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Monsoon summer in India

As the school year ended (Ayaan is going to 5th grade and Ariana to 4th), the kids were super excited to spending part of their summer in India visiting family. Unlike our usual travels, we didn’t book our flight until about ten days before the trip. We also had no plan except to get on a one-way flight to New Delhi to visit Sonil bua, Ravi uncle and Sid, and at some point catch a flight to Mumbai.

Our journey to Delhi turned out to be a mini-trip on its own. Thanks to a missed Delta connection in Atlanta, it took us 4 days including 3 nights in Atlanta and Denver (yes they made us fly back west), and a bag that arrived 11 days later. None of us are keen on flying Delta anytime in the future, but we most of our time including a visit to the World of Coca-Cola. Ariana is particular loved trying sodas from all around the world including Thumbs Up from India.

We spent a relaxing 5 days in Delhi at Sonil buas amazing farm where the kids were deeply engaged in driving the golf cart, playing with the dogs (Sushi being their favorite), cooling off in the pool, and enjoying Indian food. Highlights included an escape room that we solved, bowling and arcade games, and clay pot making. The weather surprisingly turned out to be great with overcast skies and cool mornings and evenings. Sid and Sonil were amazing hosts, thank you!

After a wonderful stay, we made our way to Mumbai to see the grandparents who happen to live in the same neighborhood! The kids were so happy to be pampered with love, attention and great food. It was also their first experience of the gorgeous Mumbai weather in the monsoons. Ariana joined a gymnastics class, and Ayaan basketball, ping pong and tennis classes at our country club CCI. They also enjoyed connecting and playing with our friends’ children, while we enjoyed some adult dinners and night outs with their parents.

Anjali and I took advantage of having the grandparents, and did an overnight trip to Lonavala in the rains, staying at the Fazlani Natures Nest wellness resort. It’s a beautiful property overlooking a lake with a wellness center, farm, birds, flora, and lots of nature. We had a fantastic retreat focused on yoga, meditation and relaxation. From Lonavala we reconnected with Nani and Ayaan in Pune where we stayed at the Sheraton Grand. The goal in Pune was to attend an event with children from three slums to whom Ayaan was donating his savings. We enjoyed answering questions from the kids, Ayaan played soccer with them, and the kids engaged in painting. It was Ayaan’s highlight of the India trip. We also visited Nani’s place of worship, and spent time at the hotel pool and playing ping pong and squash.

After a few days in Mumbai, we took a 5 day trip to Kerala with my parents. Anjali and I have spoken about going to Kerala ever since we got married so we were thrilled to finally make it there. We rented an SUV with a driver Abhilash, who was fantastic, and it made a difference when we’re driving 15 hours over 5 days. We spent our first night in Kochi and spent the following morning visiting the area Fort Kochi with its Dutch, Portuguese and British history. The highlights were the Chinese fishing nets, the St Francis church where Vasco de Gama was initially buried, the Dutch museum, and the Jew town. In the late morning we set off on a long 4 hour drive to the mountain town of Munnar. We stopped for lunch for some traditional thali on a leaf at Rasa restaurant, visited a spice and Ayurvedic garden, and a couple of beautiful waterfalls on the way.

We stayed at the new Taj’s Scenic IHCL hotel in Munnar with beautiful views and an amazing pool. Kerala had a strike the next day, but luckily it didn’t interrupt our plans of visiting the Tea Museum, seeing some Tea estates, and visiting the stunning Eravikulam national park. We hired a golf cart / buggy which was a great way to see the park and me stops along the way to see mountain goats, bison, waterfalls and the scenery. This park is a must visit for anyone planning a trip to Kerala! We ended our day with a relaxing traditional Abhyanga massage, including for Ayaan and Ariana!

