India: Next Stop Mumbai!!!

I plan to finish out my India trip this week and next (hopefully!!!). The next stop on our trip was Mumbai. I had never really spent time there before so I loved it. We spent time with Shama's family and Sheetal and her family. Check out the sights we saw...

Nariman Point 

Sunset at Nariman Point

Queen's Necklace

The Taj Hotel with the new dome post-attacks

The Taj Hotel with the new dome post-attacks

The Four Seasons rooftop with Sapna, Shama, and Sheetal! :)

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 3 - The Streets

Hope you are having a great week!!! This post about the streets of Unjha brought me back to my childhood memories when I used to spend my winters there for almost 2 months with my schoolbag full of homework so I wouldn't fall behind in school. All my cousins I visited there remembered helping me in various subjects. My aunt also reminded me how I used to feed the stray dogs rotis and would keep asking her to keep making more. Enjoy my last posting about Unjha. Stay tuned for my next stop...Mumbai!!!

Rikshaw!!!

Cows chillaxing

Streets of Unjha

Of course there is a cow in the way of the car!

Popat kaka, Hiten, and Shama waiting for our freshly squeezed juice on the streets of Unjha

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 2 - Temples

In the 24 hours we spent in Unjha, we did as much as possible!!! We packed in visiting all my family but we also found time to visit some temples. The temple my family worships at is the Umiya Mata Mandir. When we went to this temple a large group that made a pilgrimage here had arrived so the temple was bustling for a Sunday night. The next day we went to another temple...I can't remember the name of it...but it was on beautiful grounds with a picnic area and a playground for kids. We took Shama to the Jain temples in Unjha. I had never been there before so this was also new for me! We made it to two of of the three Jain temples...one was closed when stopped by.

I have one more post of Unjha remaining! Hope you visit again next week! Have a great weekend!!! :)

Umiya Mata Mandir

Priest at the temple that I can't remember the name

Shama outside of the Jain temple

Inside the Jain temple

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 1 - Spice Market

I finally put my pictures from my India trip I went on back in November. I've used my India pictures to practice what I have learned so far in my new photo editing software, Lightroom, that was one reason for the delay...along with my laziness to go through a thousand pictures! I appreciate any feedback on how my pictures look and thoughts on how to improve them! I will post pictures from my trip slowly throughout the month.

Shama and I traveled around India for 19 days and visited 9 cities during that time...we visited our families, vacationed, attended my friend's wedding, and learned how to pack and unpack quickly! Our first stop from Chicago was Ahmedabad, a city in the state of Gujarat. We went there to visit my cousins and of course, do some shopping! We also had a chance to watch my niece, Aesha, compete in the Gujarat state championship!!!

Aesha playing tennis

Then we drove an hour and a half north to Unjha. We spent a night in Unjha. Shama had never been to Unjha so we had to take her to the main attraction...Asia's largest spice market known as the Ganj Bazaar. The market sells are cumin, sesame, mustard seeds along with psyllium (which is the fiber in Metamucil). My cousin, Hiten, and uncle, Popat kaka, took us around the market. We made a quick drive through to see the hustle and bustle in the area and stopped at my uncle's office there. Here is what we saw:

The Ganj Bazaar - Unjha's spice market

Piles of spices

Bagging to transport

Waiting to be transported - notice Patel on the bag? These are outside my uncle's office!

PATEL UNJHA!!! :)

Popat kaka (my uncle) outside his office.

Transporting sacks by pulling a cart...

...transporting sacks and a PERSON by pulling a cart...

...and transporting with a truck!!!

Home for the Holidays - Part 2 (Christmas)

I slept at my sister's house on Christmas Eve. Before the kids went to bed, Brianna wrote a letter to Santa for her and her brothers and left cookies and milk by the tree. We got up and the morning and opened all the presents under the tree.

All ready for Santa

Nilay, Brianna, and Nikesh ready to open presents!!!

Then all of the family came to my sister's house for dinner. We had a Mexican feast!!! The grandparents wanted to get all the kids presents so they got University of Michigan pillow pets for the 16 kids. As you can see from them opening them, they were a hit!

The pillow pet grandSANTAS!

Opening presents

University of Michigan Pillow Pet (Go Blue!!!)

Grandparents and kids!!!

The dads making a break with the presents!

Home for the Holidays - Part 1 (Christmas Eve)

Christmas Eve started off with a visit to a very quiet University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. We were the only souls walking around since everyone was gone for the holidays. Sonali, Alisha, Jenn, Sanay and I walk to the Diag where we walked AROUND but not on the "M." None of us wanted to fail our first blue book! 

Then we walked over to my favorite place on campus...the Law Quad. It was a quick trip but it was nice to be on campus, next time I hope to visit at a livelier time. Then we headed over to my cousin's house for Christmas Eve dinner. 

Before dinner they put together some "Minute to Win It" games for the family to play. Everyone had a great time playing and spectating! There was a game where you use a balloon to blow a row of cups off the table in a minute, another was to shake your booty until all the bells in the box fall out before your opponent, and the old classic "Pin-the-Nose on the Reindeer."

Watch that cup fly off the table!

The spectators cheering during the games! 

Getting ready for Pin-the-Nose

Trying to pin the nose on the reindeer just right

Who was the winner???

Preparing for the next challenge... 

The bells are ready. Get ready to shake your tiny booties!!!

The fallen bells

Then we had an Indian fest followed by an exchange of Secret Santa presents. The presents consisted of making an ornament and something bought. All the presents were great! 

Dinner time! 

Beautiful ornament

Visit my blog later this week to see what the Patel family did for Christmas...

Cupcakes!!!

If you know me, you know that I love cupcakes. Here are some pictures of the cupcakes that I made last month. The first two are Chocolate Velvet cupcakes that Viha and I made for Gopi's birthday. The second two are Pumpkin Ginger cupcakes that I made for Christmas dinner at my sister's place. Hope you like how they were decorated! I was quite proud of how they looked!!! :)

Side note: I just got a photo editing program and these are the first pictures I've played around with editing. I hope I made them look better. Also, I hope to start posting my India pictures next week so stay tuned!!!