Saturday evening Adam had heard that one of India’s most famous female singers was going to be in town and was having a concert. Ad got online and booked us tickets for $12 per person for Saturday evening fulfilling one of my “Indian bucket list items” of wanting to see and experience something cultural in India.
Unfortunately our day ended up being a little more rushed than we thought and we ended up not even getting back to our hotel until after the concert had already started. BUT, we showered and got ready as quickly as we possibly could, got dressed up in our best clothes, and headed out.
We had to laugh when we arrived though because the parking lot where the concert was being held was completely EMPTY. What the? We ended up finding a security guard who informed us that the concert had been canceled because not enough tickets had sold. BUMMER! I was actually completely relieved though (seeing that we were so late and had missed most of the concert anyway) but Adam was disappointed as he’d really wanted to go.
It all worked out well though as we had also made plans to go and visit our good friend Rajesh and his family for dinner, and so we just headed over to their place a little early. Meeting Rajesh’s family was something I had been really looking forward to especially after hearing so much about Rajesh’s wife and baby (Srija and Akhil) during Rajesh’s time with us in Utah. And because we already loved Rajesh – we knew we would love his family as well. We had such a great time meeting them!
UNFORTUNATELY I either left my camera at the hotel, or the battery died or something because I don’t have a single picture from our fun night together – BUT…I think Adam took some pictures on his phone so hopefully I can come back and fill this post in with those pictures once he gets them downloaded. For now though I just want to make sure I record what we did and the wonderful feelings we felt while there because it really was so special. It was just such a wonderful night filled with laughter, fun, friends, and food. We truly are so blessed!
Srija (Rajesh’s wife) was absolutely amazing and had so meticulously and thoughtfully prepared us a traditional Indian dinner. Rajesh said Srija had stewed and worried about what to make us and was afraid it would all be too spicy, but in the end it ended up being one of our very favorite meals, and definitely one of the most memorable! Srija and Rajesh really went the extra mile too and had big banana leaves for us to eat off of (instead of plates) as well which we thought was so neat! They also suggested we eat with our hands so we’d truly have the full experiencing experiencing their culture. We absolutely LOVED it and Srija really did an amazing job on the food. It was so good and very well prepared. We felt so much gratitude in our hearts for her efforts and time making us feel so special!
After our meal, Akhil (Rajesh and Srija’s son) woke up from his nap so we had fun playing with him. Akhil LOVES cars and trucks and so we raced cars all over the living room and then made big towers out of blocks (that we had brought him as a gift). Rajesh and Srija also gave us a beautiful new candy dish that was so kind and thoughtful. How we do love our friends! The night was just magical though and so fun and we loved created so many beautiful memories with our friends.
Adam unfortunately really starting dragging about 11:30 though as he’d literally been going nonstop for 2 weeks working 12-14 hour days and so we ended up leaving quite early (for India time) to get him home to bed. We both ended up falling asleep on the drive home! ha! But our night with friends had been wonderful and we were just left feeling very blessed to have such special people in our lives. Thank you Rajesh, Srija, and Akhil for the wonderful night, wonderful food, and for being such wonderful friends! We love you!