The Thota Family: November 2008

Welcome to India! Well it has been a year since we took our trip and I am finally getting it posted on our blog. We had such a great time! It was a beautiful place full of beautiful people. The best parts about our trip were: #1 I was finally able to meet my in-laws, #2 they were able to meet Krish, and #3 after FIVE years Kamal was finally able to be back home with his family. Here are just a "few" of our pictures.

Our plane arrived in India pretty late so we were anxious to get up early the next morning to look around and see exactly where we were. The picutre above is on top of my in-law's new house. In the back of the picture you can see Golconda fort. This is a very historic place in Hyderabad. We were able to go and visit, but we didn't get very many good pictures. It was very interesting to learn about the histroy of Hyderabad.

This is my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law, Madhu, with Krish and Kamal. My mother-in-law (Kusuma-Kumari) is such a sweet lady. She treated me like her own daughter and although she only speaks a little bit of English we were able to communicate really well. One night Kamal went to a movie with some friends and when he came home he was shocked to find me and his mom in her room "talking." We had a great time together and I can't wait to spend more time with her.

These boys came over everyday to play with Krish. Their parents were the "gate-keepers" of the community where Kamal's parents live. They were very cute with Krish and I was so glad he had some friends to play with. Krish actually had more visitors at the house than anyone else. He was pretty popular there.

This is my father-in-law (Chenna Rayadu) with Krish. My father-in-law also treated me really well and we got along great. He even told me, while I was there, that because I had married into the family I was now their daughter - it was very sweet. He told me a lot about the Indian culture and what some of their different traditions represented.

A few days into our trip we went over to visit some family friends. There was a time when Kamal's family and this family lived very near to each other. They become very close during that time and have stayed close ever since. They were very nice to us while we were there.

This is us at their house (my mother-in-law, my aunt, me, Kamal, my uncle, and my father-in-law).

We spent some time with Kamal's brother-in-law's family. Pictured above is his sister and mother. They were very gracious to us while we were there. We went over to their home a couple of times for dinner and they came over to my in-laws house as well. It was really fun getting to know them better.

We left Hyderabad for about a week and traveled to a few different places. We went to a place called Kadapa for Kumar's (family friend) wedding. Krish and I got a lot of attention while we were there. Picutured above is Kamal, me, Krish, and Madhu dressed in traditional Indian attire. I love this picture of Madhu - he looks like a bollywood star.

My mother-in-law, Kumar, me, Krish, and Kumar's mother.

Me and Krish after the wedding reception - we were SO tired. It took us about 11 hours to get to Kadapa and our driver drove like a crazy man.

The next morning we went to the actual wedding ceremony. Their traditional dresses are so pretty and it was fun to wear them.

My cute husband and son.

One of the best parts about going to Kadapa, was that most of my mother-in-law's side of the family was there. We were able to meet a lot of them and spend some time together. Pictured above is one of Kamal's cousins and her family. They were all so nice. The kids hung out with me and Krish during the afternoon in our hotel room. They were really sweet kids and were so polite.

This is Kamal's Grandmother. It was so great to meet her and to see Kamal interact with her after such a long time. Kamal was very much in his element on our trip and I felt like I got to know him in a whole new way.

I mentioned above that I got a lot of attention in Kadapa. I was asked for my autograph in this town as well as my phone number. Some of these girls pictured above followed me around all day at the wedding. I guess now I know what it feels like to be a celebrity : ) .

Me with Praneeth. He was one of Kamals' cousin's son. Very cute. Krish loved giving him hugs.

Krish was a little "star" in India. Random people would come up and pinch his cheeks and it seemed like everybody knew who he was which I know sounds strange, but I'm kinda serious. We went to a famous museum on our trip called "Salar Jung" As we would leave each room in the museum there would be a line of people waiting for us to pass so that they could pinch Krishs' cheeks. It was unreal.

After we went to Kadapa we traveled a couple more hours to the most famous temple in India called Tirupati and was built with pure gold. It has thousands of visitors daily. It was very beaufitul there. We got there very late at night and they told us that our time to view the temple would be at 3:45 - well I was thinking 3:45 p.m., but it was actually 3:45a.m. So, we basically took a nap and then got up to go and see the temple. It was very pretty! Out of respect you can donate some of your hair to the temple. Krish gave five locks of his hair and Kamal's father gave all of his hair, which is pretty common to do.

This is us after we visisted the temple. I wish I had better pictures of the grounds at the temple - it was very lush and green there.

I wanted to capture a picture of how busy the streets were, but this doesn't show it at all. Still you can see the little taxi's that they have there.

Sunflowers on our drive between cities.

At Nagarjuna Sagar

Krish had a lot of fun with his Uncle Madhu.

Grandma and Krish

Me and my mother-in-law

Krish feeding his Grandpa pomegranite seeds.

Krish and Kamal

Kamal and his cousin Ramurthy. They are very close and had a lot of fun hanging out after such a long time.

This is a picture of Charminar. A very historic landmark in India - Kamal promises to update the blog on it's history.

This is a picture of Suwana, Krish, and Grandma. Suwana was my in-law's cook. She was very cute with Krish and made us some wonderful Indian food.

Kamal with his sisters' in-laws: Santosh, Krish, Kamal, Mavayya, and Vasudha

Vasudha and Krish

One thing I miss about India is that every morning and afternoon we would have this wonderful hot drink called Bournvita. It was so good. This is the daily ritual of Kamal and his brother - drinking Bournvita and reading the paper.

Krish loved to play with his grandpa's cell phone. I had to get a picture of him doing it, because he spent a lot of time sitting in that corner plugging in and unplugging it.

Krish playing with his Grandma and Grandpa.

One thing I loved about Inida was how convienent everything was. If you wanted a drink or a snack you could pull over several places and there would be someone selling something. We pulled over one day to have some coconut juice.

This was us at another wedding. In India most people eat with their hands. I started doing this myself while I was there. It was easier to mix up the food and it did taste better without the slight taste of metal that gets in your mouth with silverware. You can see above there is a place to clean your hands after you are done eating.

Me and Krish at the wedding.

Madhu and Krish

We spent a lot of time around this table eating some of the best Indian food I have ever tasted. I don't know why, but I thought I might actually lose weight on this trip - I wrong. I think I gained 8 lbs. while we were there.