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Writer's pictureJay EuDaly
Jun 9, 201933 min read

India

Updated: Jun 10, 2019

It has occurred to me that the record of the 2019 trip to India to receive my adopted grandson Dax is preserved mostly on FaceBook. Do I trust FaceBook? No. Everything on the internet can be deleted. FaceBook seems permanent now but in a few years (or months!) it could be an anachronism. When FaceBook goes down where will all the pictures, posts, and memories be? Gone forever.


So I copied all the posts and pictures from my FaceBook page to this blog. I copied only the comments that served some educational, humorous or narrative purpose; therefore most of the comments are not preserved. Posting the names of those who commented without their permission didn't feel right, even though FaceBook is a public forum. Therefore I did not identify the author of any comment other than myself, or immediate family members. Also, there are a couple of pictures that were not on my FaceBook feed but are from my personal texts.


April 16, 2019

Goodbye, Kansas City. Hello, Toronto. #masterguitar #masterguitarschool

Kansas City

Toronto

April 17, 2019

Goodbye, Toronto. Hello, Frankfurt. #masterguitar #masterguitarschool

Toronto

Frankfurt

April 18, 2019

Good morning, Bangalore. That was an interesting ride last night. #masterguitar #masterguitarschool #indiaisatrip

Bangalore

April 18, 2019

Alex DeGrassi’s “Slow Circle” is playing in the hotel restaurant in Bangalore. I love music! #indiaisatrip

Hotel Restaurant in Bangalore

April 18, 2019

Hotel room bathroom in Bangalore

Comments:

  • Seems worse than a Korean hooker

  • I love India through the eyes of Jay


April 18, 2019

This is in our room:


April 18, 2019

This is why I’m in India! This is my youngest son Nathan and his wife Allie. They are now officially the parents of Dax Shreyas EuDaly, who is now my 11th grandchild. #indiaisatrip

April 18, 2019

Receiving Dax from the orphanage. #indiaisatrip

April 19, 2019

Gee I hope this is the right line. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Looks like the Brooklyn DMV.

April 19, 2019

Had to turn down a gig for tomorrow night in Davenport Iowa because I can’t get there in time. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Too bad, Jay. Iowans need your music!

  • I'll cover. Do you think they will like Bad, Bad Leroy Brown?

  • Have been to Davenport many times. It is their loss for sure.

April 19, 2019

Leaving Bangalore for Delhi shortly. #indiaisatrip

April 19, 2019

Goodbye, Bangalore. Hello, Delhi! I said, Hello, Delhi! #indiaisatrip

Bangalore

Delhi

April 19, 2019

Dax’s 1st plane ride. He did pretty good! #indiaisatrip


April 19, 2019

This brings Andrea to mind - though she is never far. This was at the airport in Delhi. #indiaisatrip


April 19, 2019

This was a dance for us at the orphanage. As you can see, it's a walled compound and is pretty nice compared to its surroundings. The guy by the car is one of our drivers. There will be another post about that later. The badassery of the drivers is amazing to behold. In the meantime, this thing of beauty: #indiaisatrip


April 19, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.

From Dax’s mama:



Our hearts are bursting 🖤 And sweet baby boy is doing so well 🖤

He loves the bath, eats and sleeps like a champ, and is curious about e v e r y t h i n g.

The things that are really hard so far are that he is legitimately claustrophobic (hates elevators, public bathrooms, and wasn’t a fan of the plane [from Bangalore to Delhi] for awhile)...and he is starting to grieve the loss of the caretakers and home he has known for the last 14 months 🖤(obviously being removed from everything familiar and coming with new people to new places and everything else involved is traumatic - and my heart is so indescribably heavy for him). Thankfully, he feels safe enough with us that he allows us to comfort him when he is upset. Also, almost all of our time is able to be spent engaging in play and other attachment-building activities, so we are filling up our trust bank as fast as we can. 🖤

He is crazy smart, very vocal (he has been spoken to in three languages his whole life but they said so far he prefers to make up his own words 😂), and can take about 2-3 steps by himself! (and is so proud of himself every time). 🖤

We are so in love. 🖤 Thank you for all the kind words and prayers, friends 🖤 We should be home by May 1st 🖤 #lovingeudaly #babydax


Comments:

  • Love. And the tip of an iceberg of a life rescued. A tremendous testament and it so, so, so matters. Be blessed. Dax welcome to America and your new life.

  • Jay EuDaly Dax was premature and abandoned. He has some medical issues but my daughter-in-law is a pediatric intensive care nurse at Children’s Mercy and so is equipped as anyone could be to deal with it.

  • My dearest friend fostered a baby boy that had been abandoned. He was just weeks old when they brought him into their home. They fell in love with him and couldn’t bear to let him have someone else “leave” him. They adopted him. That was 7 years ago, and he’s thriving! So hearing about your new grandbaby makes my heart so very happy ❤️


April 19, 2019

Good morning, Delhi! I slept from midnight to 6:00. I think I’m starting to get over the jet lag. We’re going to be here a while, jumping through the last few hoops to be able to bring Dax home. So I’m hoping to settle in and get reasonably comfortable. I’ve had some trouble with Instagram and also with texting. Facebook seems to be the most reliable so this is where I’m going to be from now on. #indiaisatrip

Delhi

Comments:

  • How is the air? Doesn't look too good in this picture.

  • Jay EuDaly It alternates between “unhealthy” and “dangerous.”


April 19, 2019

I perceive a market for Jazz here. I’m eating breakfast in Delhi and so far on the Muzak I’ve heard real jazz; Kenny Burrell, Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith...what a wonderful thing to be so far from home and hear Hammond Organ-based Jazz. #indiaisatrip


Comments:

  • I hope you have a chance to hear some of the locals while you are there. Some amazing music. I got to see Ravi Shankar in Bangalore in 2011. Good luck with the jet lag coming back!

