Happy New Year from New Delhi!  We had dual celebrations yesterday- Kris's birthday and the end of 2011. I'm staying in New Delhi at my friend Madhurima's childhood home. Her husband, Kris, and I arrived in Delhi together from Chicago and New Jersey respectively via our connecting flight from Amsterdam to Delhi. Madhurima, Kris, and I are friends from Minneapolis and they have since moved to Chicago where Madhurima is a professor of English Lit at Columbia College and Kris is a freelance web designer. Madhurima's mother and father have been so gracious to include me in their home and it's been so great to see her and Kris in this family context, to meet her relatives (many who live very nearby), and to simply be part of the family routine- chai and biscuits upon waking, badminton at a nearby park, just hanging out.

Afternoon birthday lunch was followed by naps to rest up for the big family New Years party at the house. Most of the photos are taken on their lovely 3rd floor balcony.  We had many rounds of amazing appetizers- paneer, potato, fish, chicken, cauliflower- before the midnight meal.

And then there's the food.  I can't even begin to name all the variety of things I've eaten already in just the three days that I've been here.  Especially because I literally do not know or cant remember what much of it is called.  But here's a brief 40 sec video with Bapida explaining the bread the caterer was making for the main meal at the New Year party.  It's called roomali roti.  You can also hear singing in the background being piped out from the gurudwara (Sikh Temple) across the street.