"A House for Mr. Biswas"

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad (V.S.)Naipaul has always been a writer that has inspired strong reactions - both positive and negative. He was born in 1932 in Trinidad, the son of indentured laborers from India and has been living in England ever since winning a scholarship to Oxford. He received the Nobel prize for literature in 2001. He has always been hailed as a master of the craft, but his freely expressed thoughts on third world countries, Africa, Islam, etc have given pause to even his most ardent supporters.

Recently the New Yorker had a book review of a new, authorized, biography and I learnt some more unsavory aspects of his personal life. Even so, I feel compelled to write about his masterpiece - "A House for Mr.Biswas." This book was published in 1961 and tells the story of a Hindu Brahmin, Manoj Biswas, living in Trinidad, whose only goal in life is to have a house of his own. The story is very simple and indeed you know the ending right away - the book opens with the death of Biswas in his own house. So you already know that Biswas does get his own house and that he dies at the end. But the charm is in the telling - its writing of the highest quality by somebody who is a keen observer, albeit not a very sympathetic one. The character of Biswas is modeled loosely on Naipaul's father and this may have contributed to the nuanced portrayals. For anybody who enjoys good writing, this book is a must-read. The book should especially resonate with people of Indian origin.

Naipaul of course has written a lot about India - he started off with the rather negative "An Area of Darkness," moved grudgingly towards a more appreciative "India - A Million Mutinies Now" and has more recently been somewhat more 'ungrudging' in his praise for India.

Quantum of Solace - Bond 1G

Saw the new Bond movie last night and thought it was interesting enough to write about. Bond is probably the longest running movie series and although it looked to be in serious jeopardy with Timothy Dalton, it got back on track with Pierce Brosnan and has taken a turn towards almost serious movie making with the casting of Daniel Craig. A typical Bond movie is mostly fluff and about easy, low stress entertainment. It demands little of the viewer except to sit back and marvel at the stunts and gadgets. The mood is never heavy and while world annihilation is always on the cards, it is always done with a smirk, a wink and nudge of the elbow. Not so with QOS.

The average Bond movie fan (and I would be one) expects 3 'Gs' in every edition - Girls, Gadgets, and Goons. You get only one of them - Goons - in QOS. There are two characters that would fit the 'Girls' role, but while one spends all her time brooding and plotting revenge, a brief glimpse of the other's bare back is offered before she is rather unceremoniously drowned in crude oil. As for gadgets, there are exactly zero. The MI6 crew does make like John King and wave their hands over a large touch screen surface, but that is in-house and hardly counts as a Bond gadget. Now that I think about it, Bond does have a cell phone that is able to track a GPS tagged person and take close-up photos from across a stadium, but that seems almost mainstream these days.

There is almost no plot to speak of and unlike most other Bond movies, there is a lack of expansiveness - no sense of anything momentous or larger than life. It is less Ludlum and more Le Carre. Bond may be licensed to kill (& he certainly does plenty of that), but he may in fact be better off with a construction license - he is a one man wrecking ball in this movie. Almost every fight/stunt involved smashing walls, buildings, roads, tunnels, furniture, windows, you name it. The metaphor was stretched further - some of the action is set amidst actual construction.

There is a lot of action in the movie, but much of it is filmed so close up that it is very difficult to follow exactly what is going on. Perversely, this actually has the effect of putting the viewer in the midst of the action and may in fact have a greater impact. Of course, it also allows the director to not quite have to show how Bond gets away or finishes the action. Bond, being Bond, does go through most of the movie in a suit (once even in a tux, that in spite of being 'borrowed' from somebody else, fits him like a bespoke one), coming out of several intense action scenes with his outfit undisturbed. The locale tends to move around quite a bit - Italy, Haiti, London, Bolivia, Russia are all featured, but it is not always clear how Bond got from Point A to Point B, often seemingly instantaneously. The general lack of logic (or even any attempt at it) is rather stunning.

