Time: May 4, 2013 – May 27, 2013
Place: India (various cities)
Company: Wife and daughter
Highlights:
Prologue: Thought got initiated for India trip around Feb. Booked tickets in March. Started jotting down things to do, and looked forward to it eagerly!
Day 1 (4): Left the house at 9 am. Took the car to LA and parked it near the airport with ‘Park Place at LAX’ for a reasonable rate per day. In the airport at 10.30. Boarded the Cathay Pacific flight which departed LA at 12.55 pm to Hong Kong – a long 14+ hr journey. Thankfully Paavani was just fine, playing with the touch screen TV. Saw Life of Pi.
Day 2 (5): Reached Hong Kong. Had a brief lay-over time and relaxed at the airport. Boarded the flight to Bangalore. Pretty basic flight. So had to keep Paavani occupied by using the ipad. Since it was a short 5 hr journey, it wasn’t too bad.
Day 3 (6): Landed in Bangalore at 2.40 am. This had been the longest stay away from Bangalore ever – over 2 years. Tontu’s grandparents at the airport to welcome us. I drove back from airport to home. Surprised at myself that even after 2 years, I hadn’t forgotten the road sense and the stick shift. Road from airport was in total mess considering metro construction, and by the time I reached home, my knees started hurting due to the constant clutching! Yapped all day – Tontu enjoying the company of all the grands and even the great grands and uncles and aunts. Went to TTD office to book tickets for Tirumala.
Day 4 (7): INR 70 for Idli and Vada?!! Shocking! Anyways, visited Dad’s new apt in Uttarahalli (under construction). Went to CTS office to collect the visa docs. Had booked the train to Chennai at 11.45 pm. At 9.45 pm called the taxi guys to check why no one had responded yet. Seemed there was no one assigned! Finally one guy said he is on his way. Reached station at about 11.30 pm. Had asked Tontu grands to join us to Chennai trip so that they can spend more time with her. But in the sweltering heat, was wondering if it was a good idea.
Day 5-6 (8-9): Chennai
Day 7 (10): At home.
Day 8-9 (11-12): Hubli
Day 10 (13): In-law’s place.
Day 11 (14): Spent a nice 2-3 hr in J P Park in the morning – one of my recent favs in Bangalore. On the way back, got a call from office and unfortunately I had not got the official laptop with me. So I was forced to return back to Jayanagar to send a mail before EOD. Original plan was to stay over. So, for the first time in two years, stayed overnight away from wifey and daughter!
Day 12-13 (15-16): Tirumala
Day 14 (17): Dropped MIL at the airport since MIL was headed out to Dubai. Bid adieu.
Day 15 (18): Spent time with friends.
Day 16 (19): Prep for the morrow’s function. So visited dad’s apt again with one car load of stuff – still seemed lot of work needed to even host audience in this half constructed house. Even visited the 4th T block Mutt [after 2 years!] to get some Godly stuff!
Day 17 (20): Dad’s new apt Gruhapravesham. Got up early, left early, priests arrived early. With great Veda chanting, the ‘God’ entered into the apt. Did lot of chores around the house, and even driver-work! Relatives and guests started pouring in. Tontu scrutiny and interviewing began, what with many folks seeing her for the first time! Pooja ended early but lunch was delayed. So did general chit-chat with all. Lunch and post-lunch time seemed to fly and all guests left. Tied up last few ends of the house and left for the day. More chit-chat at relatives’ places. Glad that even my great-grands could attend the function. Had to air-lift them via a chair for two stairs!
Day 18 (21): Visited my apt in HM Sepia – for the first time since construction completed. In the evening, went to a nearby childern’s park. Unlike in US parks, Tontu had wait for her turn to play the swing!
Day 19 (22): Visited Tontu’s first pediatric doc for general check up. Went to McD’s on her insistence!
Day 20-22 (23-25): Shopping in Jayanagar 4th Block. Had variety of outside food that only Bangalore makes best. Visited few more pals and relatives. Completed last few activities scheduled to be done in Bangalore. Also visited our favorite park near home which wifey and I used to haunt for our walks, went to Mutt and Sai Baba temple on Thursday – just the way we used to on all Thursdays. Also experienced one terrible day when, after tremendously hot day, it rained like hell in the evening, bringing down 126 trees, and hence shutting down the electricity. It took 24 hrs for electricity to come back. Unfortunately there was no water too, and tankers wouldn’t come without electricity - because they needed electric power to haul the water to overhead tanks. So, there was no power, no water and it was sweaty hot!
Day 23 (26): The day of departure. Last minute shopping, re-packing into suitcases, re-distributing the load, etc. Had booked for an Indica with a luggage-carrier from taxiforsure.com. But when the car finally arrived, it was a sedan. So many suitcases would never have fit in a sedan. Back and forth heated discussion didn’t lead anywhere. Thankfully, flight was delayed by 50 mins. Took our car too along with the taxi. About 10 kms from airport, our car – which I was driving with mom – decided to have a flat tyre. Meanwhile the taxi had already reached airport, and dad and wifey were waiting at the airport, with tontu sleeping on wifey shoulder. Like a God, one taxi driver en route to airport stopped and helped me and my begging mother to take us to the airport. Once we reached airport, I generously tipped the ‘God’. At the airport, wifey was nauseous what with the entire luggage and the sleeping toddler. Then we realize that toddler shoes were in the taxi. So we call up the taxi and he agrees to come over to return them. Then toddler wakes up and she has a huge insect bite on her temple, and she is all squeaky. Talk about being tired before a 24 hr flight journey even started! Flight gets delayed further – almost 1.5 hr now, eating away most of the bare 2 hr transit time we had in Hong Kong. In the midst of all this waiting, I hear that Mumbai Indians have won the IPL tournament and Sachin has retired from T20s. Then I call dad to know that he is safe with the car, repaired with the help of relatives and cousins, and on the way back. I am hungry, and I buy few slices of garlic bread. Another toddler beside me is staring at me so hard, that I offer – and she takes them all. Tontu starts wailing that she needs it! Phew. What a night. Finally got on the flight and we are on our way.
Day 24 (26): At Hong Kong airport, we are escorted and we run through security and lounge to our gate, and aboard the flight to LAX. It is a pleasant journey. 8 hrs Tontu played all by herself, and finally slept for the last 4 hrs. Slight trouble at the end of the journey and she wanted to go home, but immigration interview was smooth. Shuttle back to parking lot, and we were driving back to home. The Civic seemed luxurious compared to Alto, and I surprised myself being comfortable again with US driving after 3 weeks of driving in India on the opposite side. Arrived safely back home and got back into the usual routine of getting milk, groceries, fast-food, etc. within the hour!
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