Ramya and I are back in Delhi, our last hurrah before heading back home on Saturday. We hardly gave Southern India justice, spending just two nights with Ramya’s uncle Murali in Chennai, formerly Madras. But we made the most if it, sampling roadside coconuts and Southern Indian cuisine (a Thali, a sampler platter of various rices and curries), visiting Dakshina Chitra (sort of like the Indian village version of Colonial Williamsburg), and checking out Marina Beach (which Murali proclaimed to be the world’s second longest beach next to Miami, though there were no thongs and far more stray dogs).

But the highlight of our time in Chennai was getting to see Priya (Ramya’s aunt, Murali’s wife) perform in a traditional Bharatnatyam dance. It’s as much a pantomime as it is dance, in which detailed facial expressions and hand movements convey emotion and tell traditional Hindu stories along to a Carnatic orchestra. Those who know me may be surprised to see me getting so worked up about dance, but Bharatnatyam does more for me than what I usually associate with “dance,” and I really enjoyed Priya’s performance.

Video here:

Also of note: we stayed in the “Ecotel,” where low flow faucets and an in-room recycling bin helped us (marginally) reduce our footprint. There was even a green, tree-shaped button next to the bed which turned off the AC and illuminated a sign outside our room door boasting “Eco friendly guest.” If living sustainably actually was as easy as hitting a little green button I might be better at it, but that’s a topic for another post on another blog!

In the third act of the play that is our trip to India, the Krishnamurtis (my mom’s family) play a starring role. We had a brief (too brief) stay in Bombay (Mumbai I suppose now) where we hung out with Shyam Mama and Suresh Mama (my mom’s brothers), Shivani Auntie, and my cousin Tarun.

Though we didn’t get to live out our dream of becoming Bollywood extras, we did take a really awesome night tour of Bombay in a double-decker bus (apologies for the lack of inspiring photos — my camera doesn’t do night shots particularly well). Of all the places we’ve been thus far, Bombay architecture seems to be the most reminiscent of its former British overlords (Victoria Rail Station is a particularly striking example).

The other theme of the past two days has been the ingestion of mass quantities of food (I’m definitely realizing where I inherited my insatiable appetite from.) In Bombay we went to Soam, where we had truckloads of classic Gujurati food. Jamie remarked that he wasn’t yet tired of Indian food and I can see why. We’ve sampled a monumental array of different dishes from a variety of regions in India, so each meal is a new culinary journey (Padma, Tom and Gail would be proud).

The next morning we pushed off to Pune where the good times (and the binging) continued with Gowri Chitti (my aunt), Murali Chittapa and his folks, and cousins Madhuri, Tejas and Tara.

We ate dinner at a really nice restaurant with AMAZING food. The décor was modern Indian and beautiful, with the exception of a hideous Kingfisher beer statue complete with zinging lightning bolts. When the check came and we were all sufficiently stuffed, I filled out a comment card (these cards are very popular here — feedback seems to be of the utmost importance) noting the wonderful food and the possible removal of the tacky statue (I was half joking). As we were leaving, the waiter stopped me and asked me I would kindly clarify my comment card and point out exactly which statue did not meet my approval — I was busted. Gowri Chitti hastily choked out a far more polite response than I uttered under my breath (”that statue is hideous”).

I hope that the good food will continue for the remainder of our trip, but I think I can safely say that I will not be filling out any more comment cards…unlike the States, it appears they are actually read here.