Clarete and Alol picked me up Sunday late afternoon and off we went to dinner with Rishi and his wife Neha. A few others too: I think Neha's brother and his wife, and maybe Rishi's brother and his girl friend. (I may not have this completely right). Rishi and Neha live alone; I believe Rishi's parents are in Delhi. They have a nice apartment on the top floor of an apartment building. The roof is right above them, and they can go out there to cool off, or take in the view, or whatever. The apartment that we saw had a kitchen, a dining room (with a table set up as a buffet) and the living room where we sat and talked and ate.

We had a lot of interesting conversations; one of the men was a marketing guy who (I think I have this right) sells space in airports for companies who want to have stores there. I expect this business has increased a lot since the new Bangalore airport opened a couple years ago. The old one barely had space for passengers, say nothing of retail spaces. It was pretty interesting. We also talked about real estate. As I think I said last year, it reminded me of people in the US who had utter faith that real estate would keep going up forever. Owning a house has treated us well, but I think it was luck. We did not happen to be at the wrong place when the market crashed a couple years ago. I hope it works out for my friends in India as well.

We stayed a while, then people started leaving and so did we. Alol and Clarete took me back to the hotel. Now it is time to think seriously about packing. Well, maybe I'll sleep on it. Actually, I think I did some organizing and packing of some things I knew I would not need again. Monday, I went into work and had a whole bunch of meetings. A couple with people from my new work group whom I was meeting for the first time; several from my old group trying to help with some problems or just generally talk about the product, work, life, the universe, and everything. I think I ended up staying until 6:30 working on a problem, but finally decided I needed to call it quits, get back, eat dinner, finish packing, sleep a bit and get ready to head out. Narayan was again nice enough to take me back to the hotel.

One slightly embarrassing thing that I found out at the last minute. How long have I been coming to India? 6 years? And when did I discover that the outlets at the office (and in the hotel at least this time) actually accept US-style plugs? The final day of my last trip. Unbelievable! So all this time I have had plugs hanging in poorly-fitting adapters, when in fact they would plug right in.

I ate at the hotel, finished packing, set the alarm for and tried to sleep a bit. I got up before the alarm, dressed, and was ready to head down when the string holding the reading glasses around my neck broke! (Actually the little rubber do-dad that you hook the string to the glasses with). The desk clerk and the bellhop and a zillion others actually managed to repair it with some tape somehow…well enough that it is still holding together…and off we went to the airport. As Rafiq had predicted to me earlier, I was there WAY early and sat around by the gate for an hour or 2. That's ok…better bored than panic-stricken.

Again, the flight from Bangalore to London was not completely full, and was very comfortable. I had an aisle seat, but there was no one beside me; I took over both seats so I could look out the window. The flight again went between Iran and Iraq and across some of Azerbaijan and/or Armenia and/or Georgia before crossing the Black Sea. The mountains below (Caucusus?) were absolutely stunning! Just snow as far as you could see with a single road connecting a few communities which must have been dozens of miles apart. I can just imagine being on the road…just white all around. The flight from the UK to the US was not quite as nice. Very full and on a 777 which seemed not as big as the 747 that the other flights had used…at least it appeared that there was less space. The overhead bins were full, so my stuff was actually in a different cabin. A rather un-talkative seat-mate. Oh well…it's short and I'm coming home!

In Boston, I just missed the Flightline van, so I had to wait 20 or 30 minutes for the next one. The driver did not exactly inspire confidence with her knowledge of the Nashua area, but hey…we got to the Park and Ride ("I don't know where it is, but they ALWAYS have signs"). Got to the P&R, and there was my wife waiting! Yay! Home, to bed at 11PM, and woke up the next morning with no jet lag and ready to work! The end of another adventure. (Well, ok, I got sleepy a couple hours early for a couple days…but that's ALL I'm admitting to)

That's all for now...I may end up coming back and embellishing this with some pictures. Or you can start with burnsfisher.com and follow the links to find pictures online.

The Reception, and lunch with Bhavani

I'm now back home and pretty much back into the normal routine. It seems strange to think that just one week ago I was on the other side of the earth and that my life temporarily so different. I guess this is one reason that I love occasional travel so much…to keep me actively remembering that there is a whole big world outside of my petty (and even not-so-petty) concerns, to keep my mind active and avoid getting TOO entrenched in my normal ways of thinking, and above all to keep reminding myself that there are many ways to live and to accomplish things and that these other ways work too.

