If you wanted to get a first hand idea of how the middle class has prospered in India in the last decade or so, all you have to do is go to the domestic airports.

It is 3:30 AM now in Delhi!! And I am not even in the bigger international (and domestic) airport. I am in the old airport now that is dedicated to cheaper domestic airlines. The boarding gates are teeming with people. Not a single chair is empty. People are standing and even sitting on the staircase. Very orderly though. And I could take a picture of only half the side from the top of the escalator.

Infrastructure development at the airports have been very impressive too. Most are of international standards now with fairly efficient service and by my experience, very pleasant and helpful staff.

First of all, please help me in keeping this a secret. Do not let my immediate family in India know of this for another 36 hours.

Second, let me share with you something that I had not made public for a few weeks. You probably recollect my trip to India to see my parents from mid August. Well, my plan to see them next was Dec end. In fact, the daughters wanted to come too. Excitedly, I started the process of getting all passports renewed and new Indian visas stamped around the end of Sep. (still waiting the daughters’ visas).

In the middle of all this, my dad decided to have a brain stroke. His right side is paralyzed and he cannot speak!! To cut thru the last four weeks quickly, after a long stay in the hospital in Kolkata, my brother has successfully moved him back to home in Kalyani. He and the entire family supporting him are going thru a very tough adjustment process.

Thru all this, my brother, who is quarterbacking all the ground level realities there has been actively dissuading me from coming to India right now. He is worried that this might disrupt our December plans (and he would rather we all go to see my dad in December). He also thinks that at this juncture, I might add more work for my mom than actually be helpful. (She is undoubtedly going to worry about what I am going to eat). Finally he thinks, I should preserve money during an “off year”.

All good points. Except, a week back, Sharmila and I discussed and I decided to override my brother. So, here I am – at the familiar Atlanta airport international terminal again – headed to India to be with my dad hoping he can recognize me and say a couple of words.

Regarding my brother, while I am sure he is going to be very happy seeing me, I have also prepared my excuse codes…

(*) I will be landing at my parents place on Diwali day – the biggest festival day in all of India. I have not been with my family for Diwali since 1985.

(*) Saturday is “bhaiphonta” for us. I am not sure if there is something equivalent in the Western world – but this is where sisters celebrate their brothers with all sorts of ceremonies. (For college goers, this is like an anti-Valentine Day. If the girl tags you as her brother, you have pretty much reached the End Of File on that budding relationship 🙂 ). Anyways, my younger brother always goes to my sister’s house for this celebration every year and sends me pictures. Guess who is showing up this year?

(*) My brother and I have not had a drink together for way too long 🙂 I have to say thanks to him for the inhuman effort he has put in for the last four weeks.

I have my doubts if I can achieve much more than be with my dad and more importantly my family who are having a tough adjustment period getting used to a semi-invalid patient. But, if I can, highest on my list is visiting a couple of teachers from my early school days and say Thanks to them before I lose my chance. Most of them, I have not seen for 40 years or more.

Soooooo…. we have a deal, right? No breathing of this trip to my family in India. In fact, I am blocking them temporarily on Facebook so they cannot read this either…

While loading all the Aruba pictures back at home, I saw this one. I remember watching how the waves came continuously to the rocks and then rolled off forming a wide lip of multiple waterfalls.

This lizard was just by the pool. There are tons of lizards in Aruba. And some iguanas too. The smaller varieties in the drier rocks can dart at the speed of an arrow…

I assume this is a crow (I am not good with bird names). On Friday, I had come down for breakfast before the girls joined me. While enjoying my mimosa, I was joined by this bird. And by that I mean, it sat about a foot away from me on my table close the bread basket. I took a piece of bread and laid it on the table. Throughout my hand movements, it betrayed no signs of fear. Once I put the bread in front of it, it promptly took it and hopped over to the grass to eat it…

Immediately hit the airport bar with Sharmila for some rum cocktail (Mojito). It is like we have not left the Caribbean yet!!!

(Also, now I see what Sharmila and Nikita meant when they kept saying that I gave a terrible tan 😉 )

While taking pictures of the setting sun, I moved around quite a bit on the beach to adjust for oncoming boats, people moving around and all that. A sight caught my eye and left a deep impression. There was a dad and his daughter who were mesmerized by the setting sun. They were in the water, standing next to each other. Not a word was spoken. Just dad… And daughter… Taking in the full beauty of nature… both staying in the Now together. Powerful moment.

I quickly retrained the lens to get a silhouette.

Finally, on our last evening this visit, I was able to get the sun setting in the horizon without a speck of cloud. The colors were glorious. It was like a molten gold…