The Verma clan breezed into Jakarta this month, bringing with them the chaos they are best known for! Aparna kicked off the visit with her usual noisy greeting at the airport, and quickly learnt the important words in the local language – terima kasih – thank you, to be spoken to every Indonesian orang she met.

The kids were moderately impressed with the pool, and ecstatic over the 100+ dinky cars on display. They did their best to make friends with Mia, who did her best to stay away, so they shifted their affection to Souvik’s prized collection of animated movies by Miyazaki. Souvik chuffed with pride at this development 😉  While Nishad bravely ventured into the deep pool, Sana modelled her swimsuit and cuteness, and Souvik was a willing slave to her ‘splashy’ demands.

Deven’s reward for being the world’s best babysitter was food – as many different cuisines of Indonesia as he could sample.

I took this opportunity to be sillier than the kids; Aarti Maushi was a source of extreme amusement, shrieking when the zebras and llamas wanted to chew my hat, or the elephants blew into my face, at Taman Safari. We heard and sang along “dil dhadakne do” endlessly ‘one last time’ in the car.
One barbecue, some fun dinner parties, a quick trip to Bali, car-free Sunday, sightseeing and shopping sprees, exotic fruit discoveries, and before we knew it, the Vermas were back home in Mumbai with plenty of promises to visit at our next destination!