But back to the narrative: In the end, I did not go swimming in the pool. The water seemed pretty cold, and that times I may have wanted to, there was no one there. That seemed like a bad idea. I did go out on the deck where the pool was (2nd floor I think) and sit and read in the sun. That was really pleasant, although it probably helped me get even more acclimated to the time zone just as I was about to leave. Oh well. I'm not sure I have mentioned this, but the weather was absolutely beautiful. In the evening, just a little cool. In the heat of the day, maybe 80 or 85, but not very humid. Fabulous!

For the wedding reception, I decided to get dress up with a jacket and tie, so I spent a while fussing with this. My jacket had gotten kind of messed up on the suitcase (my wife had folded it very nicely at home and it made the trip to Bangalore very well…but then I re-packed the suitcase coming back from Mangalore…oops). I had hung it up in the bathroom while taking showers a few times and that really helped a lot. It ended up ok.

I went with Narayan and his wife and daughter; they came to pick me up at the hotel.  I'm now a little sorry that I chose this hotel; it is close to work but reasonably far from most of my friends and acquaintances (but not all).  So Narayan had to drive out of his way.  I was going to take the hotel taxi, but he texted me around 3 to say he was coming...certainly it is more enjoyable to be with a friend on the long trip.  And believe me, it was long.  Over an hour.  The place is near Lal Bagh, the botanical garden where I have been several times, and it would have been close to my old downtown apartments, but oh well.
 
The hall where the function took place is really neat...absolutely sparking up and down and all around; bright lights outside, a flowered sign proclaiming Sandeep and Sahana on the outside.  Parking was a problem, so Narayan left the rest of us in front of the place and drove off to park.  At the entrance we were greeted by Sandeep's uncle.  The reception was on the second floor.  There was a crowd around the elevator, so we took the stairs.  We came out into a beautifully-decorated hall with a stage up front.  Once again Sandeep and Sahana were there and there was a queue to go up and greet them.  I got in line, but Clarete suggested that I wait and all the VMS people go up en masse.
 
Indeed, more and more people that I knew were showing up, including Hemashree and Vijay.  One strange moment:  A number of people have come to VMS since V&H left.  Narayan happened along as I was talking to them, so I ended up introducing them.  Seemed kind of funny.  But it was nice to see a number of people who have left VMS or HP either recently or some time ago.
 
We finally "queued up" and Clarete insisted that I go to the front of the line to "lead the VMS delegation".  All the time since entering, I was holding the gift-wrapped present, and this was the time to give it.  Some others had flowers and packages too.  We got up to the front, and half of the "delegation" filed past greeting them and handing presents.  Then we stood on either side and had the obligatory picture.  (All professional photographers this time, I think.  I hope I get to see it).  Then we filed off (with the other half of the delegation greeting as they went past).  As we got down, we saw more VMS people going up and Clarete whispered to me "I wanted you up front with us engineers, not with the managers" :-)  Whispered is not really right.  It was pretty loud there...
 
Then off to dinner in a different room.  A glass of juice on entry to the room, and then on two sides of the room there were "buffet" tables.  Buffet in the sense that you walked by them with your plate.  But there was a server behind each one.  Naturally it was vegetarian food, but considerably different from the wedding.  We had china plates and a spoon for one thing, but it was also more multi-ethnic (as in north/south India).  For example, there were some dishes that went with chapatis (more North India) and some that went with rice (more South).  Dal, various curries...yum!  Also lots of nice morsels like onion bhajis, fried vegetables etc.    The other side of the room had dessert; the prominent feature was butterscotch ice cream (a slab), but there was also a couple other things including gulab jamon.  (This is the sort of fried ball in rosewater-flavored sweet sauce that I may have mentioned before.) As I think about it, I wonder if it was gulab jamon or rasgula. They fall into the same category in my brain and I find it hard to remember which is which (one is cheese and one is dough I think…)
 
There were some chairs in the room, and I sat down to eat, but mostly it was a standard party...people walking around taking, laughing, enjoying each other's company.  I went around taking pictures of a lot of people, particularly people that I thought some of my US friends would like to see.  Sandeep and Sahana never appeared in the dinner room.  In fact I never saw them again during the evening.
 
After a while, Narayan approached me to ask if I would mind going back with Vaishali.  Vaishali is a relatively new colleague that I probably have not mentioned much, but it turns out that she lives almost within batting distance of my hotel.  I wish I had known!  When she was ready to go, we went off.  But she had had an even harder time parking than Narayan.  She thought she had walked a kilometer or so to get to the hall!  She had some landmarks, but was not all that familiar with the area (and it was late-ish) so Rafiq gave us a ride to her car (good thing...it took a bit of searching, although I suspect she could have found it a lot more easily on foot; landmarks look a lot different in a moving car).
 
