Wednesday July 23

Another day in the city... although it is 3 pm and we have not made it out of the building yet! We have plans to meet up with our friends from Australia who just happen to be visiting Bangalore at the same time. What's amazing is that we met our friends, Kristin & Murali in Chapel Hill, while they were there for an extended gig at Duke last Feb. Kristin is originally from Cincinnati, and the coincidences don't stop there. They also have two little ones in tote- Maya (3) and Priyanka (~6mo).

They recently bought a flat in Bangalore and are sealing up some of the details on it, as well as celebrating Murali's father's 80th birthday. We have seen them a few times last week, and hope to today and tomorrow as well. They take off for Australia on Friday.

It has been such a fun time, miraculously knowing someone in Bangalore and having some sense of social connection with them. They are a great couple and often cause Sri and I to reflect on how to join cultures as well as they are doing. Sri is inspired to speak more Tele\ugu to the kids. I am inspired to have more patience with the laid back Indian way- as Kristin just seems to go with the flow of family, Tamil, kids, work, travel, sickness, whatever. We are lucky to have such a great connection with them.

So afternap- we'll meet up and do some more 'playing' and then maybe a dinner with them, depending on the state of the 4 little beautiful variables we have with us.

So, cheers to you all! We're thankful for all the great friendships we have back home and all of the things that we learn from each of you.