Sunday – June 20, 3pm

In this blog I talk frequently about my ‘family’ here at the Ashok. Today after the Exhibition I stopped in for a quick bite of lunch and the Baluchi Boys asked for a picture with me (and I have to say it – I looked horrid… no makeup, covered in sweat and dust from my prowl through the handicrafts show). One of them is leaving tomorrow for home (Calcutta), and so I caved and agreed to a snap. Then the same thing happened as I was leaving for my Commercial Street adventure.

The first picture is with the Baluchi Boys – the wonderful men who bring me dinner and smiles every night at the Baluchi Restaurant inside the hotel. You know… they don’t even bring me a menu anymore; they just ask me what I want! 🙂 From left to right: Madhuban, Pradip, and Srikamt. Pradip has been here from the very beginning; we pulled up pictures today from my first trip back in October 2007.

The second picture is the front door team… and the captains of the driving squad (L to R: Murgon, Aditi, Monmon, and Lobo). Murgon knows exactly what I eat here for breakfast and puts me in a car every morning and sends me off to work. Monmon and Lobo greet me when I arrive at the end of the day. Monmon was the one who shouted my name (first and last) when I arrived Tuesday night from Delhi.

I do adore these people. They’re one of the reasons I look forward to coming back, time and time again…