Our final adventure of the Kerala trip was perhaps our highlight of the month long stay – an overnight private luxury 3 bedroom houseboat from Xandari riverscapes cruising through the backwaters near Allepey with an onboard chef. As soon as we got on the boat, we were so relaxed appreciating Kerala’s beauty navigating through narrow rivers, canals and lakes dotted with coconut tree coastlines. We took a canoe ride through the very narrow canals through a small town only accessible by boats where many of the houses were partially submerged due to the recent floods. We stopped to buy some crabs, prawns and lobster that the chef prepared along with some delicious food. Kerala has some of the best food I’ve eaten including appams, puttu and Malabar parothas. We wish we stayed another night on the houseboat, but it was time to head back to Mumbai. We stopped at one of the beautiful beaches before heading to the airport. Kerala is truly God’s Own Country!

Back in Mumbai, we continued to enjoy family time, CCI time, and friends time. Ariana became very close to Anjali’s friend’s daughter Rhea and they had a couple of sleepovers and all day play dates. Nani celebrated Ariana’s upcoming 9th birthday with a really fun birthday party at her home with 5 other children participating in games and dance. We celebrated Big Dada’s upcoming 80th birthday with Sonil visiting Mumbai. Anjali left a few days early, and when it was our time to leave the kids really didn’t want to and were already planning a trip back soon. A great summer month in India!

Posted on by adusija

Singapore

While we’d been to Singapore multiple times when my sister and her family lived there, it was great to return to reunite with old friends and family. We were impressed with the efficient automated immigration experience which had us from touch down to Dhiren’s house in just over an hour! The kids were excited to play with Stuvan and Maeve who they remembered from their trips to the Bay Area over the years including just the summer before. They instantly connected and built forts, played music and other games. We relaxed over beers, soju and multiple bottles of wine and interesting discussions with Dhiren, Bhamini and Adi while simultaneously watching the Wimbledon final. Not surprisingly, it was soon midnight and an evening well spent with friends and family! Dhiren’s, Gaurav and Ayaan woke up at 3am to watch the Euro final between Spain and England which Spain won, breaking Dhiren’s heart.

The next day, we enjoyed a lazy late start to the Gardens by the Bay where we marveled at the 7 levels of the Cloud forest. Stuvan and Ari enjoyed in many deep discussions, with Stuvan sharing his scientific knowledge and insights well absorbed by Ariana’s intense listening interspersed by some challenging questions. It was intriguing to watch them interact, so different but yet so deep into conversation. We enjoyed chatting with Adi and viewing the exhibits, particularly the interactive ones.

We then proceeded to see Adi’s well appointed post-college apartment where the 3 kids enjoyed playing video games. That evening, the kids enjoyed a slumber party while the 4 is us devoured an 8-course Sichuan meal at Birds of a Feather. Following dinner, we made our way atop the Marina Bay Sands to the Sky Bar for cocktails. We then transitioned over to C’est La Vie where I created a game asking everyone to embody the accent of the country from which their cocktail originated. This resulted in an entertaining mishmash of Colombian (Anjali) British (Bhamini, switching between proper and cockney on demand) and midwest American (Dhiren) while Gaurav didnt participate, much to my disappointment. Several rounds of shots later, we hit the dance floor and the night ended with us jamming to and singing Above and Beyond in the taxi ride home. Overall, such a fun time! Thank you to the Sarin family for hosting us so warmly in your home.

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Adios India

After a wonderful time in SE Asia, we spent our final 3 weeks in India before we head back to America. As we expected the final few weeks in India were quite hectic – from friends and family visiting, a couple of short trips (including Goa), trying new restaurants, spending time with family and trying to figure out next steps (which also meant we were on quite a few calls at night). The weather got much nicer and cooler, although a bit smokier. Traffic got much worse as the holidays approached and NRIs poured in. And the holiday mood set in with Christmas lights and festivities everywhere. Ayaan and Ariana wrapped up school with a Christmas party and boat trip, and as we’ve become accustomed to they learnt the festive songs of “we wish you a merry Christmas”, “jingle bells” and “rudolf”. Their best moments were the CCI Christmas party with cotton candy and rides, and Kidzania where Ayaan loved being a delivery boy and pilot, and Ariana a policewoman and firewoman. Ayaan’s became a fast rider of his bike, albeit still with training wheels. And Ariana is the cutest monster who is still having potty training accidents. We gave up on any effort of getting a nanny and that made our life much happier and easier. I’ve spent a lot of time reading (more than a dozen books) with highlights including Elon Musk’s biography and The Art of Thinking Clearly. Anjali and I once again barely got any time together, all of it mostly sitting in traffic.

