I have not blogged over the past several weeks because we (my family and I) were travelling on vacation to several cities including New York, London, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. We spent not more than four days per city - making it quite hectic. Given the numerous flight connections and airport transfers that we had to make, I was apprehensive on whether we would pull it off without any glitches - especially considering that there were five of us travelling in lock step. In the end everything worked perfectily and we got to see a wide range of people, cultures, architectures, diets and flora.

A highlight of the trip was our visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan (the home of the President) in New Delhi. Owing to tight security,
we were not allowed to take our cameras inside the house. So, I could only take pictures from the outside. With its breathtaking architecture, immaculate lawns and perfectly symmetrical structures, these pictures are quite stunning. I have included two of them here. One (on the right) is the Jaipur Column in the front of the building and the other is the view of the Rashtrapati Bhavan itself from the other side of the gate.

































We were indeed priviledged and honored to be able to meet the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, during our visit. The picture below (which includes the extended family) was taken by the official photographer.




His business card - which you can see in the picture being held by my daughter (in blue) and neice(in red) reads,
                                            Learning gives creativity
                                            Creativity leads to thinking,
                                            Thinking provides knowledge
                                            Knowledge makes you great.

I had the opportunity to present a proposal to Dr. Kalam. He is currently evaluating it and said that he will get back to me. I will write about the proposal here once it gets some traction.