Stop slacking off!

I've been told that this morning by a person who enjoys those Kingfisher Bollywood movies (well at least the first half that she watched) and she can now do the head shake which she did at me on the plane! This threw me into such hysterics, it took a bit of time to control the laughter induced tears, and the person behind me must have wondered why the seat was shaking for so long. So, lots to update you on!

First, of all my work colleague arrived, hence I've had less time to spend on this. She has obviously started working on her head moves straight away - and I thought she was getting over jet lag! Ha - practicing in her room all that time!!
Well I've provided her with a nice and easy introduction into India - since I'm an old hand by now (for the dyslexics among you - old hand, not old HEN!). So on her second day in India we entered a burned building in search of someone we had an appointment with. This meant going up 4 floors, several times - since we could not find a nice alternative route to our destination and the lifts didn't work. She (my colleague - lets call her Helga - he he don't kill me!) didn't want to go down a completely dark corridor - fire caused power outage and there really wasn't a light at the end - she was worried that maybe the floor disappeared in the darkness... And my own inner light, to light up our path, wasn't enough for Helga... But an adventure it was - I tried to bring someone to the darkside and didn't succeed!

We then listened to me (how could she not) and rather than take a train between cities, we hired a car with a driver. Except when the car turned up it was quite cozy, driver didn't speak much English (though I translated well - old hand at this India stuff, again!) and we had to get over some mountains. Well, first we had to get out of Mumbai, and the extensive slums present there. So, I showed Helga how to slum through Mumbai! She loved it! Especially the mini car part, since she's a tall person!
Once we got out of Mumbai slums (2hrs) we hit the traffic jams and tried to go through short cuts (just as everyone else did) and we got stuck in traffic on the short cuts... When we came to the mountainous part, the aircon in the car stopped since the car could only cope with one task - cooling or climbing. So we sweated... I got punished in the end when the mini car hit a bump and I hit the roof - knocked some sense into me - next time take a train, I say now!!
Oh and Helga was rewarded (for her wisdom I suppose) her room was upgraded to a suite, with her own bar... and 2 bathrooms... and a dressing room...

The next day was my birthday and the world blessed me with my first case of Delhi Belly (DB)!! How nice! :-) I stayed in close vicinity of the bathroom, self-medicated and stopped eating altogether = symptoms subsided. Don't know what caused it, I took all precautions and Helga didn't get it.
But to celebrate my birthday we did the following:

• Went shopping in a cool Indian handicraft shop - my luggage is again over the limit.
• Helga bought me a bag that says - "Take me home. Happily Unmarried" - I'll have to take it to the Middle East! ;-)
• Hotel gave me a cake with a candle on it - we ate it with Helga, made me feel worse, she liked it.
• Helga ate lunch in my room (charged my account too!) while I hid elsewhere since I was starving and unable to eat... She also commented on how good the food was! But then her last bite included a chilli - he he! So she raided my mini bar for a drink - again on my account!
• The Kingfisher flight was going to be uneventful, except when they tried to charge me for excess luggage, I mentioned it was my birthday and got away with it (so did Helga!).
• The flight wasn't late at all and had Bollywood movies playing and H. did the head shake as I mentioned before.
• H. took me out to dinner, and I had LAMB! One should avoid meat to avoid DB but as H. correctly observed - it's not as if could get sick from it, I already was! So lamb was lovely!
• Oh and H. and I realised we were missing a flight in our itineraries - Kochi to Chennai - which would have been fun had we not noticed in time. I blame H. - she was supposed to check the flights after me!

I think that's it, if I remember anything I'll add it here. I also have some photos to add but will do it later - for those who look at this for the pictures - WAIT.
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes, absence of such have also been noted...

PS My dad posted a comment about my TALENT - in capitals! I think he very smart and always knows what he's talking about!! ;-)