No sign of Mowgli but...[Ranthambore National Park]

Happy Hanukah!

Our menorah broke in transit last year so this year I deployed my best Indian 'jugaad' (innovative hack with the materials you have) to make my own menorah from stuff I could readily buy at a nearby market. These are copper chutney bowls, or some say coffee cups, filled with salt, and glued down to a piece of cardboard covered in tinfoil. Pretty good I think!

JP's Post-Metro to Office morning commute

My man...kicked an old lady off the cycle rickshaw in order to give me a ride. Probably because I pay 4x. Not the best pic but he's by far the fastest cyclist in the peloton

Graffiti art nearby

Thanksgiving in the Maldives

Well, this is a first...blech all around

Chef AKP at local birthday party

To the opposite end of the country...Sikkim

Continued from the post below...visiting Gangtok, Sikkim for a short weekend. 

Looking down on Gangtok from Ganesh Tok I believe. Gorgeous view.  

Mt. Kangchenjunga peeking out from under the clouds at sunrise from hotel patio.

A visit to the monastery

the 'mall', a pedestrian only street full of shops, in Gangtok

This is the shopkeeper and his store at Ganesh Tok. Note us in the mirror behind him taking the picture while AKP bought some ice cream

There was a movie shoot going on at one of the sites. 

Hanuman's Tok

AKP in front of our groovy heritage hotel, Netuk House

To the opposite end of the country...Sikkim

After a trip to the southern beachs with JP, AKP accompanied me to Sikkim in the northeast. It's tucked between Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet and just a month ago opened the first airport in the state. Getting there was an adventure as we were re-routed the night before to an airport that's a 5 hour drive away...so, we spent the first night in Darjeeling ('hill station' in the north of West Bengal state) then drove the next day to Sikkim. Below is Darjeeling and our drive. All roads are 1.5 lanes, clinging to the hillsides, and full of constant switchbacks...great fun!

View of world's 3rd tallest mountain from road in Darjeeling...it looked like clouds hovering above the sky. Mr. Kangchenjunga

Our welcome tea (and scarf) at the Mayfair Hotel...lovely

Adorable hotel...there's AKP down there sitting on the banister

Having left Darjeeling, we're on the road...

Along the drive between darjeeling and sikkim. not long after we crossed this river and climbed back up again. 

width of the road for the full 4 hour drive...

As seen through the front windshield. colorful set of storefronts

Happy Diwali

Today is Diwali, the festival of lights, and the most significant Hindu holiday of the year I think. It's a bit like Christmas, where everyone puts lights up, and they also set of fireworks (although more subdued this year due to a Supreme Court partial ban, thanks to pollution)

Here's our office celebration. Rangolis are the designs on the floor that are part of the festivities along with lighting candles (diyas are the traditional ones, not in these pictures)

Lobby of my office building

Kovalum, Kerala