The President of India??? Realy?????

We got the amazing opportunity on Monday to not only meet with the President of India, but also to get a private tour of the Mansion/Residence/Office. MAITRI works with the elderly as well; they run an organization that helps those who have little family left live with dignity and pride, and Monday was a national recognition of the elderly day. Here are some pictures from the event:













The grounds are beautiful.... the whole thing occupies over 150 acres of land.

I saw the gardens from inside the building and made a comment about how gorgeous it was... the only analogy I could come up with was that it was the Gardener's version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. (I.e. the factory but with a Gardner's fantasy instead of a chocolate lover's fantasy.) Am I the only one who thinks this analogy is crazy???? I was made fun of to no avail for this, so any support would be appreciated.

Unfortunately we could not take in our cameras... but here are some shots we could take from outside:


This is me, Ali, and Kacee (new roommate from Utah!) in front of one of the SIDES of one of the buildings:





And this is us with a coworker as well as Sonal, MAITRI's CEO, who is second from the right:



this picture is taken outside of the gates, with our back to the India Gate, which is a direct line from the center of the building (which meets a statue of Buddha) right through the center of the India Gate:




It was a unique, extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I can't help but tell one quick story, though.

On our tour, we were taken into a room wherein gifts from leaders of other countries to the Indian President are displayed. These gifts were immaculate; robes worn by ancient kings that were adorned in gold thread and whatnot, antiques, personal items, beautiful replicas of statutes and temples.... just amazing gifts.

I hadn't even considered that there would be a gift from the U.S.... ohh but there was.

Sadly idle in the corner, the last thing we saw before leaving the room, was President George W. Bush's gift to the President of India: a glass (perhaps plastic?) bowl, no bigger than than a good-sized cereal bowl [Ali commented that it looked as though they stopped at Sears to pick it up on their way], and lightly engraved on the side of it was a small Indian flag crossing poles with an American flag.

Really.?

God knows he probably made some crack about using it for curry, or some ridiculous hogwash such as that.

I announced that I was Canadian and had never heard of this "George Bush" character. *sigh*