The Last 10 Days

March 15-24, 2010

This morning we traveled back to Jaipur by train and spent a few hours at our favorite hotel, the Arya Niwas. We had a wonderful breakfast while sitting in the garden and took some time to freshen up in the business center lounge before getting to our afternoon flight back to Hyderabad. As we sat in the garden we reflected on the amazing time we have had here in northern India. Rajasthan is so very different from Kerala in the south and Hyderabad in the central region. We are glad we made the decision to venture this far north even though there seemed to be some mystery danger the US wanted us to be afraid of.

We arrived back in Hyderabad to our apartment and were very happy to see our houseboys Das, Ramesh and Manuj. It was hilarious when they saw me, the tall white lady, coming at them to give them a hug. Their eyes were as big as softballs! Hugging is just not as common here as in the US, so I constantly scare people as I come at them with my open arms ready to swallow them whole :o) They helped us get our luggage upstairs and into the apartment. Our first task was to get to our computers and check out what has been happening in the world as we have been away for the last week. We highly recommend not looking at a computer for news or email for an entire week. Very liberating and refreshing to be able to think about where you are and who you are with instead of depressing news and information from the rest of the world. As we dug into our backlog of emails, etc., we foraged in the cupboard for a box or can of something to eat.

The next morning Rowan went right off to the eye institute to continue working on the lab equipment with Shrikant. I got right to doing laundry by hand using the bucket method. Between loads I worked on trying to get the next blog posts together and planning the next few days of dinner parties that our friends here want to have before we go back to the US. Oh, the full time schedule of a faculty wife!

Shrikant, Charanya and Shubha in the lab with the 'mini beast' equipment.

Our friend Sandhya and her daughter Anusha helping to test the equipment.

We will leave our apartment in just a few days to return to Shrikant & Charanya’s place for the remainder of our stay here in India. Our time here has been fantastic and the house staff a dream come true. They have been so helpful, polite and engaging. I told them we will invite our Indian friends here for a dinner party before we leave and they insisted we let them help in any way they can. I really do want to bring these three boys home with me. :o) Here are photos of our last party in the apartment:

Our Indian friends requested we make pasta for dinner. They seldom get this kind of food, so we went off to the American grocery, Q-Mart, to find things like zucchini, yellow squash, canned tomatoes, parsley and other veggies to make a vegetable pasta.

The very tasty Indian wine the chef used to cook with and sip on as she cooked (just like Julia taught me!)

Here we are with our fantastic group of Indian friends. Suresh, Shrikant, Charanya, Sumit, Rowan, Jenni, Saritha, Shubha and Sandhya.

So, don't think for a minute we stopped at one dinner party. Remember, we are into having food comas! :o) Our next event was at Shubha and Sumit's apartment. This time Sumit pulled out the grill (he is really getting into the grilling thing) so we could have another kabob adventure.

Sumit whipped up the most fantastic spicy east Indian marinade for the meat and veggies.

Here is a little video of the rooftop patio where we had our gathering at Sumit & Shubha's place in Hi-Tech City, Hyderabad.

We were all up there on the roof of this new high-rise apartment building and, being who I am, I was interested in finding out what sort of HVAC/equipment they had on the roof (don't forget, I am my father's daughter). To my pleasant surprise, half of the roof was covered with solar panels. Solar! So, here is one of the reasons the Indians may pass the US up on innovation. They are building their new buildings with green energy applications, built here in India!! Hello? Wake up the rest of the world! India is obviously applying important technology the rest of us continue to fight and bicker about. DUH! Another reason the rest of the world will be behind India and China in the next 5 years!

Here is a small portion of the solar panels on the roof.

So, anyone that knows me, knows that I will chase a lizard anywhere. Here is my Gecko friend I found when I was checking out the solar panels.

And, this is why the Gecko was hiding. He saw Sumit with the Red Bull!! Yikes!

Shrikant removing the grilled veg like a bullfighter. OLE'!

The Hookha roundabout :o) From left- Suresh, Trey (the American), Sumit, Charanya and Sandhya.

All the girls. From left- Charanya, Saritha, Rowan, Jenni, Shubha and Sandhya.

So.......this is what Sumit looked like after his redbull and my Hookha :o) (it's only tobacco).

OK, so my friends back in the US won't be surprised. Here I am being so ME! I think this must have been Shubha's fault. She makes me laugh!!!! Teehee.......

I can't possibly leave this post without including a couple of photos from our last party at Suresh & Sandhya's place. Now, don't think that all we did was goof off and eat and have a food coma.
We did serious things like eat, do stupid human tricks (oh dear!), watch the Lion King with Anusha and drink our farewell beer ( we leave the day after tomorrow).

No, this is not a turd. It is a very tasty Indian dessert called Kala Jamun. I instantly called it poop in sugar (again, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out!). It's just too much for my brain to imagine that this is something to eat. But, I did it! It was delicious! Don't quiz me about the texture, I held my breath through the first bite. However, it ended up being very tasty. They are basically made from paneer (Indian cheese), cottage cheese and flour. They are deep fried in Ghee (butter) and float around in sugar water. Interesting. Hysterical at a party where you have folks who have never seen a food item like this. The fun never stopped!
And yes, I suggested we start sharing stupid human tricks. Things only Americans can share with the rest of the world due to popular demand. Thank you Fox TV!!! It would be embarrassing if these were not our friends :o) Thank goodness they have accepted us after knowing us for a short two months! A testimony to true friendship.

Rowan is trying to show Shubha how to do the 'spin the spoon' trick. Something Rowan learned back in grad school at Berkeley in the 90's!

Once Shubha learned the spinning spoon trick she attempted to teach her husband Sumit. It was hysterical.

Next, Jenni attempted to teach everyone the 'hang-the-spoon-on-the-nose' trick. It really is amazing how much fun one can have with a simple kitchen spoon.

Oh Dear!

The whole gang, minus Sumit, who is taking the picture!

What fun! What fun! What fun! We have had the most fantastic time with our new friends and can't wait to come back to India to see them in the future. Shrikant and Rowan need to get busy and finish writing that grant so we can! :o)

I still do have a couple of special interest blog postings about India, so keep checking the blog for those. Stay tuned.........