Why then do I still like the movie? Viewed as a traditional Bond movie, it is a failure. However, it is still a well made movie and ultimately the various elements add up to give a satisfying experience. It is going to fall apart if you try to dissect it even a little bit, but if you leave it alone, then I think you will like it. The filmmakers seem particularly prescient - the movie captures the zeitgeist almost perfectly and that gives it, despite all the obvious flaws, a visceral quality. Daniel Craig brings an increased physicality to the role, but his Bond is also mature enough to not actually enjoy the action. Even in the one mildly romantic scene he seems more duty-bound than entitled. Many of the settings are quite spectacular and in particular the desert scenes in Bolivia really stood out (especially after my recent visit to the Death Valley).

It would seem that the filmmakers are trying to break free from usual tropes of a Bond movie - a martini makes one fleeting appearance and I don't think he ever says, "Bond, James Bond." This portends a new arc for the Bond franchise and it would be interesting to see if this gives it a fresh lease of life or is just the last sputter of a dying fire.

Goal Oriented Parenting

I was at the Golden Canyon trail head (in the Death Valley NP) waiting for some of the group to finish their hike. I was struggling (as is often our wont) to get some food into Arjun (who was a bit under the weather) and Changu asked if I used "goal-oriented" approaches. Which is a fancy name for the "If you eat this, then you can eat that" approach, where "this" is presumably something you want the kid to have while "that" is something the kid would rather have. Changu, of course immediately realized the problem - Arjun doesn't really have a "that." Even so, I replied that we try to avoid doing that. The one parenting class I attended stressed how providing additional food as an incentive to consuming food could lead to problems. Another point (which still makes a lot of sense) is to never link two things that are not really related. This food thing itself is a good example: if the kid is not eating because they are not hungry or interested in eating, providing access to some other food is not a great incentive. Another common example is "If you don't finish your lunch, we can't go to the park in the evening." (All my examples tend to be eating related for obvious reasons.) The eating has nothing to do with going to the park. Child psychologists tell us that such linkage will only cause the kid to think of the desired behavior (eating, doing homework, cleaning room, whatever) as a punishment. What you would like is for them to want to do the activity. A better approach is to show how the downside derives from the negative activity, as in: "If you don't finish your homework in time, then we won't have time for a book."

Having said all this, I must say that we are blatant abusers of this quasi-rule. Arjun and Abhi discovered the 'existence' of Santa a week ago and I arrived home one day to a breathless Abhi telling me that Santa was going to bring him gifts that night (he was convinced that night was Christmas). Of course he also had heard about the tooth fairy and included that mythical gift-giver in the same sentence until I was thoroughly confused as well. This is especially moot since he is quite far from loosing his milk teeth and getting visits from the tooth fairy. As far as Santa is concerned, they also know that they are supposed to be "good" to get gifts and we have been using that threat ("Santa is not going to bring you gifts", etc) as a way to get some desired behavior. I cringe inwardly whenever I make these threats, but hey, sometimes you just want them to listen!

We got another "incentive" to dangle this weekend - Antibiotics! Both Arjun and Abhi started on Amoxycillin (dispensed as a pink suspension with bubble gum flavor) on Saturday and they both absolutely love the stuff. They get a tsp of the stuff twice a day and the way they lick the spoon clean you would think it is some kind of nectar or that they are starving. We have of course promptly resorted to "Well, if you want the 'pink medicine' you better eat your breakfast", etc. As babies both of them hated any kind of medicine and we had to pretty much hold their noses to prevent them from spitting it out. This was especially true for Arjun, but it all changed abruptly one winter day in Dec 2005. He was almost 2 years old and he had been prescribed antibiotics (the same 'pink medicine') for the very first time, for an ear infection. The first couple of doses were the same struggle - somebody restraining his arms and legs, somebody else holding his nose, a third person to pour the stuff into his mouth, with all of us covered in pink, sticky stuff. We wondered how we were going do this for 9 more days. He had been miserable for almost a week before he started on the antibiotics. However, after just after two doses he was much better and he just started loving the stuff. He realized that medicines could actually make him feel better and after that day we have never had to struggle with giving him medication. This is, btw, a truism of parenting - just when you are thinking there is no hope, things suddenly change for the better.

