Monkey business

Last weekend, my aunt's sister and their family had come to visit Baroda for Minna's birthday. They arrived on Friday night. On Saturday, we all went to one of Baroda's two museums. A few of the painting's really stuck out: the effect of the paintings changed as you moved around the room- similar to the Mona Lisa effect.
Later that day, we played some friendly badminton, and then went to eat some pani puri from a ladi in Fategunj. Forget the word sanitary. The dirt from the man's hand and the flies and insects simply enhance the taste ;). One by one, the ladiwala filled the small puris with potatoes dipped them in the water and served them to us. It really is an art. After that, as if I wasn't full already, we went to dinner and stuffed ourselves some more. Of course, the meal wasn't over until we had mawa ice cream in Sursagar. Oh how I love food. And oh how my plan to lose weight in India isn't working.
The next day, my cousin and some of the workers fixed the pipes on the roof where the water from the rains was accumulating. To do that, they climbed on a really tall scaffold. Of course, being a monkey myself, I couldn't help but resist climbing up there with them. Check out the pics (I'll put the link up soon). After that work was done, we headed out on another picnic. This time we stopped off at the camping ground we had checked out on our last picnic. After playing frisbee and dodgeball, we ate some delicious daal, and then headed to hawa mehl. (Check out the pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/saba.merchant/PicnicAtHawaMehelScenic) Hawa Mehl is an a structure located just above a lake on one side. There is always the best breeze there no matter when you go. When we had gone, the villagers were fishing down below.
That night was my last night at my Nani's house, so Minna and I pretty much stayed awake most of the night talking, monkeying around, and acting like the little children we are. The next day, after some shopping, I moved to my Amma's apartment, which is conveniently walking distance from my Nani's.