On the Road

Our taxi was on time, even a bit early. We headed down the hill about 1:00. As we left, we noticed the funeral truck waiting to go to the cemetery. They had decided to have the memorial service at Saroj's home on Tuesday afternoon.

We had tea with our friend Ajit and his sister in Dehra Dun. It's always good to see him. He had recently been ill, but was quite recovered. We had a lively conversation about music, Indian instruments, the state of music teaching at Doon School, and more.

We reached the train station without incident and enjoyed the comfortable ride and meal. Brij met us at the Meerut station and we headed off to their house. A pleasant two days followed. We were pleased to see the improvements to the house -- the first time I'd seen the expanded kitchen. The outside was also faced with new tiles and the ground floor had marble flooring. Very nice! Jason is 7 now and doing well in school. He has a very good and patient tutor who comes every evening and he seems to enjoy working with him. He loves to swing on the stairs and jump down to the floor.

We caught the same train into Delhi that we had arrived on. I took a few photos at the station. There are always people sleeping in train stations in India, and I managed to catch these right behind the bench we were waiting on. Across to the next platform, a local train pulled in and many people got on and off.

It was a short night, as we got settled in our hotel room about midnight and had a 7:00 taxi to the American Embassy. We needed additional pages added to our passports and were able to make an appointment here -- easier than mailing them off when we are home. We waited around a bit until we were allowed in at 9:00. (It was only a 40-minute drive but we never know how bad the traffic might be; in this case it wasn't bad at all. We were the first ones into the US citizens area, although there were more than a hundred people waiting in the tourist and immigration visa line for Indian citizens. The entire process took about an hour, then we headed back to the hotel and had some breakfast.

In the afternoon we took the Metro to the new Janpath station. It opens out right in front of Cottage Industries, with another exit close to the Tibetan shops. We had a good visit and some tea with Doma. She is 88 now but seemed in better condition than when I last saw her two years ago. 

We took the Metro again, this time to Mayur Vihar, across the river, where Anju and Sandeep live. They ordered mutton biriani, which was wonderful. It is made in clay pots, sealed with flour and water, wrapped in foil, and roasted. Absolutely delicious! Three of these small pots was more than enough for the four of us.

Another early morning on Saturday as we headed to the airport for our flight to Bangalore. Shortly after we left the hotel, our driver asked if it was all right to stop for a minute. He had some food for the pigeons at this intersection. While we were there, several others stopped to feed, them, too.

Mahesh and Dhruv were there to meet us at the airport -- so nice to see their smiling faces again after too long! They have shifted to a new apartment complex near their old one. It is very nice; it even has a swimming pool that looks lovely, but I don't have a suit with me! We spent the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday relaxing and visiting. We are staying in a nearby B&B called Maple Suites. A bit ironic, as we live in Goshen, the Maple City, and there are no maple trees here!