Speaking of Santa and other imaginary magical things, kids are not alone in believing in them. How often do we as adults console ourselves with the prospect of irrational promises coming true? A couplet by the Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib, goes as follows:
"Humko maloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat kya hai, phir bhi,
Dil ko khush rakhne ko, Ghalib, ye khayal acha hai."
Loosely translated: "I know what the reality of heaven is, but even so, it is a great concept for giving you hope."

TG 2008 - Death Valley - Part 4

(This is the concluding post about this trip.)
I had heard about the 'Zabriskie Point' (or 'z-point as rdx likes to call it) as a great spot for sunrise and had determined to head there Sunday (day 4) morning. RDX was making elaborate plans for running/walking so that he could attack the breakfast buffet guilt-free. Vinay was a bit more circumspect about waking up early. In any case, I asked RDX to set the alarm for 5.10am and went to bed. After the alarm went off, he woke me up and snuggled deeper into the covers showing not even a hint of waking up. I got ready and periodically knocked on the connecting door, but there was no response from the Murthys. Finally around 5.30am, just as I was ready to head out, I knocked real hard and Sangeetha came to the door and told me that Vinay was too sleepy to get up. So, I headed out on my own. Later on I learnt that Sangeetha and Bhavana had woken up with all my knocking and weren't able to go back to sleep. I stopped by the front desk to get detailed directions and the lady there asked me to just follow the road and that about a 1/4 mile from there I would see a sign for the Z-point. I was a bit surprised since the map showed 5 miles. When I mentioned this, she said, "Oh, it could be 5 miles. I am not real good with distances." You have to be pretty bad with distances to confuse 5 miles for a 1/4 mile.

It was still dark, but right on the dot of 5 miles I saw the sign for the Z-point. There were a couple of other cars there and although it was about 5.45am, it was 72 deg outside. It was quite windy though. I gathered all my gear and walked up with another (Japanese) guy who seemed similarly prepared.
Upon inquiry he told me that this was the third time he was coming to photograph the sunrise. You have to walk up a short hill to get to a stage like area from where you look down into the Zabriskie Point. The sun was not up and we set up taking some general shots. I continued till about 7.30 and then returned to the hotel. Folks were still mostly sleeping. Since the buffet closed at 9am, everybody got going quickly and we walked over for the breakfast buffet. It was rather disappointing. The choices were poor and the food was only so-so. Some folks tried to make up with quantity.

There are lots of well known vista points near the FC area, so we set out right after breakfast. First stop was the southern most point we were going to hit - 'Badwater' which, at 282 ft below sea level, is the lowest point in the western hemisphere. The badwater basin used to have a lake thousands of years ago, that evaporated leaving behind upto 5 ft of salt. Now the whole area is just covered with salt and small puddles of water after it rains. The salt is almost pure table salt (Malini and I tasted it). We walked on to the salt basin and spend some time admiring the view and taking pictures. Then we started driving back towards FC, making stops at all the various vista/hike points. First was the Natural Bridge.

Arjun and Abhi were not going to come on the hike, so I stayed in the car with them while the rest of the gang went first. Malini hurried back so that I could go as well. I quickly did the hike and returned to the car. It was a gentle climb most of the way. The natural bridge was about mid-way and then the trail culminated with a shiny rock formation that is called the 'dry waterfall' since it looks like there is water falling, but of course, there really isn't any. I actually ran all the way back since it was easier than walking down hill on the loose gravel that covered most of the trail.

Next stop was at the Devil's golf course - it not a real course of course, but the mud and salt have created such a treacherous terrain that somebody commented that "these were links so bad that only a devil could play golf here" and a vista point was born. It is just a quick stop - the approach road is once again unpaved and Vinay needed some convincing to continue on it. It was one of the better roads, thankfully.

