Holiday at Lakshadweep (and Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai) -- March 2004

Jaya and I went for a holiday to the Lakshadweep islands in March 2004. We also visited Chennai (where we stayed with Cdr Mathew George & Amina, met my niece Bidisha and her husband Satya and took a conducted tour to Kanchipuram / Mahabalipuram), Kochi (where we stayed at the Naval Holiday Home, enjoyed the hospitality of Cdr Abdul Rauf & family, Cdr Gopu and Cmde Ravi Chander) and Mumbai (where we stayed with Ashutosh Ojha and met our elder daughter Debashree, Mitali Boudi & family and many Naval and IITkgp / LLR friends). Let me share some photos with you.

N.B. : One may click on the thumbnails below to see enlarged versions

é Amina George -- the Principal in her office at the A.M.M. School, Chennai	é Amina, Cdr George and Avanti at home	é Jaya, Amina and George waiting for lunch at Annalakshmi, Mount Road	é DM and George go-karting near Chennai
é Bidisha visiting us at Georges' place	é Bidisha and Satya in front of their home	é Exquisite temple sculpture at Kanchipuram	é Temple ritual at Kanchipuram
é One of the  magnificent temples at Kanchipuram	é Beautiful sculpted stone architecture on the Mahabalipuram sea-coast
é Krishna's butter (stone!) ball	é The shimmering lagoon at Muttukadu	é The Naval holiday home at Kochi where we stayed	é An old cathedral at Fort Kochi
é Chinese fishing nets at old Kochi	é Cdr Gopu, Cdr Rauf and Rauf's younger son	é Mukherjees enjoying Raufs' hospitalty	é Cmde Ravichander in his office (NSRY)
é M.V. Tipu Sultan -- our cruise ship	é View from the lighthouse at Minicoy		é Local folk dance at Minicoy
é View of coral at Kavaratti thro' glass-bottomed boat	é Jaya getting ready for SCUBA diving at Kavaratti	é Kalpeni was the most picturesque of the 3 islands we visited. The small islets off Kalpeni, where we went kayaking, were lovely. Also, snorkelling gave a great view of coral and marine life in the shallow reefs between the islets.
é One of the islets off Kalpeni	é Debashree (our elder daughter) and her roommate Mahima at Mumbai	é Jaya inspects her daughter's room	é Debashree and Ashutosh at his lovely apartment at Bandra (where we stayed)
é Get-together of Naval batchmates at the U.S. Club, Colaba. L to R -- the Gopalkrishnans, the Laghates and the Vaidyas.			é After dinner at U.S. Club we all gatecrashed into Sarwates' place for coffee / liqueur
é Cmde Sarwate + sheepish grin	é Meeting Vinod Munshi (on a visit to mumbai from Canada) after ages	é Gopalkrishna's brand new Corolla which I had the pleasure of test driving on the Palm Beach Road at New Bombay	é Also test drove Roosky's brand new Scorpio -- same road, same evening, but different thrill
é A most enjoyable evening at Roosky & Sutapa's place at Sanpara with IIT / LLR friends
é At Mitali's place at Malad	é Debashree and Siddhant	é Obeisance at The Temple at Mumbai	é All good things must come to an end