Today I am going to talk about the other things you do in India when you have all of your kids for 2 weeks. These are of course side items not the big ones – so not the Taj (will blog about that later), not the food, not Delhi trip, or even the waterpark trip (also will write about later). These are the more daily things you can do that are special in and of themselves.

First I couldn’t write without mentioning how much it meant to my wife and me to have all three kids under one roof again for the first time since early December. The boys were tired but in good spirits and took on the India adventure like champions. They learned that India was not a place to be feared or hesitant about coming to but to be enjoyed, to be a little more cautious, but also to be alot more open to all of the wild and crazy thing this country provides. So after some cute photos of the kids I will dive in…

Ok first – Aga Kahn Palace in Pune. Right in the center of the city. It is an old Palace near the center of Pune and it was where Gandhi was imprisoned for several years during early to mid WW2. It is a large estate in a very busy city and it has the prettiest grounds. Here is Ya Ya showing the kids the way up:

Gandhi’s wife and his closest friend died here during their imprisonment. Gandhi did not die here but a portion of his ashes are interned here.

They have kept alot of Gandhi’s personal effect here that you can see on the self guided tour. Kids under 15 are free, foreigners are 100 rupees. They have 12 exhibits but both times I have been there only 6 of them on the ground floor were open. They have the burial site of the ashes there and a children’s school on campus. You definitely learn alot about Gandhi and his mission of peaceful opposition that led to revolutionary change. I highly recommend anyone reading this to watch the 1982 movie with Ben Kinglsey called Gandhi. It is 3.5 hours but gives a tremendous tribute to his life and values. Eventhough Gandhi wasn’t a Christian, he did admire Jesus’s teachings and actually acted them out through his work better than many of Christ’s followers. Anyway very interesting but despite all this the boys were pretty much done after an hour.

Next up we went to church on the one Sunday we were in town. We went back to the large Methodist church there and it was packed this Sunday (last Sunday of Lent). The boys got to see a different service and learn what worship was like in 95 degree heat with no air conditioning. You are begging for the winds of the Spirit after about 10 minutes of that!

And of course, after the service, what would be a trip to India without a rickshaw ride…

An”other” thing we did…take the boys to my favorite barbershop in town. Truefitt & Hill. They are a British company that is one of the oldest substantiated barbershops in the world. They used to be the barbers for English royalty. Anyway they have two locations in Pune. So the boys got to indulge in royal haircuts (honestly they weren’t that good so we have to make a second trip).

Before Nate’s royal trim, we treated him to a pedicure. Now to be honest part of this was selfish. I needed to occupy Nate while Peter and I got another service (mentioned later). Also Nate has by far the dirtiest and longest toe nails of any kid I know. Lots of dirt, lots of toe jam, and lots of attitude. I mean he is a very active kid. He loved it though and his feet came back sparkling like a new car. Peter and I meanwhile were getting a Royal Hot Shave — basically a bunch of hot towels wrapped around our face, so if you are a mouth breather watch out as you may be in for some uncomfortable moments. You get a ton of facial creams, shaving cream, and of course aftershave. They also give you a head rub and arm rub. I wish I could tell you how great mine was but I slept through most of it! Peter really liked his though and I probably got him addicted to hot shaves in the future.

The next “other” thing to do was afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton. You may be thinking that sounds luxurious and very expensive. Honestly, it wasn’t. For the 5 of us (plus Tenley) the bill was less than $45. And that included a variety of teas, biscuits (which basically means everything from cookies to crackers but not biscuits like we know them in the US), and sandwiches. You get 2 hours I think to be there and we took every minute. We talked about our teas, why old ladies like to drink teas, the fall of British Raj, and how huge the lobby was. It was a great time and we all left heavily caffeinated and damn giddy for the rest of the day!

You may be wondering…what next? What “other” exciting activity can a Dad do with his two teenage (mostly there) sons than tea and church? How about……going to Dad’s office?! Yes you guessed it. I dragged them to work one Monday to shadow me for a half day. Their first meeting they sat in on was with a vendor and as you can tell they were brimming with excitement…

That Monday I as very busy. Meeting after meeting after meeting. The boys mostly came along and kept quiet. It wasn’t until my only break in the day that the questions started. My son Peter came alive and actually wrote down about 15 questions regarding the items we discussed and covered that day. I felt like I was being interviewed on some cable news show with cutting questions and being talked over, etc. I loved his excitement and after about 45 minutes the interview was over without commercial breaks. Nathan was also interested but was listening along. Several of my coworkers were very nice to my boys and each spent some time with them either talking about India and its culture and history, or about our office and what they do. To my surprise as we left that evening they both asked if they could come back again before they left (well Peter changed his mind about 15 mins later but since Nate was so adamant to return we did).

