Saturday – 19-June, 11pm
Today was a lovely day. After recovering from a bout of tummy problems last night, I spent some time relaxing around this morning before friends Michelle and Deepak picked me up. (Go figure, I eat crazy Indian food all the time with no issues; I eat an American burger and am sick all night!) They were recently married and are getting settled into their home and had invited me to lunch. Of course, I was keen to see their home and catch up on wedding pictures – but I also wanted to learn to do some Indian cooking. Now by US standards, I’m a really good cook… but I never got past first grade in India cooking school! Sheshelia let me
roll the dough for the rotis, but quickly gave up and took away the rolling pin. My oddly star-shaped stretched and puckered rotis were no match for her perfectly-rolled circles. Good thing she took back over, or I wouldn’t have enjoyed the fantastic mutton curry and best-ever sambar she fixed for us for lunch…
It was a great afternoon, with visits from Michelle’s parents and a tour of the local neighborhood. We stopped at an ice cream shop that carried sugar free ice cream (what a treat!). 
There were camel rides in the neighborhood 
and, though I was tempted, I maintained my maturity and only enjoyed the camels from behind the camera. It was a tremendously enjoyable afternoon, particularly seeing how the local residents live and play. 
And I found just one more reason that living here is great: there are launderers who iron your clothing that work from carts on the street corners. Their price for ironing: 2 rupees per piece (about a nickel)!
After a full afternoon we hit Comm Street (I can just never seem to get enough of Commercial Street)… Parking in the area just gets worse and worse. The city took “our” parking lot to build a cricket field! 
(Imagine that – trading parking for ball fields!) I bought more one-gram and some other fun stuff… and called it a night. I was too pooped to even stop at my Baluchi for dinner… Great days will do that to you sometimes.