My sister Sonil and nephew Siddharth visited us in Mumbai for a few days and it was great so spend time together as a family. We even went on a one night getaway to nearby Lonavala. We stayed at a nice Airbnb called Raheja Cascades, and spent a lot of time hanging out, playing Monopoly cards, chilling in the pool, eating local Maharastrian home cooked food and sitting by the bonfire. Anjali and Ariana decided to stay back in Mumbai and spend time with her family. Our friend Vaishnavi from SF also visited us and we had a fantastic meal at Masque, a unique 10 course experience from the chef trained at Noma and French Laundry. Thank you to friends and family for visiting. Lastly we celebrated an early Birthday for my mom, since we are leaving a few days before, at Bombay Canteen, now rated the #1 restaurant in India run by Cornell MMH alum, that made Anjali smile. Being with family on special occasions is such a joy.

Our highlight of our almost 2.5 month India stay has been seeing the kids and especially Ayaan completely transform into an Indian little boy, including the Indian head nod, doing puja, picking up the phone and opening the door, enjoying the local food and speaking many Hindi word, phrases and singing songs. Having them experience the Indian culture through all the festivals over the 4 months has been magical. The other highlight is how close the kids and once again especially Ayaan have gotten to their grandparents. He is going to miss them incredibly and is already looking forward to them visiting. Big thanks to our parents for hosting us, bearing with us and taking care of the kids. We’ll definitely miss India, and feel so fortunate and thankful to have been able to do this. Memories for life!

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India leg of our Journey

After Mauritius, Ayaan and Ariana spent 6 straight weeks in India during the festive season in September, October and November (Anjali and I had a 5 night escape to Jordan without the kids that was incredible). During this time the kids have really adapted to the Indian culture, school, food, lifestyle and Hindi. They’ve loved getting pampered by the grandparents and have really started enjoying their school Creative Kids. On dropping Ayaan to school he always says “Don’t pick me up too late”, while Ariana on getting picked up from school says “I want to go to school”! At school they’ve made friends, dressed up in Indian attire, made several field trips to the post office, grocery store, library etc, done several show and tells, and made several art things. Even though it’s just 2.5 hours for Ayaan and 1.5 for Ariana, they seem to be making the most of it. They even come home singing Hindi songs like “Henna Bolo Bolo”. Ariana continues to develop exponentially and is now potty trained using the 3 day method, while Ayaan can ride a tricycle super fast and remains obsessed with his baby car.

I have kept busy playing tennis (my game is finally back), watching cricket, reading books, spending time with kids and parents, spending time at CCI (including the lawns) and connecting with friends. I’ve also started advising Hearsay, my most recent employer again, which has been intellectually refreshing. To our complete surprise we were also able to catch Above and Beyond, our favorite DJs, at a show in Bandra! We’ve also tried a few more restaurants in Mumbai including Miss T, Yautcha, Clearing House and our favorites Trishna and Mahesh. I also took advantage of having help around and no work to get a minor surgery on my hand that went smoothly. I was also lucky to be able to watch the India – West Indies ODI cricket match at CCI and the WTA Mumbai Open at CCI in October.

One of the highlights of this leg of our journey was our trip to Delhi end of September to celebrate my brother in laws 50th birthday. My parents and I spent 3 nights in Delhi, while Anjali and Ariana joined us for just 1 night. Ayaan stayed with Nani and it was the first time Ayaan and Ariana were separated. It was a great trip as I got to spend time with my nephews Aditya and Siddharth, take them out for lunch to sushi and see Sids new college. The 50th birthday party was fantastic as my sister Sonil hosted over 200 people at her beautiful home and I got to meet several folks after decades. We also got to visit India’s best restaurant Indian Accent which once again lived up to the expectations with its amazing modern 6 course menu.

