Nephew had to go back to his classes. And our flight was still quite a few hours away. Instead of driving to LAX airport, we decided to go check out the beaches near the airport. Hit Manhattan Beach. It was breezy and cold, as California beaches tend to be. But the sun felt nice and warm.

There are these donkey crossing signs all over UC Riverside, when you can clearly see the students crossing the streets in plain day light!

They are a fairly tight group. We missed Phil. But Keyla, Rama, Steven and my nephew packed themselves in the rear seat of our small rental car to go have Indian food at a restaurant in the city. Indian food got two thumbs up from his friends.

Met up with my nephew in between his classes. He came last September from India to do his undergraduate degree here. That was our first trip to Riverside. Then he came to see us during the Holidays. And now the third time in seven months. Or about the same frequency with which I used to see him when he was very young and I used to go check in on my parents!!

Went in and browsed all sorts of books. Even bought one on Meditations!!

Apparently, Riverside is one of the cities with larger than average number of international sister cities. Some of them brought back memories.

Hyderabad: My trip there in 2017 to meet my second grade teacher.

Obuasi, Ghana: Natasha’s 6 months in Ghana in 2018

Erlangen, Germany: My trip there (cannot remember the year) to meet my colleague Sumithasri.

The gardens are well curated in Riverside

The clock, in a nod to immeasurability of time, seems to have stopped long time back!

View from the hotel

I really thought this was in Canada!