie and Dan are doing--working with women in poverty to provide economic opportunities for them.

Over the weekend, we went to the Patna Central Mall which is basically a giant department store. The fifth floor has a food court, a newly constructed small, bowling alley, supposedly the best Chinese restaurant in town (Mainland China) and most importantly the Chocolate Room, which is an Australian based chocolate shop and cafe.  We shared a chocolate brownie sundae and Adam and I had our first coffee since being here.  I had a cafe latte that was delicious and really hit the spot.  My once daily latte habit has been replaced with morning chai, but it sure was nice to get some coffee.

And then there was our court date on the 25th.  This was a bit of a surreal experience for us.  The court house was like taking a step back in time.  All the advocates have to wear a robe similar to what judges wear in the U.S.  and this peculiar square tie.  The Ganga river borders one side of the court and all the doors are open on that side to let cool air in.  It is quite a picturesque scene with the ceiling fans blowing, the river flowing and the magistrates dressed in what looked like outfits from British colonial times.  Our advocate brought one of the senior advocates to the hearing.  The judge entered the room at about 2:30 pm.  Anjali was a bit antsy when we first entered the court room, but fell asleep fairly quickly once the session started.  Cases were being heard at a fairly rapid pace, though there was an occassional case that took a bit longer as advocates argued their cases to get the judge to see things in their favor.  At about 3:45, the senior advocate called out to the clerk who had all of the files and requested he look at our file.  Our hearts beat rapidly when we knew it was our case being pulled up.  It was at the bottom of a pile.  The judge flipped through the file and asked the senior advocate a few questions.  It was all over in less than a minute.  Our advocates left the court room and gestured for us to leave.  We were told that our case was admitted and we would hear the following day when the hearing would take place and who the judge is that we have been assigned to.  It's hard to believe we waited over a month for this.  But it is what it is.  I do believe it helped with us being there.  I don't think the senior advocate would have shown up otherwise and I think our case file may still be at the bottom of the pile, being heard later in the week or the following.  The next hearing will be the important one where the judge can approve our case.  At this point we have been told it will be September 15th in District Court Room 3. We may be asked questions about the adoption and they will want to see Anjali.  If there is any document or anything else the judge finds not satisfactory, he can call for an additional hearing or hearings.  We truly are at the mercy of the court right now.