This is in Delhi airport…

Landed in Delhi, checked into the hotel and then went to the lobby bar downstairs. Virtually no one was there. Which suited me fine since I was going to make a few phone calls and check office emails which are not very easy in an overflowing bar. But first, I made friends with the guy mixing drinks – Shubham is his name – and asked what would be an unique Indian cocktail he could fix for me. He made a few suggestions with jalapeños but I told him I have tried all those or variations thereof.

He said “Wait here” and went inside. I was not in a hurry to go anywhere – so I just sat there. In a few minutes, he came back with two plastic packets. Very curious, I asked him what do you have? “Imli paste and gur, sir!” That would be tamarind and jaggery.

In a few minutes he whipped up a cocktail that certainly lived up to my expectations of a nice Indian cocktail. I got to try that back at home. Although, I am probably going to try with vodka and gin instead of whiskey – which is what I just had…

This morning, Facebook helpfully showed my posts from this day in previous years. Guess what I was doing last year on this day? I was headed out to India to check on my parents. And my in-laws who were visiting us (remember those FIL-MIL Mehfil posts? 🙂 ) were returning together with me. In a pure coincidence, exactly a year after, to the day, I am headed back again to see my parents.

This trip is going to be different… First and foremost, my dad is in a much better shape than what I saw him in three months back. That should be good. Second, however, I have a day’s worth of work in Delhi. This is uncommon for me to get distracted by work when I am in India to spend time with my parents. So, I will have one less day with my parents this time. Third, and this is a little painful, my brother will not accompany me for most of the trip. It is extremely rare for us not to be together every single day when I am in India. But this time he is stuck with his kids’ exams. Which means I won’t be seeing the nephews much either. Most of all, I will miss those road trips with my brother – he, with his steering wheel and me with my Google maps!!

There are some possibilities of creating intersection points still though. Some of the ones I am planning include visiting a classmate of mine from elementary school who used to be the class topper, a few more classmates from middle school that I have not seen in over thirty years, perhaps the mom of my best friend from high school days…

First I have to get past hours and hours and hours of flight to get to India though 🙂