Once again I find that weeks have passed by in a blur.
Sofi has started playschool at Julia Gabriel in Saket at the DLF Place mall. She is enjoying it thoroughly. Her favourite bits are music time, and activity time which usually includes some kind of painting. Snack time is also nice and she is learning to eat by herself sitting properly and starting to drink juice for the first time as she never liked it before. The other kids range in age from about 18 months to 30 months. Sofi is currently almost 20 months. It's a mummy and me class so I am enjoying it too. Lots of singing and dancing. Play time is fun too as she is learning to play with new and different toys. Story time and the magic box not so much able to keep her attention. Overall she is really enjoying it and when we get her ready in the morning and ask her if she wants to go to school, she is excited and happy.
We were set to go to Court on Jan 12th, and I sat at the airport that morning for hours and then all flights to Amritsar were cancelled! The judge used this excuse to postpone but luckily gave us a quick date of Jan 21st. He promised he would issue the Order on the 21st. Sofi and I took the train to Jalandhar with Pratima on the 20th, staying at the Radisson, and went to Court. But, again, the judge did not issue the Order. He gave us another date for the 25th. So we hauled back to Delhi on the 21st by train, rested a little over the weekend, and then as we were unable to get train tickets at such short notice, we drove back to Jalandhar all day on the 24th. However, again, no Order from the judge.
We stayed in Jalandhar over India's 62d Repubilic Day, and invited 9 of the older girls to lunch with us at the Radisson - mainly the ones who don't have a chance to get adopted. Then we went to Amritsar to the Golden Temple for Sofi's 1st visit. We prayed for a speedy resolution of her case, so we can go back home.
Back to Court on the 27th. I am confident that the judge was moved by seeing Sofi again in Court. It could not just remain yet another case from Nari Niketan. He had seemed insensitive to the need for urgency and priority for these cases before. But seeing the child whose life is in limbo because his caseload is too heavy does bring out his human compassion. He promised he would issue the Order that afternoon.
On the morning of the 28th we learned that he verbally gave the Order, but... weirdly, he demands that a Jalandhar property valued at least 8 lakhs ($??) be put up as a surety. We cannot do this. We are now again looking for a solution. It may be that we can satisfy the judge with a monetary surety bond. It is not mandatory that judges demand a surety, but it is not uncommon for courts scattered all over the country to ask for it. Apparently there is a Supreme Court case on this issue. I will now wait for the Order to be written up (the judge promised me it would be ready by Monday/Tuesday) and then we will see what we can do to overcome the latest obstacle to completing Sofi's adoption.
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