  • Jay EuDaly I’m planning on trying to find local music while I’m here.

  • I’m assuming that of course you took your guitar along. Can’t imagine you without it for longer than a couple hours.

  • Jay EuDaly no, it’s too much of a hassle to fly with it if I don’t have a gig. We have enough to worry about. I’ve got several days to get back in shape before my fist gig back in KC.


April 19, 2019

Ok, I think this is probably for the sake of us westerners but I’ll check it out anyway. Maybe I can connect with one of these musicians and find out where the REAL music is. #indiaisatrip



April 19, 2019

This was our contact with the orphanage, Alex. Alex was responsible for procuring our drivers. The next few pics are typical street scenes on the way to the orphanage. So on our way from the airport to the hotel I learned something. I HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT ANYTHING! My reaction was probably intensified by the fact that we had been travelling for more than 24 hours on no sleep. Anyway, we're in the car with Alex and the driver. It's 4:00 in the morning and we're driving through what I would characterize as horrible slums but which is totally normal here. Piles of rubble, trash, tents, little street front shops, people and motorbikes everywhere. As we pass by a large gathering of men on a corner the driver pulls the car over and says something to Alex. "Crap!" I think, "Is this where the shakedown happens? What's happening?" I could feel my fight-or-flight response starting to kick in and I realized it would have to be fight because I didn't know where to run. The group of men were watching us but didn't approach. I watched Alex and the driver talk back and forth in whatever dialect and Alex did something on his phone, the driver nodded and pulled back out onto the road. I figured either the driver wanted more money or the money had run out and he needed more to continue. The thing is, I had TOTALLY misinterpreted the whole incident. I found out later he had wanted to stop for tea. The last picture is the guard at our hotel. You have to walk through a metal-detector to go into the lobby. #indiaisatrip











April 20, 2019

Welp, I went out alone this morning looking for places to eat. Where. Is. The. BEEF! There isn’t any! God, I want a taco salad so bad. You have to think about water here. Everyone drinks bottled water. Many people have no plumbing - this is how they get water. Apparently the most fascinating thing about me to the locals is my dingo boots. Everybody stared at them. #indiaisatrip



Comments:

  • Uh, Jay.... People here stare at your boots.

  • lol

  • Yes I believe the Hindi people would not tolerate beef being used

  • I think eating beef would offend 80% of the population. So....when in Rome (or India) They may be offended by your leather cowboy boots!

  • Jay EuDaly That had occurred to me earlier. I think I'll wear my tennis shoes from now on. Maybe they weren't fascinated but offended.

  • Jay EuDaly hey, I’m offensive even in my OWN culture!

  • so true! so true!

  • During our excursion in Dominican I was getting hostile stares, realized it was the US flag on my red tee shirt. Stares stopped when I turned it inside out. I felt like I betrayed my country but we were there for E... and A...’s wedding. Peaceful.


April 20, 2019

Ok - I gotta talk about the driving.


First impression; chaotic insanity.


But now I think there's something here that we don't have.


First of all, driving is on the left - probably from English colonial days. But driving on the left is more like "guidelines" rather than hard and fast rule. I haven't seen speed limit signs. The speed is controlled by speed bumps everywhere. NO ONE flies over speed bumps, they slow down to almost nothing and slowly ease up over the bump. Our driver to the orphanage unexpectedly pulled into a gas station but didn't park at the gas pump. Alex wasn't with us and the driver didn't speak English. This time I wasn't worried because I remembered my previous, horrible misjudgment. He aired up the tires. “Of course.” I thought, “That would be a constant issue because of all the speed bumps.”


Secondly, the car horn doesn't express anger - it's used to communicate. I haven't seen anger at all so far. No one gets angry about being cut off. There's very little traffic control and people cut other people off all the time - and they announce it by honking. Coming up on a motor scooter you honk. Scooter moves over. Coming around a slow moving truck you honk. Going around a blind corner you honk. I'm starting to discern messages like, "Hello, I'm going to pass you now" or, "Hello, I am going to cut in front of you now" then from the other, "Ok, you can slip in here." There is no such thing as a required safe distance. Cars, scooters, trucks, lots of little 3-wheeled, open air taxi vehicles and pedestrians consistently miss each other by inches – many times there are 3 lanes of vehicles on a two-lane street and any of the lanes could be going in any direction. Or there are no discernible lanes at all. The kind of thing that would cause a road-rage incident in the US – following too closely, cutting in front of somebody, etc – is routine here and nobody gets angry. They just talk to each other very politely with their horns.


I've realized it's right-brain driving; ebb and flow, multi-tasking, pattern recognition. The drivers are one with their vehicle and with the other drivers. I've written extensively on my blog about the importance of right-brain dominance when it comes to playing music; same thing applied here to driving. I find it fascinating, I think it's badass but to our drivers here it's perfectly normal.


Driving from here to there has been my favorite part of the trip so far. Our driver in Delhi told us,


“To drive in India you need 5 good things; good eyes, good horn, good brakes, good patience and good luck. Luck is the most important thing!”


I want this experience to change the way I look at driving when I get home. Not sure exactly how, but we'll see. I hope it will cause me to be less impatient and less irritated with other drivers. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • I feel like this is how D... drives but with no beeping. He’s very right brained, connected and flowing, he never ever gets impatient or angry. He often comments when flow is disrupted on the streets things like, “everyone is out of rhythm right now.”

  • Gas is about $4..50/gallon there. Odd. Much like the driving in the Dominican. It's nuts. Saw family of 6 on a motorcycle.


