Too many gifts - no room in the suitcase for clothes

For everyone who knows that I would LOVE to have an excuse to buy clothes while I'm in India, the title comes as no surprise. But, alas, I have no need for more sari or kurta, so I'll just have to make do with what fits into the suitcase.

Ok, so I've decided to BLOG. I hope it won't be too boring for my friends who didn't ask me to blog about my travels, but find themselves reading this. The friends who asked me to blog say that I make them laugh in real life, so that I must be funny as a writer. HAH, we'll see. I apologize to everyone in advance who have aspirations (or some competency) for professional writing - I usually write as I speak and I am NOT great with grammar, sentence structure or themes. I will not attempt plot and probably not re-write and re-write. I overuse the exclamation point (I talk in exclamation points really) and dashes. You have been forwarned.

I hope also to use this blog to communicate to Ms. Bierl's classes who are studying the the five major religions; I will write about my experiences of present day India and where it intersects with the ancient stories of each as I travel. Upon my return, I will visit with them to evaluate how helpful this experiment was and what they learned.

It's my third trip to India, but this time I am stopping through Bordeaux on the way. Yeah, it's out of the way, but I have a friend in Bordeaux and I don't have a friend in Paris where my stop over is. My thinking is this: I hate the 16 hour direct flight from New York to Mumbai. It's grueling being in the same plane for that long and the stop over in Paris is not bad since I can practice my French listening skills (notice I didn't say speaking skills). Well, heck since I'm in France I might as well see some of it! I am excited to see Cassie and her fiance - they're planning a wedding!!

I am very fortunate to be taking this 'adventure' (my grandson Matthew and I are great adventurers he says) and want to share my passion for other cultures with anyone who will listen. Of course my hidden (or not so hidden) agenda is to teach tolerance and acceptance of people different from ourselves by sharing my experiences!

Namaste,

Kavita (Carol)