Happy Republic Day! (and Australia Day...)

Yesterday was wonderfully fun!
For the holiday we got to take the day off of service, and slept in until 9:30- a real treat compared to our usual 7am wakeup time! fter a leisurely breakfast we spent the whole mrning upstairs amidst the hustle and bustle of mom and dad's floor. For the wedding whih we are attending today, our mom is letting Esty and I borrow some of her formal saris! Mine is a stunning red and gold one, for which I bought a matching blouse and petticoat today. Esty is waering a green one that compliments her complexion perfectly, and the other girls are waering an assortment of other lovely colors. We are planning to wear flowers in our hair, bangles on our wrists, and bindis on our foreheads :-)

I absolutely love Rai, mamum's daughter. She spent the whole day showing us a marvelous time. She took us by metro to a hand-loom expo just near the Maidan and the Victoria Memorial, and it had stores representing all of India's states. The mood was so festive because families were spending the day off in the sun together, and th happiness in the air was tangible and infectious. I must have been in a blue mood yesterday, becasuse the handbag, pillow case and wall hanging that I bought were all shades of the same gorgeous blue. Better than Van Gogh's yellow phase, I guess.

The best part of the day came soon after we all began to tire of shopping. With RAi's confidence, we sampled so much delicious food from the vendors! We had pani puris (called poutchkas in Bengali), which are so fun to eat because you all gather round the man making them, and the instant you pop one into your mouth he throws another one into your empty bowl! After that we had ice cream, my mango-vanilla treat perfectly soothed the spiciness of my mouth, and then we had Chat (the Indian version of nachos), and bhel puri. Even our taxi ride home was glorious, the sunlight was fading romantically, and the cab's music was the perfect background for the sites of the city passing us by.

Part Two of the day revolved around Australia Day.
Amongst the friends I have made through volunteering for Mother Theresa's various homes, many are Australian, Irish, Enlish and Finnish. Regardless of their country of origin, all are avid party animals, and wanted to take us out to celebrate Austrailia day in style. According to plan we all met at the rooftop restaurant of the lavish Lindsay Hotel in the Park Street neighborhood, but unfortunately, India's national holiday stood in the way of our night out- 26 January is a DRY DAY in India. To make a long story short, the rest of the evening was spent adventurously scouting out a good time through some of our various contacts in the local hotels, restuarants and guest houses. Australia Day ended quite pleasantly on yet another rooftop restaurant, where good friends shared lots of laughs, and many litres of King Fisher Strong.