After the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi in September, the kids enjoyed praying to the Durga mata idols in the neighborhood and collecting Prasad everyday. They also loved the Dassehra festival celebrations where they saw an effigy of Raavan or “the 10 headed monster” being burnt followed by fireworks. They enjoyed the Radio club festival for Dassehra in October where they won chocolates in game such as bowling, spin the wheel and shooting. Being there to celebrate Nani’s 65th birthday was also special! A couple of weeks later the kids enjoyed the grand festival of Diwali. Ayaan went to the CCI Diwali festival with his grandparents and loved the cotton candy, train, the hanuman god on a unicycle, the live music and the laser and fire works. He’s also learnt many, many Hindi words and phrases and songs such as “Khushi Manao, Diwali Aayi hain”. Both kids enjoyed decorating dadi and Nani’s house for Diwali, and doing puja and eating sweets for Diwali.

Between Dassehra and Diwali, we made another trip to Delhi to visit my sister Sonil. It was great to spend time as a family as my parents joined as well and Sid and Adi were around too. The kids were excited to be on a flight again after 4 weeks and were very well behaved. The highlight for them was playing with fluffy, a pug, and playing with all the gadgets in the house including a handicap chair for the stairs. They also loved driving the motor cars and bikes in the mall and jumping around in the bouncy house. We got a chance to try out some fantastic restaurants including China House, Bukhara and Olive. We also took a stroll at Lodhi gardens and visited the amazing Humayuns tomb – which was an inspiration for the Taj Mahal. I asked Ayaan at the end of this 6 week period if he liked India and this was his response “yes I like India because it has a lot of speed bumps”. Oh the mind of a 3 year old!

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Mumbai – “home”

It’s been 3 months since we departed SF and for the last couple of weeks (and the next few months) we are calling Mumbai home once again after 16 years. Both Anjali and I grew up in the Cuffe Parade neighborhood and our parents live a couple of blocks apart coincidentally – which works brilliantly with young kids. It’s been fantastic to be back as usual, but this leg still felt like we’re visiting for a short period rather than making it our home base for the next 4-5 months. The weather has been beautiful with the monsoons retreating.

It’s been busy in Mumbai, getting Ayaan and Ariana adjusted to their new school, figuring out a new eating-sleeping schedule and most of all coordinating with both our parents and even with each other! They love their school which is very comforting and return every day learning about a new fruit. Preschools are quite different in India from size to philosophy but they’re doing well. You also realize Mumbai is so tiny even with 25 million people where half the parents of their classmates were our classmates or acquaintances. We got Ayaan a new bike with training wheels that’s he’s started to enjoy and Ariana a push car that Ayaan is obsessed with. They are just so happy to have toys again :). They are also absolutely loving getting spoilt by their grandparents with candy and sweets, and several visits to the playground a day.

Anjali and I have spent every night either dining with our parents or meeting our school friends over a drink or dinner. We’ve already visited some favorites like Koko, Leopold, Copper Chimney and CCI; many more to go. That of course is a pleasant change from the last 3 months when we spent every night sleeping with them early, although the constant social activity has drained both of us already. We’ve also realized it’s extremely hard to get out as a couple since it’s just not the norm here. We are also still adapting to the different style of everyday conversations. We’ve been filling the days spending time with kids, our parents, playing badminton together, swimming, using the health club and just relaxing. My most productive few hours was making my LEGO plane from 30 years ago as Ayaan insisted he wanted to play with it. I definitely enjoyed that more than he did.