I have never had much of a chance to talk with Vaishali other than professionally, so the ride home was nice...we talked about what we like to read (she is also a big Harry Potter fan), travelling (she lived for 6 months in Shenzhen China, and has travelled around Europe with her brother), etc.
 
Then back to the hotel...it was surprisingly un-late.  Maybe 11:30.  That was kind of nice to go to bed at a reasonable time.

The next day, I had a lunch date with Bhavani (who had arranged Tom's and my audience with the Maharajah of Jaipur a few years ago…look back to previous blog entries) and dinner with Rishi (who had taken me to a cricket game the same year). Bhavani came to pick me up with his brother. He called me to say he was nearly there and asked for directions to the hotel. (I'm an old hand at giving directions to my hotel…see the blog from last year :-) But then I went down to wait and wait and wait. About 30 or 40 minutes later, B. called to say they were outside and would I please come. I've learned not to worry too much about details like time…the traffic is so bad that it is very difficult to predict when you will arrive anywhere. But this time, B. told me that they were so late because they had had a traffic accident! I'm always amazed that I see so few accidents given the incredibly dense conditions and the (to me) risky things that are done, but sure enough…B., his brother, and the driver were rear ended in an apparent chain-reaction collsion when someone up ahead stopped too quickly. No major damage or injury, but they had to sort it out with the police etc.

It turns out that it was B's birthday, so I was a bit surprised that he would take me to lunch. I asked him about birthday celebration customs; he does commonly celebrate, but this time, some of his relatives were not able to come for a week or two, so it was delayed. We went to "Jalsa" on Outer Ring Road. This is a pretty neat-looking restaurant with concrete onion-domes to start the experience. As you go in, you see the wait-staff all in mugul-style turbans. There is a central eating area, but also private areas around the outside with bead curtains and mugal-arch entrances. I have been here before, and we have gone by it several times; Clarete happened to mention that she had heard that the quality had gone down a bit. It seemed fine to me! Bhavani and his brother ordered (with some consultation to see if I liked various things…answer generally yes) so I don't recall exactly what we had; it is not a veg place; I certainly had some meat dishes. Lots of wonderful bread (flatbread cooked in a tandoor [clay oven] I think), lots of wonderful sauces and soup. And (not exactly in keeping with the Mugul theme) Kingfisher beer :-)

As I probably said in the blog several years ago, Bhavani is from Jaipur and is a member (not direct line) of the royal family. He explained a bit more (and I hope I get this right…Bhavani, if you read this please correct me!) Currently Jaipur is a city (the capital in fact) within the Indian state of Rajahastan. However, in the past, Jaipur was a state. The Maharajah rules the entire area. Within the state there are other levels "sub-ruler" who are related to the Maharajah. Bhavani's father was one of these. In any case, the royal family owned a lot of land, but in the time since independence from Britain, the central government has been trying to take some of this land back from all the Maharajahs. (I don't really understand the politics here…just reporting). This happened relatively recently to the Jaipur Maharajah's family which forced a lot of family members "out into the world" to make a living. Bhavani and his brother are among these. Bhavani went into software. His brother went into manufacturing of henna (the same as used here…that kind of non-permanent dye). Henna in India is very popular for skin decorations in women; application of wonderful henna art to the women is part of the wedding tradition for one thing. Apparently Bhavani's brother found a real niche and has done well.

We returned to the hotel, and again I tried to decide whether to go swimming or not, and again I decided not to. Oh well. Dinner tonight is with Rishi and his wife who have also invited Clarete and Alol. More later...

