Heading back to the small town that I was born in. Hope to see mom in a stable condition. Hope the street dogs recognize me as a friendly person during my runs. Hope to get a perspective that transcends quarterly numbers to hit.

Humidity, thy name is Durgapur. One simple 5k run (dogless, I might add) and I was sweating like one of the Norwester clouds over here. Now having dinner with immediate family at our favorite hangout Peerless Inn. With some terrible wine, I am afraid!

Found an ultimate solution to the dog-chasing-runner problem. Pick the hottest time of the day with near saturation humidity to go for the run. The dogs refused to get out from the shades of the trees. One or two reluctantly gave a bark but that too with one eye open and chin still resting on the front paw 🙂 On the flip side, that was an extremely draining 7K run…

10K run. Getting used to the humidity. Highlight of the run – stopped over at cousin’s place and had a tea with him before proceeding to run again.

Finally, I understood my dad’s deep rooted disdain for my running. Why don’t you play soccer or tennis he asked. Why, what’s wrong with running, I asked. Pat came the answer – because you are not having to beat anybody! I think he still thinks of me as the school kid who has to beat everybody to the first rank!!!!

How do you save yourself from losing three pounds of water over a simple 5 mile run? By NOT running in sultry and humid Kolkata. I have been sitting down for 45 minutes and still am sweating profusely. Now my sister in law has brought some hot tea. This ought to be fun 🙂

Visits to India always make me appreciate the finer aspects of life – electricity, indoor plumbing, potable water and such…

Tomorrow’s project: run to a small neighborhood to follow up on a clue I found tonight. Trying to locate a friend from my first grade… Hoping the neighbors won’t shut their doors on a shaven-head madcap in shorts running aimlessly in small streets. That sight has to be only as common as orderly traffic on indian roads… Arghya Sengupta, if you remember me from Mrs. Shastri’s class, here I come tomorrow…

Dad is suitably impressed by iPhone. he is astounded that the piddly device can show the route to my sisters house (gps), show the current temperature, stock price, news satellite picture of his village and so on. But he is disappointed that I do not know what the “I” stands for in iPhone. He thinks I am covering up my ignorance by saying it does not stand for anything

Gardening is the way my dad keeps himself busy now in his advancing years. I am amazed by his dedication and perseverance at this. These are some of the summer flowers he had in his garden that I took pictures of when I visited him in Durgapur. (June, 2011).

Well, that was my week with my parents. My best time each day was waking up at 4:30 to sit with my parents for a couple of hours in our garden. Drinking tea, watching the daybreak, enjoying the flowers, occasional question and answer but mostly quiet – just enjoying each other’s company. No doubt we were all wondering how many more such days we will have. The loudest conversations, indeed, were the silent ones.

Intrigued at protests in India. A yoga guru with official income of $220million a year (unofficially much more), owns an island off Scotland etc is the lightning rod for standing up against corruption and money stashed away abroad. Closer home, dad rails against politicians and nepotism and then next day he urges me to come back to india as a head of a company – so many of my poor jobless relatives can get jobs.

After a week with my parents, now the next four days are focused on the next two generations. At a quiet riverside resort with all siblings of myself and Sharmila and all first cousins of Tasha and niki. Last time Sharmila and I had all our siblings and their spouses together was …. Never. The kids are ecstatic. The four of us are getting a good chance at getting in touch with our roots!

This video is about the trip we made to India in the summer of 2011. We had a special trip to a resort in Raichak this time. It was four families – my brother’s, sister’s and Sharmila’s brother’s. Six kids and eight adults. First time, all the kids and the siblings were together under a roof in a really really long time. The following videos capture some of the magical moments we had.

“Jhna Chak Chak”

“Raichak Cricket”

“Raichak Boat Rides”

“When Adults Became Kids”

“Raichak Kids Talent”

“Raichak Swimming”

Went for a 5 mile run thru totally rural roads with my brother. Paddle boating with 14 members of the family. Then a game of cricket with all the kids. Finally a few hours of swimming with most of the family. I think I am ready for a vacation 🙂

All good things must come to an end. Sigh! How else would we really enjoy the good things?