For a very open, people-person like me, the difficulties of making a secret plan are simply unfathomable.

There was the planning part. I tried to make a ruse that I would visit Suriname when she would go to India. There was a credible ring to it since she did not know anything about the country but she knew I was committed to traveling to places most people do not know much about.

The execution part was a bit messy. Imagine this – she is in India on Indian time. I was in Atlanta in Eastern time. And then I am making up stories that I had reached Miami and will get on to my flight to Paramaribo. So now, there was the Suriname time to deal with. And after an 8 hour of inexplicable and very uncharacteristic quietness from me, I was in Paris in French time. I was a mess every time I was texting her trying to remember where the heck I was and what time it was supposed to be and avoid, for example, calling her at 2 am – my alleged local time!! Lest she asked – why are you calling me now? And I would be like – why? the sun is shining in Paramaribo… oh! wait!!!

The second part is how to undo all the plans she had made for me when she was to be gone. The day after she left, a huge amount of Indian food showed at my house that she had ordered from a local chef to tide over the period she would be gone. And there I was, scratching my head, wondering – “I wonder what TSA might have to say about two big packages of chicken tikka masala and paneer kofta on that radar like screen they keep staring at at the checkpoint”. Deciding that was a problem for another day, I simply stashed it in the freeze.

The reasonably easier part – but the one that worries her the most – was dealing with Jay Jay. Heida and Sigurjon immediately offered to help me with the secret. You can see here SK and I on the roof of a local bar – the midnight before I left – hashing out all the Jay Jay details. So that you understand where Sharmila comes from when it comes to her confidence in my ability to deal with Jay Jay – she marks his food in the fridge with big Post Its that say, predictably enough: “JJ’s food”. I still don’t believe it that she does not consider me discerning enough to realize the difference between my food and dog food.

And the final hurdle – and this is the most painful part is how to go thru my best part of life – traveling, taking pictures from the sky, meeting strangers …. AND NOT POST IT ON MY BLOG or Facebook!! That is not for somebody who is as faint of the heart like I. The counter challenge is if I did not post anything, she would get worried whether I was feeling well. Finally resorted to some other innocuous posts like map puzzles to fend her suspicions off!

Eventually, after a few missteps (that included me telling her that I had jumped on to a direct flight to Suriname instead of the one thru Panama after I realized that I had completely messed up the time zone I was allegedly in)… here I am! And none the worse for the wear, either!!

The last one was in 1992. I remember, it was during the Pujas then, that I had asked for the first time if she saw a future for us. And as I had mentioned in a post before, it was the first time she had told me “No”.

You might remember a post from seven years back where my brother took a minute to fill in gas (petrol) and thn five more minutes to pet all the puppies that lined up to him. He just loves animals and the animals return that favor in kind.

He had just met this parrot in our uncle’s house for no more than two minutes when he had already opened the door and the parrot was kissing his palm all over!!

Following in a retinue behind my sister in law were the nephews. The elder one came out first, saw Sharmila, greeted her and turned around and was shocked to see me sitting on the sofa. Look at his face!

The younger one behind him was smiling at Sharmila. Completely oblivious of what was going to happen next!

Sharmila and I went to my brother’s in-laws’ place next. His family was there to celebrate Durga Puja. In their living area, I sat in a way where anybody who came out from inside of the house would see Sharmila first. And they would have to turn around to see me.

Check out the expression on my sister-in-law’s face!!

My mother in law was on a call sitting outside in the yard. As I mentioned before, my brother had already walked in. And then I followed half a minute later.

I kept walking past my mother in law smiling at her to go in and give the surprise to Sharmila.

She could not utter a word. I could hear the other person on the phone yelling “Hello! Hello!”. She just kept staring at me speechless.

In Bengali, we say “bhoot dekhar moton” (like she had seen a ghost!!)

Much fun was had then over a cup of tea!!

So, the surprise destination for me turned out to be India!! As I had mentioned, Sharmila came to India after 31 years to see Durga Puja with her mom.

Totally, unbeknownst to her, I had made plans to show up two days later for my Durga Puja after 31 years too!

Thank you Heida and SK for helping me plan it and Julia and Bess at office who pushed me to go ahead and pull the trigger (I was dithering till about a few days before Sharmila left).

My brother – the only person in India who knew – picked me up at the airport and after parking the car in front of Sharmila’s mom’s house, went inside – ready to take pictures.

And half a minute later, I walked in.

Check out the first reaction on her face realizing who was walking in!!

Priceless!!

Boarded Air France from Paris to Mumbai. First time I was flying this sector. We had to take a slight detour due to the unfortunate events going on in Palestine/Israel area. And looks like now threatening to spread to Lebanon.

The plane came down the Mediterranean Sea and stayed over the Sinai Peninsula over Egyptian air space. Came all the way to Aqaba (you may remember this place from Sharmila’s and my visit last year) and pulled a near right angle turn to the left to avoid air space over Jordan and instead went over Saudi Arabia and then onward.