Rakhi and our last day in India!

We celebrated Rakhi before we left India! All the brother's got Rakhis tied to their wrists and they gave their sisters money as a token of love!

Smiti Bhua ties Rakhi on Rohit's wrist then feeds him some delicious Gulab Jamun!!

Sahana ties Rakhi on Kabir Bhaiya's wrist...And before she even finishes she puts out her hand for money!!

"Are you sure that's all you can give me?"

Now it's your turn Kunal Bhaiya!

Man! It's a stingy world! Oh Well! I guess it'll have to do for now...

Daadi ties Rakhi on Chand Uncle's wrist...

...then she feeds him his favorite sweets!!

Veena Aunty ties Daadu's Rakhis for him!!

...And then feeds him delicious Jalebis...YUM!!

On our car ride to the airport,
Sahana sits on Smiti Bhua's lap and Smiti Bhua Loves it!! 

That is the end of our 3 week trip to India!!
It was a blast but we are all anxious to get home!
Kunal and Sahana pose for one last time at the
Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Last stop - Delhi

Here is Nishant Bhaiya and Sahana enjoying the swings across the street 

 Kabir pushes Sahana on the swings...

In India you can have McDonald's delivered to your home! So here we are placing our delivery order on-line! 4 spicy McChicken sandwiches, 4 large fries, 1 McAlloo Tikki sandwich... 

Giddy-up horsey!! Sahana gets a horse back ride while we wait for the McDonald's delivery

                    

Smiti Bhua lays down as Sahana gives her a check-up with her new Doctor's kit!

YAY!! Here comes the McDonald's delivery guy! The delivery guy was wondering what all the fuss was about until we told him that in the US we don't have McDonald's delivery!! 

Kunal gets our orders and pays the delivery guy!! Lets eat!!

Kunal enjoys his spicy McChicken sandwich...and boy was it spicy!!

Kabir gets his standard 10piece Chicken McNugget meal with fries... 

Here is Kabir in South Extension at the Quality Chaat House eating a Dosa that was bigger than the circumference of a bicycle wheel!! 

 Kabir decided to venture out and go shopping with us in Lajpat Nagar Market!! Big mistake!! ARE WE DONE YET? CAN WE GO HOME NOW?

Daddy helps Mom pick out a beautiful Anarkali outfit!

 

Sahana and Zahara have a little play date at Zahara's house!!

Zahara is Sonie's school friend's daughter who lives in Noida.

We all go for dinner to Smiti Bhua's house.
She has a beautiful house that she has designed and decorated herself.

We had some delicious snacks and drinks followed by an even more delicious meal! 

Sahana gets a ride on Nishant Bhaiya's shoulders

 Nishant Bhaiya and Sahana check on Smiti Bhua in her kitchen...

"So, what's for dinner?"

Chand Uncle, Rohit, Smiti and Sahana enjoying a laugh!

Shimla - Viceroy Regal Lodge

The Viceroy Regal - Lodge in Simla is a popular tourist attraction. It has historical importance to boast of also. Several historic events took place inside the walls of this beautiful building. The decision of the partition of India was taken by Nehru, Jinnah and Mountbatten in the conference room of this regal lodge. The Shimla Conference in the year 1945 also took place in this lodge. 

Sonie and Kunal pose in front of the massive fireplace in the Lodge

Our guide told us that this table was significant
 in the signing of many historic agreements

Okay! We came, we saw, now lets go shopping!!

Sahana and Kunal waiting for the rest
of the slow pokes to catch up!

Shimla

The Jakhu Temple has an interesting legend behind it. It is said that a deadly arrow injured Lord Rama's brother Lakshmana when he was fighting the battle with the demon king Ravana. A priest diagnosed Lakshmana and said that he needed a particular Sanjeevani herb from the Himalayas to cure Lakshmana. Hanuman was sent to get that herb from he lofty mountains. Upon reaching the Himalayas, Hanuman couldn't make out as to which herb was the Sanjeevani. So he dug up the entire mountain and flew back to where Lakshmana was lying injured.
After Lakshmana was cured, Hanuman went back to place the mountain in its original site. He rested on top of the Jakhu hill for sometime. It is said that the top of the hill got flattened due to Hanuman's weight! The temple has been built around the place that is supposed to have the footprints of Hanuman.

The monkeys here are extremely aggressive. We were told to leave all our belongings like cell phones, purses, scarves keys etc.in the car, because the monkeys will try to snatch them from you. They even go into your pockets if they think you have something in there...We witnessed a monkey trying to pull a purse off a lady's shoulder as she was screaming for help.

In 2008 a 108Ft statue of Hanuman was placed here. This statue can be seen from different spots all around the Shimla mountains.

We were given sticks by the hotel we stayed at just so we could keep the monkeys away from us. Kabir wanted to poke one of the monkeys and boy was he surprised when the monkey tried to attack him...Sahana was so amused she wanted him to do it again!! Here you can see Kabir trying to provoke the monkey sitting up on the green tin roof...

Just to show you how big this statue was...
my height is shorter than the length
of one of Hanuman Ji's feet 

These are the beautiful mountains
of Shimla that are so densely populated

The winding roads going up to Shimla were not easy to maneuver but we made it, although a few of us lost their lunch on the way up...not saying who....

Here we are at Mall Road which is the
downtown hot spot in Shimla.
Of course Sonie had to go shopping!!

I just had to take this picture!

This is a shot of the beautiful, luxurious, heated, indoor
swimming pool at the Oberoi Cecil Hotel in Shimla!
You almost don't want to step in it, it was so beautiful!

This is a shot of the lobby of the Oberoi Hotel we stayed at!!

Rohit and Sahana standing outside our room

And here is Sahana, claiming the little Diwan for her bed!!
Yeah right!! She did not sleep in it one night!! She spread out on
the huge kingsize bed like she always does...

Here Sahana is getting ready to jump in to the beautiful pool!

Daddy and Sahana enjoying a relaxing swim
after a long day of sight seeing and shopping!