Mark Dalton

Okay so it has been a little while, but I do have an excuse, well kind of.

So after the visit down to Pune I went into preparation mode for Mum and Dad’s arrival. To be honest there wasn’t to much to do but I think it was the anticipation more than anything. So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were normal days in the office. Thursday Mum and Dad were due to land at 10:20 IST so Karan picked me up at 08:30 and we headed for the airport. We arrived in good time and missed the normal Delhi traffic. Mum & Dad’s plane had made up the little time it has lost and was showing on time, so Karan and I joined the mass of people assembled at the arrivals gate and waited.

About 11:30-12:00 Mum and Dad emerged and I managed to grab Mum’s arm (Having pushed my way to the front). We quickly made our way through the throng of people and to the car, where we said hello for the first time in 2 months.

Getting into the car Mum and Dad started striping off the jumpers and Karan put the air conditioning on. The fact he and I were still wearing jumpers and coats and were freezing was of great amusement to Karan.

We made our way back from Delhi along to NH8 to Gurgaon with Mum and Dad taking in as much as they could. Once at the apartment I gave them a quick tour and settled them in before grabbing some lunch and heading back to the office. The rest of the day was hectic as I still had so much to do before going on leave, and to be honest my mind wasn’t really engaged, but I struggled through. I finished at 18:00 and went back to the apartment for a beer and Mum and Dad looked a lot more relaxed if a little tired. About 19:30 we headed off to

Harriez

, a restaurant located in my gym complex and enjoyed chicken sizzlers and chips, after booking Mum and Dad in for a massage the following day.

Friday morning I left for work at 08:30 leaving Mum and Dad in bed. Karan picked them up at 11:45 and they met me at the office, where I learnt they had only been woken up by the cleaners at 11:00 (I think they have got accustomed to Indian life already). We headed to a local shopping center, where i showed them around the shops they would need before grabbing a subway for lunch. After lunch Mum and Dad dropped me back at the office and headed for the gym for there massage.

Karan picked me up from work at 18:00 and I returned home to find Mum and Dad well and truly at home with a glass of wine. After a couple of beers we headed off for dinner with Chris, Sandra, and Laurance at a restaurant called

Park Balucshi

where Mum and Dad tried there first Indian meal in India. After a very nice meal (if a little rich) we headed back to the apartment via the

Crowne Plaza

, where I had spent my first 3 weeks for a night cap. I think we sat up until 02:00-03:00 Saturday morning talking and catching up.

Saturday was a gentle day. Karan picked us up at 13:00 and we went for a drive around Old Gurgaon before having some lunch at one of the malls (McChicken Sandwich Meal). After that we took a nice walk around

Leisure Valley Park

before returning to the apartment where we had a few drinks and ordered Pizza.

Sunday Karan picked us up at 11:00 and we drove into Delhi via the Diplomatic area and Parliament house, stopping off at

India gate

. We then headed to

Connaught Place

(CP) touring the inner and outer ring where we stopped off at

Blues

for a quick beer (Well sightseeing is thirsty work). We then drove to the Red Fort but Mum wasn’t feeling too great, add to that it’s extremely big we didn’t think we would have time to have a proper look anyway. We headed back to Gurgaon and at about 20:00 Dad and I headed off to Sweet Obsession for a mexican, leaving Mum resting up on the sofa. We returned about about 22:30 and enjoyed a nightcap.

Monday Karan picked Dad and I up at 10:00 Monday and we headed for the Red Fort, leaving Mum on the sofa still not feeing great. Karan advised that the Red Fort was closed, Doh!. I had asked him Sunday when Delhi was closed, but I had asked while touring CP and he had correctly stated Sunday’s, What I should have asked of course is what is closed on what day’s, but live and learn. So Dad and I stopped off at a crafts market and has a 30 minute look around, but it really wasn’t something we were into. We then drove to Lodi Gardens where we spent about 2 hours walking around, trying to find the sunshine and avoid the shade of the tree’s. We then headed back to Gurgaon on the MG Road stopping off at a rather impressive temple on the way. We arrived back at the apartment at about 18:00 and cooked dinner and enjoyed a beer.

Tuesday Mum still wasn’t feeling great and I had a stinking cold so Dad headed of towards Delhi with Karan and visited

Qutub Minar

, the

Lotus Temple

, and

Humayun’s Tomb

. He arrived back about 18:00 and I was feeling a lot brighter, but Mum still wasn’t feeling so good. About 19:30 Dad and I headed to a Punjab restaurant for dinner, after which we dropped in on Vikram for a night cap.

