And just like, after months of preparation and planning, the two odd weeks of holiday have come to an end. The kids had a restless night and we were up a bit later than normal. Bron and Ben have made it back to Sydney and were checked into the hotel by the time we woke. Bron wrote copious amounts of notes about how to transfer … Continue reading Final Day

Given Bron and Ben’s flight had been delayed we got to sleep in a bit more and got up at around 5. However it had been quite a disrupted night as we both kept getting up to make sure we hadn’t overslept. The drive to the airport was quite quick as there was hardly any traffic at 6 in the morning on a Saturday. Once … Continue reading Old Friends and New Experiences

Ben turned 19 today and his younger siblings spent the morning decorating the living room before he woke up. They inflated a whole heap of balloons and put up streamers and signs all around. Matthew even had the great plan of firing a confetti cannon at Ben when he first appeared. Fortunately for all the plan back fired and it took a bit of engineering … Continue reading Happy Birthday Ben

Thomas and Emily accompanied my mum to get kachoris for breakfast this morning. They were more interested in the ride on the e-rickshaw and convinced Dida to get them some jalebis and gulab jamuns as well. After breakfast I headed out to the bank to submit some final KYC paperwork while Ben and Matthew accompanied Dadu to the local cobbler to get their new belts … Continue reading Bikes, Rickshaws and Drives

Everytime we visit we get a formal photo done of the entire Guha clan at a local studio. Today was that day and we realised that we didn’t actually have any nice shirt for Thomas to wear. We headed out to FabIndia near CA Market to have a look at what they had in store. With everyone here, it is a tight squeeze in my … Continue reading In the Spotlight

With it being Bron’s birthday today, the kids were up early and helped Dadu and Dida put up a whole bunch of decorations and inflate numerous balloons. Then they waited in anticipation for Bron to come down for breakfast to shower her with the balloons. It was a loud, lively and enjoyable morning including a special breakfast that my mum had made. We swapped presents, … Continue reading Happy Birthday Mum

I needed to go to the local bank in the morning with my Mum to get some paperwork updated. Ben came along and we spent about an hour at the branch. I even tasked Ben with queuing up for a teller to submit a cheque – which was a bit interesting with the language barrier. On the walk back we listed the top 5 things … Continue reading Food, Friends and … Shopping

With Bron and Ben still recovering from their long trip yesterday, we decided to go for a walk after breakfast to help them acclimatise. I took everyone past the house I used to live in (HA Block) when we first moved to Kolkata in the early 90s. The house doesn’t look maintained at all with overgrowth all around. It used to have an impressive atrium … Continue reading Sweets, Treats and Hitting the Streets

The weather had cleared up and the sun was out so we decided to visit the Old Alipore Jail which has been turned into a museum. We left mid morning and the drive took us through the city and the level of pollution and haze was quite stifling. After a couple of days of respite, presumably due to the rains, the smog gave the city … Continue reading Jailbirds

The rain had subsided today and the temperature had dropped quite a lot making it a very pleasant day. We pottered around the house for most of the morning playing board games and reading books. I accompanied my dad to the local hospital to get his Echocardiogram done which went quite smoothly. In the afternoon Matthew and I went to get a haircut and partake … Continue reading A Hairy Experience

After a few days of really hot and humid weather, the heavens opened today and the temperature dropped by almost 10 degrees. So much so that we all wore full sleeve shirts all day. The morning was spent playing in the house where Thomas built the space ship that he bought yesterday while Matthew caught up on his reading. Emily went with Dida to get … Continue reading Bowling, Travelling and Raining

After a long day out and about yesterday, we decided to have a quiet one at home today. Emily and Thomas went with Dida first thing in the morning to get freshly made kachoris for breakfast. They were really looking forward to the Auto Rickshaw ride and were also able to convince Dida to get them some more ice cream for dessert. The vegetable curry … Continue reading Special Meals and Treats

It seems to be taking longer for everyone to get over their jet lag this time around and the little ones are still waking up before 5 in the morning and pottering around the house. Hopefully in another day they will be sleeping in better. The weather is still incredibly hot with the maximum predicted to be 31 degrees today – which is hard to … Continue reading Teas, Meals and Rickshaws

We had a much better nights sleep but were all still up by 5 in the morning. We have gotten into the habit of having WeetBix first thing in the morning followed by writing our daily journal. Emily has been creating a pictorial comic book of her travels while Thomas has been keeping a diary with stickers and notes. Even Matthew has been diligently writing … Continue reading Lazing Around

Even with only about 4 hours sleep the kids were all up and ready for the day. The excitement of being in India and spending the day with Dadu and Dida had them bouncing off the walls. They also got to accompany them to the shops while I unpacked and was able to convince them to buy them some treats along the way. Most of … Continue reading A Birthday Celebration

It was an early start at the hotel in Sydney where we were down at the breakfast buffet by 6 in the morning. Everyone seems to have slept quite well and were super-excited for the day ahead. The hotel has the most impressive Nespresso machine with multiple levers and milk frothers. Emily and Thomas had a successful interaction with the pancake maker (for once) and … Continue reading A Day of Travelling