30th of June

Woke up feeling very groggy. We had gone to bed about 10.30 or so but couldn't sleep for all the noise outside. Finally at about midnight we fell asleep only to wake up around 4 am or so. For the next 2-3 hours we kept asking each other "Are you asleep? neither am I"......and then again at 7am or so we fell asleep. But we woke up at 8am determined to stay awake.

We went for another round of window shopping and have identified the refrigerator, the cooking range and the dishwasher we want to buy. Also narrowed down the furniture store. We still have lots to do. I am figuring out this whole text messaging/SMS thing. Cell phone users here text message a lot. We got a hold of our architect and are meeting with him Monday. Also tomorrow we go to the customs yard and try to clear our container so we can have our stuff delivered so we can start living there.

Heat and traffic still a challenge!!!!!! Anyway, managed to stay up till 10pm so hopefully we'll get over jet lag tomorrow.

27th - 29th of June, the journey home

We left Princeton for JFK at 5.30pm. Our flight wasn't until 11.10pm but we wanted to allow for traffic so we could get to the airport by 8pm. But as luck would have it, we didn't really run into any real traffic problems, so we reached JFK by 7.20pm. After a quick check in, we hung around with Indu and Venkat and I had my final latte in the US...! Oh, while checking in we found out our seats were an aisle and middle seat right next to the toilets...I smelled trouble right away...ha ha, no pun intended.

Anyway, after a very difficult goodbye to them, we went to the boarding area about an hour before boarding time, and i made my final round of calls on the cell phone to all our relatives. Boarding was supposed to happen at 10.10pm, but it came and went and no sign of any boarding announcement. Finally at 11.10pm, they announced and in we went. The seats were worse than what i had been afraid of.....they were so close to the toilets, Raga could reach out and touch the door from his seat. the seats themselves were so cramped and short on leg space, we were practically hunched over. Then, as if that wasn't enough, a guy with his little baby sat in the 2 seats next to us, a mom with 2 small kids in front of us, a couple with a bratty son behind us!!!! I have nothing against kids, in fact i love kids.....but this was a bit too much even for me. We were so tired we fell asleep soon after take off, or maybe I should say we tried to sleep. The toilet door must have opened and slammed shut at least once every minute, the kid next to me hollered all night long cos he was squishedin his seat (i don't blame him, i wanted to holler too), the kid in front kept saying "no".....all in all a bad night! Thankfully morning came about 6 1/2 hours later and we were starved having skipped the dinner, so we were really looking forward to a good breakfast. Well....bad luck, all we got was a bowl of fresh fruit and no spoon, so we picked it out from the plastic bowl and ate it. The guy next to me with a kid had ordered a kosher breakfast, well when they brought it he was not interested, so i took it. No hot towels, no socks, irritable attendants...Virgin Atlantic Airlines sucks!!!! Don't ever use it!

We landed at London Heathrow with 3 hours for our next Emirates flight to Dubai. I was excited at being able to browse the airport...no luck again. We had to go thru security again and it took 2 hours to get to our next gate. Then to top it off, Emirates had run out of boarding cards, so they made us wait 20 minutes by which time they had started boarding our flight. So the agent told us to go to the gate and get them printed there, which we did. Virgin Atlantic and Emirates are like night and day! Emirates was super! Awesome food, awesome service, cheerful (almost syrupy) flight attendants, constant barrage of drinks and food, individual TV's....just great! We arrived at Dubai airport quite refreshed after the 6 1/2 hour flight. The airport reeks of money...polished floors, beautiful stores, sleek carts, palm trees, lighted walkways, white robed sheiks, burkha'ed women with their beautiful kohl rimmed eyes peeking out....lots of moolah here, no doubt. We had to go thru secutiry again but still had time to check things out. Then it was time to check in for our 3 1/2 flight to Hyderabad, and wonder of wonders - the agent upgraded us to business class. Yippee! We must have looked pretty beat! I used to wonder and sympathise with all those business travellers, feeling pity for them having to travel so much - but now i know that they don't deserve any pity. Business class is fabulous! You get a cushy seat, you're plied with food and drink and wine and champagne, you can stretch out fully and sleep, its like being at home.....even better cos there is someone to wait on you hand and foot. Anyway, i tried to look very casual about the whole thing, like i travel like this all the time - but i was sooooo excited! I loved it!