This time the boys did a half day but were more interested in their own business they were forming. This was them “brainstorming” their business plan while I was trying to work. They had factories in Zurich, offices in Brazil, and were allocating multi million dollar budgets as if they were pros. It was entertaining and it was all on the whiteboard (I love my whiteboards!).

We ended day 2 at the office with eating our cafeteria’s food. Truth be told, even some of the Indian coworkers I have had been ill after eating this food. But hey India is an adventure. So we ate cafeteria food. Honestly I thought it was pretty good and was only a little bit spicy (little bit spicy in India means your whole mouth burns, including your lips, but you don’t feel like crying and you don’t break a sweat). Now all of us got stomach sick the next day but it was only for a day and is why I packed a huge supply of Immodium with us.\

And after a long day at the office what awaits you when you get home? Well Tenley’s diapers of course…

Both boys got some practice at being professionals at work and at home.

When you look back at vacations you typically remember the big things. The famous monuments or buildings. The day at Disney. The days of constant entertainment, that great unbelievable meal, or the expensive wine you had. Maybe you remember doing something you never thought you would do. All those things are great. And it is what you build your vacations and trips around. But I think about the little things. The “other” things that really make the trip real. They are the times where you get to see relaxation, where you can have heart to hearts, or where you can share something personal with someone you love if only for a few moments. The “other” things are where love is nurtured. My son’s had a great trip and we did alot of big things. But…today, today I am thankful for the “other” things that made the boy’s trip out to see us so special.

Back to the days of Christopher Robbins…

The next few posts will be about my two sons recent trip out to visit us in India. I thought I would start by posting about the longest flight any of us have ever been on – Air India 180 from San Francisco to Mumbai in 17.25 hours.

First the prep – eventhough Air India is part of Star Alliance, I had to book a separate ticket on United for the MFR-SFO segment and we had a nearly 7 hour layover. We made the best use of it though. We booked a free room on points at the DoubleTree near SFO airport and found a very good seafood and steakhouse within walking distance called Kincaide’s. It was right in the middle of a park and we got to see all the planes landing in to the airport. It was pretty cool. We also knew it was our last chance to eat a real good, juicy, corn and growth hormone fueled USDA approved cut of red meat. So we did.

We had a great meal and I enjoyed my last few sips of Napa Valley wines for awhile. We came back to the hotel and headed for the airport.

I had read so many poor reviews of Air India and the entire experience. The worst part in my opinion was the delay. The day before the flight even left they delayed our takeoff time from 10pm to 11:55pm. Then when at the gate they delayed us another hour because they said the cleaning crew was taking longer. Regardless we didn’t take off till 1:15am. That was the worst part. The rest of it was better than expected.

Check in was a breeze and very quick. Since the SFO-BOM route is new they have discounted most tickets to increase ridership. I bought a business class ticket for myself and for an extra $100 each was able to put the boys in Premium Economy. The business class ticket gave me access to the United Polaris Lounge at SFO which is probably my favorite airport lounge in the world – they have their own restaurant (free), a free buffet, free drinks (including premium liquors like Lagavulin 16), showers, constantly cleaned bathrooms, and dedicated agents if needed. Anyways they wouldnt let the boys in so I just went in for a quick sip of whiskey and then met the boys back at the gate.

Then we boarded. My seat was lie flat. It was fairly comfortable although I have sat in better. The screen was smaller and they had a good library of both Hollywood and Bollywood movies. Here is my seat.

Here is the boys seat in premium economy. They had extra legroom, a bigger screen, and didn’t have a middle seat. They also got an upgraded meal. They got blankets and pillows.

This is the Tumi amenity kit they provided in Business. It contained a sleep mask, socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, hand and face cream, and lip balm. They also provided two small pillows and a blanket for sleep.

As for food it was very good. You can see the menu and my dinner after takeoff below:

The food was very good. They actually served us three meals – dinner on takeoff (surprised I was hungry at 2am but given you have to eat when you can on long flights I indulged), a breakfast about 7 hours in to the flight, and a lunch about 2 hours before landing (which was odd because we got in at 6am). I guess another knock I would put on Air India is they are very careful about serving alcohol. They only served it with dinner and I never saw the booze again…which honestly I didn’t need it other than helping me get to sleep.