April 20, 2019


April 20, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.


The beautiful family of three is handling everything with incredible grace ❤️ I'm overwhelmed...

Comments:

  • I am over my head excited about this whole experience for you, your family and the amazing life given to Emmi! Do not eat the eggs, you already know about the water. I would love to hear you playing there.

  • Jay EuDaly Emmi is Allie's younger sister. Emmi took the picture. The gang is my son, Nathan and his wife, Allie. Allie's sister Emmi and Allies mother Carolyn are also with us, and then there's me. The baby is Dax Shreyas EuDaly. We are now in waiting mode for exit permits for Dax. The plan is that we will leave next Sunday and be back home Monday evening. I am scheduled to resume teaching on Wednesday, May 1. I now realize that I will still be severely jet-lagged. Till then, we have a week in Delhi.

  • Jay EuDaly I have already eaten hard-boiled eggs in the hotel restaurant with no problem. Eating is stressful. I miss burger and ice. You can request ice but there's no guarantee it's made with filtered water - so no ice. I have a bunch of nuts and dark chocolate that I brought from home but I'm going to run out. I have a water bottle with a built in filter. I am able to fill it with tap water and drink it with no bad results - so far. The water bottle has been a great thing because I hate bottled water - it tastes like plastic.

  • Jay EuDaly When I do get bottled water I filter it through MY water bottle!

  • That's amusing to me! Filtering bottled water! In Bandar Abbas eating was difficult. When I lived in Okinawa, a bar owner befriended me. I would play acoustic (yes, poorly) in her bar/restaurant ~ village called Henoko, and she would feed me. When it was time for her to cook, she would go outside and pick greens next to the benjo ditches and make dinner. It was perhaps the best I have ever eaten. I have done prime rib at the finest in Frisco and lobster in Boston, but would go back there in a second. Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience with your buddies. You have many. Stay blessed friend.


April 20, 2019

I’m slowly gaining ground with Dax. At first he wouldn’t look at me and when I came close he would reach away from me to his mama. All his caregivers at the orphanage were females. I’m about as far from an Indian female as you can get. But he’s now looking at me without turning away and even took my necklace from my hand. We’ve been playing YouTube videos of me performing and he’s very interested, looking back-and-forth between the video and me. I can’t wait to play a guitar for him! #indiaisatrip




April 21, 2019

Well...this looks interesting. #indiaisatrip #masterguitar#masterguitarschool

Comments:


April 21, 2019 B...to Jay EuDaly Boy, when they said our kids would drive us to the ends of the earth, they weren’t just a kidding.


Comments:

  • Jay EuDaly No shit, Sherlock!

  • Jay EuDaly I read a story in the local Delhi newspaper this morning about a murder that was the result of warring gangs - I thought, "Ok, not surprised; big city (the population of the greater urban area is over 26 million) kind of like home" - then I read that it was between warring gangs of eunuchs! Okay then, not in Kansas anymore!

  • B... well it's good to know there's still a few ol' country boys around.


April 21, 2019 These are scenes from the orphanage in Bangalore on the day Dax was given to Nate and Allie. It was very neat and clean. I wandered around unsupervised a little bit and was impressed. It was a walled compound at the end of a Bangalore street. An oasis of peace and cleanliness in the middle of Bangalore. The last picture is immediately outside the front gate as we were leaving. As streets in Bangalore go, it was pretty nice, and also better than what surrounds it.


All the staff and children were very warm and welcoming. I posted video earlier of a dance one of the children did for us; I loved it. Allie's sister Emmi did an impromptu dance for them in return; I neglected to film it.


It was wonderful and kind of melancholy at the same time; it's the only home Dax has ever known, and these caretakers had to feel conflicted about seeing him go, but at the same time, placing Dax with someone like us is the goal for them.


I myself felt conflicted. It was like we rich Americans show up in our little two-car convoy and spend 45 minutes or an hour with the folks and then take Dax away from them never to be seen again. That dimension of it is tough to ponder on.


But...it is what it is. And we are who we are. I just wish there was a little more of them in us. #indiaisatrip

After the "Giving Ceremony."

One of our badass drivers. Also gives a sense of the compound from the front building.

The front entrance.









Gates open; Preparing to leave.

Comments:

  • I can empathize with them the emptiness they felt after Dax left. It's true love when you can put someone else's happiness above yours. You can pay them back by loving Dax as much as they did.♥️

  • Jay EuDaly Andrea and I have started a tradition of taking each grandchild on a special trip for their 13th birthday. We will probably do Dax’s early yet old enough to know. She wants to bring him back to India to this orphanage in Bangalore. I laid the groundwork for it even as we were taking him away. I told the director about our plan and asked him if that was ok. He grinned real big and said we would always be welcome there.

  • Allie EuDaly Just so no one thinks that Nate and I are neglectful of this 🤪, when we came to India to visit Dax back in November, we were able to spend many hours with Dax and his caretakers and we told them (and the director) that we plan to bring Dax back to India when he is school-aged and then hopefully more often when he is a teenager and we will come visit with them ❤️ They are all so kind and asked us to send them pictures of him as well. It will be SO special for him to come with Ma and Pa too, but I didn’t want anyone to think Nate and I are out of touch. 😋We know it’s very important for us to keep his culture of origin in his life.

  • I’ll bet you wanted to bring more of the babies back

  • Jay EuDaly you can only do so much.


April 21, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.

This is the 3rd floor rooftop of our hotel in Delhi.

Muslim call to worship, 6pm Saturday evening.



April 21, 2019

Say what? #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Jay EuDaly Bilingual advertising.

  • A coke. How American of you.

