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

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

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

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).

Life’s a beach!

Looking into the vast waters, I am reminded of an old definition of “Ocean”. Forgot the author. “Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man who has no gills” 🙂

Springtime means a trip to Ft. Lauderdale. The sun, the beach and that once in a year visit to our friends Rema and Sanjay. Known them for more than two decades. This evening was as exciting as every other meeting with them… — with Rema Deo and Sanjay Deo.

One more time, I find myself being the mediator between the feuding mom and 13 year old daughter. I understand the whole topic was about getting into the ocean. In any case, to personalize the issue a little more, I asked Tasha what would she do if her daughter did the same thing. Pat came the reply – “I would send her to her grandmom’s place so both of them can complain about me together”. Oh! Boy!! I took another long sip from the wine glass, wished her future husband good luck and went back to sleeping in the beach 😉

So we take a boat to the Jungle Island. We get off and immediately everybody focuses on the colorful birds and monkeys in the island. Everybody except the Roy girls – who, characteristically, start shopping for jewelry!!! — at Jungle Queen Island.