My sister Sonil flew down from Delhi for a few days which was great as we got to reconnect as a family and the kids got to spend time with their favorite Sonil Bua. We’ll be visiting her a couple of times in Delhi over the next two months so really looking forward to that. But the highlight of the last couple of weeks has been the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, where every building and corner hosts and welcomes the powerful Elephant God for 1-13 days and there are celebrations, music, dancing, live bands, lights and prayers everywhere. It’s been 15 years since we experienced this and it’s the first time for the kids. Ayaan absolutely loves it – he “dresses up” in Indian clothes, dances to the music, joins his hands to pray, eats prasad (sweets with Gods blessing), and has visited several Ganpatis (statues of the Elephant God) with Nani and Dadi. Ariana is so American that she says “Gaanpaaati” and stares at the lights in amazement. It’s been incredible to see the kids experience our childhood, enjoy the yummy home food, start to learn some words in Hindi, and adapt to the different lifestyle in India. Ayaan has already gotten used to the concept of having a driver, a cook and all the luxuries that India offers. He’s going to miss it for the next 10 days as we head to Mauritius – his 25th country!!!

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Copenhagen

We arrived into Copenhagen on a rainy evening so we checked into the AC hotel and dined at the hotel bar before calling it a night. The next morning, we took the subway to downtown and the kids were delighted to find a toy store where they could play and ‘test drive’ a large majority of the toys. We spent an unanticipated 45 minutes there since the kids have been deprived of their toys for two months now (save for a few favorites that we were able to squeeze into our suitcase). We then strolled to Nyhavn, a picturesque (albeit touristy) harbor with colored homes and restaurants lining the canal. We ate lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the water and my burger was pretty good (most other places in Europe where I’ve tried a burger haven’t been able to match up to American / SF standards). We decided to take a canal cruise which was a good start to getting a ‘lay of the land’. We then walked to Christiania, which is meant to be a bohemian, eclectic neighborhood. It may have been the rain but we didn’t get what was special about the neighborhood. The rooftop bar at our hotel had just opened so we decided to dine there. The build-out was impressive and the ambiance hip and energetic. However the service left a lot to be desired. We enjoyed several rounds of Japanese-inspired cocktails that were fantastic but didn’t end up getting our entrees well past the kids bedtime, forcing us to leave somewhat hungry. Not entirely surprising for a restaurants first day but a disappointing experience nevertheless.

I was excited the next morning as my Cornell bestie, Bumjoo was flying in from London with her husband Adam to meet us. We spent the day at the Tivoli Gardens, a creative amusement park that was celebrating its 175th year, and from where Walt Disney reportedly got his inspiration. The park was unique in that it was also appealing to adults with nice restaurants and lounge chairs in the grass. It was a perfect way to catch up with Adam and Bumjoo while the kids were well entertained with a live show, trams, the famous carousel and driving cars and boats. Ayaan was thrilled to finally find cotton candy after searching for it through all of Europe. Luckily, by lunch time the kids were exhausted and napped instantly and soundly, allowing us to enjoy lunch with some local Carlsberg beer! We ended up spending the better part of the day at Tivoli and then retreating back to our hotel through another Pride parade (we experienced pride in Lisbon and Madrid as well!). Dinner was perfect at a nice Indian restaurant Rasoi near our hotel where the kids chowed down on butter chicken and saag paneer with rice.

We started the next morning by climbing to the top of the Round Tower, but not before stopping at a Lego store (LEGO is from Denmark) where the kids played and Ayaan bought a little Lego train. We noticed that all the toy stores in Copenhagen have created an experience for the kids, likely allowing them to survive (and thrive!) despite the proliferation of Amazon and other online retailers (Toys R Us couldn’t learned something from here by creating an experience and potentially preventing their downfall!). The kids did great climbing to the top of the Round Tower by themselves (it helped that there was a ramp nearly the entire way) from where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the city. After retreating back down, we headed to the Rossendberg castle and some gardens where the kids played in a unique park. We then met Bumjoo and Adam for lunch at the fresh food market and enjoyed some delicious fresh fish from sushi, sashimi, and a smorgasbord of seafood delights. We strolled to the nearby botanical gardens and a beer garden where they told the history of beer. Next we went to some food trucks in Christiania where we got another small bite with a round of drinks. The Copenhagen Iron Man was inspiring to watch! We bid goodbye to Bumjoo and Adam that evening and enjoyed dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant before retreating to our hotel. Onto Irelend tomorrow where we’ll meet with Gaurav’s parents!