Christopher Brown's Weblog
A few new photos of Elsie Evelyn, from her 3 month old stage. She’s laughing a lot. Is a bit ticklish, and has moved to the head of the class in the drool department, in anticipation of new teeth. We no longer use the infant car seat. And she’s also made the transition from bassinet to crib. And marvel among marvels, she sleeps through the night on a regular basis. Not sure what we did to deserve that, but we’re taking it.
In Dhaka City, Bangladesh, one of the most popular modes of transportation is the bicycle rickshaw. Our group from Water 1st International had some free time apart from visiting water and sanitation projects, so we went exploring the city via rickshaws. This is a great way to see the sights, as you travel fast enough to cover some real ground, but slowly enough to enjoy the sights.
The rickshaws are pulled by an industrious group of men who are incredibly strong and fearless. The car and bus traffic here is very thick, and the rickshaws are right in the mix on the same roads, so the drivers have to be very good at not getting themselves, and their fares, run over. We managed to see quite a bit of the city without any incidents.
The rickshaws are all decorated up marvelously. Many are adorned with horns and streamers. Nearly all of them are elaborately painted. Two adults can squeeze in without too much difficulty, although at times one sees larger groups riding, usually a family of wife, husband and several small children. At that capacity, the driver is pulling several hundred pounds of cargo.
We had a great time on our rickshaw expedition in Dhaka!
Fortunately, Sandy had a very easy pregnancy, particularly for a woman in her forties. Not to diminish the amount of work it was for her, but she and the baby were in good health throughout, and the baby went to full term, for which we were very grateful. One of the fun challenges during that time was the process of choosing a name for our baby. Since we’d decided to not learn its gender in advance, we needed to be ready with boy and girl names.
A month ago I was in India, where my friend, Vikas, told me that his wife is also pregnant, due in just a few weeks. The tradition in his culture of West Bengal is to wait until the baby is several weeks old to name her. I thought that sounded like such a fine idea. Wouldn’t it be nice to get to know your child a bit before making that decision? As great as that sounded, Sandy and I decided we’d stick to our own culture’s norms and name the child at birth.
We started by gathering every name under the sun – I bought a bunch of name books. Sandy had lists of names she was fond of that she’d compiled and kept, dating back to the mid-eighties. We discussed our favorites and made more lists. Nothing stood out that strongly, but over time we began to compile our short list in a journal. Time passed. We remodeled the house. Suddenly the due date was a week away and we got down to business.
We whittled our lists down to two sets of first and middle names per gender:
We then thought it best to let the baby be born and see if one name or the other fit him or her better.
And that’s what happened. Elsie came into the world at 3:50 a.m. on January 11. Her mother and father were not in their very best decision-making forms after a rather lengthy birthing ordeal, but there we were faced with a very important decision. And it became clear within minutes that we were looking at Elsie Evelyn. Interestingly, Daisy was the frontrunner of the girl names for months. Daisy is a family name on the Brown side, she being my father’s grandmother. We both liked it a lot, but found ourselves in complete agreement, when the moment came, that our little girl was Elsie Evelyn.
Elsie gets her first name from Sandy’s great aunt, Elsie. Sandy remembers Aunt Elsie fondly as a woman who loved all her nieces and nephews dearly, often bringing them small gifts from her international travels. Once, as the story goes, Elsie wrote to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and offered her advice of a political nature. Not only did Eleanor take Elsie’s advice, but personally wrote her to kindly thank her for taking the trouble.
Elsie’s middle name, Evelyn, honors my late mother, Margaret Evelyn Cullen Brown. Mother went by Evelyn, even though it was her middle name.
One fascinating story already has come up regarding the naming of Elsie Evelyn, and that from Elaine and Fred Nordby, relatives of Sandy’s from Red Deer, Canada. It seems that Fred is the keeper of one branch of the family tree, and when Elaine and Fred heard the news of our little Elsie, they added her to their genealogy lists. Of course, they quickly spotted Sandy’s great aunt Elsie as a name match. They also noticed right away that Aunt Elsie’s middle name was Evelyn: Elsie Evelyn Wik Johnson.
We had no idea. But now we feel certain that we’ve given our Elsie Evelyn just the right name.
Here are a few photos taken right before we left the hospital on Sunday.
Sandy Nelson and Chris Brown are proud to announce the birth of Elsie Evelyn Nelson Brown, born early in the morning on January 11 2008. Elsie weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces, is 21 inches tall, and has dimples. Sandy and Elsie are both healthy and resting after the adventure of birth and should be home soon. Chris is the happiest man alive and is so proud of Sandy. Below are a few photos of mother and daughter (and cousins Frances and Stella).
PART TWO: On the road in India, one is immediately struck by the variety of modes of travel all sharing the same lanes of highway. Everything from trucks and busses, to cars and motorcycles, to rickshaws, and of course, bicycles, each occupying its distinctive space in the hierarchy that is Indian traffic. Bicycles are a major presence, in that so many people are dependent on them for transportation. While they may be the lightest and therefor the first to give way in the proverbial game of chicken with larger vehicles, they do have the advantage of being the most nimble mode of transportation, and often will make progress while the cars and busses are jammed up in a long line.
PART ONE: If India has a billion people, they must also have 2 billion bicycles, in one form or another. Most are well-used, tough, often-repaired, and decorated to the hilt. The perfect blend of form and function. I’ve shot a few over the years in an attempt to capture the spirit of the thing. Watch for more Indian bicycle posts, and let me know what you think of these.
