Before Nick, Justin and Noelle left India - my camera-man Sanjiv (seated far right) and his wife (this seems obvious, right?) had us over for cocktails. It was so much fun... we stayed for hours and chatted away. It was typical that the power went off (twice) during our time there (it went off three more times that night at MY home too.
Conversation is often geared at such an event to the fact that the power has gone off -- mind you -- this is not some sort of discussion along the lines of "Wow! Did the power go off???" -- it's more of a "How many times did the power get cut at YOUR house today?" type of discussion.
Indians seem quite ready and equipped to deal with such events... I noticed that both Sanjiv and his wife at some point pulled out nice little napkins to wipe the sweat from their brow. I just got my "resident card" on Friday -- perhaps I should learn to carry one of these sweat napkins (what should I call it?) with me too.
Sanjiv has been so helpful to me as I've gotten set up and his wife has managed many of my problems (gas cylinders for my stove etc.) and we had never even met. We had a great time and I think Nick, Justin and Noelle enjoyed being in a home with a family -- a good bit of India to see.
After dinner we went to Lodi Garden and had dinner at the restaurant there. Even though it was still quite hot and humid it was quite nice to sit out in the garden and have dinner.
Lodi Garden is on of the first places I went after I moved to Delhi -- my boss Phil took me there so that we could take a walk. One can walk past all of these old ruins -- there is some pretty cool Mogul architecture there. I particularly like the ruins that bring a bit of the Hindu (dome) and the Arab/Muslim (arches) together [disclaimer - this may not be how a history book would describe this art].
Although I only got to see these guys for four days out of their more than two-week long trip (because of all the time I spent in London).
Nick set up my wireless Internet at home and also left me with my iPod speakers set up... very exciting. This is really my first night at home with my furniture to get the chance to relax a bit --

We also discovered a great restaurant called "Olive". Incidentally, there is an "Olive" restaurant in Mumbai - I'm guessing it has the same owners - that my friend Steve (who lives there) DOESN'T like. Well, we had a great time and Justin ended up treating us to dinner...
It's lame that my camera keeps leaving these spots on the photos -- anyway -- I thought this picture was good as everyone was smiling -- we had a great meal and laughed and chatted away.
It was sad to have those guys leave... but we had such a great time...
I will use their trip, however, as an example that I really have NO control over my own life/scheduling here -- they were great sports, though, and had no trouble entertaining themselves.