So the last trip of the Great Indian Odyssey was Kerela…first stop was a houseboat (all to ourselves) and we cruised around the backwaters for a day – very relaxing. Second stop was Cochin to hang out and explore the city….
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Now all Marie needs to do is buy her own boat so we can repeat the experience….
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So excited because we have visitors again….Paul, Marie and Shane are finally here! They leave for Agra tomorrow but will be back on Wednesday so we can continue with their Indian Odyssey….
Dinner tonight (Thanks again Marie) was an inspired take on a Malian chicken dish (veggies and chicken in a peanut sauce – YUM) and salad with a Beaujolais Nouveau Paul and Marie brought with them from France….YEAH!!! -
Rehka and Pradeep's reception was in a huge hall in Chennai – they both looked lovely and were surrounded by tons of friends and family. The food was awesome, we all had a good laugh and it was really nice to see the happy couple even for a few minutes.
As you may have gathered from some of my previous posts, I am a bit tired of being in front of the camera. I decided to take evasive action this time after the first few minutes of the camera being on me. So this is a behind the scenes look at a wedding here….The Wedding Video Screens – as you go up to meet the bride and groom, are eating, chatting or generally standing around, these guys will come and take a video…and then you wind up on the big screen TVs set up around the room:The Photographers (Yes, there were a few and also notice the "technical crew" in the picture above)And last but not least – a shot I got pretending to be one of the wedding photographers – big surprise if I am not hired for the next wedding given this shot:But out of all of the pictures I took, this little girl stole my heart – she was waiting in line behind our group with her parents to congratulate the bride and groom – she was also very intent on being the one in her family to hand them their gift: -
So we were off to another wedding this weekend – Pradeep and Rekha – in Chennai but Dar had arranged for a night at a resort in Mamallapuram the night before. We got up early on Saturday and drove about 7 hours – greeted upon arrival with a huge storm was pummeling the coastline.
The idea was to explore the temples there for the rest of the day and wake up and do the same until we had to leave to Chennai for the wedding. The weather made other plans for us….not that we complained. Some 14 hours of sleep later, a bit of reading, some food and sitting outside watching and listening to the rain, we were on our way…. -
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So….I have this gig that I am doing for a sustainable developer here and each day Raju picks me up and we drive to work….we communicate quite well because we talk through a lot of gesturing, pigeon kannada and english as well as laughing at all the craziness that is driving in this town.
The real fun comes in the evening when I open my computer and we sample all sort of my music – Raju give a thumbs up or down….so far he really likes latin and swing (his current favorite is Perry Como's "Papa Loves Mambo"). I spent most of this evening downloading music to share with him tomorrow on the way home from work….going to try the Gypsy Kings and Oscar Lopez….hopefully he likes it because I swear there is a salsa king in his soul.It is really amazing how connecting with someone whose life experience is so different can make the world seem so small and so very magical …… -
















































