Heading Back to India

Well, I've finally found a way to fit another India trip into Amy's schedule. I've been back many times since our sabbatical trip in 2008, but Amy hasn't been able to join me. We'll be leaving tomorrow and will send at least a few updates. Our itinerary includes Bangalore, Belur, and Vellore (but not the latter for Amy--she's heading back early to spend a few days in England).

Sad Goodbyes

We've spent most evenings over the past week with neighbors and professional colleagues who have become true friends to us in our time here. We have been blessed with so many wonderful people to help us to adjust and ultimately to thrive in Bangalore--both personally and professionally. We will miss them dearly.

A few pictures from various farewell events follow (we will leave Bangalore tomorrow morning).

Driving in B'lore rush hour

I finally had a dream come true by driving a car in Bangalore yesterday. The vehicle was a Maruti 800 (0.8 L displacement engine) and was loaned to me by my friend Prof. Umesh Waghmare. The right-side driver compartment and left-handed stick shift took some getting used to, but before long, I was weaving and honking along with the rest of the traffic. I have some video evidence of this event that I'll try to post soon.

Kerala Beach and Backwaters

After we had finished at the pool in the hotel, we went to the Lighthouse Beach. We all had to squeeze into one auto rickshaw. We were all relieved to leave the auto. Our driver dropped us about 50 yards away from the beach and we walked the rest of the way. When we reached the shore, we hopped in the sea. The waves were enormous! They were definitely the biggest ones that I have ever seen in my life. We swam for a bit and then moved to another spot. The life guards helped by waving people to another section because the waves were to strong in that area. When we finished swimming we decide to walk home. We had no clue where our hotel was. We walked up to a nice resort and asked the security guard for directions. Luckily, he knew where it was. I was glad we were able to walk but the heat was outrageous! It felt so nice to walk into our A/C room.

The next day we went on our backwater tour. We drove for about 15 minutes to reach the place. Our boat was already sitting at the dock. It was amazing how they pushed it forward. A man stood at the back of the boat with a huge bamboo stick. He would jab it into the bottom of the water and push us forward. We were supposed to see the sunset but decided not to because we would have to wait for 1hr. On our ride we saw many birds from sea eagles to a Kingfisher. After our tour was over we headed back to the hotel.

Exit Interview: Mark

Mark's interview follows.

Exit Interview: Kyle

Kyle is my graduate student and accompanied us here (and will return with us as well). He was gracious enough to participate in this free-wheeling interview.

Our stay in Kerala

Last week we went to Kerala for 4 days. We flew to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. We stayed for 2 days at the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology's campus guest house. We got to stay in the VIP suite. Then we went to Kovalam (10 miles away) and stayed at the Taj Green Cove Resort.

When we reached the resort, they gave us each a welcome necklace made of shells. After checking into our rooms, we walked down to the beach. The beach was very rocky and closed for swimming because the waves were so big. We went back to the resort and went swimming in the pool.

We played tennis twice. It was very hot, but fun. We also went to a beach where we could swim. Thomas will blog about that soon.

We loved the restaurant at the resort. It was outside by the pool. My dad ate fish curry at every meal except breakfast. He said he would make it when we get home if he can find any good fish in Indiana. Everyone loved the fish curry but me, I enjoyed the spaghetti!