From Dana

Shoba and Avanthi, great job blogging. I loved all the updates from you. This will be really fun or as Aishwaria is fond of saying "too good." Yesterday Ravi and Sujatha and the kids took Raju, me Sanjay & Vijay and Raji over to Balaji and Subha's house for a short stay. We left during rush hour, 7:00 p.m., and it took us 2 hours for the 20 kilometer drive. T Nagar has gotten so crowded since I was there a few years ago. As usual the kids were busy playing. Kumar had some fireworks, so while the women slaved in the kitchen serving Subha's excellent meal, the kids burst some crackers (lit firecrackers and sparklers). Late that night, Raji Periamma and Aishwaria laid down to sleep on the living room floor. One by one the kids all came out and decided to sleep together on the floor. The next morning we were up early, because Balaji and Subha wanted to take us to a special place for breakfast. I had a wonderful onion and chili uttapum with sambar, green chutney, and coconut chutney. Vijay, of course, had idlly and vada and was still able to eat half of Sanjay's masala dosa. Raji shared some of her breakfast special with me. It was all quite delicious. But there was no time to waste, Subha had a morning of shopping planned for us, so off we went. T Nagar is crowded, but it's lots of fun to shop there. The boys all got outfits a gift from Balaji Atimber and Subha atai. Raju mama bought outfits for Kumar and Swamy (who is now called Maya, because one of the little ones couldn't pronounce his name). At every turn Raji Atai and Subha Atai were buying my boys gifts. We were glad to finally get a remote control car for Swamy. We then went for a delicious, healthy lunch at a specialty restaurant that Balaji and Subha picked out for us. The food was really different and delicious. We were served 5 juices each in a one ounce cup, then a row of raw vegetables in the form of different salads ( I especially liked the cabbage, beetroot, carrot, and green mango salad with peppercorns), then a row of semi cooked vegetables, then a row of fully cooked vegetables. There were I think 15 dishes in all and just a few bites of each. It was really fun to get to taste all those dishes. Oh, and how can I forget they served brown and white rice at the very end. This way you are already full of good veggies. We went back to the house and Aishwaria and Raji napped, Raju and Sanjay had a talk in the back bedroom, the kids played, and Subha, Balaji and I talked for a good hour. Vijay, however, went off with Kumar, who took him on a motorcycle ride! We had a wonderful time.