  • Jay EuDaly But what am I saying with it?

  • I am an American imperialist!!!!

  • Jay EuDaly I didn’t know you could read Hindi!

  • I know a few choice phrases too. Mostly for when I get scam calls saying my Microsoft key has expired or I qualify for zero percent interest.

  • Jay EuDaly you also assumed it was my coke - which it is not!

  • Amber EuDaly Eames Jay EuDaly he has to make this clear cause my mom will fly over and kick his ass if it’s his coke. 🤣😂

  • Jay EuDaly Amber EuDaly Eames I have had a couple of cokes - but this is not one of them. Eating has been stressful and challenging. No burger, no ice. No water unless it’s bottled or run through my filtered bottle. Up until yesterday I would try to eat something, not like it, and then eat enough to not be hungry. On top of that my appetite has been screwed up because of messed up sleep patterns (jet lag). Yesterday for the first time I got full! Today we found a western style mall - that would be upscale for here - that has some good stuff. We ate lunch at “Andrea’s Eatery.” I sent mom a picture. I had a “Buff Burger” - buffalo. When I asked the waiter if it was water buffalo or American buffalo I don’t think he understood the distinction. He said it came from Brazil. I haven’t really been posting about the challenges but eating is definitely one of them. So far I have not gotten sick but we’ve all had various degrees of dysfunction when it comes to food. The jet lag has also been pretty horrible.

  • Jay EuDaly Right now I’m sitting in the restaurant in the hotel desperately trying to stay awake as late as I possibly can - it’s 8:05pm here. Last night I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 12:30 and never went back to sleep. I slept today from 11:00 to 1:30 or 2:00. It’s been like that every day. All of us have suffered from it. There was a lot of concern about Dax not sleeping and how that might affect Nate and Allie’s sleep. We were offering to set up shifts if we had to but it hasn’t been necessary because Dax has been pretty good about sleeping.

  • Jay EuDaly Also, the air quality here fluctuates between “Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and Dangerous.” It has caused us to spend inordinate amounts of time in the hotel. Even then I have episodes of burning eyes and scratchy throat. The discovery of the mall is exciting because it’s a huge space that is air conditioned.

  • Jay EuDaly So excuse me for indulging in the comforting familiarity of a freakin’ coke every once in a while!

  • Amber EuDaly Eames Jay EuDaly lol! That sounds incredibly challenging! I don’t begrudge you at all. I was making a funny..?? But maybe it was completely out of touch to what you all are going through.

  • Jay EuDaly I thought about the whole "Mom finding out I drank coke" thing when I posted it. And it's actually true that it's not mine; Emmi wanted me to take the picture. The Aldridges brought a ton of Oreos - I had a couple of Oreos for the first time in about 30 years a couple of days ago. But now that I've found food I don't need to fall back on that stuff. The next thing is to quit the bread. Everything here is served with 2 or 3 different kinds of bread - I was eating bread because it was the only thing I liked. I told mom it was difficult to eat without eating bread. Now I can discontinue that. So I'm gaining on the food thing.

  • Jay EuDaly And this whole thread IS funny :)

  • Amber EuDaly Eames Jay EuDaly it is definitely amusing! I feel for you though.

  • Amber EuDaly Eames Andrea Hester EuDaly did you read this whole thread?

  • Pretty humorous from my chair.

Different Thread:

April 21, 2019

🖤 Happy Easter 🖤 Dax went swimming for the first time 🖤😍🥰 (So far we mostly like sitting on the side and splashing ☺️) He’s also still eating and sleeping amazingly well 🖤🙏 We are so in love and so thankful. We’re also so thankful for Carolyn Aldridge, Emmi Aldridge, and Jay EuDaly for being here with us 🖤 (and for keeping everyone updated better than us since we don’t have the time 😋)

Thank you all for the love and support 🖤 We are so overwhelmed in many ways, and are so grateful for your kindness and prayers for us and Dax’s sweet heart and mind as he goes through this transition with us. If you would also pray for his body as Delhi’s air quality is very unhealthy, we would be so thankful. So far we have been able to be in air conditioned cars and buildings most of the time, but his heart and lungs are particularly vulnerable to the pollution in the air because of his heart condition (and it’s no good to keep a 14 month old cooped up in a hotel room for a week so we’ve gotta be able to go out at least a little bit).

🖤 Hope everyone at home is having a beautiful weekend 🖤 Happy happy happy resurrection Sunday 🖤





Comments:

  • Thank you Jay for taking us on this amazing and wonderful adventure. It has given me many smiles and hope knowing there are really good and loving people who care about others.

  • Jay EuDaly bad and hateful people who don’t care about others are a minority that cause a lot of noise.


April 21, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.

So much development since his second heart surgery!!!


April 21, 2019

Here we go again. #indiaisatrip


April 21, 2019

Giant Steps is playing in the restaurant this morning. That’s one of the things I like about India. #indiaisatrip


Now I’m hearing Thelonius Monk! #indiaisatrip


April 22, 2019

Planting stuff for Earth Day. Holy crap it’s hot out here!



April 22, 2019

Well crap 💩That was one of my favorite shirts. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Paisley down! 😞

  • You out used its livefullness.

  • I remember you wearing that shirt the night we played the Uptown Theater

  • Jay EuDaly haha...yeah. What was that? Early ‘90s? If only this shirt could talk. Wait a minute. It does! Because it’s paisley!


April 22, 2019

Playing to tracks on his phone. This is at the mall we found by our hotel. I was there for an hour and a half around the noon hour and the power went out twice. #indiaisatrip



Comments:

  • Does not look like we're in Kansas anymore.