Next was going to be the Artists Drive, but Vinay was desperate for a potty break so we headed to the next trail head - Golden Canyon - which is basically on the other side of the Z-point. Murty (for old times sake) made a beeline for the chemical toilet and others decided to tackle lunch. We were going to take turns doing the hike anyway and I wasn't feeling too hungry so I decided to head in first. For some reason, Arjun wanted to come along. The info said it was an "easy" 1-mile hike. So I took him along. It was an easy, albeit slightly uphill, walk. We ambled along at a reasonable pace with me taking pictures and keeping an eye out to see if Arjun was getting tired. I felt we had walked almost as much as the natural bridge hike (which is also marked as 1-mile), but the end was not in sight. I asked some folks walking back and they said that I had at least as much to go! Arjun was tiring and there was no way he would make it all the way without me having to carry him. One couple assured me that going further wasn't going to yield any better views and that was all the encouragement I needed - we turned around. When Arjun and I got back, others were done with the utilitarian lunch (bread & cheese) and were ready to head out. I made a similar meal for Arjun and myself and settled in the shade of Vinay's minivan for the gang to return. It was almost 3pm when they got back.

We had talked about visiting the Borax works museum and then going back to the Artists drive for sunset (around 4.30pm), but folks were tired and we decided to just do the Artists drive and forget about the Borax works. Quick note: Borax was mined for a long time in the DV and museum (very close to FC ranch) is supposedly quite nice. Anyway, we headed back to the Artists drive and apart from one stop to take pictures (only I got out) we finished the drive before 4pm. The Artists drive is so named because it presents views of several mountains that seem to have dabs of paint applied on them. There are some unusual yellows, browns, reds, blues, and greens to be seen. There are some good spots for sunset photos, but we didn't stay too long.
I suggested checking out the Zabriskie point and folks readily concurred. It was getting close to sunset when we got there. I stayed in the car with the boys, but had to signal vigorously for Malini to get back since Abhi declared a potty alert and Arjun was fast asleep. They didn't see my wild semaphoring for quite some time, but luckily Abhi was in sufficient control to avoid an accident. I went again and squeezed off some more pictures at the z-point, but didn't really wait for all the sunset colors to appear. I sort of regretted that when we started driving since the sky rapidly became very colorful.

Back at the ranch, the original plan was to go to the pool, but only Vinay could be convinced to join me. Malini brought Abhi also, while Arjun wanted to stay back and watch TV while RDX was planning to browse. The pool was very nice - really warm. Abhi also enjoyed the pool. After showers we all headed to the 49-ers cafe for dinner. We bought a tub of ice cream which we split later while we played poker and the kids watched a movie. RDX felt bad for the 4 kumars in one queen bed (although we kept insisting that we had been fine) and made a bed for himself on the carpet. I had the luxury of a bed all to myself.

Monday morning, we all got ready by 9am and went back to the 49-ers cafe for breakfast. No buffet today. We filled up on the most expensive gas of the trip - $3.10 per gallon - and headed out. We had one more stop to make - Dantes View. This is 13 miles off 190 (which is the road out of the park) and climbs quite a bit. We were rewarded by a gorgeous view. I had to deploy my 200-400mm lens and as a final act, I decided to take a group shot. The lens required that folks had to get quite far away from the camera so that we could all fit in the frame which led to some wisecracking at my expense. Vinay attempted to drive the point home by trying to locate me with his binoculars while I set up the shot. We finally headed out of there by 11.30am.

The drive to San Diego was uneventful, with an undistinguished stop at Buffalo Wild Wings in Murrieta. We stopped at the Murthys since RD had ended up in our car for the dinner stop (the Murthys had found an Indian place nearby - apparently Vinay had some sort of craving for paneer masala or something). The planet Jupiter was forming a triangle in the sky with the moon and Venus and I attempted to take a picture of that with limited success. Sangeetha kindly obliged with tea and after consuming the same we headed home to Dormouse Rd.