Needless to say we arrived at Hyderabad feeling quite perky! Which was good cos we needed to be in a good mood for what followed! Since we were in business class, we were among the first to get out and make it thru immigration, which was a breeze. Then it took almost an hour for our luggage to arrive. There was utter confusion at the baggage claim area. A sign at one belt showed our flight number, so everyone crowded around the belt....then suddenly they changed it to another belt, so everyone charged to the other side....total pandemonium. So many suitcases look alike, people would take them off the belt, then realize it wasn't theirs and just leave it on the floor. I actually put a couple back. People were jumping over luggage carts trying to get their stuff. I have realized that in addition to a legit visa, people also need a large dose of patience and a good sense of humor in India. After a while i was thoroughly enjoying myself watching all the fun and chaos, in fact Anyway, after an eternity our stuff arrived and we went thru customs - again, a breeze. Went out and saw everyone waiting for us....it was quite the moment. My dad took a pic of this momentous event.

Then we went out to the waiting car - the driver got in and turned on the A/C...it was sort of warm, then jumped out and closed the door to start loading the luggage in and realized he had locked the key in the car and the engine was still running. A quick note to my non Indian friends - when anything like this happens in India, it usually invites a huge gathering of all sorts of people trying to help. And so all of a sudden there were hollers and screams and shouts, people showed up with wires and sticks and keys and chains. There were heated discussions, arguments and yelling. Little urchin boys hanging around were sent off scurrying for assorted weapons with which to open the door and they all came back with weird things....after 15 minutes of trying in vain, a smart aleck guy punched the slider thing that opens the rear window, then stuck his hand in and opened the passenger door. Neat! Everyone almost clapped! Then each and every so called helper had his hand stretched out for "baksheesh" - a sort of tip.Small change works.

Anyway, after all this drama we left and got home. The rest of the day was sort of hazy - we went and checked out our rental house, made a vague plans of things to do the next day. Just like i thought, the heat and traffic are going to be my biggest challenges. We tried hard to stay awake and fight the jet lag, but R and I HAD to take a short nap in the afternoon. We went to a couple of furniture stores in the evening just to get an idea of what things cost.....! All in all not a very productive day, but given that its our first day, thats OK. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Back in business....yay!

Since its been a while - almost a month - since i posted anything and I obviously cannot post daily entries now for past dates, I think the best thing for me and the readers will be to post one big single entry with dates by each entry.

Also I figured all posts now from Hyderabad/India deserved a new look and so here it is. Even though personally I like the old format better, I think this is a nice change. My brother Ranjit, suggested the clever new title for the blog (sort of along the lines of "Unse(a)ttled")!

So sit back and enjoy.....its nice to be back in blogland!!!

One final request.

Nikki playing one of my all time favorite songs - Marriage Dream.

D-Day...It's here.....!

Hard to believe, but its finally here......the day of our departure to India after 22 years in the US. I don't know where all those years went...they went by so fast. If it wasn't for the strong difference I see when I compare photos of myself 22 years ago and now, I wouldn't believe it!!

Tough to describe what i feel right now...excited at going back and being with those we have missed all these years, sad at leaving those with whom we have been all these years, worried at all the baggage we have, curious about the house we'll be living in in Hyderabad, nervous about the whole customs ritual we may have to go thru with regards to our container, very nervous about the heat in India, happy that we were able to see all our relatives in the last 6 weeks, tired from so many late nights and sleep deprivation, 5-10 pounds overweight from all the food we have been fed, fired up about the house remodel project....basically i'm in a state of chaos.

