The next time I'm in India, I hope it's for elective surgeries at discount prices.

That title has nothing to do with this post, but I felt the need to share that fact with the universe.

I do believe this day has gone by without incident. We visited with relatives in different villages and drove to my father-in-law's farm. He is retired from his job for the government, as Assistant Director of Agriculture, but is so passionate about farming, he now has crops on thirteen acres of land. Today my children frolicked in a tobacco crop. I showed them how to roll a cigar extra tight. Just kidding, I didn't want to touch those leaves. They were excited to see a pumpkin patch, cucumbers (which are spherical here),  chilies, and other various vegetables and fruit trees. The kids had a great time and their mother pretended to have a great time, while secretly keeping a constant and fretful watch for snakes. I am pleased to report that I didn't spy a single one. But that should already be evident because if I had seen one, you would have already received word of my untimely demise by sheer fright.

This tractor was blocking our exit so we just had to wait until they were done unloading it.

When you visit some one's home for the first time, as you're leaving, they give you fruit, a cloth and a bindi made of red powder. This is Raja's aunt.

The school next door. Meet the future doctors and engineers of  America!

It's true many Indians want to immigrate to the U.S. and go on to have great wealth and success there, but that is not always the case. One of the couples we visited today, Raja's aunt and uncle, had spent 6 months visiting their son and his family in New Jersey. They said it was like a prison sentence. They felt constricted (ha! still thinking about snakes) by the weather, the language, the culture; it just wasn't for them. They do not want to ever return. I think that is probably a common reaction for many Indians visiting the West. They love their own food, language, religion, weather and culture and wouldn't dream of trading it in.

And I can totally relate. I've been to 9 different countries, but I don't believe I'm a person who particularly likes to travel. I can see the hospital I was born in from my front window.

There's no place like home!