Cooks do Delhi/Srinigar/Agra Slideshow

I've been asked to post pictorial evidence of my parents adventures in India. Here it is:

Do they look legit to you?

When my parents were here we went to Agra (Taj Majal) by car. On the way back into Delhi we were waved off the road by these guys. Apparently we missed a toll booth. An unmarked toll booth that only cars with tourist plates and some large trucks have to stop at. They claimed that we would have to pay the fine immediately to them... and the other 5 or six guys hanging around. I was livid. Mostly with my driver for stopping (though to his credit the traffic was heavy and it would have been difficult to get past them without running one of them over since they were jumping out in the road) but also at the audacity. I refused to pay. I asked to speak to a supervisor by phone. They gave me a number that didn't work. Then while one guy gave me a second number, another walked around the back of the car with his cell phone. I started to laugh. They were getting rather angry since I continued to refuse to pay them. After much back and forth I had the driver go back to the toll booth, where I said I would pay my fine to the toll booth operator. When we got there only one lane was open and one of the guys that had been hanging around our car was sitting in an empty toll both, waving us over. We chose to wait in the regular line, by the time we got there they'd scared the uniform wearing toll booth operator out of his little booth, replaced by the same guy who'd been sitting in the other booth a few minutes earlier. The two in the picture continued to insist that we pay the fine/bribe/baksheesh, but the guy in the toll booth asked for the regular toll. I still don't know, maybe they were for real.

Oh and the fine/bribe? 210 Rupees. About $4. Still not quite sure why I didn't just pay it.

Here's the backside of the tollbooth, didn't look significantly different from the front.

First Day of Kindergarten

Wednesday, Aug 5 was S's first day of Kindergarten.

He was really happy because my parents were here visiting us and got to see his school and classroom. They just left last night, so they are currently somewhere near the north pole. We miss them already.

Ahh!

Top five things about the US that I've missed in the last year:

1. Green grass, especially Utah grass.




2. Dryers, nothing quite like warm, dry, sweet smelling laundry.

3. Being completely alone in the car.

4. Eating fruit without an antibacterial bath.



5. Family (cousins!) and friends.





What I haven't missed:

1. Dial-up: my parents have dial-up, which means it'll probably be a while before I post again (thank you Carrie for letting me use the computer). Hopefully you, my readership, (and I) will be able to survive the technology issues.

Kindle My Dreams

Just started "Team of Rivals." Nothing quite says cool like lugging an 800 page book with you to get a pedicure. So if someone is looking for something to get me for any approaching gift giving occasions I have an idea.

Too Busy

Too busy fighting with the landlord to have time for posting lately. You're lucky (if you, dear reader, are not my mom) that you haven't had to listen to the whole saga. Some (almost) funny highlights:

- The landlord telling us, "Stop threatening not to pay the rent, I really hardly care about the money."
- My yelling at his wife, something about "the house going to burn down." Yeah, counterproductive. I'm blaming the aforementioned culture shock and the long blue sparks coming from the fuse box.
- The landlord, "Your wife yelled at my wife in front of a low class person (electrician)."

On the positive side, we head to the US later this week. Looking forward to seeing friends and family (and avoiding confrontation).

School's Out for Summer

Tomorrow is S's last day of preschool. S loved school this year. His teacher gave everyone a CD full of pictures she took throughout the year. It's great to see what they've been up to and it looks like it was a lot of fun. On to Kindergarten!