This morning Mum was still feeling awful and hadn’t slept much so we opted for a quiet day. Dad and I did however go for a brief drive out into the country side this afternoon and on returning found Mum to be a little brighter. We are going to have another quiet night in tonight and see how she is tomorrow before making any firm plans.

Well that’s it for now, hopefully a little more as the week goes on and Mum gets better.

Okay so it’s been quiet this end, in more ways than one. To start with my Internet connection has been up and down since last weekend which has left me feeling like my hands have been cut off. I knew I shouldn’t have asked for the phone to be moved.

It has been quiet socially to however. I think people are recovering from the Christmas / New Year hangover, but know a lot of people are also planning the next holiday. How do I know this? Well I am one of them.

Well let me start at the beginning, Monday Laurence arrived back and we had some catching up to do. We were both pretty knackered so settled on a local restaurant called

Bar-B-Q-Nation

, we had a good meal and a few beers and then headed home. Tuesday was a normal day, you know fireworks, several fire’s, and the odd fallen comrade, but about 16:00 I developed a headache that i just couldn’t shift. I got home about 19:00 and went straight to bed, by this time with a sore throat. I woke up Wednesday morning feeling *crap*. Sore throat, headache, and general “please take me now” sentiments. I settled on a day in bed and slept for about 14 hours, only waking for a drink of water and to see what the time was. Thursday morning I woke and still didn’t feel great but headed for the office and limped through the day.

Friday I felt a lot better and Friday night I had my first Team Leader offsite meeting and headed to the

MGF Mall

for dinner and drinks with the team. We finished up about 22:00 and I called Laurence to see what he was up to. A few beers later (01:00) I headed for home, with that warm fuzzy feeling.

Saturday morning I had a nice long lay in and finally got up about 13:00. Sandra had emailed me earlier saying they were heading to the cinema and it seemed like a perfectly lazy thing to do on a Saturday afternoon so Laurence and I tagged along. We watched

The Golden Compass

which was good but I didn’t particularly like the way it ended, mainly as I now know I have to watch the sequel. After the show we headed for TGIF for dinner.

Sunday I decided I needed to get back to the gym so about 15:00 left the apartment picking up laurence on the way, hoping Amit wasn’t on duty (I knew I would get told off), he wasn’t thankfully and I had a 45 minute workout (which hurt) and hit the sauna. After the workout we grabbed dinner and then headed for home.

This morning I woke, after having the best nights sleep in a while, and headed for work, committing to getting back in to the gym routine.

Tonight my Internet connection is working so I am catching up with email, and this (my blog), and preparing for my next holiday. Yes I said holiday!

So here is the plan. This weekend I am off heading towards Pune, Vikram’s home town (or where his wife is currently living) so we are going to try and hook up. Then Mum and Dad are due on the 24th so I have booked the first week off to show them around, which will actually be cool as it will encourage me to get out and about and show them the sights i have seen and some I haven’t. I have also booked the last week of there visit off to do some more sightseeing and spend some quality time with them. There are a number of tentative plans (these are the ones I need to firm up) to head off with Chris, Sandra, and Laurence during this period too.

Then at the beginning of March Chris, Sandra, Laurence, and myself are off to Goa via Mumbai (formally Bombay) for 4-5 days before I head back to the UK for a week or two.

Well as you can see I have a bit of planning to do, but if the Internet gods are on my side it should all be very interesting. I’ll keep you posted on the plans as they develop or fall apart.

Okay so the end of last week was hard work. Nobody really wanted to be in the office and I was clock watching from about 16:00 every day. Friday arrived and spot on 18:00 Chris and I headed for a local bar glad to put the week behind us. Vikram and Sandra joined us an hour or so later and we headed for a nearby restaurant for dinner. We finished up about 23:30 and headed for home having made plans to tour old Delhi Saturday.

Chris and Sandra picked me up at 11:30 and we headed off for old New Delhi. We arrived about an hour later and headed into the throng of people making our way towards

Jama Masjid,

the largest mosque in India. Unfortunately it was near to prayer time and was closing to tourists so we opted to come back later heading of towards

Chandni Chowk

, by way of

Chatta Chowk

(covered bazaar). Once in

Chandni Chowk

we found the

Digambara Jain Temple

. Unfortunately camera’s are not allowed so I can’t show you just how beautiful it was, but it really was.

After looking around we were all feeling hungry and Sandra hadn’t experienced Karims, so we walked back via

Jama Masjid

, cutting through the main courtyard and found Karims without a problem. After butter chicken, mutton rice, lamb kebab’s, and butter narn we headed back to

Jama Masjid

for a proper look around. When we finished we called for the car and sat on steps of

Jama Masjid

watching life go by. It’s complete chaos and personally I couldn’t take it for too long, but it was very interesting watching life go by.