The trip back, and the work week

One thing that I forgot to mention earlier. When I was checking into the Goldfinch, there was a flurry of activity at the door, and in swept a famous "music directory" named Gurukiran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurukiran). He is quite distinctive, and later on we saw posters advertising a concert that he was giving. The hotel staff seemed pretty good; they did not all rush to fawn over him, although I'm sure he was treated well. Continuing the story: After visiting the happy couple on stage, we all headed back. Shyam had rented a hotel room in Upupi for the day, so many of us went back to change. Clarete, beautiful as she was in her Sari, was especially happy to be able to walk normally again. I was happy to be back in a T-shirt, etc. I feel like I wrote this somewhere, but it turns out that it would be faster to go south to Mangalore, then east through the ghats than to try to cut off the two sides of a triangle. I'm not sure if the alternative would have gone through the ghats in a different way, but if so I can see why...we took "the good road" and C&A were pleased at what good shape it was in. WHen they had last come (Christmas, I think) long stretches had not been paved, and it was terribly bumpy. Now it was mostly paved, but with seemingly 100Km of switchbacks, not to mention the usual long-distance travel issues, it was still pretty tedious. We did stop in Mangalore to get some famous Mangalore ice cream at Alol's favorite place. I had a "slab" of coffee ice cream and it really was delicious. So back we went, this time with Shyam. Alol got a phone call at one point and turned the driving over to Shyam, who drove all the way up the ghats to Hassan and beyond. We stopped for dinner at some point along the route (at Hassan? I don't remember) and then continued on. We eventually got into Bangalore and to my hotel at around 1AM. It was awfully nice of them to drop me off first; I have no idea if it was really first in a logical route of if they went out of their way. In any case, I had not trouble at all checking in, went to my room and dropped off. The hotel is very nice. Probably the nicest I have been in in Bangalore (not that any have been horrible, IMO). Actually my first trip for my company in 2005 was a last-minute deal where they put us up at the Leila Palace. That is not nice; that is decadent! Not to mention wildly expensive. In any case, the Zuri is very nice. Everything works fine; there are several restaurants on the premises, the bed is reasonably comfortable, and they have a tub with abundant hot water. What more can I ask for. Oh, yes, a swimming pool. Have not tried that yet. I decided not to go to the office right away, but rather hang around working in the room, eat lunch here, and then go in for the afternoon. Lots of nice reunions when I went in, including a few people who did not know I was coming. (Since the company did not sponsor it, there was no need for lots of people to approve it!) I got a spot to sit near the pantry (where I get coffee!). I'm not sure if I have mentioned it on this blog, but I no longer work for the group that I used to visit in Bangalore, so I have no official reason at all to be there. However, I am working (for my new group) and being in an office is generally nice (people, coffee, direct network connection, etc). I figured there would be a place for me to sit (using Sandeep's office if nothing else) and sure enough. So I met a lot of people from my old project (and even was able to contribute to a couple issues they were having). I also have so far met two people that are either working on my new project, or have been recently. I got names from someone in my new job and sent them mail. They seemed pleased to meet me, and I am always happy to make connections like this. On Wednesday, I think, within the space of 15 minutes, a lot of people invited me to dinner. It was very nice...but the big surprise was Sandeep calling. He and Sahana are back from Udupi to their home in Bangalore and invited me to dinner for Thursday. Let me copy my description of this event from an email: Last night I was invited to eat with Sandeep and Sahana. I was rather shocked when my phone rang and it was Sandeep. I somehow imagined a honeymoon. Apparently not. Sandeep said they stayed in Mangalore on the night after the wedding (and must have been there during the day also) and took the overnight train from M to Bangalore. 12 hours! Well ok, so they are back here to prepare for the reception and set up housekeeping. Nope. Duh, I should have realized: Sandeep's parents moved to Bangalore 10+ years ago, and naturally they live together. And naturally when Sahana joined the family, she joined them. So I had dinner with Sandeep, his father, and his brother. His mother and Sahana follow the old tradition of serving the men and eating later. Although I was not shocked, it does seem very strange to be served like that. S's mother cooked the meal... Sahana had come with Sandeep to pick me up at the hotel. What a long trip! I think it must have been 90 minutes due to the usual horrible traffic. The traffic is made worse by the fact that they are trying to improve it. They are building "flyovers", that is an express section to the roadway which is elevated above the local roads, so no lights and interscections. I wonder if they will allow rickshaws etc on it. Dinner: Delicious! We had Marsala Dosa, chapati with another kind of vegetable sauce (probably called curry, but not with the tastes that we expect of curry), onion Pakora (also called Bhajis, I think), and best of all: Mango curry. Wow, was that good! The mangos are special "cooking magnos" not the normal "eating mangoes" that we usually see. They appear to be lime-sized. There were 1 or 2 in the sauce, but I think mostly for show. The sauce was smooth and creaming, and eaten over rice (with fingers). Sandeep and his father were very nice telling me how to mix up the rice and curry. We laughed together when it was to hot for my fingers. We laughted together when I dropped things. Etc. I have actually almost gotten the hang of tearing off bits of chapati and other bread with one hand. (Hold the close end with thumb and ring finger; push with index and middle fingers). In any case, I again refused a spoon; just like eating with chopsticks at a Chinese restaurant, the food just somehow seems more real when you eat it the intended way. (To be clear, the intended way is with fingers...) We sat around for a while after that (and the women ate and then joined us). I did find out in the conversations that 1) They use Ramavana as a family name very much as we do. The entire family has that name, and someone marrying can optionally take that name. (Government paperwork like passports favor husband and wife having the same name I was told.) 2) Sandeep's father worked in a bank until he retired a couple years ago. I asked if he had used computers (both Sandeep and Sahana are in hi-tech; not sure about his brother). Mr. R said that most of his career, things were done by hand. Only in the last few years were computers coming into the area where he worked. (He has been retired around 2 years). 3) Sahana's henna was still evident, but starting to fade and/or run a bit. She said it goes away over a few weeks and months. After a while, Sandeep took me back alone...he says when he drives he usually waits until this late, so the long drive at 9+PM was no problem. I think he is probably being nice. He made an extra round trip that day, one of them in horrible traffic (but at least with Sahana). Last night (Friday) I ate with one of my longest acquaintences in India, Nil. He is now married and has a son about the same age as my grandson, but he came over to the hotel alone (he lives nearby) and we ate at the in-hotel Italian restaurant. I thought it was ok but nothing special (I had some pasta and tomato sause with basil); he had pizza. I've had the pizza here at the hotel, and it is very good, IMO. And finally today, I'm just mostly hanging around the hotel. Doing some work. Doing some reading. Maybe I'll go swimming. The reception is tonight...

