Great adventures in Pune! Part Three

February 13th, Thursday:

A wonderful day was spent with the Jadhavs, a native Pune family I have known since my first visit in India, 30 years ago. Urmila has a 12 year old son--the age she was when I first met HER! Boy, do I feel OLD! (However, I DO enjoy being called "auntie", the charming local term for an "elderly" woman!) I was treated to a scrumptious, entirely home made lunch at their 3 generation home; we then spent the afternoon in their living room, catching up, sharing stories, and listening to her son demonstrate his prowess on a set of tablas. It was hard to leave them at the end of the day! I was made to feel--as always--an integral part of their family, even though, with their broken English and my complete lack of Marathi or Hindi language, communication was often quite tricky. Nonetheless, the communication of the heart was abundantly clear: we are truly family in the best sense, deeply connected for life.

From left to right: Urmila's oldest son; her father, Panderang; her mother, Shalini; Urmila; her husband Dilip. I could not for the life of me recall how to say--let alone to write--the names of her two sons...shameful!

The 12 year old plays the tabla...really quite skilled. Dilip--proud father--looks on happily

Walking home, bloated from eating too much but happy, enjoying some murals along the way:

I also passed a most amusing, "Shlocky" tourist bus, the entrance of the Pune University's main campus, and Ananda Mayee Ma's ashram-- a visit I want to make when I have time another day.