My parents and I had been scheming Eaman’s birthday, which would be spent in Bangalore, since we were in Myanmar. Emails were exchanged, venues were called and what they came up with — my parents deserve all the credit — was a food-, game- and family-centric way for him to say hello to 29.
The day of his birthday, we had lunch at Leela Palace, a gorgeous 5-star hotel with a few locations in India. The spread was phenomenal. I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a more fancy meal before.
The dessert selection was unlike anything we had ever seen. These are the stuff sweet dreams are made of.
Obviously a photo shoot around the hotel grounds ensued.
A couple days later, Eaman and I headed to Amoeba, a bowling alley and arcade near our hotel. Bangalore revealed itself as all kinds of hip to me on this trip. Last time I visited, there was one so-so mall. Now there are palatial shopping centers, chic lounges and apparently bowling alleys! It was major throwback fun. We even got tickets after each game we played at the arcade and traded them in for two glitter pens, a stamp and a squeeze football. So useful, you know.
So my score…yeah, I got off to a, um, rough start.
And finally, on our last day in Bangalore, my mom threw a party at our hotel. It was a beautiful buffet-style dinner that also gave us a chance to say bye to my family before we set off on our own to travel through India.
My uncle bought and had a lovely new kurta outfit tailored for Eaman.
