Mispredictabilitiness

   With the parting phrases of the previous post I little expected to ever present myself again on this blog in the capacity of your Post Host in India. However, I am pleased to announce that we are back in business for the very simple reason that business is back. In unambiguous terms, Katie and I have auspicated a new adventure in India. After a ridiculously back wrenching, brain racking, baggage searching, sanity busting 32 hour journey, in no wise facilitated by the TSA, we staggered into the sweltering existence we call our home away from the home that was home when home moved to North Carolina. It was by no means the easiest, nor had it any shadow or likeness of being the hardest trip we have undertaken.  Our short layover in Seattle was punctuated only with boredom, which was practically the precursor of the ensuing Delta flight to Amsterdam.  At this location, we were allotted only enough time to traverse the airport to our next gate, get fried by the only human grade microwave ovens on the market, and board in preparation of being bored for the next several hundred minutes until our stop in Delhi. Here we had to arouse our mental faculties in preparation for the eminent dingy dirty airport, possibly eternal custom interrogation, long lines of shoving heaving masses of humanity, and so on. Thankfully, we were disappointed. The airport was actually of good quality, clean, and well illuminated, nothing like it was ten years ago when Katie had last been to this particular airport, and definitely a cut above other Indian airports I have frequented.  Either, we were lucky, misdirected, lost, or very probably all three, we never encountered the critical countenances of the customs officials.  As for strangling serpentine lines, they somehow also disappeared.  I am glad to see improvement. On that nice note we initiated the final leg of the joggling journey with a couple more hours in the air coming at last to Coimbatore in southern India. By this time I was chair tomato (something similar to a couch potato, just more painful). We fought tooth and nail, tooth in that we kept talking and nail in that we would scratch our heads, just trying stay alert or at least awake until evening, which was only eight hours after we arrived. With the dissipation of the last sun rays we were on yet another voyage, but of a very different more soothing nature. How rejuvenating, how energizing, how transformational it is to soar into the subconscious spheres of soothing slumber. Unless you are choose cold cruel concrete for your bed! :)
   Enough of the pity party and on to the pictures. It was one of the boys birthday, and another of the boys got a hold of the camera.  This was the result.
   Cake is as essential as the candle. Someone lights it for him, and of course we sing Happy Birthday, Indian style; clap and shout "happy birthday to you!" just as off key as you can.

Then someone stuffs the cake in his mouth. After that you have to be strategically swift in order to secure the largest amount of cake. You can partially discern furtive hands snatching at it in the picture.

It is all fun and games until it turns into a war which in not uncommon among the children here.  But you will never guess who took it into their clever cerebrum to commence such a tradition.  You guessed it...Katie did!

Just when I thought I was getting a break from dog training, I wind up in association with yet another dog. This one, however, is barely two months old, and happily for me and this cute canine, I am not responsible for his upbringing...this is Mani's dog, and Mani's job. By the way, his name is Pupooh, which is the Tamil diminutive derivative of the English word puppy.
   This is again, David the Post Host, concluding the premiere of a new uncertain series of intermittent posts.  So forget everything I said about ending this blog (and you have my permission to forget everything I say in general) because you never know when I will post again.