We just got back from a late lunch at Nanking, a fairly new Indo Chinese restaurant in Edison. Fabulous place and I am already salivating at the Indo Chinese food I'll get back home. Its 4.25pm now, we leave for the airport at 5.30pm, cos its a long haul to JFK from Princeton. If I am able to snag a wireless connection at either London or Dubai airports, i'll write something...if not, next post from Hyderabad.....!

I am not sure how long it will take for us to get our Internet connection, so it may be a while before i can update my blog. I do plan on writing it up each day so i don't forget all the details, but as for posting it, you all may have to wait....but then again you never know. Despite all the chaos in India, sometimes things happen surprisingly fast!

D-Day minus 1

Its almost here.....tomorrow evening we fly out of JFK for India. We are in the final shopping, packing, sorting frenzy trying to figure out how to take all our stuff and not have to pay for extra baggage....!!!

Had a fabulous time Sunday. Indira - my sis in law - hosted a great lunch, a sort of farewell lunch for us. It was a really fun day - the food was yummo, the desserts were delicious and the company was super. Played lots and lots of games including the ever popular Mafia and our new favorite - the south African card game, Mao. Its sort of like Uno, only you have to guess the rules as you go along, and then whoever wins adds a new rule in the next game without telling anyone...gets really crazy when the rules start piling up and you have to remember them. Gautam was home all weekend and that made it even more special. He was scheduled to take the early morning train to DC today, but then preponed it to a late 10pm flight last night, but when we got to the train station, the flight was delayed 40 minutes. Not only that, when he called the agent to prepone it, she mistakenly booked him on next Sunday's train. So back home we came....and he took the early morning train today like he had originally planned.

It was hard to say bye to him....i kept thinking its no different from our going back to Seattle, cos whether we're in Seattle or India, we'll still see each other the same number of times every 5-6 months or so....but it was still difficult. Anyway, i hope he can make it to India in Nov/Dec.He's doing an awesome job at the DNC and I'm very proud of him.

Washington DC is in a state of emergency due to heavy rains and floods. Parts of metro have shut down. Its been sort of stormy here too, but as soon as it clears i plan to take some pics of the house and people here in Princeton.

Was able to get s few shots of the house and the kids....

Nikki playing the piano

A sound clip of my niece Nikki, playing "Nocturne in F Minor" by Chopin, on the piano. Unfortunately while listening to the sound clip, you are not able to see the joy with which she plays the piano. She clearly enjoys it...

Connecti(cut)ing in Hartford

Spent the last 2 days in West Hartford, Connecticut with my cousin Vijay and his wife Ketki, and their 6 month baby son, Rahul. His parents (that is, my uncle and aunt) are also there, visiting him from India. Vijay and his wife live in a neat Cape Cod style house which I found out later is very popular in the east Coast, especially Ct area. It was a very leisurely time, spent chatting with them and playing with the baby, who is, hands down, the CUTEST, HAPPIEST, CHUBBIEST baby I have ever seen (sorry Gautam....i thought you used to be the CHC baby, but lil' Rahul takes the cake...and I suspect eats it too:-))He took a great liking to Raga....all kids do, I think his beard fascinates them.

We watched an Indian movie last night on his big screen (90 inches wide) called "Rang de Basanti" which we enjoyed a lot. Not the usual Bollywood song and dance ritual, but a serious movie on the efforts of an Englishwoman, who comes to India to shoot a documentary on freedom fighters, based on a diary written by her grandfather, an officer in the English army. If any of you gets a chance to see it, do so. For the non Indian speaking, it has sub titles and a lot of dialogue in English too.

This morning we all walked to the petting farm in front of the house and it was more of a thrill to me than to Rahul....cute little baby goats with little stubs for horns, pink piglets, soft furry donkeys and llamas,I got to pet them all. Unfortunately i didn't take my camera :-(

I have to mention that I saw a very different side of my uncle while in Hartford. This is my uncle who worked for the Indian Army and retired as Colonel, and I always remembered him as a pretty stern man, barking orders at everyone. My memories of him as a child were of someone who everytime I saw him was in the Indian Army uniform, all starched and ironed with medals glistening on his lapels and he carried this sort of stick in his hand....and everytime he spoke it was this stern deep commanding voice...we all quavered with fear...Ok, not exactly, but you get the picture!!!