Mangalore, Udupi, and the Wedding

On Sunday, A&C picked me up at 10 to go tourist-ing. We first went to see the St. Aloysious chapel where they were married. This is on the grounds of the St. Aloysious college (which is actually a high school. I think Alol told me that high school is grades n through 10 and 11 and 12 are called 'college' or 'early college' or something similar. In any case, Alol went there, and his father is/was a professor there, so they got to have their wedding in the chappel. We had to wait for a mass to finish, and then we went in. It is really beautiful...there are murals all over...it appears that around the side the pictures portray Bible stories about Jesus, some of which I recognized immediately, and the paintings on the ceiling represent the life of Saint. A. I was really glad to see it, not only because of its significance to my friends, and its beauty, but also because it is part of a connection; Catholics and to some extent Protestents from around the world would feel comfortable here and understand the significance. (I'm sure that is true of mosques, temples, etc too. This just happens to be more familiar to me, who grew up Protestent). We then decided to go to St. Mary's Island which, it turns out, is off the coast of Udupi. So we headed north. We ran into enormous traffic jams; the road was being repaired/rebuilt (4-laned) and there was a very narrow one-lane stretch. We also stopped for lunch and at the port to looke around, and generally enjoyed ourselves on the trip. We got to the ferry dock at probably 2:30? Then we had to wait until there were enough passengers...that took an hour or more. Finally we got on the boat and off we went. You might remember from my blog a few years ago my discussion of the cricket stadium where the seating was what I would have called plastic stacking lawn chairs? The seating on the boat was the same; these plastic chairs out on the rear deck. Unfortunately, these chairs are a lot more stable when the force they are resisting is going straight down. So besides the boat bounce around (a bit...probably 1 foot seas) the chairs added their own little wiggle. Alol's chair nearly tipped him out at one point. As we approached the island, it was clear we were really heading for another boat...it was a tender to take us in to the island. Ok. We climbed down the ladder into the tender and it took off. It was then I noticed that there was no dock and people were milling around in the water. Yes, we all took our shoes off, rolled up our pant legs, and jumped into a couple feet of water (ladder down almost to the surface). Great...my feet are usually not great for barefoot operation, but when in Rome. Besides there was no real choice. So I get onto the shore, a nice sandy beach, and we head inland. The island is essentially completely undeveloped, but there are some really interesting rock formations. I think maybe they are igneous intrusions, but geology was long ago and far away. In any case, the formations seems to be in the form of tubular hexagons of rock all packed together. (Somehow crystalline to form the hexagons?) It looked for the world like it was human made, but there was far too much, and no signs of anything else human (other than graffiti). Anyway, after walking out of the sand, I really needed to put my shoes and socks on. I was pretty please that contrary to my usual "issues" I was able to brush the sand off my feet (it had dried as I walked through the beach) and get shod. Anyway, I have some pictures of these formations. Sometimes there are dolphins to be seen here, but not today. But that's ok. We did not have much time because the last return boat was at 4:30. We went back the exact reverse way...through the water, pull up onto the ladder to the tender, put on shoes and socks, a short ride and another transfer to the main boat, and back we went. It was all quite a fun adventure. We had both lunch and dinner at restaurants with good Indian food. As I recall, I let A&C suggest/order for me so I don't have to much memory of exactly what I had except for this: Mangalore is a seaport (as you could tell), and the residents eat a lot of fish. Alol is very proud of Mangalore (as well he should be) and of the fish available there. So we did have a lot of fish dishes. I remember that we had Tandoori Prawn at one of the restaurants which was absolutely delicious. Other kinds of fish also...kingfish I think is one...in various curries and with sauces. All wonderful! The next morning (Monday) was the wedding. A&C picked me up as usual. I had been planning to wear ao suit (or to be specific, a jacket and tie) but Clarete discouraged me from doing that. Instead, I wore dress pants and a "kurta". Well, I think it is not REALLY a kurta but it served as one. This is a shirt that my Pune friends gave me last year when I visited them. A kurta is long, square, and split at the sides. It is worn outside the pants. This was not split at the sides, and was not completely square, but Clarete told me I should wear it out. Great...it turns out that I truly did fit right in. Now I'll copy from some mail I sent edited slightly since you will not all have context that I am referring to. Also understand that I am describing from my perspective. When I say the bride and groom sat around all morning, I'm sure that things were going on some of the time that I just could not perceive. The wedding was both fun and fascinating. First, when we arrived at the "wedding hall" I met Bhadresh and Shyam (whom I have seen as recently as last year) and Ram, who was away doing PhD study in the US for several years. Ironically, I have not seen him since he came to the US. But it was great to see them all! I had been told that there is a lot of milling around at Hindu weddings. Exactly right. It seems that the bride and groom were up on a stage most of the morning. Occasionally something would "happen", but most of the time, they were just there. At first they were separated by a cloth that people were holding up. Then at some point, they were both lifted up so they could see each other and exchanged "something". After that they sat in lotus position for while. I wandered up to the front of the hall (remember everyone was milling around, talking, laughing etc anyway) and started to take some pictures. Sandeep caught my eye and motioned me up on the stage. I noticed later than lots of random people were doing that as well. Mainly it required dodging the photographers. Anyway, I went up and took some closer pictures. Some ok, some not so good. You see there was also some sort of wood fire going so it was pretty smoky. Some of the pictures look "foggy". I did learn (maybe) a little of the symbolism. For example, Sandeep spent most of the morning holding a long stick. People joked that it was the last time that he would get to hold the stick in the family, but I was told that it is a walking stick. At some point during the day, he says that he is not going through with the wedding and starts off with the walking stick. The bride's family implore him to come back and marry their daughter and eventually he gives in. However, he keeps the stick just in case. (He gives up the stick after the ceremony :-) All the time there was a "band" playing, pretty much the same song the entire time (i.e. for hours). The band consisted of, get this, about 4 tenor saxophones, two drummers, and an electronic "shurti box" that just makes a sitar-y sound all the time. Think of the drone pipes on a bagpipe. I have some recorded. Eventually the big moment came (signalled by excited drumming and a general heightening of activity and loudness). Sandeep put a necklace on Sahana, she may have on him, and they walked round and round (the fire?) 7 times. Suddenly, the hall emptied out (except for the happy couple and random relatives, priests, etc on stage). We followed along to the meal. Another cool experience. Banana leaves in front of us, and "waiters" in a costume which is more or less a big wrap around the bottom, maybe a piece coming up over the shoulder, but otherwise naked from waist up.