  • Jay EuDaly Nope. And when you hear the Muslim call to prayer to this scene you realize you’re REALLY not in Kansas! I’ve been trying to get out on the roof where I shot this while the call was happening so I could document it but haven’t timed it right yet.

  • I spent some time in Jiddah Saudi Arabia in 1973 and with the desert meeting the Red Sea - the heat at night - the luminous stars as big as giant lightbulbs – being able to see the swirl of the Milky Way - the calls to prayer - the 2000-year-old unchanged Suk (market) and many other attributes - it didn't take long to realize that I ain't in Kansas anymore - in fact at times I wondered if I was still on the earth

  • Jay EuDaly I am reminded of Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” It feels that foreign at times.

  • I get it


April 22, 2019


Hey, it’s only going to get up to 104 today! Crap! I forgot my jacket! #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • How about everyone of these you posted says “Unhealthy Air Quality”??

  • Jay EuDaly Yup. Except for the ones that say “dangerous.”

  • Wow. Guessing when I tell you about my trip to Tonganoxie and the traffic, it will fall on deaf ears.

  • I feel faint and sweaty just looking at those numbers.


April 22, 2019

Man down! Nathan got food poisoned! He thinks it was the cucumber at Andrea’s Eatery. Those of you who know my wife will appreciate the irony. 😂 I swear to god every meal feels like a game of Russian Roulette! #indiaisatrip


Comments:


April 22, 2019

So far the music in the restaurant here in Delhi this morning has been Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery and I’m now listening to Oscar Peterson. I complimented the choice of music to the manager and he said, “Oh yes, I love jazz!” You should have seen his face when I told him I was a jazz guitarist from Kansas City! 😲


Comments:

  • India gig?

  • Jay EuDaly their people can talk to my people.


April 23, 2019


Most of our drivers have some kind of little shrine stuck on their dashboard. Let me guess; “Please keep my car and those in it alive and in one piece to their destination.” The fact that this happens more often than not when driving in India is proof that god(s) exists! #indiaisatrip

Comments:


April 23, 2019

It's 105 degrees in Delhi. Air quality is "Unhealthy." And then this: Muslim Call to Evening Prayer. #indiaisatrip

Comments:


April 23, 2019


The kid has Spider-Man crocs #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Dad has a helmet. Woman and kid nada. Is that like a law? The driver needs a helmet?

  • Jay EuDaly Everyone is to wear a helmet by law. No more than 2 on a scooter. We saw one with 5 on it this morning. “Law” is more like “suggestion.” No one pays attention to it, especially concerning rules of the road.


April 23, 2019


Breakthrough! #indiaisatrip


April 23, 2019

We’re staying in a little area that has a couple of hotels and a large shopping mall. The mall is very modern. To get to it we have to walk a couple of blocks. Even in this little upscale area there are beggars on the street. I’ve seen some things that were so heart-wrenching I couldn’t bring myself to photograph them. The contrast is immense. #indiaisatrip







Comments:

  • Begger?

  • Jay EuDaly Yes. She’s motioning putting food in her mouth.

  • Heartbreaking!


April 23, 2019




Comments:

  • He is digging Grandpa time!!

  • Jay EuDaly this was the very first time. The pictures at the mall were the 2nd time. It took several days of being around him and playing with him before he finally reached for me.


April 23, 2019

Driving in Delhi: Keep in mind it's 105 degrees. All the drivers use stick shifts. On his left is his shrine. On the right is his cellphone with Maps app open. Another illustration of the contrast here. Pretty much everyone has cellphones. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Wow, craziness!

  • And parking is so organized and tidy as well!

  • Isn’t it amazing? At first when I lived in India I could barely look out as we drove (so scared I was going to get in a wreck) but after the initial shock wore off I appreciated a beautiful, organic flow to what first felt like chaos.... My first stop was Bangalore! Then Pune, Delhi and Mumbai...I love India and I love the Indian people❤️

  • Jay EuDaly yes. Very warm people. Wonderful smiles! The orphanage in Bangalore was a beautiful experience in spite of the fact that it was an orphanage.


April 24, 2019


It’s only 97 degrees at the Taj Mahal today. Emmi says it feels like a wet oven. #indiaisatrip


An added dimension to the game of culinary Russian Roulette at lunch today. #indiaisatrip


And so it begins...again. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • I love the look on your son's face. I wonder what he is thinking. Nothing good...

  • Nathan Elliot EuDaly just trying to understand the accent! The food is wonderful.


April 24, 2019

Agra is where the Taj Mahal is. We did pretty good. #indiaisatrip


April 24, 2019



We don’t have squatty pottys at home. There’s no place like home. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Is that in your hotel?

  • Jay EuDaly no, it’s in the restaurant in Agra where we had lunch. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is. Our hotel is pretty modern although the WiFi is spotty. I’m on 3G right now.

  • Take aim

  • It's all about your foot placement, and squatting angle. 🤜🤛

  • My friend went over about 8 years ago to adopt his daughter...I won’t tell you the story about him putting ice in his scotch getting sick from the ice and falling to the floor in a public toilet like that and getting some type of bug that he had for about 90 days and he lost 50 lbs...nope I won’t tell you that story

  • Jay EuDaly we don’t use ice. We don’t eat any fruit that still has the peel on it. We drink only bottled water or in my case I have a personal water bottle that has a built in filter. I am able to use tap water in that. As I said in an earlier post, every meal feels like a game of Russian Roulette. My son Nathan has had food poisoning that had him down for about 36 hours. He thinks it was from a cucumber.

  • Sounds about right...yeah my buddy was warned about the ice but he’s a knucklehead...travel safe and thanks for sharing the journey! Looks awesome

  • They all have really good knees, I assume? Me? Not so much!