So what did I do for 17.25 hours flying? I visited with the boys several times. I drank a ton of water which led to multiple bathroom trips (one toilet got clogged which unfortunately I was the one to discover). I watched about 3-4 TV shows, watched the Gahndi 3.5 hour movie with Ben Kingsley (you must see it is fantastic), watched another movie, slept for 5 hours, and spent alot of time in my own thoughts…a very dangerous place mind you.

The flight attendants were very nice and accomodating to all requests. I have heard Air India has terrible service but I found theirs to be much better than old tired cranky grandma flight attendants found on some legacy carriers. These attendants and pilots looked like they enjoyed their jobs rather than resenting it.

We finally made it to Mumbai. We made it through immigration in about 20 minutes, bought some duty free gin, and met our driver for the 3 hour drive to Pune (yes the journey continues via road!). We finally made it home to my beloved wife, daughter, and yes even Ya Ya.

And someone call Guinness World Records..because I am pretty sure I just completed the longest Costco run (Oregon to India) in human history…

I will continue more posts about the trip soon….

Ok I don’t know why but when I found out that the Indian festival/holiday of Holi was pronounced “holy” vs. “holly”, all I could hear in my head was Neil Diamond singing his song. Of course the song and Neil Diamond have nothing to do with India and yet the mental mix up of me calling the holiday Holi as “holly” was politely not corrected by my neighbors and friends here in Pune. It was only until another expat told me the truth that I started to pronounce the name correctly and of course start belting out Neil Diamond.

So what is the Holi holiday? I want you all to know I did no google searching or asking chatGBT for help on this answer. My understanding is that it is the first full moon around or before the Spring Equinox. And this year it was on a Tuesday. Of course in the US we like to pack our holidays in to 3 day weekends so dates aren’t as important (I think Christmas and the 4th of July are the only holidays celebrated on the actual day). But here in India the day is the day. I went to work Monday and it was like a Friday. I had tomorrow off to celebrate something I only vaguely knew about from the United Airlines “buckle your seatbelt” video (my son Nathan reminded me of this). My understanding is that Holi celebrates the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. Not sure if that is all of it but that is what I got. Reminded me alot of one of our Christian holidays Easter — the victory over death and the total defeat of Satan by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

The experience of Holi starts on the night before the holiday. I was told that this was the “spiritual” part of the holiday and the Holi day was for partying (sort of like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?…I am trying folks…). So on the night before at sunset when the full moon rises they light these fires. Made out of wood you may ask? It is India, do you think it would be that simple? Of course not, its made of sacred and holy (yes I used the word) cow manure pies!!

There does appear to be wood in the above but still a lot of cow pies.

The next day you get in whatever clothes you want to ruin. We went and of course got plain white linen clothes that cost about 1,000 INR (thats about $12). Here is what we looked like before the festival:

So we went out, dressed in white, with out smiling faces and cute pig tailed baby to the party. Note – for most Indian holidays liquor stores are closed and it is not allowed to be served at least in Maharashtra. However, Holi is an exception. Drinks start at 11am sharp. We joined an expat group that was celebrating at a nearby boat club. We showed up at the beginning so the crowds were light but what we experienced was a blast.

First of all INCREDIBLY loud music and not just on the dance floor it was everywhere and it NEVER stopped. Our poor baby didnt care much for it but I was having flashbacks of a decade back in a Las Vegas nightclub soaking in the energy and staying up naturally till 5am. I can’t do that any more!

This guy brought the drums right to my ear drums but he was loving it and had a huge smile on his face so why not get a photo?

Holi centers around a few things – eating and drinking of course but also the throwing of colors (best described by me as colored powdered sugar as far as how it felt) on to others. This is to show the light being present in our world. The colors at our party were organic and didn’t burn or cause anyone to get sick.

There is also a rain dance which in this case was a huge misting dance floor.

So for two hours we became like kids again. Grabbing powder and throwing it in each others faces and clothes (sometimes laughing sometimes with repressed anger). They also had squirt guns and air tubes that kids would fill with water and the colors and spew a stream of color water all over you!

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves although Tenley did not. She wanted out of there, hated the colors, and of course the mist rain. But we had a good time and got to celebrate Holi local style. We can’t wait for next year. Here are some of the after pictures and those outfits aren’t white any more!

Some of you might be curious – what do you all do on the weekends? We have done some trips (Goa, Aamby Valley) and we have also just gone shopping or sightseeing around town. Today was worth noting because it was the first church service I have been in since the Anglican cathedral I visited on Christmas Day with my boys in Florence.