Perhaps some Indian reader can tell me the name of what they are wearing? The priests also wore them, and I think Sandeep's father. The waiters bustled along the aisles, putting dobs of things on our leaves. Including an enormous scoop of rice. Not surprisingly the sauces were poured onto the rice about a few tablespoons per each. But there were dozens, if not scores of courses. It would not surprise me if there were 50 or 75 different items that we got little dollops of. And no silverware. We ate south Indian style with our hand (right hand), using fingers to form up a ball of rice and sauce. Unlike chopsticks, the trick is not the mechanical manipulation. It is getting the right consistency of rice and sauce. I tended to get either no sauce (and I could ball up the rice ok) or too much sauce (which was like picking up mush).  I was offered a spoon

but I turned it down. I wanted the full experience! After the meal, we went to the hand-wash place (thankfully...I was a worse mess than most on my right hand) and then back in to troop up to the stage to give our best to the bride and groom. The photographers made us greet them in groups of 6 or so and then arrayed us on either side and took a picture. Turns out that Bhadresh had a camera too and prevailed on one of the photographers to take one with that also, so I have a copy which I will eventually post somewhere (FB probably). Then back to a small hotel where Shyam had rented a couple rooms for men and women to change in and into the car. It is faster to drive to Mangalore and then across to Bangalore than to try a "short cut", so we went back through M. again with 5 people stuffed into the car (A&C, Shyam, and a friend of Alol's who needed a ride to Mangalore). Stopped for some famous Mangalore ice cream (yes, it was good) and then headed cross country with only 4. (Shyam had come from a different place by train or bus and going back to Bangalore with us had apparently been pre-arranged). So back across the same roads, arriving in Blr at maybe 12:30 or 1. They were nice enough to take me to my hotel first, where I checked in and dropped off. I heard later that A&C did not get in until quite a lot later after after taking Shyam home and getting to their own.

