More recent pictures of our Ahmedabad Expat life

Ben and his 3rd eye

I bet Pops is proud

At the carnival- all he want to do is shoot guns

Ben and the paintball gun

Ben getting his hair cut. with every hair cut you get a head massage. Despite the look on his face he does enjoy it.

Govt tells expat workers on biz visas to leave TNN 25 September 2009, 03:08am IST AHMEDABAD/SURAT: Pack your bags and leave the country before September 30! The terse notice has rattled and scared expats across Gujarat. "This is rather rude and a very short notice. We are not sure what to do now," said a US national, who has been living in Ahmedabad for the past two years. GS Malik, additional commissioner of police (special branch), has sent notices to the expats saying: "All foreign nationals who are already in the country on business visas and engaged in executing projects/contracts should leave the country on expiry of their existing visas or by September 30, 2009, positively, whichever is earlier." "We are just following orders from the ministry of external affairs (MEA). We have not been told why the Centre wants this," Malik told TOI. According to sources, the Centre has decided to stop misuse of business visas by expats for employment. "Employment visa applications are examined thoroughly while business visas are easily procured," said a source. Special branch officials said in Ahmedabad there are 21 registered business visa holders. These include nine from US, six from UK and the rest from other European countries. "Employment visa has a limit of six months and requires constant monitoring by the employer. Business visas have much relaxed norms and can be issued for up to one year and can be extended by another six months," said an immigration official. The impact of the notice has also been felt in other cities in Gujarat. Foreign nationals were vacating hotels in Surat. Three, four and five-star hotels have been instructed to ask such foreign nationals to vacate rooms before September 30. "We are confused about the order. We will meet the city police commissioner on Friday for clarifications," said Sanat Relia, hotelier in Surat. "These were long-term guests who used to stay with us for months together," said Relia.

Recent pics of our Ahmedabad Expat Life

Carnival

Carnival

Carnival

The Okies have arrived in Ahmedabad

Ben at the art and craft show

Paintball day change..

Paintball has been rescheduled to Next Saturday night. There will beer and lots of fun. Contact me to join in.

Paintball Sunday!

We are getting together a paintball game on Sunday. If you are interested please contact me.

Recent Pictures.........

Sleeping Beauty

Killer V, Ben and yes, me

Do not mess with me!

Ben riding his bike...

Travel Alert for Ahmedabad Expats

TRAVEL ALERT from American Citizens Services

INDIA

September 12, 2009

The Department of State reminds U.S. citizens of the continued possibility of terrorist attacks throughout India during the current Indian holiday season, which includes Hindu, Islamic, and secular holidays as well as the period surrounding the commemoration of the September 11 terror attacks. The November 2008 attacks in Mumbai provided a vivid reminder that hotels and other public places are especially attractive targets for terrorist groups. U.S. citizens are urged always to practice good security, maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile. Americans are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when visiting public places, including religious sites, or choosing hotels, restaurants, entertainment and recreation venues. This Travel Alert expires on October 30, 2009.

U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad are encouraged to register with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department's travel registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/ so that they can obtain updated information on travel and security. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency. For additional information, please refer to "A Safe Trip Abroad" found at http://travel.state.gov.

For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, and Travel Alerts can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). Americans are also encouraged to read the Country Specific Information for India, available on the Embassy's website at

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov, and also at http://travel.state.gov.

U.S. citizens with questions or concerns may contact the American Citizens Services Unit of the Embassy or the Consulates General for further information:

-- The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi is located at Shanti Path, Chanakya Puri 110021; telephone +91-11-2419-8000; fax +91-11-2419-8407. The Embassy's Internet home page address is http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov.

-- The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai (Bombay) is located at Lincoln House, 78 Bhulabhai Desai Road, 400026, telephone +91-22-2363-3611; fax +91-22-2363-0350. The Internet home page address is

http://mumbai.usconsulate.gov.

-- The U.S. Consulate General in Chennai (Madras) is at 220 Anna Salai, Gemini Circle, 600006, telephone +91-44-2857-4000; fax +91-44-2811-2027. The Internet home page address is http://chennai.usconsulate.gov.

-- The U.S. Consulate General in Kolkata (Calcutta) is at 5/1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, 700071; telephone +91-33-3984-2400; fax +91-33-2282-2335. The Internet home page address is http://kolkata.usconsulate.gov.

-- The U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad is at Paigah Palace, 1-8-323, Chiran Fort Lane, Begumpet, Secunderabad 500 003; telephone: +91 (40) 4033-8300. The Internet home page address is http://hyderabad.usconsulate.gov.

Travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

Ben's midterm exams....

Oh man it is that time again. Ben is doing midterms starting Friday. So, that means he has tomorrow and every other day off for the next week. Then he has 9 days off for a festival. That should be so much fun. If you have time and have his email you might wish him luck.

A must read for all Ahmedabad Expats..