I had been getting bad vibes as the trip got closer, but most everything went off well. True, we missed out on a couple of sights, but perhaps that will be incentive to return. We did get to experience one of the truly unique spots in the world and everybody had a good time. Can't really ask for much more from a vacation.

Footnote: Perhaps there was a DV jinx. A week later all four of us are unwell, with Abhi being the latest. Both Abhi and Arjun are on antibiotics and Malini needs a dose quite urgently. According to the doc, Arjun's rash was not an allergic reaction, but caused by a strep infection. Apparently they have been seeing cases for about 2 weeks.

TG 2008 - Death Valley - Part 3

We had a 2-part agenda for Saturday (day 3): move from Stovepipe Wells to Furnace Creek and explore the Scotty's Castle area (north-east part) of the park. The first pre-requisite was to get on the road by 9am. With this mind, most everybody was up by 7am and we got the tea and eggs going. This time we remembered to make the tiny hole in each egg (easily done using the supplied pin) and the results were much better. Arjun was not a whole lot better - his face was still very red and the rash was all over his body. Just mild fever, though. We actually managed to head out by 9.15am.

We stopped at the ranger station to check road conditions and realized that we could not go to the 'Racetrack' which is one of the more unusual (& still unexplained) sights in the DV. The ranger was emphatic about us needing a 4x4 and that too with heavy duty tires since the approach road (27 miles long) had lots of sharp rocks. He could not have been more dismissive when we mentioned that one of our cars was a minivan. I was quite disappointed since this was one of the spots I was really looking forward to seeing and photographing.

We continued towards Scotty's Castle and reached there around 10.45am. There was a tour starting at 11am and Vinay bought tickets for everybody. The tour was quite interesting, especially with the guide doing his best to paint a picture of the time and the characters. The story behind the 'castle' is quite fascinating, especially when you consider that neither is it really a castle nor was it owned by Scotty. Here is link to the wikipedia entry about this place. Even though the castle was at 3000 ft elevation, the day felt quite hot. We were hoping to find lunch in the gift shop/cafe after the tour, but realized that we had very limited choices - just stuff from a vending machine. We all managed a real 'adjustment' lunch - ice cream, yogurt, bread + cheese, etc. After lunch, we decided to hike up the hill behind the castle to Scotty's grave. Since Arjun was quite tired, Malini and I took turns climbing up the hill.

About a mile or so on the approach road to Scotty's castle is the turn-off for the 'Ubehebe' crater. This is a volcanic crater that is about 550 ft deep. The whole area is covered with black volcanic rocks and soil, which made for another dramatically different landscape. This is quite typical of the DV - you get startling shifts in the terrain, vegetation (what little there is of it) and landscape as you go from one part of the park to another. Incidentally, close to the Ubehebe crater is the access road for the 'Racetrack,' which I could of course only look at rather wistfully. When we got up to the crater, we realized that we could actually hike down into it. It is a short, but steep hike, made more difficult by the loose gravel that covered the path. RD, Malini, and I headed down and after slithering down about half way we ran into a scout troop making their way up. They pointed out an easier (but longer) way to the left side that was along the wash and hence had no loose gravel. The slope was also more gentle and one could actually walk upright. Anyway, we continued our journey down and were soon at the bottom. After a couple of quick photos we started back up. RD decided to take the route up the wash, while Malini and I headed up the same way we had gone down - loose gravel and all. It was really difficult. Luckily we had our hiking poles and that helped a great deal.

It was time to head to Furnace Creek - we made no more stops and reached FC by sunset. Once again we were able to get adjoining rooms and we moved all our stuff in. The rooms were a bit smaller than Stovepipe, but nicer. RD was thrilled about the free WiFi and declared that he was done with all sightseeing. I knew people liked to surf the net, but seeing RD in action was a revelation. He used to stay up late into the night doing nothing but browsing the net on his Nokia palmtop. It is hard to tell what he is doing with all the accumulated knowledge.

