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We were woken up at 7:30 a.m. by a little kid babbling in the hotel hallways. The flute music started at 8, wafting down the hallway from a performer on the terrace. Music is a nice touch in a hotel, but usually in the lobby instead of near the guest rooms. We had a lazy morning since we would be getting a red-eye flight home this evening. We went down to breakfast at 9:30. Craig got a cheese, mushroom, and onion omelette with sausage and bacon, and I had some sausage. There was delicious fresh sweet lime juice to drink. We had cheese, watermelon, cereal, muffins, and dragon fruit from the buffet, with coffee.
After breakfast we wandered around the hotel a bit, taking in its splendors for the final time. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous, and the amount of pampering we received was amazing. The division between rich and poor is so wide in India. During the course of this trip we have toured and stayed in some amazingly posh places, and yet there are so many poor around that we felt rather guilty for the indulgences we enjoyed. It certainly gave us a lot to think about. We went back to the room and wrote out a thank you card for Mukul and finished getting our luggage together. At 12:55, we called for someone to take our baggage down to the dock and we checked out. They took a digital picture of us with the doorman as we left and e-mailed it to us, which was a nice touch. (They have since also e-mailed us birthday and anniversary greetings). The doorman shaded me with the parasol as we walked to the boat for the last time. The boat driver offered to take one last photo of us to cap off our Lake Palace experience, and we enjoyed the boat ride. We arrived ashore, beating Mukul and Rajendra to the dock by about 5 minutes. They picked us up and Mukul teased us, chastising us for being too early and not enjoying the property enough. we looked at some of the classic cars that they had parked on display at the dock, and then got into the car and headed to the airport. We stopped and Mukul ran into JMB sweet shop to buy Diwali sweets for his friend Jagdish, whom we would be visiting in Delhi before catching our red-eye flight tonight. Then we arrived at the new Udaipur airport. We bid a fond farewell to Rajendra, who had driven us safely for so many miles between Agra and Udaipur. We had enjoyed his company during the two weeks we had been together. We were entertained while waiting at the gate for our flight by a young boy who tried to take an ammunition shell in his carry-on. He got into trouble with security and his parents had a lot of explaining to do. Our flight was slightly delayed (as had been all of our internal Indian flights on this trip, something to be aware of when scheduling things in the future). It seemed strange to be flying again. We flew on four consecutive days at the beginning of the trip, but there had been two weeks of driving between then and now. On the flight they served us mini dosas which were quite yummy and a slice of chocolate cake. We arrived in Delhi, collected our baggage, and met our driver. It was around 5 o’clock and we hit rush hour traffic going out of the city and across the Yamuna River to Jagdish Ji’s apartment. We saw the famous Baha'i lotus temple lit up in the distance and it looked quite beautiful. When we arrived at the apartment building where Jagdish lives, all of the apartments were lit with Diwali lights. We went up to Jagdish Ji's apartment and met him and Cheena, his lovely devoted niece. The apartment was quite nice. We can see why this is a great place for Mukul to stay overnight when he is in Delhi for work. There was art everywhere, including a painting of an Indian roller that Mukul had painted for Jagdish. Jagdish Ji and Mukul really are two of a kind - very learned and talented Renaissance men who are also very compassionate and sweet. We flipped through a portfolio of watercolor paintings that Jagdish had painted during a recent trip to Vietnam. They served us drinks (pineapple and vodka and a Foster‘s for myself and Craig, while Mukul and Jagdish Ji had bloody Mary’s). Cheena fed us aloo fritters. Mukul had told Jagdish Ji how much Craig and I like music, and he had agreed to play his sitar for us. He got the beautiful instrument out and Cheena rolled out a nice hand knotted carpet for him to sit on. As he tuned up, we were reminded of Ravi Shankar tuning up on George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. The audience claps wildly for his tuning, thinking that it was an actual song because it sounded so complex. Jagdish Ji played Malkauns and then a song which Mukul explained was Gandhi’s favorite hymn. Cheena sang along softly. It was wonderful and intimate and we enjoyed sipping our drinks while listening to the exotic-sounding instrument. Jagdish Ji was really getting into a jamming groove when Mukul had to stop him because of the time. It was time to eat a hurried dinner in order to make it back to the airport on time. If only the flight delay and traffic hadn't eaten so much of our day! Dinner was delicious: chapati, rice, mattar paneer, yogurt, and stuffed eggplant. As we were eating, Cheena remembered that she had saved some of her specialty pumpkin dish from lunch for us all to try. It was delicious! After we finished our meals, they served us some clarified butter and sugar for dessert. We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Jagdish ji and Cheena. It had been lovely to be able to meet so many of Mukul's friends and relatives while we had been on this trip. It meant a lot to us. We then got back into the car with Mukul and headed to the airport. There was less traffic now and we got to the airport at around 10:30. When we got to the airport we gave Mukul hugs and said goodbye. We only had our e-mail e-ticket confirmation for documentation, and it only had Craig’s name on it. Mukul had warned that this might present a problem. We realized that this was careless. India has a group of machine-gun-wielding security officers whose sole purpose is to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the airport. We had run into this two years ago when we flew through Delhi to Bhutan when our Bhutanese visas were being held inside the Delhi airport, but they wouldn't let us into the airport without the visas. We went to one door and the guard said that the e-ticket had to have both of our names printed on it. We went to another door and after a little bit of a hassle the guard compared our e-mail against the passenger manifest for our flight and checked us both off. The airport is very strict, and we have now learned to have all of our paperwork in order before trying to enter. We checked in and then went through immigration and security. We got a text from Mukul asking if we were all checked in and thanking us for everything. I texted him back and told him that everything was fine. We sat next to a Sikh family at the gate. The elderly mother had gone to the bathroom and another passenger took her comfortable chair next to her husband while she was gone. People tried to tell her that she was taking the woman’s seat but she didn’t care. When the elderly mother came back, Craig offered a seat near us. The grown son was very appreciative and he started chatting with Craig. View Larger Map |
     Jagdish Ji plays the sitar (20 second clip) Jagdish Ji plays the sitar (20 second clip) Jagdish Ji plays the sitar (20 second clip) Jagdish Ji plays the sitar (20 second clip) Jagdish Ji plays the sitar (20 second clip)  
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