Happy Independence Day to every American and everyone else in the world

To share in the celebrations which will be cheering the hearts of everyone in America, I am posting some photos of our trip to America - the beauty of America is celebrated by us here in India too and we wish them the happiest and most joyous 4th of July ever.
.                              Samir on his Graduation Day in Stanford with Abha and Deepak
..                             This is my great Internet friend Diana with me and Abha in
                              Stanford  - we had a wonderful day together .  .                              Abha and me at Stanford's wonderful approach lawns
                               Our dearest friends RK and Sujata with us in Broadway N.Y.
.                     Such a wonderful song on the Broadway theatre mini screen behind us - so
.                                  I had a good dance with Abha amongst the crowd
.                               Tall young grownup Anurag & me at the Nashdaq, N.Y
                                  Dallas with Sudhanshu, Monica, Sumona & Ramona
                                  and my great friend of a decade Kathy the Professor
                                  of American Literature who flew down from Greenville
                                  Illinois to be with us - such a great first time meeting



 We went with Monica and Sudhanshu and the kids to a wonderful Safari place near Dallas - lots of fun and a wonderful experience - we also went to Billy Joe's Ranch and danced there.







.                                 SEATTLE -  Great city and wonders all around

.                                 Deepak at Alcatraz Prison Administrative building

.                                 On the way to Niagara we visited this MUST visit museum
                                  and got to know that Glass is more beautiful than virtually
                                  anything if properly crafted.
.                         Abha, Sujata, me and Gavy at the Lincoln Memorial Statue
                          in Washington
                           Strolling down the street of Carmel, C.A. on my Birthday
                           26th July with Abha
                           Gavy, RK,Sujata, Abha and Deepak at Niagara Falls
                           It is really a natural wonder of the world beyond compare
                          At the lone Cypress - Monteray C.C. this is the famous
                          TREE HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD THEY SAY
                                                    I think this is one of the great Juniper trees Peter has
                          written about - it is on the famous 17 mile drive at Carmel/
                          Monterrey

                          Sam, Abha - Deepak

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR SEASON - DECEMBER 2011

I thought that I should save some pictures of December 2011 for posterity - several parties, a lot of togetherness and it was a season to reconnect with friends and family - so these are random pictures of me and my family and some of our friends ... my heritage family party at home in Delhi, the visit to Hardwar for Abha's fathers birthday at Abha's brother Aloks house there, the wonderful Christmas celebration and dance and bonfire and the Christmas tree with all the presents at home in Dehradun like the good old days once more, the visit to Faridabad to Abha's sisters house and the fine very very tasty dinner at Kota House with Arvind as well as the slurp slurp dinner at Karim's in Delhi - every moment was special ... posted with love and affection to every one and wishes for a very very wonderful new year 2012

DEEPAKS FAMILY GET TOGETHER IN DELHI 17TH DEC 2011

One day I thought that time and tide have resulted in a widening abyss between every one in our family - the children have no idea of our heritage - they have no knowledge of the sacrifices and bravery of our forebears who had to leave everything behind in Pakistan during the terrible days of India's partation and the creation of the new country 'Pakistan' in the Northwest of our country, of the massacres that took place - I had posted a blog on Jan 8, '08, especially for my Aunt Mrs. Promilla Ghose which will give an idea of what they all went through to give a secure new home and a new life after the partition of India - you can read it at End of an Era - An Eulogy dedicated to Mrs Promilla Ghose my Great aunt on my blog - http://deepakdemoninlove.multiply.com/journal/item/73/End_of_an_Era__An_Eulogy_dedicated_to_Mrs_Promilla_Ghose_my_Great_aunt .
So I planned a party and invited 35 people of my maternal side of the family - but again events often do not happen as they should -
1. Derek (Uncle Ozzie's son) and his family - wife and two children could not come because he was down with a heart problem
2. Dinky (Aruna Paul) my cousin along with Anil and their newly married son and bride could not attend because Anil had fixed a national level meet or something where they all had to go
3. Aunty Maureen - the last surviving of our older generation who were born in Quetta (Now in Pakistan) is over 80 years old and had to be brought by Derek and consequently could not come
4. Ronnie's son Kabir was not well and so his wife Sudha had to stay behind to care for him.
6. Tina (Vikrams wife Edna's sister with her husband and kids could not come because Eric was not well and Tina had her school function on that date itself - 4 Less sigh!
5. In addition, Abha's sisters from Jhansi and Muzaffarnagar had said that they would be with us - but only Gaurav arrived - so that made 6 less
So to finish the tally - finally there were only 15 of us left!
But we had a great party - and celebrated the day with lots of fun and laughter and reminiscences of the great times we had in the yesteryear filled with a little nostalgia and lots of laughter! There were Aunty Mano, Roma, Ronnie, Me, Abha, Gaurav, Percy and his wife Seema and kids Shalini and Mister Jerry, Jatin with his wife Meenu and kids
I am posting photos of the evening for every one to see in a separate album and the link is http://deepakdemoninlove.multiply.com/photos/album/60/17TH_DEC_2011_DEEPAKS_FAMILY_GET_TOGETHER_ -
Hope you all enjoy the pictures
Deepak