Renu's Week

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Report of 19 June 2011

Happy Father's Day!

It's not a holiday celebrated in India, so Scott had to settle for verbal wishes and no gifts. In a prior life, the boys would have scrounged something up from our pantry (cookies or candy), wrapped it and handed it over, but the young men are now grown.

We are back from Sydney and had a spectacular time there. It was winter, and all of Sydney was apologetic for it, but I love the cold and we had left 100 degree heat here, so to loaf (roam) about in cold weather was great. We normally wander frenetically from 1 place to another (we did 8-9 countries in Europe in 14 days), but this time chose to stay put in Sydney and are glad we did. Andrew Penman booked our lovely accommodation and we cooked Indian food at his house, choosing this option over taking him out to eat. His wife, Rosemary, was in New Zealand, had to stay longer due to the volcanic ash and we were sorry to have missed her; his daughter, Meredith, joined us and that was grand fun. Meredith is a stage actress and she and Naren had a lot to talk about. All of us laughed a lot through dinner - everyone at the table being wonderfully opinionated - and that evening was memorable. Andrew speaks fluent Hindi and I do not.

The Centre, the bed and breakfast we stayed at, was well-connected to public transportation. The staff were, to a person, lovely and helpful. This added to our fine time there. The beaches of Sydney were not novel to us, as we live on the coast, but there were some fine sights to see. And scenic walks. And plenty of good food and chocolate to gorge on.

It was also great to see Kalpana (nicknamed Bugs), my friend from college days (over 30 years!), and her husband, Suresh. We spent a day with them, and cooked and talked and laughed. There is something singularly therapeutic about being with friends from long ago - a certain familiarity that has one saying things like, "Okay, we are taking the rest of this food back to the B and B," and "Can I raid your sambar powder as we are cooking a meal for some friends?" We went to a lovely park near their house where we got to pet koalas and kangaroos, and the boys will remember that for life. Bugs handed the boys a generous amount of cash - as close relatives will - and the boys bought some special treats with that. I think that, too, will be remembered :).

We are back, safe and sound. The service on Qantas was dreadful and even simple requests - a snack, a soft drink - appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. When Naren, in his newly-found adult role, and I complained to the in-flight supervisor, the man got irate, blaming Qantas management for the flight being understaffed. There are various ways of handling feedback, are there not. There are also repercussions to being understaffed.

We talked to my Dad yesterday - checking in - and he is well. He was in Kanyakumari, inaugurating a conference on Maxillofacial surgery and having a great time. I am glad he is active and gets about. He is inaugurating something else today, in Madurai.

I will be back at the Banyan on Tuesday and look forward to it.

Unw -

R

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