Okay, shut down my iPad. Officially on vacation. So looking forward to the trip to India to see my parents (I am always afraid this will be the last time I will see both of them). I have lined up about half a dozen folks from my past that I will be meeting after 30 or so years. Also looking forward to the long quiet runs with my brother, daily trips to a local place for wine with Sharmila without (unapproving) parents knowing about it, playing cricket with all the cousins of my kids, making all my relatives uncomfortable by walking around in shorts (I pack only shorts to India) but above all meeting my 96 year old great aunt after 20 years (without whose generosity, my grandmom would have no place to go to when she lost my grand dad; my dad was 2).

Layover was long enough to make a dash to the Times Square….

First time I am seeing the A380s. They are humongous!!! Two of them facing each other – Emirates and Singapore Airlines. — at JFK terminal 4.

Nikita and her own personal mini bar. In her seat!! The A380s are humongous!!! — at On a Plane.

Two young ladies – Sharmila and Nikita. At the bar lounge. IN THE PLANE!!!!

After the rather comfortable trip in the biggest commercial airplane, this is what the girls said…
Tasha (14): “I feel guilty traveling like this at my age”
Niki (8): “I think they should have a third TV in each seat. BTW, now onwards only Emirates for me”
Sharmila: “I am NOT traveling coach class to India”
At that point, I went back to responding to my office emails. I realized I need my job 🙂 My comment? Internet on international flights please!!! I have some emails to upload! 🙂

Before the run….

10K run with my brother in Kolkata. What with both of us monitoring our run – me in miles and he in kilometers, most of the run was spent revising the tables of 16 (with all that continuous multiplication and division by 1.6) 🙂 No Starbucks for me today 🙁 — at Kolkata.

Another 10K run with my brother in the rural roads in Raichak by the river Ganges. It was really really humid. I almost sweated another river next to the Ganges!!! 🙂

10K run. On the same rural route as the one my brother and I took last year. That was his first run of his life. (he now puts 30K runs on Saturdays). Golden rule of running on rural routes in India. Ignore the rule of running with your head up. Instead keep a tight watch on the ground. You will be amazed how many different dirty things you can step into! ’nuff said 🙂 — at Ffort Radisson Raichak.

Retail, rural version of Date.com!!! The guy just sits there in a dilapidated shanty with a paper roster. I have no idea how he creates or updates his database. He even claims in his signboard that he deals with all religions!!!!!

First tea stall stop after entering the village I was born in. Revisiting after 30 long years…

How I am going to my village today meets how I used to go to my village 35 years back…

This is the hut!!! My birthplace… 45 years back!! Left the hut at the age of 5 when my dad gave up tilling the land and joined the labor force of a steel factory! Last visited 30 years back when my grandmom passed away. The hut has remained the same .. thatched straw roof, walls made of earth, no electricity … only I have changed so much!!!!

Promise fulfilled! Last year, during a phone call, I had promised to come and see her personally. This is the 96 year old great aunt of mine who had accepted my grandmom and her kids into her family when my dad lost his dad (he was 2 then). Without that and the sharing for the next 15 years, there is no telling what my dad would be today. Or I for that matter. We chatted for two hours. Best time of my life!!!

First train journey in India with Nikita alone. She has a million questions as she struggles to bridge two very different contexts – why are the people walking on tracks? Isn’t that dangerous? Why does India have so many golf courses? (they are paddy fields!). Why do all houses look dirty? Do they have pictures of when the houses were new? Why were those two boys sleeping in the station? Are their beds coming in the next train? Going to be an interesting ride….

Got down at Durgapur station fully prepared for the 110 degree day. I had my shorts on to infuriate my relatives, I had the loosest Hawaiian shirt on that my dad feels I can easily grow into only if I would stop running and my baseball cap on like some of those tennis players – to make sure I give my relatives some time to get used to my shaven head. My dad, had one look at me, chuckled and said “sokaley taratarir modhey tupi-ta ulto pora hoye gechhe” (translation “in your hurry in the morning, you mistakenly put your cap on frontside back”). I chuckled back knowingly…

Early morning. Dad and I are having tea sitting outside. Everything was going great till I pulled my running shoes out. So far it has been a 30 min lecture on the ill effects of running 🙂 His conclusion was hilarious – “Sutorang, jotoi dourou, hnaatu jedin jabar sedin jabe-i” (“therefore, howmuchever you run, your knee is going to give in someday anyways”) 🙂

Post 10K run tea with dad. You can see in his face his disapproval of a 10K run. There is a Bengali phrase that aptly describes his continuous muttering under his breath about his disapproval – it is called “gojgoj kora” 🙂

Nine people died last night in my town. Some more today. Hottest summer in a long time. Most people have little access to air conditioning…

I knew RIM is in trouble. But selling clothes in India??? 🙂 — at Junction Mall, Durgapur.

