Ugadi

Wow, what a weekend. It all started off with Ugadi. I had booked us a long weekend stay at Orange County Kabini. I had planned we would leave early in the morning (well early for teenagers), and get there mid day. Then Cindy spoke with Lahlita, who looked crestfallen when told we would be gone for the weekend, including Ugadi. She had planned to invite us over to her apartment. Cindy quickly recovered the situation by telling Lahlita we could come before leaving for Kabini. So we arranged for Manju to come around 11am and to wait for Lahlita to call us that we should come over.

We got there around noon. She has a small apartment 3 rooms (kitchen the size of a closet, living room and bedroom) on the 3rd or 4th floor. I didn't count. What is really nice is it is the top floor of the building so they get some light and air flow through. There is also a roof patio they share with the other tenants, but being at that level, they have direct access and Bindu can play there with friends in the building. This was the first time I got to meet Bindu, and one of the reasons Lahlita wanted us to come over is that her husband had the day off.

Bindu was very shy till just about the time were were to leave, when she decided to let me hold her. I was honored. She sat mostly with her mother or father for the time we were there. Cindy and I got to sit in chairs, but Ari and Maya had to sit on the floor. There was about 4 feet between us. We were fed typical food for this holiday I believe-- Badji (sp?) which were deepfried vegetables, sort of like Tempura, sweet paratha (stuffed breads), rice with a cold tomato & peanut sauce, followed by a dessert of noodles in sweet cooked milk.

We had a delightful time and really enjoyed seeing their house as well as being blessed by the opportunity to visit them. I am sure they felt blessed that we would visit as well. Here is a picture of Bindu, who is just starting to learn English and her numbers to 10. She is only just over 2 years old, and very big for her age, especially considering how petite her mother is. Her dad isn't too large either. He's from Nepal. I hope to remember his name so I can add it here later...

We left for our Safari adventures in Kabini at around 1 or 1:30. It took us 4.5-5 hours to get there, just in time for dinner and a relaxing evening around our private pool(yes we were in the lap of luxury, not something I do all the time, but nice once in a while).

We also ordered our safari for the next day (Saturday). We decided to take the boat safari on Saturday afternoon, and the jeep safari the next day. It turned out to be a good decision. I'll blog more about that later though. I'll leave you with a sunset from the boat on Saturday.