  • In Korea it's just a hole in a concrete slab. No water.

  • My knees hurt just looking at that.

  • We had benjoes like this in Okinawa and Korea, but outside.

  • I would be totally out of luck. I hope this was just in the men’s room.

  • Jay EuDaly women’s is the same

  • Then I would be..........a total mess!

  • In Korea, we stopped at a "modern" rest stop. They built it for the Olympics. The men's was "normal" but the girl in the band told us that we needed to see the woman's. It was clean and modern looking except there were no toilets, just holes in the tiled floor...yuck.

  • Yup Africa too

  • Apparently better for one's health - or so they say. Not great for a leisurely excursion through reader's digest!

  • Korea has those. We called them the "Kimchi squat".

  • I used them many times in my travels. You are correct - no place like home. #itsthelittlethings.


April 24, 2019


Playing with my maps app on the 3 hour drive from Agra back to Delhi. Siri knows her way around here too. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Surrounded by turmoil

  • Jay EuDaly yeah, security is tight here. You have to go through metal detectors and get a pat-down everywhere. The Sri Lanka attacks on Easter didn’t help. I saw soldiers with automatic weapons searching the cars that were parking underground at the mall next to our hotel.


April 24, 2019

4 lanes of traffic on a 3 lane road plus the motorcycles on the sidewalk.#indiaisatrip


April 24, 2019

Gimme five! #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • Learns quickly!

  • Jay EuDaly he’s very smart. He knows that when you touch a phone screen things change. He figured out where the home button is and what it does. He’s constantly reaching for our phones and my laptop.

  • He’ll feel right at home before you know it. He obviously adapts quickly. He certainly will fit right in with this generation in America.


April 24, 2019

He knows where the home button is. #indiaisatrip


April 24, 2019

Today we did our first and only touristy thing. We went to the Taj Mahal. It's in a town called Agra about 3 hours drive from Delhi. Our driver was Deepak and he spoke English reasonably well. He was very chatty and also had a fun sense of humor.


“Your wife is very beautiful” I said, as he showed me a picture of his wife and two kids.


“Ohh” he said, scowling as he wagged a finger at me.


“Oh shit!” I thought, “Did I just cross a line?”


Then he grinned and said, “Thank you!”


After he found out I was a musician (“Are you good?” he asked) and loved Indian music he said he was a big fan of Bollywood music and played music from his phone for us. I also played some of my videos for him.


We were looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing the countryside.


We left a little after 6am. The highway was 3 lanes wide with a 4th lane for scooters and was mostly empty both there and back.


The two main things out in the countryside are farming wheat and brick making factories. We saw hundreds of single smokestacks dotted here and there where they dig and make bricks.


Agra appeared to be a small town compared to Delhi and Bangalore. Obviously, tourism is a huge industry there.


The Taj Mahal is an amazing structure but I thought the inside was rather anti-climatic compared to the outside. It's a mausoleum and they don't allow pictures or videos inside. The backside abuts up against a river. There are neighboring structures, one of which is a functioning mosque.


Anyway, check out the video.

Comments:

  • Are their speed limits pretty much like ours?

  • Jay EuDaly yes. But in the city I saw very few speed limit signs. There are speed bumps everywhere and everyone slows to a crawl when going over them. That’s mostly how the speed is regulated.

  • Are there many car/bike/scooter wrecks?

  • Jay EuDaly yes. If you look at the traffic fatality stats they’re pretty high. But my sense is they’re pretty low compared to the population. I could be wrong about that. In the time so far that we’ve been here we’ve only seen one wreck. It was too chaotic and crowded as we drove by to figure out who/what was involved or how bad it was.

  • Nice music!

  • Jay EuDaly what you’re hearing is Indian pop music, and like pop music in the West it’s watered down and simplistic. Classical Indian music, exposed to the west mainly through the world famous sitarist Ravi Shankar (who is Nora Jones’s father BTW) is some unbelievably amazing music. My doorway into this was the group Shakti, which was a collaboration between jazz guitarist John McLaughlin (also known as Mahavishnu) and Indian classical musicians, one of which was Ravi Shankar’s son, a violinist (ol’ Ravi got around!). When I was writing and recording a lot I commonly used Indian percussion samples and rhythms as part of my drum tracks. This is from the 2nd Shakti record from the mid seventies- I still have the vinyl: https://youtu.be/KIqm17plb1Q?fbclid=IwAR16VGqu86cGsTL5jn51a-26-mXKvmqnYOZYR5Ovkz8g3jKWJKyOAiC8x48

  • Jay EuDaly here’s a more recent version of the group; https://youtu.be/9zbMyZk17xE

  • Ravi Shankar is Nora Jones Father??? I never knew that. BTW, thanks for taking my bucket list item of seeing the Taj off my list. Be well, friend.

  • Jay EuDaly I really can’t go into all the detail about what an amazing structure it is. The 4 towers lean outward so if there’s an earthquake they’ll collapse outward instead of inward. The script around the entrance is verses from the Koran and as they go higher they get bigger creating the optical illusion that they are all the same size. There are many optical illusions in the design and artwork of the building. The whole thing is marble. No description will do it justice.

  • Jay EuDaly her birth name is Geethali Norah Jones Shankar.

  • I was a bit agog when I learned that. It's 5:45 AM your time. Sleep much?

  • Jay EuDaly nope. Quit trying to adjust several days ago. I’ve been up since 1am. And that’s after a very active day yesterday with no naps. I thought maybe I would sleep tonight but noooo!


Jay EuDaly shared a post.


We made it to the Taj Mahal!!!

About 3-4 hour drive from our hotel in Delhi to the city of Agra.

