The Hustle Bustle of New Jersey

Dispersed between my gastronomic binging and retail therapy, I used my first week in the States to catch up with as many friends as I possibly could. The entire second week was going to be devoted to my cousin Sonals’ wedding, and the third week to recovering from the wedding and finishing up last minute shopping, so this was the time to see everyone. Much to all her grandparents’ dismay, I had the nerve to take Asha to see other people besides them, and they were gracious enough to let me.

We went twice to our playgroup (which is really too formal a word to describe how much these gals and babes mean to us), to dinner and a playdate with my law school friends Melanie and Jackie and their sons Dylan and Johnny, who are all just two weeks younger than Asha, and to her cousin Bryce’s house where we were able to spend time with all the children in the family and some of Sonny’s cousins. I was also able to get in some one-on-one time with my best friend Nipa, and even though we didn’t get to the beach, we had a fantastic (and expensive) time shopping for hours on end. It really was a wonderful week, filled with the best of everything New Jersey has to offer – friends, family and of course food.

The next week was all about the wedding – there was a shower for Sonal on Sunday, the graha shanti pooja (a religious ceremony) on Wednesday, the Mehndi (henna) party at Mom’s house on Thursday, pre-wedding dinner at the hotel Friday night, wedding on Saturday and post-wedding brunch on Sunday. Throughout all of these events, we were able to see and spend time with so much of my family, from in and out of town, dress up in Indian clothes nearly every day, and of course eat even more Indian food. By the end of this week, I felt as though it would be okay if I didn’t see any more family, eat any more Indian food ore Indian food or tell any more tales about life in Mexico for another three months, so long as I was able to get some sleep.

All this running around had left Asha kind of ragged as well – for the past two weeks she had been going to bed late, skipping a few naps and experiencing a lot of excitement. It was definitely time to wind down – only problem being that by the third week there were still people we wanted to spend time with (my grandmas and best friend Sudha) and shopping that I had to do. And so went our last week in New Jersey – running around while trying to savor every moment with Mom, get in as much pool time as possible (as we have no access to a pool in Mexico City), spend as much time as possible with Bhabhi, Moti and my adorably pregnant best friend Sudha, and of course buy as many veggie burgers as possible to sneak into Mexico.

But at last, we are finally home – and this time I mean Mexico City.