Hi Everyone --

Only 1 1/2 weeks until Egypt!

Monday this week was another holiday, this time a Hindu one. It's called Dassera, and it's a time for poojas and asking blessings on homes and cars etc. The Hindus like to decorate with the flowers and give a prayer, incense, and break a coconut as they ask for a blessed car or apartment. I was out in the market on this day and took pictures of the various vehicles that had been blessed that day -- a car, motorcycles, a rickshaw, and even the police paddy wagon. The flowers are purchased along the street, where they are strung all day long. There are lots of these places set up all over to get the flowers ready for the poojas on this day.

I went to the market as well. I thought you would like to see my fruits and vegetables. These are what I got a Shivaji market for $7.50 US. I bring them home and soak and wash them in good water then put them away. I usually cut the cauliflower and broccoli and beans for the whole week.

Doug's US boss was here this week to see how things were going. He took us to dinner at a very fancy Japanese restaurant and we could have sushi if we wanted. This was our first experience with Japanese food, and Hannah and I weren't too adventurous, but we did fine.

Doug was off Friday for Gandhi's birthday. We wondered if your Google had Gandhi's picture or just ours on Google India.

We saw a fun movie too -- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We thought the theatre would be full, but there were very few people there. We did have a new experience though -- after the Indian national anthem and the previews, a different movie started (an American movie popular now, rated R). Lots of people got up to go find out what was going on. They came back and said the theatre people were going to change it. They did, and so we watched Cloudy. I thought that each of you kids would really like it for different reasons. I hope you'll get a chance to see it sometime.

We hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Lucinda