So many things to write about ... and I dont know where to begin....

Starting with my very eventful take off from Washington to London.... travelling alone has never been a problem for me...except when there are 3 suitcases, 1 laptop bag and a hand bag.... and all 3 suitcases behave like crazy children on an adrenalin rush... with each of them rolling off on their own free will.. ofcourse added to the fact that in America there is no "coolie" to help you put your bags in.... anyways I managed to pull all my stuff onto the taxi and went off to the airport... on reaching i managed to get out and pull along a cart to take my suitcases... and I distinctly remember asking the taxi driver to wait... but all I remember is that the taxi driver just drove off with my laptop bag... I was livid, confused and above all panicky... and to top it all, in my effort to find a telephone service I had to abandon my three suitcases for a while... and the police nearly came and took them away.. it took all my lawyering skills to convince them of what happened....

Anyways I got the laptop bag and was off to London... Luckily I was in the business class so I had a comfortable journey at least.... and the transition to London was very much set in motion by the BA attendant handing me the Daily Mail paper.... which screamed that Catherine Zeta Jones was not taking up the latest film offer to be by her husbands side... nice... onto the land of the tabloids I say...

Ofcourse I landed on my bday in London... and I was lucky enough to have a friend from Germany visit me for my bday... so the day started off with a lunch with another law schoolite.... its amazing to see so many people from law school do so many wonderful things in life..... and then it was a walk through covent garden and a cup of hot chocolate to warm up the rainy day in London... and then met with another friend from law school... spent a good 3 hours chatting... and bday dinner was at one of the best lebanese restaurants in SOHO... followed by a night out at SOHO which was clearly the best part of my bday...

And today was spent sleeping, walking around in the familiar haunts of London (nice to see the old lebanese place still open) and generally feeling at home. And today was also the day CWG games were to open in India... and I was feeling really anxious about it ... will this be a moment when all the pride that I have been exhibiting about India would come crashing down? Would I be the butt of all ridicule with people pointing out to me and saying "you are proud of this India? hah, India cant even host a game with a lead time of 7 years"... I was almost scared that I would be laughed at on the streets of London...

Buttttt... India pulled it off... what a spectacular display it was... and with every dance and every song my chest swelled up in pride... I loved the fact that India emphasised on the "Indianess"... so it was the various dance forms of India, the yoga, the father of the nation, bollywood and even the train! what a marvelous tribute to India... the ceremony gave tribute to all the small small facets of India such as the dabbawallas, the HP gas cycles, the bangles, the bazaars, etc etc...

and when I walked out on the streets of London after the ceremony I think I was an inch higher... and able to look people straight in the eye and say "Yes, we did it! Jai Ho!"... and one person on the street actually told "Namaste".. maybe he watched the ceremony maybe he didnt... but I liked the greeting...BBC here reported that India actually put up a spectacular show.. and it was nice to see Asia doing it this time round...

2010, nice show!