7 years ago today I married my best friend, Sweta. I had known her for over 4 years at that point. Our wedding took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – in a park overlooking the city. It was a hybrid ceremony – christian and hindu – and was administered by a South Indian priest who lived in the suburbs. The majority of the ceremony involved our priest speaking in sanskrit – such that no one present knew what was going on. But it didn’t matter – at least not to me. I was ensuring that my best friend would be by my side for the rest of my life. A band of penguins playing kazoos could have conducted that service and it wouldn’t have made a shred of difference to me.

7 years. In many ways it seems like so long ago. Life has changed a lot. We live in India. We have 2 kids. And both of us have added a couple pounds. In other ways it seems like just yesterday we were up there in front of our friends and family – starting our life together. Unsure of what the future would bring, but hopeful and confident that whatever would come along we’d be happy since we were together.

7 years ago we stood there as a symbol of love. And today, I thought I’d give her 7 things that I love about her:

- She loves food and searching for new and exciting recipes to try – almost always a good thing.
- She refuses to laugh at my jokes – which makes me only want to hear that laugh more.
- She never blindly accepts opinions or facts – she’s always digging for the truth.
- She manages the money well and knows how to spend it even better.
- She gave me two sons – multiplying our love.
- She makes me want to be a better person – a better husband, a better father.
- And she’s the most beautiful woman I know and still my best friend.

7 years. 84 months. 365 weeks. 2557 days. 61360 hours. 3,681,642 hours. 220,898,520 seconds, and worth every single one.

I love you.

My brother in law spends Easter in Darjeeling every year – playing a cricket match against his old school – St. Paul’s. The whole family tagged along this year and had a great time – enjoying the cold weather thoroughly.

This was my second time to Darjeeling, so we had a list of things we wanted to do again, but wanted to add some new experiences to the trip as well.

1. Kunga’s Restaurant - If you only have one meal in Darjeeling, go here. Amazing. We ordered way too much and ate it all. Momos and Wai-Wai are obvious choices (and wonderful), but we were surprised by the food we ordered for my son – a pancake (literally 2 cakes made in a pan, with caramelized bananas in between) and a delicious cheese omelette. Yum.

2. The Drive – The gentle sway of the car might try to get you to sleep. Fight it. Otherwise you’ll miss some breathtaking views and a full understanding of how insane these drivers are – this is a single lane road being used for two way traffic! Make sure the kids sleep though, otherwise they might just throw up all over you… twice. True story.

3. Markets – Whether it’s the long street market or the more “mall-like” shopping areas, deals abound in Darjeeling. Shoes, hats, scarves, or even women’s underwear with a zipper pocket (yes!), Darjeeling has it all. My son is still talking about Dragon Market where he bought his favorite pair of shoes.

4. Toy Train – This is a small train that weaves through the mountains and connects the small towns along the way. It actually doesn’t stop in Darjeeling, but close by in Ghum. It’s a great ride with some spectacular views. Nothing like the movie at all… outside of being utterly charming.

5. The People – A mixture of the best in Indians, Chinese, and the Swiss – the people are wonderfully hospitable, kind, and respectful. They somehow have allowed their whole town to become a giant living room for people from all over the world without going crazy. Kudos to them.

My morning starts with a cup of hot masala tea – Chai. A black tea concoction with milk and sugar. Unless I’m in Hyderabad… then I have coffee. Tea in India – especially Kolkata – is a ritual or maybe just a habit. At least 2 times a day, if not more, depending on how stressful your day is or how restless your night.

I prefer to make my own tea, and I often tweak the recipe to make it better. I’ve added cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, even pepper once. I’ve toyed with different proportions of milk to water, and at one point was convinced that by putting the sugar in early I was making better tea (I wasn’t, I was just using more sugar).

My current recipe serves 2:
- 1 and a half mugs of water put to boil.
- Grate a “thumb” of ginger into the water.
- Add 2 crushed green cardamom seeds
- Once it starts to boil and the water smells good and turns yellow
- Add in a half a mug of milk.
- Bring it to a boil. Then turn it down.
- Add 5 teaspoons of black darjeeling tea.
- Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Just as the color is getting darker. Let some of the water boil out. The longer you boil, the stronger the tea flavor will be and the more creamy the consistency.
- Strain out into 2 mugs.
- Add sugar to taste – depending on the mug size, but I usually put in 4 teaspoons.
- Enjoy with some koki or just the morning newspaper.