The trip to India and then to Mangalore

Anticipation! I'm back from the wedding, but so far I have only written up to the point of reaching Mangalore. Will continue later...

The trip thus far:

I spent the day working in Andover, MA. Somewhere in the middle, I heard my "India phone" buzz and voila! My friend Clarete had "recharged" it. That is, I have a prepaid phone with an Indian phone number which was nearly out of money, and Clarete did the magic in India to put some more money in the account. Somehow the phone system managed to find the phone in Andover to notify me. Amazing. Anyway, now we can arrange our meeting at the airport. Note to those with whom I have talked about this: Yes, I guess I have bought into using cell phones to make meeting arrangements at the last minute. Actually, it was not that bad. Clarete and husband Alol had told me that they would meet me at the airport at 6AM Saturday. But of course you can never quite tell how long it will take to get out, so I said I would text when I walked out of the airport. That way they could decide whether to park or just pull up in front.

Anyway, when I walked out of the Andover building a bit before 3PM, there was the airport shuttle van waiting for me. I was a bit nervous about leaving so late (3PM) but they assured me that was plenty of time; nonetheless, I was relieved to see it. He had another pickup, and that was more difficult...the driver thought he knew where it was, but the dispatcher kept giving him confusing directions. Eventually it turned out he was right. I was even more nervous, though because it was getting later. But...I should know a professional knows better about driving into Boston than I do...we pulled up to terminal E in PLENTY of time. (It was like 3:45, and the flight was at 6:10). There was zero line at the airline counter. There was a long line at security (lots of other flights leaving earlier than mine), but they really moved it right along. Say what you like about the TSA, they did a nice job. They were curteous, they are not (to me) intrusive, etc. No the full body scan was not in evidence, but no, they also did not pat me down. I emptied everything in my pockets and was Mr. Cooperative. It was just not a problem.

This time, since I'm going on my own, I also am freed from my company's restrictions. In some ways I can save more money (it seems), in other ways I am free to spend more. I chose to spend more and to go on British Airways rather than Lufthansa and to take their "economy plus" class. Their planes have 4 classes (economy, e+, business, and first). e+ is a bit more expensive, but there is enough room between rows so you don't feel claustrophobic, and there is a place to put my legs and feet. What I did not realize is that it is also very close to the door, so I was on last/off first. It was comfortable, but not decadent, which I like. I was on the aisle in the center section, so I got up a few times for the people in the middle to get out, but no big deal. The cabin is quite small, so there was plenty of room in the overhead bins. Since I could get my stuff easily, I decided not to put anything under my seat. That gave me a more legroom and was pretty nice.

This time I remembered all the food that they ply you with on these flights, so went on board hungary. Turned out to be a good move. We got both dinner (lasagna) and breakfast (...don't remember) within a couple hours of each other. This might be a good time to mention a habit I have gotten into that my family will think is totally weird (for me). When I have breakfast on a plane, most of the time, I drink black tea, not coffee. (Usually I tell people that tea seems like dirty water to me...) I guess usually the airplane coffee is terrible, and maybe I have sometimes eaten too much, and somehow black tea just seems like a better choice.

In London, I made my way into terminal 5 through all of the twisty turnys, the somewhat incomprehensible security (see earlier comments) and finally into the huge holding pen, ah waiting terminal. I had something like 6 or 8 hours to wait, so I got some real coffee (Starbucks, Gary!) and sat around. There is a place in this terminal that is pretty far from the crowds which has slightly more comfortable chairs and even places to put your feet up a bit. I went there, set my alarm, and read/dozed for a while till it was time to go back.

On the flight to Bangalore, I was sitting in that same e+ cabin and my seatmate was a man originally from India who was a US citizen. He lives around Washington DC and runs a scrap metal recycling business (maybe construction too?) Anyway, I told me how much business he gets from the US Government (he classifies as a minority owned business) and how many senators and congress people he knows. Interesting...I'm not completely sure how much to believe...he had a few scotches under his belt and seemed like a person who *could* exagerate a bit. He told me I should give him a call from Bangalore and he would put me in touch with "good people" there. What good people? Government ministry officials, ones you could trust, etc etc. I thanked him non-committally. Luckily he forgot to give me his card :-) I don't really know what this was all about...probably a combo of being a nice guy and a show-off. But I never would have made any of those call...who knows what it might have been. Anyway, he seems to have an interesting life story; I'm sure I did not get it all because he was very hard to understand (and I'm pretty good with a lot of Indian accents). He comes from a rural place in Karnataka south of Bangalore and north of Mysore. He grew up as a farmer, one of 12 kids. Now you know that dividing a farm 12 ways just does not work. So his father, who was uneducated, made sure that his kids got an education. (Here things are a little hazy since this guy also says he is uneducated). Anyway, his brother is a doctor in the US, and that gave him a way to emigrate. He worked for a scrap company loading car batteries, he says, and now he owns the company. Also became a citizen. Typical "American" success story.