Second evening in Durgapur. Second trip to Big Bazar with Sharmila in the evening. If you are not aware of Big Bazar, think of it as a large departmental store. However, if you are aware of Big Bazar, it is really a code word Sharmila and I use to go to a local restaurant to drink some red wine. (my alcohol-disapproving parents have not quite figured out yet what do we buy everyday 🙂 )

Videos from our Raichak trip in summer of 2012

“Hath Thakte Mukhe Keno?” 🙂

“Raichak Golf”

“Ball Khela”

“Nouka Paar”

“Raichak Khao Daoa”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ7KFvHKJ-0

“Doob De Mon Kali Boley”

“Amader IPL”

10k run in Durgapur. Found something more dangerous than street dogs– all those people learning how to drive early in the morning in empty roads. When a dog approaches you, it is an easy “friend or foe” decision. You take evasive action by picking a stick or throwing a stone (both of which are in abundant supply by the roadside). But when you see the newbie driver clutching onto the steering wheel helplessly for dear life as the car slowly but steadily makes a beeline for you after deviating from its original straight line by an angle “theta”, I have no idea what the right reaction is. Clearly throwing the same stone that I had saved for the dog would set in motion a sequence of events that should be tried only after I have increased my speed by a few more miles per hour 🙂 — at Durgapur, Ashish Market.

“Where the buffaloes roam”. The contrast that is India. This is the biggest mall in my town. 400,000 square feet of foreign brands like Luis Phillipe, United colors of Benetton, Converse, Nike, Pepe Jeans and so on. And right at the entrance is two buffaloes grazing….. 🙂

A moment reflecting on the whole life. My dad teaching Niki how to water his flower plants. Unknowingly, he is nurturing a young life with nourishment and experience that only a grandparent can..

Hot. Hot. Hot. Another day of hitting 105 degrees. Here is how hot it is in Durgapur this year – during my entire stay this time, my dad has not even once uttered those dreaded three words – “Thanda legey jaabey” (you will catch a cold) 🙂 🙂

Context Switch. In my adopted country, retailers market “fat free”, “no fat”, “low fat” products to woo customers. In my birth country, it appears that retailers are trying to reassure the consumers of the minimum amount of fat they are guaranteed of getting. (no upper limit though)

Auf Wiedersehen, Durgapur!!!
Given my parents’ failing health, they are moving to Kalyani to be close to my sister. That would also mean this is the last time Niki and Tasha were with both their grandparents in Durgapur. This was taken at Durgapur station a few moments before we jumped onto our train and they said goodbye to their grandparents. Now starts another year of hope that I will get to see all four of them next time….

Niki and Tasha join their cousins for a true Indian style meal – sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor, eating with fingers a delicacy that is arguably South India’s biggest cultural export – dosas!!!

Guava!! In fact “dnaasa pyara”. After three decades!!
One bite into it and it immediately brought back memories of the big guava tree we had in our first house in Durgapur. Summer vacation afternoons meant me and my siblings climbing up the guava tree (they have very strong branches) and perching ourselves on three limbs and imagine – a la Phineas and Ferb – that we are riding a plane!!! Little did we realize that riding a plane, in reality, would be as unromantic as being squeezed in a small space in a metal tube 31,000 feet up in the air with nothing to see and terrible food to eat. Especially since they do not serve guavas!!! 🙂

Nothing says “good old Kolkata” as the grand old trams (streetcars)!!!!!

“Touch of India”. The two sisters get their mehndi done at South City!! 

As we get ready to leave India, I asked Niki what three things will she remember the most from this trip. She said
1. South City mall (biggest mall in Kolkata)
2. Junction mall (biggest mall in Durgapur)
3. Grandparents!!
Oh! Boy!! Somebody is taking after her mother 🙂 🙂 

As we land in Dubai, Nikita looked at Natasha sitting next to her and declared “It has been six hours since we fought. I think that is a record.” 🙂

Jayita!!!! One more person I had the privilege of being in elementary school together. Met her (in Dubai) after 36 years (lost contact at the same time as Subir Hore). Last time I saw her, she was digging into a masala dosa with her sister at that dosa shop in Benachity. I had gone with my dad to the shoe shop next door -Nee Shing – to buy shoes for my new school!!! It is absolutely amazing to see how much my elementary school students have succeeded in life. I would like to believe that some of that has rubbed off on me too!!

Splashdown!! To Terra Firma… or rather Terra USA. Straight into 4 cups of Starbucks coffee!!! No amount of immigration or custom checks confirm that we are back home as much as the first sip of Starbucks!!! — at John F Kennedy International Airport.

While in India, dug up this gem – my first grade report card!! Note the teacher’s advise on improving my handwriting 🙂 Subsequently, thru the years, other teachers added a few more things for me to improve on… and then the wife came along and added a whole lot more to the list 🙂 but my handwriting never quite improved 🙂 The crowning ignominy was in eighth grade, when my teacher demanded that I practice one page of handwriting every day during summer vacation. I finished the whole assignment in the last two days of vacation. You can only imagine the output 🙂 Much later in life, inspired by my friend Aditya Garg, I picked up calligraphy and went back to fountain pens!! Oh! The irony!!! 🙂

Can you spell “Jetlagged”? 🙂 This is within two minutes of entering our home…