I never call, I never write.

Okay, so I'm still in India, Rajkot to be specific. We've had a wonderful time here so far and are continuing to do so. I'll write more details later - right now both my husband and son are taking an afternoon nap. We've been here for about five or six days and will be headed back to Bombay day after tomorrow. The flight over here and the all the flights we've taken within India have been remarkably smooth. So much so that I'm waiting for an all-out meltdown on the way back to the States. What kid remains calm on a 15-hour flight, 9 hours of which they're wide awake?

Still, we've only had mini-meltdowns so far, even though it took Ragsy about a week to get into a schedule again where he was sleeping more than four hours at a time. Which is saying a lot because, until we got to Rajkot, we'd been traveling somewhere by plane or car every two days.

So far, we've been to:

Bombay
Madras (Chennai)
Delhi
Agra
Back to Bombay
Amedebad
Rajkot

Tomorrow we'll take a day trip to Champrajpur.

I've only spoken the primary language in Bombay, so I've spent a lot of time either listening intently and learning either Gujurati, Tamil or Hindi or having the conversation flow around me. Ragsy is having a wonderful time - not getting quite as spoiled as we feared. And his speaking skills have truly bloomed. He says grandfather and grandmother in Tamil and Hindi respectively and great-grandmother in Gujurati. He's picked up a couple of other Hindi and Gujurati words plus started saying four-syllable English words and near whole sentences and actually communicating with us when he wants us to go somewhere instead of pointing. And if I don't get it, he'll actually grab my hand and take me there. Maybe he just needed the new experiences to jar his brain. He's certainly had them.

Unfortunately, being in a new place has made him very clingy, which is totally understandable. Also, I get stared at...a LOT. Not so much in Bombay, but since we got to Rajkot, I've had a few people stop, point and stare. Very, very weird.

I'm loving it here, but I'm looking forward to getting back. Things I want to do:

SHAVE (I've been advised not to due to water-borne diseases that can be picked up through nicks and cuts in the shower; therefore, I am become yeti, long-haired monster)

Sleep on a soft bed (most Indian beds are basically a 1- to 2-inch cushion on a wood platform; good for the back, but not if you have a toddler trying to climb on you to find somewhere soft to sleep)

Eat a steak (cows are sacred here - you see them walking around in the streets, but you can't eat 'em)

Cook and clean (every household I've been to has servants; it's nice, but I'm not used to calling someone from the kitchen to pass me a plate)

Work (if I lived here, I would have more substantial hobbies than I can take advantage of right now)

Well, I'm off to check up on the boys. It's the husband's birthday today. We're having a "small" to-do (with 20 people and a hired cook) and I need to get cleaned up.