Food: More chai

De rigeur upon landing up, after all.

Food: Chai

Tea break en route to Shimla, somewhere near Dagshai.

Dehradun, land of sweets

"Land of Rain" might be a better nickname for Dehradun in the 28-odd hours since I arrived here -- but in memory, for me, it's the land of sweets made by Gita-taiji, wife to one of Pops' six brothers.

We arrived yesterday afternoon and have had something sweet at every meal thus far. We started off at lunch with Gita-taiji's homemade gajar halwa.

Gita-taiji's homemade gajar halwa, that delicious carrot pudding.

At tea, we had an entire array of sweets to choose from -- so, obviously, I took one of each.

An assortment of Gita-taiji's sweets, including (l-r): sesame seed ladoo, coconut  burfi and besan burfi, which is made with gram flour.

Finally, we finished off dinner with a bit of gazak (more on that soon in a #latergram food catch-up) and some soan papdi.

I've had soan papdi before and found it just fine -- but this one, packed up from Haldiram's, was especially melty, like a good piece of cotton candy. (Pardon the turmeric under my nails.)

As you can see, I might have been underestimating my sweet tooth when I told Anna R. that I hadn't quite yet developed a taste for Indian sweets. As it turns out, I've been diving into them at every turn on this trip.

At the moment, in fact, I'm being summoned for my cooking lesson. Perhaps I'll be making some of these myself soon in San Francisco.

A drink

I had not expected to drink in Chandigarh, as I know Bua and Vinita-didi typically don't drink. It was also traditionally frowned upon, in less recent times in India, for women to drink -- and especially, I learned today, in the presence of their elders. (As drinking is not the purpose of my trip to India, however, this was of course not an issue of concern for me.)

As a special dispensation, however, drinks were offered tonight -- and Pops and I are being treated to a bit of whiskey, care of the spoils from Ashish-dada's wedding reception. (Thank you, Ashish! When we finally meet I shall return the favor.)

The whiskey hits the spot, versus a cold beer, in this heavenIy cool weather. I thought perhaps we would have our portions after dinner, but Pops disagreed.

"It's seven!" he said. "I am ready." It's happy hour. Here's to health and more gatherings.

Hello from cool, calm Chandigarh

We've arrived safely in Chandigarh, India's first planned city, where the current temperature is a cool, dry 57 degrees Fahrenheit. After Bombay's humid heat, it's an especially lovely climate.

The day has gone swimmingly. Our flight arrived five minutes early, and we were whisked from the airport to Bua and Vinita-didi's house. Here, we sat down right away in their gorgeous, bright sun room for tea.

Vinita-didi pours tea, with sweet and savory biscuits in the background.

We spent a few hours talking and looking at old photographs that have been posted on the family's website before digging into Vinita-didi's delicious lunch. More on the photographs and lunch soon.