the joy project: weeks forty-three to forty-five.

my 3 weeks in India, rolled into my awesome blog post.

Sunday 10: landed in Bombay and was recognized within 2 hours. as my parents and I were checking into our hotel, I hear from one of the bellmen, "Madam! How are you, Madam? So long!" and then, when he and another guy brought our bags up to the room, the other guy was explaining breakfast hours and all to my father, and this guy stops him and just says, "No worries. Madam knows all." seems my reputation is still intact.

Monday 11: yummy breakfast at the hotel. flight to Coimbatore.

Tuesday 12: visited Vasamma, my father's sweet aunt [who sadly passed away just this week. she'll be fondly remember and missed every day].

Wednesday 13: early morning run around Race Course. definitely an odd feeling to go for a run in Coimbatore, but it was nice to get out and about.

Thursday 14: lots of rest, relaxation, and reading.

Friday 15: another early morning run, and this time I dragged my nephew along. cousins dinner at Bird on Tree followed by ice cream at Ibacco.

Saturday 16: joined the guys for a 5.45am run around Race Course. lunch at Bombay Brasserie. "doctors' dinner" at home for my father and all his doctor friends.

Sunday 17: spent most of the day at home playing cards.

[clockwise from top left: my aunt made ragi mudhe for me; my dog-cousin apple; attempts at "fixing" the road outside my grandmother's house; lots and lots of card playing]

Monday 18: spent the day at our family temple for the full moon festival. hung out with my cousin's 5-year-old daughter, Esha, who is an absolute gem. pretty sure I have a new best friend for life.

Tuesday 19: TO BANGALORE! I met the Pumpkin and had a reunion with my Peanut, the first of whom is one of the happiest babies I've ever known and the second of whom is absolutely hilarious and quite the little diva. also a reunion with my third-born.

Wednesday 20: a fun afternoon with Shonali and Rajat. an Old Monk reunion. barbecue at the farm with Nithya, Sam, Anthony Appa, and Viji.

[rajat can't contain his excitement at having me back in town]

Thursday 21: Catholic Club and then reunion at Guzzlers capped off with dosa and chicken curry from Kentacky. quite an epic night in my books.

[teaching the peanut to touch her tongue to her nose]

[sweet little pumpkin]

[love that whenever i see prakash for the first time, he comes bearing these]

Friday 22: lunch at Nagarjuna with Dorothy and Sneha. nice long catch-up afternoon with Dorothy. went shopping with Shonali [as a note to anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation: never ever go shopping with Shonali. it lasts forever]. yummy biryani for dinner. and then Bern and I taught Nithya and Sam how to play Phase10.

[because sneha and dorothy both came dressed in hearts]

Saturday 23: lunch at South Indies with Prakash-a. got my hairs cut [and not by a barber :)]. took Shonali for a burger. dessert at Berry'd Alive. and then Prakash's aunt fed us akki roti and curry, dosa, and some yummy sweet I don't know the name of. then it rained! so much rain. we sat in Prakash's house with the windows and door open and blues on in the background and chatted while we waited for the roads to be drivable again.

[love my third-born]

Sunday 24: nice drive to the airport. flight to Bombay. reunion with PC, Deboo, Reishabh, Punit, and Steph.

[pretty typical, really]

[goodness knows what was so funny. probably shonali trying to figure out how to take a picture]

Monday 25: met Chris, the founder of Reality Gives, and walked all around Dharavi visiting the projects. discovered a new spot in Bandra to enjoy some quiet and watch the sunset. traditional night-in with PC where we ordered food and binge-watched episodes of Homeland.

[view of bandra from our point out in the sea]

Tuesday 26: met PC at the new Starbucks in the Fort and then had lunch with PC and Mahrooh at this cute little cafe in a bookstore. finally met PC's boss, Sonali. reunion of sorts at Toto's with Steph, Pete, PC, Deboo, Uday, Anurag, and Avinash. capped off the evening with frozen yogurt from Pinkberry - my choice was a salted caramel and chocolate swirl with sliced almonds and dark chocolate chips on top. and it was amazing.

[teaching my deboo-boy how to drink whiskey. i think he's slowly getting the hang of it]

[i heart you, too, pc]

Wednesday 27: spent the day sleeping and relaxing and reading. pav bhajji at my hole-in-the-wall darshini in Bandra. dinner at Steph and Pete's.

Thursday 28: back to the airport for my journey back to the States. no traffic on the way to the airport, I was the first person in line when they opened the Emirates check-in counters, I had no wait in the Immigration line since OCI holders get to go through a shorter line, and there was no line at the Security Check. and then in Dubai I paid to use the lounge near my gate - free wifi, food, and alcohol, which is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Friday 29: finished The Book Thief [which I had started on Wednesday afternoon]. landed in Dallas. no line through Immigration or Customs [thank you, Global Entry] or Security Check. early lunch at Pappasito's. back to Memphis.

Saturday 30: slept in. mum's chicken biryani for lunch. unearthed all the Christmas decorations. set up the tree and got the ornaments on. Christmas season is here!

happy December, all!
xx