Trip to India

I had an amazing trip to India. I visited a total of 6 different cities during my 2 week stay. Let's see now - I was in
1. Hyderabad from Aug 7th to Aug 10th, 13th to 15th and 17th to 18th
2. Tirupati from Aug 11th to Aug 12th
3. Karimnagar on Aug 12th
4. Chennai from 15th to 16th
5. Delhi from 18th to 19th
6. Agra from 19th to 20th

The trip was so great that I keep telling everyone I enjoyed every moment of the trip including the time I was sick! My only regret is that I could not get as much of Indian food as I would have liked - esp Chaat! :( The highlights of the trip are my brother's wedding, meeting almost all of my cousins (Phani, Vamsi, Siri, Pratyu, Srikanth and Rohit on my Mom's side; Balu Annayya, Nani Bava and Bunny Vadina on my father's side) at the wedding and spending quality time with all of them, meeting my cousin's kids - Atul and Aparanji, the dinner at my brother's wedding, eating Tawa sweet for the first time (and understanding what is meant by experiencing a piece of heaven!), shopping with my wife at the new malls in Hyd, celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday, tasting my Mom's cooking, our train travel to Tirupati, eating junk food in the train, shopping at the street-side vendors in Tirupati, buying comics and magazines at the railway station, our fabulous trip to Karimnagar and my sister-in-law's village, watching a telugu movie (Magadheera) at Radhika theatre, buying black tickets for that movie, eating at Ohris, drive on Tank Bund, eating American Chopsuey at Chutney's, beating my Dad to paying the bill at the restaurants, our trip to Chennai, eating Kaima Idly and Mixed Veg Parota at Saravana bhavan, ordering food for my Mom at the restaurant, eating Sundal at T Nagar, seeing the mad rush for Gold at GRT, dealing with a Govt official for a birth certificate at the Muncipal office, shopping for movie CDs at Sangeet Sagar, drinking entire cartons of Real Juice (Guava, Tomato and Mixed Fruit flavors), our stay at the Delhi guest house, visit to Lotus Temple, our unforgettable trip to Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, the guide (Ashok) who ripped us off at Agra, the unbelievably good handicrafts we saw at Agra, bargaining with the shop vendors at Agra, chiding the shop keepers about their excessive use of English, the enjoyable stay at Imperial Palace in Agra, the amazingly good dinner that we had there, the awesome omlettes that Hari made at the Delhi guest house, and lastly the two samosas I had at the Delhi airport before flying back.

In short, I enjoyed EVERY moment. As you can see, I am a sucker for everything Indian. Maybe, its due to the fact that I was there for a short time, or maybe it is due to the fact that I hadn't been there in a while, or maybe its because I really like being in India.