Nikita and Sharmila ushering in my mother in law into the hotel where we will be together for the next five days.

*Kaku in Bengali means uncle (specifically uncle who is younger to dad; else it would be Jethu)

(the picture is a bit blurry since I took this from the airplane)

It is a balmy 105 degrees. Earlier in the day, it was 118 degrees. That is a holy macro level hot!!

Natasha Balseca​​, you folks are made of tougher stuff than I am.

… waiting for the second segment.

That is the port city of Aqaba When I went to Jordan, I did not get a chance to visit this southernmost city of Jordan. Next time, I have to make sure Mahmoud Al-Ramaneh (محمود الرمامنه) takes me there. You can see four countries from here – Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – all meeting near and about the city of Aqaba.

The beaches must be beautiful. Look at the color of the waters in the magnified pictures.

Pulled up the window and what a sight it was. You can see the dry barren desert. But look at the crazy crisscrossing of all the rivers and tributaries all over the landscape. Almost looks like magnified fingerprints. I need to study up the climate of this area. I assume they get rainfall sometime during the year when the rivers are full and then dry up for the rest of the year.

Feels very strange to fly to India with family and not having Natasha with us. She is there somewhere in those bright light below that we can see. She cannot see me but I am waving at her.