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This labor day weekend, the fam VRBOd a pretty nice woodsy property in the Poconos. It’s been years since some of us have met! The adults had some great time together just winding down while the kids literally brought the place down. The property had direct access to the Beltzville lake and almost everyone took to the water. A first of kinds…The kayaks weren’t the best maintained and a couple of us did take some falls in the water. Life jackets came in super handy! So thankful I learnt swimming early on. This weekend did bring out the outdoorsy flair from everyone. ...

M&S earned a few tickets to the Nationals game from the Arlington library!

Between moving, on-boarding, never-ending-checklists and spurts of laziness the last few months have been ridiculously busy. Visited the Museum of Natural History yesterday. Couldn’t do the Butterfly pavilion since tickets were sold-out. Could have planned this better! Nevertheless, had a great time out!

After three years of focused effort, this July 5th, I will be taking the Oath of Office as a Foreign Service Specialist. Super thrilled! The last twelve months has been crazy busy with lots of travel amidst heavy uncertainty. And our PCS move last week has been nothing different. We’re still waiting on Travel Order amendments but we were able to cost-construct our travel with some timely help from the GSO at the Chennai Consulate. A week of festivities in the family and we should be moving to Virginia for the next several weeks. Can’t wait to know my posting on Flag-day! ...

As I walked up from the basement this early morning, I got to capture this beautiful picture of the light from the laundry room ’lighting’ up the lamp from the Kolam. We performed Appa’s Satabhishekam today. His sisters could attend the ceremony in person and a good bunch of family zoomed in. Until yesterday, we weren’t even sure we’d make it in time for the event. Phew! He’s turning 86 this year! Several circumstances pushed this celebration until now and we’re so glad we could make it happen today. Highlight of the event was undoubtedly the veda recital at the end of the ceremony. Wish we recorded it! ...

Today marks my last day as a Certifying officer with USAID. Quite typical with my previous career moves, there was a fair share of uncertainty when I signed up for this position. I wasn’t very sure what exactly I was getting into and I guess that was likely the draw too. It’s been a terrific year and a half - Timing our relocation amidst the pandemic, Sifting between remote and on-premises, moving from the States and between the States, Balancing team and personality dynamics and over the last couple months - making the most of our time in Delhi. I’ll cherish my time here over the next several years and walk out having met and worked with some awesome colleagues. ...

L made me promise on Saturday night that I wouldn’t cancel the hike next morning. She had every reason to be doubtful since we’d cancelled the Rajgad hike earlier today. After our K2S hike last night neither Ankur nor I were in a mood to venture out in the heat. What we didn’t know however was that she traded a sleepover with her friend for the Saturday morning hike to Rajgad. With us on the hills all last night and bad network reception things fell between the cracks. Amends were made and we chalked out a plan to head to Lohagad/Visapur on Sunday first thing in the morning. ...

[caption id=“attachment_37938” align=“aligncenter” width=“1200”] Sinhagad at a distance. This picture is from on of my previous hikes.[/caption] Sharp at 0600 as we finally reach the road that winds up to Sinhagad, Ankur and I take a moment to savor the twilight chill. The last 7.5 hours has been nothing short of mesmerizing and rewarding. Just as it was twelve years ago when I did this hike with a much larger group. ...

‘Urbanization’ peeking in quite adjacent to the Hauz Khas fort. This beautiful reservoir and the surrounding wooded area sealed the deal! Spent quite some time exploring around here this evening. Can’t wait to introduce M&S to this place.

Buses have come a long way!