Definitely worth seeing. A true monument of stunning artistry!!


Jay EuDaly shared a post.

A column on the Taj Mahal.

The column only has 3 sides. The appearance of 6 sides is a planned optical illusion, made with the zigzag inlays on the white marble!

The Arabic scripts on the left were carved out of the marble and inlaid with semi precious stone.


Comments:


Stopping for tea on our way to Agra. #indiaisatrip





Comments:

News bordering on the miraculous! By Tuesday afternoon we had all of Dax’s paperwork in hand, including passport and exit visa, and documentation proving that we’re not trafficking him, without which he would not be allowed to leave the country. I know; it’s so horrible that that’s even necessary. That’s 3 days earlier than expected! That never happens. Carolyn (Allie’s mother) got to work with our travel agent and for not much more money we are leaving 48 hours early! Not only that, but the two longest legs - Delhi to Hong Kong (5 hours) and Hong Kong to Chicago (15 hours) will be business class instead of economy class! Separate seats! That recline! With leg room! OMG I am so excited! That never happens! Chicago to KC is economy class but that’s only an hour. With layovers the total travel time is about 30 hours. We should be home Saturday evening. So we have 2 more days to knock around. My 2nd shirt ripped (I guess taking 3 of my oldest, most comfortable shirts wasn’t such a good idea). I’m down to one shirt. So I’m gonna go shopping for a shirt. And get my honey some kind of beautiful sexy Indian wrap around thingy! 😈

Comments:

  • Dax is adorable!

  • Jay EuDaly he was premature and abandoned in Bangalore. He’s medically fragile. He’s had 2 heart surgeries (he basically has half a heart) and will need a 3rd one a little later. There was some concern at the Taj Mahal about the heat. Getting overheated is very dangerous for him. Our guide kept us out of the sun as much as possible. It got up to 104 while we were there. He did great! And so did old Pa who had a heart attack a few years ago and is walking around with a stint! My daughter-in-law is a pediatric ICU nurse at children’s mercy and so is as equipped as anybody to deal with his issues.

  • Cute kid, I've enjoyed your trip. I'm happy for you. It's like seeing the world without leaving home.

  • Jay EuDaly and without the jet lag. And without the food poisoning. And without the water issues. And without the security issues. And without the heat. And without the poor air quality.


April 24, 2019

Aaaand now there is no water - the toilet won't flush, no water at the sink. #indiaisatrip


Comments:

  • You'll have these moments to remember

  • Jay EuDaly Good times, Tom, good times.

  • Even with all the bs you have to put up with I bet this trip will go down as one of those big memories.

  • Jay EuDaly For sure. Worth every minute.

  • Jay EuDaly Especially when it's over.

  • A friend of mine spent six weeks over there once and he said he literally felt the weight of the world being released when the plane took off taking him home . He also has never been the same physically since that trip . Mysterious stomach problems brought on from some tropical bug.

  • Jay EuDaly Thanks for that encouraging word, Tom. I know that the first thing I will do is take a shower. The second thing I will do is eat a big ol' taco salad with tons of organic, grass-fed beef, not buffalo, with all kinds of raw stuff that I love like onions, tomatoes, peppers, raw cheese - my god, I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl just thinking about it. O yeah, I'll hug my wife before all that.

  • I would love to spend time in India even with all the problems. I love the culture and mystery of the place.

  • Jay EuDaly The thing that strikes me the most, besides it being completely alien - I use that word instead of foreign because it feels more than foreign; it feels like a different planet and in many ways a hostile environment - is that it's incredibly ancient. The back streets of Bangalore probably have been the same for centuries. The heat, the dust, the Arabic attire, the chattering of a strange dialect; I'm constantly reminded of Herbert Walker's "Dune" series of books. The feeling he evoked in me through those books captured what it's like here - for me anyway.

  • Jay EuDaly Even driving through the countryside the farming is by hand. I saw no farm machinery; I saw people out in the blazing sun in temps over 100 working in wheat fields and firing bricks made out of mud. I imagine it was the same 20 centuries ago - or more. Church tradition holds that Thomas was the apostle to India and was killed there. India was already an ancient land in those times.

  • Jay EuDaly North America is as fresh and virgin as new-fallen snow by comparison.

Aaaand now the water's back on. #indiaisatrip


April 24, 2019


April 24, 2019


April 24, 2019

Miraculous News update. Not so miraculous. There has been a misunderstanding and the price quoted was in addition to what we have already paid so it's double the money. The non-flushing toilet tipped the scales - we'll take it. Due in Kansas City Saturday night.


Comments:

  • I'm sorry that it turned out that way but I'm glad that you all are getting to coming home sooner ❤❤!!

  • Jay EuDaly yes. The fact that its business class was also a factor. We were not looking forward to an economy class 15-hour flight with a baby. This will be way better. On the other hand, taking care of Dax has been the easiest part of this whole thing. He’s an amazing kid.


April 24, 2019

Ha! DRIVING SCHOOL! Learning how to drive in the 2nd half of the 3rd lane of 4 lanes of traffic on a 3-lane road. #indiaisatrip



April 25, 2019

So one of my favorite places in the hotel is a little walkway from the hotel to a rooftop pool. The pool is on the 3rd level; the hotel has 6 floors. I stand up on the ledge behind the potted plants and look beyond our little hotel enclave and ponder. This is where you can hear the Muslim call to prayer at certain times every day. The Hindus and Muslims have coexisted here for centuries but the peace is tenuous and occasionally violence erupts between the extremes of each faction. There is a bloody history in India between those two. One of our drivers said he thought the brick building in the 3rd picture is the mosque from which the call I hear emanates. #indiaisatrip




April 25, 2019

Ok, here’s a first; a rip in the toilet paper has been scotch taped! #indiaisatrip

Comments:

  • seems like the tape would be more costly than the toilet paper. That makes it an odd repair. Conspiracy theories are swirling in my head.


