All Aboard!

The Shatabdi is leaving the station!

AC is on full blast in coach C7 – I'm in Seat 20, blessed with a tinted window, fan overhead, and a 10-inch TV screen above me which I'm sure will be playing the latest in pirated Bollywood flicks at blaring volumes! I'm on my way from Ahmedabad to Surat – planning on spending the evening in the diamond and gem merchant heaven of Surat with a few of my Pops' best friends from school. It's no "shinkansen", but has just as much character. To think that the small villages that pass by through the window are where our parents came from is unfathomable.

Spent the past few days with family and friends in Gujarat – the great home state of ours full of swine flu coverage, interesting politics, and delicious home cooked Gujarati food.

After a fun night out with the Mumbai folk on Saturday, I caught a 7AM flight to Rajkot in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat (the "peninsula" which juts out into the Arabian Sea). Bina Auntie, Nitin Uncle, and a large amount of Nitin Uncle's family had come out from the States and around India to mourn Ba's recent passing (God bless her soul), and so I made my way up there to spend the afternoon paying my respects and catching up with Bina Auntie, Dada, and other family members. Unfortunately I missed Nitin Uncle by a few hours as he and his siblings were on their way to the familiar destination of Haridwhar to disperse Ba's ashes in the Ganges. It was a memorable afternoon – although Dada's health has deteriorated he still has flashes of brilliance in communicating in both English and Gujarati. We talked about the Jackson Library, went through a few Oscar Wilde quote books, and several "R. Ambani and Company" books from his publishing days. It was a tough goodbye – I have a soft spot for grandparents.

From Rajkot I hopped on, what seemed to be, an air conditioned party bus playing the latest in Bollywood pirated hits on the TV screens and speakers. (For those of you as up to date on Indian cinema as I am – we watched Love Aaj Kal and Luck). Fortunately, I did get a few hours of much needed rest and hopped off at my stop in Ahmedabad 3 hours later, picked up my afternoon ice cream cone, and waited for Nirav to scoop me on a brilliant Sunday afternoon.

Spending time in Ahmedabad with Kaka and the family is always a treat – the kids are always up to no good learning lessons from Kaka and playing with toys. Nikhil and Nirav are blessed with awesome lifestyles in Ahmedabad – big houses, decent work hours, and beautiful young families. I thoroughly enjoy spending time during the day with Krishna and Pooja learning how to cook Gujarati specialties and joining them for scooter rides to school to pick up the kids. In the evenings we catch up on the latest in politics, talk about how life used to be and how life is now, and go through a fun slideshow of my latest trip to wherever the wind has taken me. The running joke is now Nikhil doesn't have to take Krishna to any of these places because she's seen all of it in my pictures! Welcome to Gujarat – full of Gujus!

I also clock a serious amount of time on the computer while in A'Bad! With lightning fast broadband and an upcoming trip to Israel and Jordan, I got to take care of a lot of hotel and transportation bookings and get some thorough research done on places to stay and what to do. I leave this Friday morning from Mumbai and meeting Vans at the airport in Tel Aviv before we take down this ridiculous itinerary:

Friday – Tel Aviv beaches, food, fun

Saturday – Tel Aviv beaches, food, fun (maybe Acco, Caesaria, Home Depot – just don't know if we'll have enough time)

Sunday – Fly to Eilat, cross border into Jordan, head to a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum to sleep under the stars, ride camels and 4x4's through the desert, eat food cooked under the sand, and sleep in tents

Monday – Head to Petra (one of the 7 Wonders of the World), see the ancient city during the day and at night

Tuesday – Head back to Israel, drive up from Eilat to Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea, relax because tomorrow…

Wednesday – Up at 3:30AM! Hike up Masada's Snake Path to see sunrise from the top of Masada, rising above the Dead Sea. From here, drive to the water, read the paper while floating in the salty water, and hopefully get a nice mud bath! Drive to Jerusalem

Thursday – Temple Mount and other Jerusalem sights

Friday – Jerusalem and Shabbat!

Saturday – Leave for Tel Aviv, spend one last day on the beach

Sunday – back to Mumbai!

We realize there's a lot more to see in Israel but with throwing Jordan's desert and Petra in there we lost a couple of days, but really gained being able to see an incredible place in the world. Really looking forward to this trip…

Well – the train has just left the station and my book is calling me – I just started reading "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts, an excellent story which really hits home when spending time in Mumbai. It's really a page turner, highly recommend it. It may seem long at nearly 1,000 pages but after getting through Atlas Shrugged, the next book feels like child's play!

I hope all of you are well and enjoying your summers. Keep August 31 on your calendars! I'll be back in NYC and can't wait to see everyone.

UPDATE: Halfway through the train ride and the Gujarati Uncle next to me is playing the "Gujarati Spiderman" video on his phone! On full blast! Hilarious.

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