After washing up, all of us headed out to check out the FC ranch - it is a fairly large area and nicely maintained. There is a swimming pool (kept at 85 deg with warm spring water), lighted tennis courts, and a kids park with a large lawn. There were several dining choices as well. Lots of folks were parked around the dining area with laptops and palmtops, browsing away. Kind of sad, really! After much debate we settled on the '49-ers' cafe for dinner - this was going to our first real 'eat-out' meal of the trip. The food was good and everybody enjoyed the meal. After dinner it was essentially the same ritual as the previous days - bath and movie for the kids and poker for the adults. There wasn't enough room for a roll-away, so the four of us managed on one of the queen beds while RD settled into the other one for a long night of browsing.

TG 2008 - Death Valley - Part 2

Day 2 (Friday) started early for me. RDX, who was sleeping on a roll-away in our room had set the alarm, but promptly went back to sleep after waking me up. Vinay responded to a knock on the connecting door and the two of us headed out around 6am to catch sunrise at the dunes. The sand was still damp, but the sunrise colors were quite nice. When we got back, Bhavana and Pallavi were already up while the boys were still sleeping. We got some tea going and broke out the egg cooker for its inaugural run. We missed a simple, yet crucial step (making a small hole in each egg) which resulted in at least one of the eggs cracking during the cooking which caused the water to boil out. However, it turned out fine and everybody enjoyed their eggs.

Arjun was not doing too well and we noticed that his face was red all over. On closer examination, we found that he had broken out in a rash over his entire body. We realized he had had an allergic reaction to the Motrin. It was only then that we recalled that he had had a similar reaction to "Dolo" which is an ibuprofen brand name in India. I went to the General Store, but the only thing they had was a couple of pills of Benadryl. Sangeetha was able to pull up some dosage info on her PDA and based on that I gave him about a 1/4 pill of Benadryl. Luckily she also had some Tylenol which we gave him for his fever.



It was past 11am by the time we all headed out. First up was the Mosaic Canyon which was only a couple of miles away. Unfortunately those 2 miles were on a gravel road of rather sketchy state. We were doing ok with our SUV, but Vinay was getting nervous in his mini-van. Eventually he was talked into continuing and we reached the trail head without incident. All of us headed into the canyon. It was nice, if not particularly spectacular. Several places we had do some scrambling, especially with the kids.
We walked till we reached a somewhat large opening and then after a short rest (& some desi snacks), we headed back. Arjun was distinctly tiring now.

After a quick potty break for the kids back at our room, we headed towards the 'Aguereberry Point,' reputedly a better view point than the more well-known and more accessible, 'Dantes View.' Or at least that was the plan. After driving about 9 miles, we checked the map again and realized that a portion of the remaining 20-odd miles required 4x4 vehicles, or at least a high clearance one. Either way Vinay was out. So we ruled that out and also a visit to the 'Charcoal Kilns' for the same reason. We reversed course and headed back past Stovepipe Wells and towards the 'Salt Creek,' which is part way towards Furnace Creek. Along the way we stopped at the 'Devils Corn Fields' which is basically a whole area covered with a particular kind of shrubbery. Many things in the DV are given names that involve 'Devil', "Hell', etc.

The salt creek is basically a shallow creek that is home to a particular kind of fish - the 'Death Valley Pupfish'. The creek itself is almost filled with a special kind of plant that is able to survive in the highly saline water. The fish were not visible since they are dormant this time of the year. A board walk a little over a mile long meanders through a good portion of the creek. Lunch (idlis) came first and then we headed out on the board walk. It is a very picturesque place and somewhat startling to see flowing water (albeit very shallow) and a large expanse of greenery in the midst of completely bare mountains.

Since we had some more day light, we charted a roundabout route back to Stovepipe Wells which took us through some vast open expanses of the park. We reached back around 5.30pm and the rest of the evening was largely a repeat of day 1: pav bhajji for dinner, poker (with Vinay winning and Sangeetha losing), and tea. RD, Vinay, and I drove to the dunes with our tea to enjoy the night sky. Amazingly, we could see a glow in the sky from beyond the mountains to the east - Vegas lights!

