In Which We Decide to Go On a Six-Month Honeymoon Backpacking Adventure Through India In 2004, Sona and Navdeep met. In 2005, we got married. For the first time. In a secret wedding in Vegas, just the two of us….
Posts tagged "India"
Kiboshing Greece: How Having Kids Changes Travel
In 2009, about two years after our big India adventure, Navdeep and I had settled into a groove. We were both busy with work — him teaching English and creative writing at local universities, and I freelancing for places like…
Chole Without Piaz and Other Acts of Culinary Sacrilege in India
We ate A LOT of fabulous food in India — from panch paani gol gappe to those fabulous alu ki tikki burgers that the street stall guy served up just outside of the Golden Temple. (And sadly, I can’t get…
India: A Magical Palace In Mysore
Navdeep remembers Mysore for those crazy, three-foot-long paper dosas, and the rip-off hotel astrologer who, not realizing we were already wed, told Navdeep he’d find his bride somewhere around 34. (We got married when he was 26, and then…
The Joy of Eating Street Food
Before we left for our six-month honeymoon to India back in 2007, we received all sorts of unsolicited advice in New Jersey, where we had a Four Hour Layover Fiesta, with the biggest family naan I have ever seen. And…
Going Local: An Insider’s Guide to Pakistan and India’s Film Industry
The Woods, they are a confusing place. Bollywood is just a player in India’s massive cinema scene. Get the low down on Bollywood, Mollywood, Tollywood, and yes, even Kollywood. I am also including Lollywood (you heard me right) even though…
Musings: Independent Travel . . . With Children?
I finally got my computer in good enough shape to edit this video and the last bit made me smile. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean. We were staying at this coffee plantation in Madikeri, Karnataka,…
Eat this Page: Aloo Paratha (whole wheat Indian flatbread)
Parathas are whole-wheat Indian flatbread that can be as healthy as you want them to be. You ca eat them plain, or stuffed, for breakfast or lunch. This recipe uses our favorite filling – aloo (potato) – with a much healthier adaptation from expert paratha maker, Binder Bhua, Navdeep’s aunt. She is very Punjabi, so doesn’t understand the concept of “no ghee” and finds the idea of a dry paratha unfathomable, hence the glistening parantha in the photo above.
Eat This Page: Sona’s Special Adraki Chai Recipe
Everyone’s chai recipe is different—but I like to think mine is special. So here, without further ado, is my super-secret, much-coveted recipe. My Kadak Adraki Chai combines the kick of ginger with the mellow flavors of fennel and cardamom. And I like my tea strong (or kadak in Hindi)—so add more milk and less tea for a milder chai . . .
India Travelogue: Reality Bites
When Navdeep dropped me off at the airport on at 1 a.m. on February 6th, I couldn’t help but be a bit teary. Not only was our trip over, but we weren’t even on the same flight back. And as much as I missed everyone, I really didn’t want to head back to reality.India was definitely an adventure for us. We got to see and experience some of the most beautiful – and chaotic – places on the planet. We also got to spend more time with each other than we ever had before, nearly 24 hours a day. And surprisingly, that turned out to be a great thing. So to get on the plane and spend 18-hours alone, thinking about it all, it was like jumping into the deep end when you haven’t been swimming in years.
Maybe Baby? In Response to That Ticking Clock
I should have known when I hit 30 that it would start. In fact, given that my own mother handed me that scary New York magazine cover story about freezing your eggs—you know, just in case — I should have expected it a lot sooner.
Still, considering the place that Navdeep and I are in at this moment in time, the floaty, fleeting nature of both our careers, trying to establish ourselves as writers and get published, and even just trying to figure out which coast to live on, I was hardly ready for it.
No, I’m not pregnant. But it seems like everyone around me has babies on the brain. Navdeep may not have noticed it, but while we were traveling in India, meeting new relatives, the question came up a lot. We’ve been married for about a year-and-a-half now, and by Indian standards, that’s plenty of alone time. People just didn’t seem to grasp what we’re waiting for.
Sometimes I wonder, too. After all, the proverbial clock is ticking away. And you always hear people say that there will never be a right time. But there is a such thing as a very wrong time, isn’t there?
Video: The Karni Mata “Rat” Temple in Deshnoke, Rajasthan
Check out the video of our visit to the Karni Mata “Rat” Temple, home to 20,000 rats in Deshnoke, near Bikaner, Rajasthan in India. The rats are believed to be incarnations of tribesmen of the aesthetic Karni Mata (an incarnation…