Now here he is, a totally besotted grandpa to his grandson, bouncing him on his knee, sitting on the floor with him and cootchy cooing with him, giving him a bath, singing baby songs, and horror of horrors....changing his diaper!!! It was so cute....the same Colonel who aroused terror in the hearts of his subordinates, is mush in the hands of his 7 month old grandson.

We got back to Princeton about an hour ago after getting totally lost on the way home....took us an extra hour. Not sure what our plans are for the next few days...i still have to sort out my baggage situation..Hmmmm.

Video of Rahul

Preparing for the journey....

Didn't do much today....except assess our horrific baggage situation and try to figure out how we are going to be able to take our stuff with the airlines having such stringent baggage restrictions. We may have to ship some stuff to India.

I have been searching on the Internet for days for a software or some mapping program that will allow me to plot all our multiple travel locations on a map, and i think I may have found one...

So, let's see if it works.

Click on this to view a map showing our pit stops from Seattle to Princeton

Travel days are over.....almost

Back in Princeton again, resting up before our Transatlantic journey next week to India.

Its hard to believe that its been about 40 days since we left Seattle. We left on the 9th of May, with the excitement of the road trip looming ahead of us, and now its over. We have a short trip to Connecticut this week and then we have 4-5 days before leaving for India.

At the risk of sounding very formal, I should take this opportunity to thank all the people who have put us up, or maybe i should say "put up with us". We arrived at each destination with 4 giant suitcases, 2 bagpacks bursting at the seams, laptop and assorted wires and cables, and promptly made ourselves comfortable. In a few hours the place would be strewn with our belongings and one room in the house inevitably would become our makeshift office from where we could get on the Internet, spread maps out on the table, post comments on the blog, make phone calls to airlines, hotels and travel agents, pay our bills etc. Our hosts would be forced to put up with all this, as well as our weird food habits including our coffee addiction, and yet they would feed us and take us sightseeing with good humor.

It has been really good for us to reconnect with relatives we knew lived in the country but never got the opportunity to connect with, except for the occasional phone call. I knew it all along, but this trip has only reconfirmed that we have fabulous relatives and we are glad to be part of this close knit community.

As the day of our departure draws closer, I am feeling the enormity of our decision to go back. No regrets or anything, but just the realization that in about 10 days our life is going to be so different. I am also excited at this huge step we are taking.

Happy Father's Day to all dads out there....but especially to mine

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it ... Dad

The Grassy Knoll.....

17th of June - visited the site of Kennedy's assassination. 22nd November, 1963 is a date that is forever etched in the minds of many Americans. Of all the world leaders who have been assassinated, none seems to fascinate people more than that of President Kennedy.

The sixth floor of the Texas Book Store Depository has been turned into a museum to honor the memory of JFK. The last window on the right, on the second row from the top - in the attached picture - is the location from where the 3 fatal shots were fired.There are films and footages that trace back the events of that day, as well as a recreation of the exact spot where Lee Harvey Oswald stood. From the windows of the 6th floor, you can look down onto Elm street - the street onto which the motorcade turned - and there is an "X" that marks the spot on the street. Its kinda spooky...Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside, so i don't have any pics of the interior. But got some shots of the building from the outside as well as the famous "Grassy Knoll" from where supposedly a 4th shot was fired indicationg that Oswald was not alone in his motive...but that is still a controversy!

After that we walked around downtown Dallas, like i mentioned before not that much to see. We came home by 3pm and after a late lunch watched a fabulous movie by Deepa Mehta called "Water". Trifle depressing, but good.

Didn't do a whole lot the rest of the day.....