We then headed for

Humayun’s Tomb

, described in the Lonely Planet guide as a “must see tomb”. It was quite remarkable and the symmetry, especially of the water features, is amazing to see. The effort put into these places is admirable but I can’t help but wonder if they had spent the money on the country India might be a lot further advanced than it is.

We were all knackered after the visit to

Humayun’s Tomb

so we headed back to Gurgaon, via the off-license at the Galleria Mall for beer and snacks. Chris and Sandra hadn’t seen my apartment and a review of some of the Wii games I had brought back with me after visiting the UK. Sandra and Chris headed for home about an hour later and I spent the evening chilling out in front of the TV quite happy that I had done something with the day. Today I am taking it easy. The tailor is coming round between 15:00-16:00 to do the first fitting of my suit and then I am off to do some shopping and get my photo’s taken for my registration tomorrow morning. Then I fully intend to lounge about and chill out.

Okay so the New Year hangover has worn off and I am once again able to type a semi-coherent sentence (well as coherent as I ever am). So where did I leave off, that’s right the Taj Mahal and my update on the 27th December. Well I haven’t been sat around doing nothing.

After relaxing for the day after the trip I was ready to party and was in the New Year spirit so on Saturday 29th December I meet up with my Windows support team at a restaurant called “Cafe Morrisions” in New Delhi’s Southern Extension. Parking in New Delhi is a nightmare but Karan my driver managed to get me as close as possible and I ventured off on foot to find the place. It took less than 5 minutes, mainly due to the bloody big sign (Not sure how we didn’t see it from the road) but the guys were caught up in traffic so I took a look round and ended up buying a new pair of shoes (I’ve turned into a woman). We eventually tied up and ventured inside. I was surprised as it could have been any american themed dinner anywhere in the world. We knew it was India however from the Disco playing 80′s and early 90′s music loud enough to deafen if the hardest rock fan. The menu was international, well as international as it gets in India and we ordered a range of dishes, from the Mexican and Indian menu’s. We drank, ate, and talked until midnight and then made our way to our respective homes.

Sunday was another quiet day, but I was hungry by midday and couldn’t be bothered to cook and the thought of take away just didn’t appeal. I made my way up to the mall’s and settled on Ruby Tuesday’s. I sat and read the paper while enjoying a cold beer and then ate chicken, mash, and vegetables and felt human again. I had a few more beers and then made my way home. I had a drinking head on by the time I got home, but had work the following day and a New Year party in my sights so made myself a coffee and sat down to read a book. I read for about an hour and my eye’s started to get heavy so I laid on the bed and woke up about 4 hours later. I was hungry again but this time couldn’t be bothered going out (life is complicated) so made myself bean’s on toast covered it in cheese and ketchup and took to the sofa for a movie watching session.

Monday I was up at 06:00 and after showering I pottered around and waited for Karan to arrive. We headed off to the office and I spent the day wishing I had booked it off (I am not sure I didn’t to be honest). Well the office was quiet and nobody was really in the mood to do anything too heavy so I caught up with my email and organized my diary for the coming week.

Vikram and I agreed to meet up at 20:00 to see in the new year as I left the office at 17:30. I got home and laid on the bed knowing it was going to be a long night and after setting my alarm for 19:30 allowed myself to doze off. The alarm woke me as it was supposed to do, and I grabbed a shower and changed. Karan picked me up at 20:00 and we headed for Vikrams, via the wine shop to stock up on a couple of items we had forgotten to get on the way home from work. Once at Vikram’s we grabbed a few drinks before heading off to meet up with some of his friends. Once we had found each other we headed to a nearby society function and commenced the real drinking. As the night went on we drank, talked, drank some more, talked crap, and drank even more. As the countdown was announced I grabbed my phone and called home, slightly the worse for wear.

About 45 minutes later we headed back to Vikram’s place as it was getting very cold despite visit’s to the bonfire to warm up. We arrived back and met up with some of Vikram’s other friends and drank our way through to 04:00. I remember leaving, I remember getting in the car, I even remember going to getting out of the car. After that I remember nothing, other than I woke up New Year’s day at 13:30 with a very sore head, but safe and sound in my own bed.

Do I need to say that New Year’s Day was very quiet!!!!

Then it was back to work. The remainder of the week has been very subdued, but things are starting to pick up. Next week I am expecting things to get back to full swing as the UK and Europe return to work but last night and tonight are quiet nights, aka recovery time. That said we are planning a Friday night curry and beers tomorrow, so who knows.

Anyway I will provide the normal links to the photo’s (Please note no animals were hurt, well except the one’s we ate), before wishing you all a very Happy New Year.