From our Siddharta Palace Hotel we went back for lunch and sharing at Ramesh's house. 
They showed us the wedding album of Viral and Darshan. They only met 8 mos. before their wedding and they were already engaged. They had a few dates during that time. She lived in Gondal near Rajkot. Her wedding sari was embroidered by her sisters. She had henna tattoos all over her arms and legs which took 8 hours to apply. She had jewelry over her forehead and a cap of beads hanging down her forehead. The photographer had many pictures of the beautiful couple and the whole family.
David wanted to see the Laxshami villas palace in Vadodara. We went late in the afternoon finally. It was beautiful, stately, and totally out of place in today's world, sort of like Stan Hewitt Hall. i guess the royal family sometimes visits here, however, because there are still quarters available. One room was reported to have the most stained glass in one room anywhere.
A man and his son approached us while we were there. He was Radhaben's nephew and son, come to see David. They waited for him all day there i think. Radhaben was David's beloved cook when he was in the Peace Corps. She was like a Mother to him. She sent a gift of cotton cloth to him every year. I made a quilt for Aaron and one for andy out of the cloth. David sent some money regularly to her until she died.
March 18, Viral picked us up to go to his house and visit.
Then we saw photographs of Ramesh's wedding. David developed the color photos and sent them back to them. The colors have faded, unfortunately. We showed photos of our safari, trip to India, and Aurora. Everyone wanted to see Aurora. Tricia sent a movie of her eating spaghetti and saying her name. Varsha ben presented me with a bedsheet she had embroidered herself. It is light coffee colored with pink colored flowers and green winding leaves on the borders. She started making it when she knew we were coming. I was very touched and cried. I felt very guilty having only given gifts we purchased along the way in India. But we couldn't bring anything from home with our weight restrictions. David did manage to give some money.
Tirth was with us for the day. He is 13 and tall for his age. He speaks English very well and knows a lot about many things. He can answer all our questions and knows the history of India well. He showed my how to play 4 pictures, one word on my iPhone. This is a very popular game here he says with his Mother and Aunts. He bonded with us.
Rushil dressing for graduation
Rushil and David
Rushil had his graduation from pre-primary this afternoon. Darshan dressed him in his African dance costume. He did not like the kohl on his eyes and face, nor the earrings that went with the costume.
We left for the ceremony at the Delhi Public School, Vadodara. It has a huge nice campus. There is pre-primary to grade 10. Each pre-primary class has about 30 students. There were 6 classes performing. One class did Hawaiian dance with little hula skirts. After the dancing, the students wore red graduation gowns and hats and were presented with their diplomas by a prominent woman educator.
We returned to Hassad bhai's house in Vadodara which was nearby. S. Africa beat Sri Lanka in the quarter finals of the World Cup.
We stayed overnight in Padra at Niral's house which has a hospital on the first floor. Tirth stayed there as well so he could go the the airport with us
Suddenly they brought out a chocolate birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to me! We had lots of photos with everyone feeding me pieces of cake. I had to say goodbye to Darshan and Rushil.
March 19, Thursday we got to the airport at 7:00am because Ramesh and Varsha's plane was an hour earlier. We got to meet Tirth's parents before we left. He accompanied us to the airport. We really enjoyed his company. I seemed to bond with him. He speaks English well.
Our plane to Mumbai was uneventful. It is the last time we will have to put tags on our carry ons and make sure they are stamped so we can get on the plane. Also the last time I have to go to the women's booth to be frisked. David had a hard time getting his bags stamped. They finally found our chain we bought to secure our luggage on the train which we never had to use.
The start of the India Bangladesh quarter final game of Cricket was on the TV in the waiting room. When the Indian national anthem played, everyone in the waiting room stood up.
We meet Ramesh's sister Sevita and son Gaurav who showed us their home in Mumbai before returning us to the airport for our international flight to Singaport at midnight.
Gaurav picked us up at the Mumbai airport and drove us through old Mumbai to New Mumbai. This is a planned development city built since 1975 or so. There is a park in every sector. Gaurav's family is in the building business and built their apartment building. It is the most modern we have seen. There are built-in round recesses, a swing in the living room, a porch looking out on the neighborhood park with a playground. there are shops along the bottom floor. After greeting, seeing their 15 month old son, and watching some of the India vs. Bangladesh cricket match, we sat down to yet another delicious Indian meal. We happened to ask if they ate like this every day and finally found out why we are gaining weight. They usually only eat daal, roti and rice. These meals were special for us. I wish I could remember all the names of the special breads, made fresh for us. We usually have two or three kinds of bread - ones all puffed up, some stuffed with potato, some crispy we call pappadam, and regular chapati. they do not eat naan, the bread cooked like pizza in an earthen oven. We have a curried mixed vegetable, today some sprouted mung beans with onion, etc. Then rice with some herbs and the regular daal which is soupy and is used to dip your bread, and later to pour over the rice. Rice is served last. Today there were three sweets as well. After lunch we took a rest as usual. It is particularly hot today so everyone is sleeping longer so I am writing this now.
Our trip to India has been a learning and discovery experience of colors, sounds, smells, wonderful tastes, and textures. We have seen poverty, progress, rural life, religious life, Indian culture, temples, palaces, tigers, camels, bullocks, markets, traffic and most impressively the ingrained sustaining importance of family in daily life. We have been fortunate to be let into a wonderful extended family headed by Ramesh Patel, a boy 48 years ago from Davids Peace Corps days. We will cherish these memories forever.
Very emotional goodbye for all of us.
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