TG 2008 - Death Valley - Part 1

(I am breaking up this trip report so that I don't get any complaints about long blogs. :-))

The more interesting/quirky trips seem to happen during Thanksgiving. There was of course TG96 that took a prominent place in Dev's wedding reception. Then there was the Palm Springs-Joshua Tree trip of 2001, where 'Montevista' was added to the lexicon. And some folks still recall the stench that rose from the Salton Sea during our TG 2002 stay in Borrego Springs. This year, it was Death Valley National Park. I have tried to visit DV many times, but I never started the planning in time. This time I decided early and given the dearth of other options, several other folks also joined me in making the reservations.

The trip looked to be jinxed, however. Several folks were skeptical about the destination, let alone planning to spend four days there. By the early part of the TG week, the Reddy's and PV had dropped out for various reasons. RDX, who had always had his doubts, was barely hanging in there as prospects for evening poker sessions evaporated. The Murthys however, held firm and even sportingly offered to take up poker if that would make for a happier RDX. Apparently it did (although RDX would come to regret this later) and the trip was on in earnest.

The plan was to spend two nights at Stovepipe Wells (west side of DV) and two nights at the more well known Furnace Creek Ranch. (Stay tuned for a separate blog on recommendations for a DV visit.) We left early on Thursday and after a quick sync-up at the Murthy's RB residence, we started the journey around 7am in 2 cars - Murthys & RD in Vinay's minivan and us in our Rx-300. We quickly got out of sync on the freeway after we took an exit for an Abhi potty break and they took a different exit for gas. We really diverged after we took 215 and they stayed on I-15 apparently because I told them to do so (despite all evidence to the contrary). We eventually took 395 and then just followed the signs to DV. We lost cell coverage soon after we left 395 and we had no more updates from the other car. The drive was pleasant and the views were quite nice. We stopped a couple of times to take pictures and reached Stovepipe Wells just before 1pm.

Arjun had woken up on Wednesday with a fever and we almost didn't send him to school. However, after a dose of Motrin (first time - we always used Tylenol before) he felt a lot better and insisted on going (they were going to have a TG party at school). The same thing repeated on Wed evening and Thurs morning - his temperature would rise, we would give him Motrin and he would be up and about in almost no time. We were chiding ourselves for not having tried Ibuprofen earlier. We gave him another dose Thursday afternoon. Little did we know that this would come back to haunt us later.

We were in our room by 1.15pm, but there was no sign of the other car. It was almost 2.30pm when they showed up. Turned out they took the long way - going north on 395 past China Lake before taking a east-ward road into the park - adding almost 60 miles to their drive. Lunch was idlis (by Malini) and after some tea, we headed out to catch sunset on the Mesquite Flats sand dunes that are short drive from our lodge. We were in for a bit of a let down - the storm over the previous 2 days had made the sand damp and somewhat packed. This made walking on them easier, but largely destroyed the feel of the classic sand dune. Still, the kids and adults had good fun traversing the dunes and we managed to climb up a tall one just in time for the sunset.

The sun sets early - around 4.30pm - this time of the year. So, we were done and back in our rooms by about 5.30pm. The rooms were adjoining, with a connecting door. This turned out to be a very convenient arrangement - kids would gather in one room and the adults could chat (or play poker) in the other. Another round of tea and as the kids took bath, some of us headed off to heat food for dinner - there is a microwave in the local General Store that we could use. I tried the free WiFi in the hotel lounge, but it was pitifully slow. Dinner was pav bhajji (contributions from both Vinay & RD) and it was time to initiate V&S into the intricacies of Texas Hold-em poker. Being the smart cookies that they are, they caught on quickly and the game was on. It was quickly apparent that Sangeetha didn't care to fold and that if Vinay stayed in, you were in trouble. Vinay and I managed to eke out some gains, Malini had a small loss and RD and Sangeetha were the big losers. Another round of tea and it was time for bed. I was planning to head out early to catch sunrise on the dunes and promises were being made by several folks about joining me.