For those of us that shop at Hind Supermarket at Vijay Charsta you know that it is not cheap to get that much "needed" items. It seems that every week when they get a new stock that the items are increasing in price by 40 up to 100 -/. That may not seem like a lot until you are buying as much as we do. I spoke with him about it and he insisted that the price increase is because all prices are going up in Dubai and USA. But, still I cannot see paying $10 for a bag of Doritos. But, the owner of the store says that no one has what he has. Then, I remembered a place that I had shopped before that had similar items and were supposed to be getting more items like that. So, I went to check it out. Man, was I happy. They had all the same stuff, plus organic, at cheaper prices. So, the next time you want to go to Hind Supermarket, stop by this place instead and check it out. The store name is:

H. Arjandas & Sons - Dry Fruit Specialist
29 "Advait", B/H Sandesh Press, Opp. Soham Tower
Bodakdev, 380054
Phone 9824017593 or 26765653

Another cool place for jewelry and neat hair items is:

Lady Grace
CG Rd "Aniket" -- it is by Metro Shoes at Municipal Market
Phone 26400396

In this same complex is a pretty cool leather store.

Tips on eating leftovers in Gujarat

This was written by Bob as a tip.

I used to hate to waste food as much as the next man and I've got the advanced girth to prove it, but when dining on non-veg here, (which btw seems to be getting easier everyday), I got a few tips for you.

#1. When ordering things from the menu that sound familiar to you, the food that gets served is VERY rarely what you were expecting. Lasagna has a unique look and flavor at every restaurant I've had it at. And it won't come with sausage or beef. It will come with lamb, mutton or chicken, at least at your better restaurants.

So the next time you order a prawn, (shrimp), salad, you're not going to get a martini glass with six good sized shrimp hanging on the rim. You may get some kind of 1000 island sauce with tiny chopped pieces of shrimp in it or you may get some kind of red gravy thing with 3 big king prawns. It could be anything. Anything that is except 6 shrimp hanging on a martini glass with cocktail sauce in a bed of lettuce.

#2. If you like diet sodas, you can forget any kind of diet soda other than diet coke and diet pepsi.

I've had what I considered unusually fortunate success in getting that Indian head nod, ( which I took for an affirmative response back then), when asking for diet 7-Up and DIET ROOT BEER but alas, each time I was served diet coke., get used to it or acquire a taste for diet dr pepper because there are a couple of places that carry that but only because Reasa and I went on a binge and ordered like forty cases over less than two months, then theurge went away and now those places are stuck with substantial inventory. You could probably negotiate the price down from the $2 each we were paying
#3. If you like to take your left overs home, you won't get much more than that nod asking for take out or wrap it up, or we want to take this home. You simply wave your hand in the general direction of what you are wanting to take home and say PARCEL. THAT they understand everywhere.
#4. My advice is NEVER take left overs home with you unless you know you are going straight home, you know you can get there in less than an hour and the temperature is under about 85 degrees.

a good friend and I had some tandoori chicken and cauliflower masala for lunch the other day. It was delicious but we should have gotten the half because we couldn't eat it all. She told the wait staff Parcel and I reminded her we had a couple of more stops to make and then a 40 minute ride to bopal where my bungalow is. She assured me in that special way that only female ex-pats seems to be able to do, that the chicken would be fine, I wasn't about to argue. This woman is a Tae-Kwan-Do champion. She could kick my ass. Of course so could most of the children and canines here.
We made our stops, we drove to bopal and after a while she micro upped the chicken and woofed it down. I've seen lizards eat bugs slower than she went through that chicken. I've never seen sparks come off bones before.

about 7 hours later she started feeling a little funny, yesterday she didn't feel like getting out and was running a bit of a fever. Later that evening ugly things started exiting her body from variouos orifices often at the same time.

Luckily in India you can call a doctor that will usually show up at your house within about an hour and bring with him a little magic bag of various liquid and solid medications that many of which can be inserted a variety of ways. Of course this kind of medical service doesn't grow on tress so you can expect to shell out about 7-15 dollars per visit but that would incloude the pills/shots/suppositories.

Delhi belly we almost all get at some point. it's really not that bad except foir that 4 toi 8 hiour span when some actually beg god just to take them now and stop the flow. It really sucks kids. Even mild versions will kick your ass all tghe wayy to bed and make you feel like crap for at least one whole day.


when you consider the low cost of food even at some of the most expensive rest., (hotels), it is still cheap enough that you can afford to leave the parcel instead of dragging around food growing bacteria that slugs wouldn't eat by the minute and having that for a midnite snack!

Peach Y'all
AhmedaBOB

More of Our Snow Day in Ahmedabad....

Yes, that is Snow in Ahmedabad!! A Great Place for an Ahmedabad Expat to Visit...

Today we went to Wonderland. It was very cool. It has a playground and best of all Snow World. It was so cold and so fun. It was a few minute drive from the city but worth it. Each activity and there are a few cost something different but most all prices are reasonable. They also, have some good chi. Check out the pictures. Oh, yeah for information call 079.926890257. Just another FYI - the address on internet is wrong so call first. Just a note the background noise on the videos is loud.

A few clicks from my birthday....

Devesh and Reasa

Bob and the Killer V

Me on my 31st birthday. Man, I am starting to feel older.

Thank you all for the great gifts and birthday wishes.

You know the hardest part of my birthday and being in India is this - the people you think and want to call you. Don't. So, all my calls and most of my emails came from friends here and I am grateful for that. It is just another lesson in life. Man, it is tough getting old.

Wow!! Tomorrow is the big day.

Again, I just want to thank everyone for all the kind words and gifts that I have gotten even before my birthday.

Some pictures that I got for my Birthday.....

Sneak peak into my special pictures that I had taken

These are some of the pictures that were done for me for my birthday.


Wow! It is not even my birthday and I am getting such great gifts. Thank you all!! I am such a blessed girl!!

it is just 2 more days!!!!!