St. Mary's 25 yr Reunion

August 22, 2009 - A fantastic reunion happened in Delhi where my Papa's friends met 25 years after graduating from school.

The fun began at Anuj's place on 22nd morning where I made new friends - Nunu and Disha

Rajesh Bangia and Amarpal came by the morning train, freshened up and we started in 2 cars for the Resort on Delhi-Jaipur road along with our families. Bangia-Amarpal discussed population explosion in Indian villages at great length and ways to counter it.

Before we knew it we were at the resort and 30 happy faces from years ago greeted us. Old friends, sweethearts, cricket buddies, and study mates.

The girls are especially impressive looking beautiful and sharp. The boys are laid back as per Lakhnavi ishtyle... lot of photo taking, short speeches, songs, catching up, and lunch.

Anuj is still da man

Batch of 10B - present - but missing everyone's favourite Sanjay Saxena and Mathew... next time guys

Subhayu, not as shy as before ;-) In fact noticed the most change in Chandrima, Sunita Nigam, Sunita Verma, and Sushmita

Doctor, lawyer, oil man?

My good friend Kaushik - fellow athlete and intellectual, now featuring philosopher's forehead

Wing commander Rakesh Singh (Buddha) instigator and rabble rouser... still the same

Devyani, our favourite victim, who in 1988 was completely convinced I had only days to live thanks to Buddha's drama...

Old great friends... we had a great time at the resort and got together at Anuj's place for some reminiscing...

with help from some spirits which would horrify sister Gladys.

We drove to Rakesh's house in 2 cars and got lost 5 times

We had a late dinner/early breakfast after food delivery was delayed by goofup. After that we headed back to Anuj's house.

Mysooru Palace

August 12, 2009 - I took an auto rickshaw for the very first time.

And visited Mysore palace

First I inspected the ground

Then looked up at the palace

Mama was near at hand

And took some nice pics

I even met an elephant

Mostly I ran around every place I could squeeze into with Papa in hot pursuit

I used my standard escape technique in honor of the monkey god

and did some monkey tricks of my own

mama had a good time

and Oni was back at home along with Seema

I had a good time with Rishab and Neetu

Who showed me their toys and played games with me

Mysore Pooja

August 13, 2009 - I attended my first pooja in Mysore

Everyone wore colorful saris

Seema still had her mehendi

Dodamma, dodappa and Thatha's relatives were there

Ravi and Rukmini

Megha, Jyothi, and Srikanth ajji

Lalitha made a quick dash from Bangalore

Manjula aunty who made me laugh by tickling me

The pooja inside made a lot of smoke

So outdoors was the best place to be

and everyone relaxed there

Including little Manyu

Whose favourite pastime was dangerously climbing on to thatha's scooter and peeping indoors

Lucknow friend in Hyderabad

August 16, 2009 - We visited uncle Babu in hyderabad

who is a financial consultant and number puncher

We visited the Birla temple and then headed to a restaurant

Aunty Rajeshwari and uncle talked of old times

while we kids got bored

Aunty Sita's Wedding - Hyderabad

August 15, 2009 - I took a train for the first time in my life to come to Hyderabad for sweet Sita's wedding. For the first time I met my mom's side of the family.

Great uncle Janardhan with Venu

The happy couple

The ceremony was a lot of fun

I confiscated each and every bindi that Mama wore

kept an eye on proceedings

and got ring side seats for the exciting parts

I had the full run of the aisle

and spent my time chasing little girls and big boys

I kept an eye on the wedding too

taking little breaks to meet with close family

Here is young uncle Sriram the future opening batsman for India

Aunty Vandana and I got along

and I paid my respects to elders

ate a lot of nice food

and posed for family photos

I even danced to some music

and played on the third floor of the hotel where family members had rooms

the morning there was a short ceremony

where I met all the aunties and great aunty

Sita aunty and mama in nice saris

my beautifully dressed Sita aunty

and lovely relatives