Interesting fact about India — things always happen later. Breakfast is small and is usually around 9-10 (if even eaten at all). Lunch is usually 1-3pm and dinner is typically after 7pm (usually around 9-10pm I have been told). It isn’t Spain where I once we turned away from a café because I arrived at 10pm for dinner and they didn’t open till 11pm. But it is a later lifestyle. My work shift starts at 1pm so I usually wake up around 7am — a far cry from the 4:22am I came to know and hate all too well 7 days a week in Oregon. We spend family time in the morning before I head off to work around 11:45am. Definitely different!

So that puts in context’s today’s adventure which included a 6:06am wakeup. Probably the earliest one I have had here in Pune. I got up, made my Starbucks Via coffee and paced the hallways until my wife, daughter, and mother in law awoke. By then I was caffeinated and EXTRA annoying. We ate a quick breakfast and then headed out via rickshaw to a church I had found on the internet Oldham Memorial Methodist Church.

We arrived a couple minutes after service started at 8am. I have now done church services in several countries but this one wins the prize for longest (1 hour 45mins, yes I know my Mormon friends do twice that), the most singing (sorry Lutherans), and the most praying (sorry Presbyterians). I loved how caring and thoughtful it was. They took everyone that had an anniversary or birthday in the last two weeks, had them stand up in front and we sang Happy Birthday and Happy Wedding Day to them. We prayed for God’s peace and blessings. We prayed even for countries like the US — yes the US. As my wife put it “I am used to praying for far away lands but I never thought about them sending prayers to us!”. She was right. There was a good mixture of traditional hymns as well as contemporary singing to fill you with the Spirit and worship the Lord.

It was fun to hang around after service and have so many people come up to us with smiles, dinner invitations, and questions about us. I’ve never had a church coffee hour with Samosa’s before! After the fellowship time we headed back filled with God’s Word, Love, and Community and for naps…

After naps we found ourselves in an unusual situation — we were hungry. But this wasn’t the typical “oh how about a soup and salad for lunch?” No greens and pretending to be healthy were not going to cut it. We had had it. We needed meat….red meat…and lots of it. But how do you find beef in a part of the country where slaughtering cows is illegal and most of the residents consider it an offense? Well your wife finds a Brazilian restaurant of course and believe or not there was one and it had steak. We even confirmed that it wasn’t water buffalo (the usual substitute for beef) when we got there.

I ordered the GAUCHO meat extravaganza and I was not disappointed. 4 types of steak skewers and pork and chicken skewers too! Plus like 6 different side items. This wasn’t like the buffet Brazilian places back home…here they served you everything at once.

It was like the 4th of July at the Lake of the Ozarks. Meat everywhere, cooked several different ways and some wrapped in bacon. I couldn’t believe this meal was legal! My body flush with new red blood cells, cholesterol happily surging, and blood pressure finally testing my arterial walls again — sent endorphins through my body. I immediately gained back 2 of the 10 pounds I lost since arriving in India but I was a happy camper. Now it was time to sit back in the 94 degree heat and enjoy the heat and meat sweats.

We felt so adventurous after the meal that we decided to walk home (more just wandered in that direction). We didn’t know till we got back how filthy our feet had become. So to go back to God, we did one of the biggest acts of love that you can find in the Bible — we washed each other’s feet. Of course they didn’t have warm flowing water and Marriott Signature body wash but the intent and the cleaning was there!

It was fun to serve in such a time honored act of love!

Well as I write this it is 4pm in the afternoon and Tenley is napping. What else could this Sunday provide for us? We are thinking about going out to the outdoor lounge area here and playing a few card games while Tenley plays on the gym. Given the quantities consumed for lunch — dinner won’t be very exciting…although I must admit that I cannot wait to eat a pork sausage in an Italian tomato sauce that doesn’t have 450 different Indian spices in it! After that I presume we may watch a movie, call loved ones back home and then back to the work week. But work week’s are worth it when you have these kind of Sundays.

Yep you read that right. We are over 5 weeks in here in Pune, India. Talk about an adventure but we knew that would be the case! They say the first 6 months are the hardest — well it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. Tami, Tenley, and I have all had at least one fight with Delhi Belly (getting violently sick from both ends for a period of time, typically caused by food, bad water, or just nerves built up before eating things you cannot pronounce). We have missed our boys and our loved ones and friends. At the same time we are enjoying the generally happy and optimistic people of India. India has so much energy and enthusiasm when it comes to learning and working hard. Its very admirable.