More pics of downtown Dallas and Texas BD

Austin City limits

We really didn't want to go anywhere today cos of the heat, but we figured we may not be coming to Dallas often so let's go check out the capital of Texas - Austin. Its a good 3 hours away. We left at 10am and got there by 1pm. There's really not much to see as you drive in Dallas excpet for the occasional highway or freeway named after "one of the idiotic members of the current administration". Its just wide open spaces and land - and not too much to see scenery wise. After Seattle, we really miss the mountains and lakes.

Austin was super hot - almost 100 degrees. We started out by visiting the LBJ library on the University of Austin campus. The library was founded in 1971 and showcases the life of LBJ from his birth to becoming the 36th President. LBJ is a native Texan. Its just beautiful. We were just in time to catch the 2pm movie of his life story.

Then we went to the Capitol building. I have never been to a state Capital building so i really cannot compare it with any other. It looks like the others I've seen from the outside, that is its round. On the inside, i am guessing they are all the same with the Senate Chamber and the House of Reps Chamber and the galleries above each for viewing. The huge hallways are lined with portraits of bearded reps. Its all very grand and impressive. There was a guest book for visitors to sign and i really wanted to add a comment on it to say "Get that monkey out of the White House"....but again that irritating thing called "better sense" prevailed.

We walked back to the parking lot - I was really starting to wilt in the heat (once again getting concerned at how i was going to withstand India temps - (but then again i don't really plan on walking the streets in the mid afternoon heat, so maybe i'll be OK). We then went to the Univ of Austin campus and got a picture of ourselves by the Texas Longhorns...i mean a statue of the horns. The campus is nice but being summer it was completely deserted. Then since i needed caffeine like a shot in the arm, we went on our usual Starbucks jaunt. Fortunately found one not too far away and I revived after the usual Triple Grande Caramel Macchiatto.

All of this had taken about 3 hours and it was about 4.30pm, so we started the long drive back. Ummmm...bad idea. We got snarled in peak traffic. By the time we got to Dallas it was 8.30pm and we were ravenous (oh, small note - we had skipped lunch). We stopped for dinner and then got home by 10pm. Another long day - this vacation thing is really tiring...!!!!! Work was way more relaxing.....

In Bush country

Today was travel day so i don't have too much to post. We caught the 8.55 am flight to Dallas and got in at 10.35.....No, it wasn't a 1 1/2 hour flight. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight, Dallas is an hour behind Orlando. One word to describe Dallas when we got off - hot! Actually make that 2 words - really hot! It was a searing 95 degrees when we walked out of the airport, but the amazing thing is i could handle it much better than the 80 degree heat with 95 % humidity of Orlando. Also i was very relieved cos i was very concerned at my inability to handle Orlando heat, cos the city we will be living in in India gets to be about 100+ degrees in summer. So the fact that i could manage in the Dallas temperatures made me very happy! The air in Orlando is so heavy with moisture and it was so stifling at times, i couldn't breathe.

Quick note to those who may not know - R's mom's cousin Raju, and his wife Malathi live here in Dallas - well actually in a suburb called Mesquite. They have lived here for 25 years. When we got home Malathi had made an amazing home cooked meal. We rested up the rest of the day. 2 of her friends dropped by in the afternoon. In the evening after Raju came home, we went and visited another (plane factory (I say "another" cos we had already visited one in Duluth) owned by a friend of his. The company is called IndUS aviation and the owner Ram, builds single engine private planes. We visited the many hangars with planes in various stages of being built. I found it all very interesting - R was literally drooling! Ram is a doctor who always had a fascination for planes and a few years ago he gave up his medical profession to delve into aeronautics. Now his company also trains pilots. Its an amazing story.

After this we headed to Campisis in downtown Dallas - an Italian pizza joint famous for its hand tossed pizzas. Its also known for its celebrity sightings tho we didn't run into any today. The Dallas Mavs/Miami Heat basketball game was also on on their big screen, so the place was pretty crowded. Pizza was good tho Raju claims it wasn't up to par. It tasted good to me.....!

By the time we got home it was past 10.30pm. It has been a long day, so i called it a day and went to bed. Oh - Mavs lost to Miami... :-(