April 25, 2019


He blows kisses ❤️😭😍❤️



April 25, 2019

I don't have the energy today to edit so I'm just throwing some of my pictures from yesterday up with no explanation other than it was the Taj Mahal.







Comments:

  • And what is this building?

  • Jay EuDaly that’s the front gate to the Taj Mahal complex

  • The grounds must be pretty large!

  • Jay EuDaly yeah - 42 acres
















Comments:

  • What is this building?

  • Jay EuDaly it’s a mosque. There are 2 identical buildings on either side of the Taj Mahal. You can see the white marble of the Taj Mahal in the foreground. This one is a functioning mosque. The other one is closed. They think it might have been a guest house.










April 25, 2019


Our Taj Mahal guide's family has been in the business for generations. He knows everybody. He takes us to his buddy's shop where we are served tea and listen to a smooth talking sales pitch. It was actually informative and educational - but a pitch nevertheless. Being an American guy, I decided what I was going to buy without listening to him. But I did get to carve my name into Taj Mahal marble.










April 25, 2019

Street scenes in Agra.






April 25, 2019


The bullet was in the chamber. I lost this game of culinary Russian Roulette. In bed all day Thursday. No diarrhea but stomach ache and cramps. Maybe a very low grade fever. I haven’t eaten since Wednesday evening. Hey, who goes to India and DOESN’T get sick, hmm? It’s now 12:30 am on Friday and I’m feeling better. Just in time to get the hell out of Dodge! I’m going to devote Friday morning to shopping. We leave for the airport at 8:00pm. #indiaisatrip


April 25, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.


He’s so quiet and snuggly when he wakes up 🖤



April 25, 2019

Last day here. Not gonna miss this! #indiaisatrip


April 25, 2019

This was driving to Agra on Wednesday. The smokestacks you see are brick making factories. #indiaisatrip


April 26, 2019

One last episode of unbearable cuteness before we leave for Hong Kong. #indiaisatrip Allie EuDaly Nathan Elliot EuDaly Emmi Aldridge Carolyn Aldridge


April 26, 2019

The gauntlet begins. #indiaisatrip


April 26, 2019

Leaving Delhi business class baby! #indiaisatrip



Business class is awesome! Why haven’t I done this before? #indiaisatrip


April 26, 2016

Hello Hong Kong! #indiaisatrip


April 27, 2019

33 degrees and snowing in Chicago. #indiaisatrip


April 27, 2019

Yeah...flight to KC has been cancelled. #indiaisatrip

Comments:

Jay EuDaly the only transfer in the whole world where there was any problem. I hate O'Hare.


Dax’s first snow. #indiaisatrip


April 27, 2019

Keeping the baby warm. #indiaisatrip




April 27,2019

You’re going to India they said. It’ll be 110 degrees they said. You don’t need a jacket they said.


Stranded by the snow in Chicago with no jacket freezin’ my ‘nads off 😡


Comments:

  • Just keep that baby warm. Your 'nads are like Christmas decorations...strictly ornamental.

  • But you're home! Have a nice cheeseburger!

  • Jay EuDaly room service already ordered!

  • You use a jacket to keep your nads warm?


So as I sit alone in my clean, comfortable hotel room after brushing my teeth with tap water, after eating my hamburger, with ice in my water, stranded in Chicago because of a snow storm the last Saturday of April, after getting on the plane yesterday in Delhi where it was 110, I thought I'd give you one last video. What could be crazier than driving in India? Driving in India at night. #indiaisatrip


April 28,2019

End of chapter. Last #indiaisatrip hashtag. I’m gonna eat a taco salad and go to bed.


April 29, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a post.


We’re home 🖤🖤🖤 Dax was so amazing during our 30+ hours of travel (a flight cancellation didn’t help...but the last-minute-change-of-plans-to-business-class sure did). We’re all super jet lagged and adjusting to everything, and Nate and I haven’t figured out how to have a kid and get anything else done yet 😋 but wow he’s worth it 🖤 Thanks for all the love, friends 🖤 Once we get on a normal sleep schedule, I’ll try to share more 🖤 #lovingeudaly




May 5, 2019

Dax meets 3 of his 10 new cousins.


May 5, 2019

Dax meets his new great-grandpa.


May 7, 2019

Jay EuDaly shared a photo.


How any parent has time to keep up with or post on social media I do not understand. But I guess I’m still just a couple weeks into this and there’s a lot I don’t understand 🖤 A couple things I *do* know so far are m a n it’s not easy having a 14-month old and I fall more in love every day 🖤 P.S. We think we might be adjusted to KC time! And we are thankful and happy about it 🖤 #lovingeudaly #newparents


May 12, 2019

Mark Valentine A little background on the gang violence you saw: http://thingsasian.com/story/eunuchs-indias-third-gender


Jay EuDaly Mark Valentine yeah. A subculture about which I had no clue. We were in Delhi, which is in the north; the eunuch culture there is more rigid than in the south, according to this article. Thanks for the link.


May 28, 2019

For those who followed our adventures in India - here is Dax today. He is about 15 months old. #indiaisatrip


June 2, 2019
Jay EuDaly shared a post.

I was under a gag order while posting from India but now the news is out! Number 12 due in August!


First family photos with our amazing Dax Shreyas 💕

And Dax would like to take this opportunity to announce to the internet that he will be getting a surprise baby sister in August 😳😂🥰💕

#lovingeudaly 📷 @effjayphotography






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