So let me take this time to give you a few topics you may or may not find of interest.

#1 Video Conferencing is a great way to stay in touch. The hardest part of us leaving the US was leaving our boys behind. I often wondered how that could happen…i mean men have left their children for days, weeks, years, and lifetimes be it for work, military service, faith service, etc. Peter is almost 14 and Nate is 12 so they are just at the beginning of figuring out texting and chatting. Phone calls are tough because you can get more easily distracted. So we have been doing video calls through FaceTime or WhatsApp. I try to talk to the boys 2-4 times a week. Given that we are almost exactly a half day ahead, it can be difficult — our best time is the evening after work or dinner but that is early morning Pacific time. If we were to call we would get boys rushing to get to school or wanting to sleep in on weekends. So the best time for us to call is morning India time and later or around bedtime Pacific. We typically try to talk on Sunday but we will take what we can get. It has been a lifesaver. We can still see the boys, inquire about their days and happenings, and get them to focus if they are playing games on the side (sometimes).

Tenley loves seeing her Brah Bahs.

We try to read a chapter of scripture during our Sunday visits. About to finish Matthew with Mark being next.

2. Child seats in cars are almost non existent.

Honestly I had a hard time adjusting to this and we brought our car seat from the US. I am not sure what the law is but it either 1) isn’t followed or 2) doesn’t exist. The truth is most kids I see in cars are not in car seats. I see children from 0-10 on the back of scooters, hanging on to motorcycles (no helmets), and running around cars. We kept Tenley in her seat for awhile but then she didn’t get a chance to see all of the fun outside! My guess as to why car seats are not required — traffic just doesn’t go very fast. Usually the speed limits inside all of the city are under 35mph. And usually there is so much traffic you are lucky to be going 10mph. There are speed bumps on most roads so its like driving through a mall parking lot when you are trying to get away from the clogged entrances and save time but you don’t because you have to keep breaking to go over the bumps! Additionally — most Indian vehicles actually have speed blocks on their cars. Yes, that is right. They actually cap the speed of your vehicle. Our driver has shown me it before and he has to remove it before we hit the highway where you can get up to 55 mph! Finally there is so much entertainment on the roads in India it would be a shame if your child missed it. From running horses, to cows eating trash, to camels walking, to people just walking out in the middle of traffic….oh the chaos! So if you travel to India you can bring what you want but you may not want to bring that heavy car seat!

There are at least 6 people in the back of that truck.

“hey I’m trottin here!”

#3 You will see swastika’s everywhere but don’t be offended. I post the below only to show you what I see every day around town.

This is a hindu symbal originally meaning “All is well” . It is a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. Stupid Nazis misunderstood it and misused it. I never would put this anywhere as it has too many bad meanings in western society but when traveling in India you must be prepared to see it frequently in homes, businesses, and temples.

#4 The local chemist has it all….and cheap!

These pharmacies often look like 7-11’s or small versions of Walgreens. Like a Walgreens you can usually get candies, shampoo, hair products, soaps, grooming stuff, etc. And then drugs. Prescription drugs in the US. Except over the counter, and much cheaper than you pay WITH insurance in the US. A case in point. I ran out of my daily asthma preventative puffer much earlier than expected (air pollution is bad in India). I showed the pharmacist my prescription and he brought back a puffer. I compared all the ingredients and measurements and then googled it. True enough the brand in India is NOT allowed to be sold in the US. Why? Because the pharma company has lobbied to restrict its use to be one of the only products in the US. So how much did I pay for this identical medicine? $5, without insurance. In the US – $40 WITH insurance. I have found this thus far with some other items as well like my mother in law’s face cream $120 with insurance in the US, only $10 over the counter here. And it works! So India has been a blessing when it comes to finding what we need and for great prices.

#5 Rickshaw Riding is Living!

My son Nathan calls these cars the “Minions”. They are all over India and are the local equivalent to taxi cabs. They are fairly cheap but watch out — most meters are broken so negotiate with the driver if you are paying in cash. In Pune, there are rickshaw options on Uber which is what we use most of the time. Most of the fares I have paid thus far have been between 60 cents and $1.20. And its fun. The weather is good its like riding in a convertible except slower, you have a driver, and you are only going 15 mph. Believe it or not all 4 of us can sit in the back! My wife said she once saw 7 people in the back of one! So do not be afraid of these local transports. The drivers are usually honest, nice, and will get you where you need to go safely. Warning — no seatbelts in these!

More to come so stay tuned and thanks for visiting my blog!