This flight was really pretty ok. I think I must have slept quite a lot because it did not seem very long. Our route this time went over Lebanon as I recall, but missed Iran/Iraq. We went across the Saudi boot and over the Arabian Sea at Muskat, I think. (Need to look at a map) and then onto the Indian subcontinent around Mangalore (let me out! That's where I'm going!) and landed without incident at the new Bangalore International Airport. Going through immigration I had a slightly scary incident. Or it could have been except that the immigration officer was subtly helpful. I have a 10-year visa to go to India, so I did not think much about it. I also don't find it generally a good policy to lie on official forms, and yet they are never quite able to cover the circumstances. You just need to know that magic (but still truthful) word. What did not occur to me is that I had a business visa, and on the landing card I had marked that I was doing tourism and visiting friends (perfectly truthful). Of course, I am going to work while I am here, but I was not sent here for that purpose. I also know that "working" is a trigger word; it means you are trying to get an Indian job and you need yet more paperwork for that. So the immigration officer looked at me and the landing card and the visa and said, "What company do you work for". I told him. So you are here for business? No, I am mainly here going to a wedding. But you are here for business too? Well, I'm going to go into the office for a while. You have a business visa! (Ah! Light dawns!) Yes, I am here for business too! OUt comes the stamp, and I'm through in seconds after determining the correct magic word. The officer was really pretty helpful in "leading me" to say the right thing.

Even after that delay, I had to wait for a while for my bag to arrive, but when it did I went out through customs (Wait a second sir...you have to fill in this form...a little scrap of paper that the immigration officer had put into my passport). And then I'M IN! I immediately headed for...Cafe Coffee Day to get some good coffee. Then outside, text to Clarete, exchange of phone calls. We agreed where to meet, and then there they are! It was wonderful to see them again! The nice thing about friends is the shared experiences, and knowing each other well enough to joke around a little. She joked a bit about the size (small) of my suitecase (referring to the time that I picked her up at Logan and were were barely able to fit her suitcase in my car). Alol and I talked about ham radio (we both had been thinking for a long time about getting a license) and baseball and cricket. And of course work.

Alol and Clarete (hereinafter C&A or A&C) took me to their home so I could take a shower and get a little rest and repack my suitcase a little. We decided that my wedding gift was better given at the reception in Bangalore rather than the wedding, so I left it at their house, giving me a bit more space). Clarete made a delicious breakfast. I have to ask her the name...the main thing was a dish made of noodles (really more like short pieces of pasta) stir fried with peppers, onions, and other delicious spices. She had also made some cake. Yum!

Then back to the car for the trip to Mangalore. It is, I think, around 300Kms, but they expected it to take about 8 hours. Alol wanted to leave by 10 in order to cross "the ghats" while it was light. What the heck are the ghats, I asked? Turns out it is a word used mainly in India with several different meangings, but in this case, it means the mountains between the Deccan plateau (where Bangalore is and which extends through a lot of south central India and the coast. The D.P. is at about 3000 feet (which is why Bangalore is not as miserably hot and humid as you might expect for the lattitude) and of course the coast is at 0 feet. Wow...what a trip. I think I have mentioned long-distance travel in past years and this is no exception. Rather than send you back, I'll say that most roads are multi-use in India. They have cars, buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws, sometimes bullock carts, etc all sharing the road and going at their own speed. When there are only two lanes or less, you can imagine there is a lot of passing, and if you have never been in a car passing a huge truck on one side and seeing a giant truck bearing down on you, I don't recommended it. If you must to so, I recommend blind trust in the driver. So now add switchback down 3000 feet of mountain, and you can see the excitement. Plus this road was being "4-laned"--expanded to 4 lanes--so there was constant construction. They tend not to give miles of warning of a "diversion" (detour)...they just do it.

Anyway, we got there and I was taken to the GOldfinch Hotel in Mangalore. It was perfectly good, and I slept very well, woke up refreshed and ready to go...