FILM: My Old Ass

Our first Saturday movie night in a while. We weren’t sure what to expect from My Old Ass, a film about a free-spirited young girl, Elliott, who tries magic mushrooms on her 18th birthday, and ends up meeting her 39-year old future self. What would you want to tell your younger self? And what would a young you want to ask your older self? Elliott lives in a small Ontario town on a beautiful lake, but is determined not to be a third generation cranberry farmer, and is looking forward to going to college in Toronto. She’s in that poignant week at the end of her last childhood summer, about to leave her family and friends, with a heady mix of excitement looking forward and wistfulness about what she’s about to leave behind. There are some wonderfully funny moments and some wonderfully tender moments, and it is ultimately heartwarming and heartrending, and will leave you with a lot to think about. Maisy Stella is compellingly charming as Elliott, and Aubrey Plaza is funny but also wordlessly profound in moments. Very highly recommended.

Letter To Candy

When I was first getting to know George, I soon learned how close he was to his family, and how much he looked up to his older sisters. I heard earfuls about Candy and Linda’s homes and gardens, their cooking and crafts, all of the effort that makes a house into a home, taken to an art form with care and attention to detail. We used to laugh about which of you was more Martha Stewart than the other. When I first learned how Linda made hand-crafted caramel corn every Christmas, I thought she was the most Martha. But I think you forever took the lead the first time I had Thanksgiving at your house in Paradise, where the table was beautifully set and the decoration included acorns, collected from your yard, subtly dusted with gold sparkle. As I learned, in the process of collecting and gold-dusting those acorns, the caps got separated from the “corns”, and had to be put together again like a puzzle, having to find the right cap to go with each acorn, all to add a subtle touch of beauty beside the napkin rings and candlesticks.

You all (George very much included) inherited your passion for aesthetics from your mother. (Are any of us surprised that some of Katie’s last words in her increasingly aphasic twilight months were “Candy, that’s a cute outfit.”) But you took it to a whole new level. Just the way you would wrap each Christmas gift was a wonder, not only thoughtfully chosen paper and beautiful ribbon or string, but adorned with small lovely things from your home or garden, with old Christmas cards cut up and refashioned as tags. I came to appreciate that your devotion to such aesthetics went far deeper than a mere concern for appearances. It was an expression of utmost care for those of us lucky enough to enjoy your home and your hospitality. From my own experience cooking, I know how preparing a thoughtful meal is a way of expressing love. Your love language is much broader: delicious family meals (carefully catered to so many different allergies and preferences!), beautifully set tables, jars of jam from your fig or plum tree, exquisitely wrapped and thoughtfully chosen gifts, artfully arranged flowers – these were all your expressive way of making the world more beautiful and delicious for all of us.

You were also thoroughly down to earth. Much as you loved a cute pair of shoes, you were perfectly happy with no shoes at all, bare feet in the sand at Balboa Island, or just in your garden. You were proud to be a farmer’s daughter. I only knew your father after his stroke, and wished I’d known him before, because everyone always spoke so highly of him. I remember on one of our many weekends packing up the house in Lodi, you were telling me about your father — his service on so many community boards, how they valued his even temper and down-to-earth advice. In those stories you were telling, the resemblance struck me, and I said “you really are your father’s daughter.”  You just lit up, and said “oh, you don’t know how happy that makes me!” 

When your father passed, and I reflected on what I’d learned about his life, I observed that he was not just a farmer of grapes, but a farmer of community institutions — he helped grow a school, a hospital, and a church. In reflecting on your life, I think you’ve been not only a great gardener of fruits and flowers, but a gardener of family and friendships. You carefully tended the valued relationships with your extended family (as we can see by so many cousins here today). And when you planted a new home in Paradise, you set down deep roots there, nurturing new friendships and connections through the school, the hospital, and the church. I was always amazed at the exuberant abundance of Christmas cards you received, and you could tell me all about all of those people because you’d taken the time and care to keep up with them all. In raising your children, you instilled in them the value and practice of maintaining relationships, and they flourished, developing their own deep-rooted friendships, some going back to their school days. You watered your friendships with regular phone calls, cards, and visits, and you fertilized your family with rituals like Thanksgiving and Christmas, annual Balboa Island weeks, and Lodi visits. You showered your grandchildren with care, and it’s wonderful to see the joy it brings you to spend time with them. George and I are profoundly grateful that you rooted us so deeply in your family garden. 

There are so many things that will always make us think of you — a beautifully set table, a well-wrapped gift, homemade jam from backyard fruit. But for me, the epitome of you will be those gold-dusted acorns, humble and down-to-earth yet extraordinary and thoughtful. Like those gold-dusted acorns, you were ultimately ephemeral and gone too soon. Like those acorns, you are imprinted indelibly on our memories and in our hearts. 

FILM: Robot Dreams

The animated feature Robot Dreams is an unexpectedly beautiful story about companionship, relationships, and life’s unexpected turns. The story is told without any dialogue, just expressively drawn anthropomorphic animal (and robot) characters set in a gorgeously drawn New York City. The artistry of the drawing is just a parade of delight, and the story is completely engaging for the whole 1:40 run. The uncliché ending left me pondering what layers of metaphor and worthy life lessons lay beneath the charming and earnest story I enjoyed so much.

STAGE: A Strange Loop

A Strange Loop is, well, a strange loop indeed. This meta-musical is a play about a fat gay black writer trying to write a play about a fat gay black writer trying to write a play about … well, you get the idea. Before A Strange Loop, one could scarcely imagine how many internalized phobias, how much baggage a fat gay black theatre-geek wannabe writer might be carrying around. But now you don’t have to, because this play shows you all the baggage in explicit (sometimes painfully explicit) vivid detail, leavened by energetic music and clever funny lyrics. The protagonist, called Usher, lives in Queens and works as an usher for The Lion King on Broadway. The six other actors on stage are all shape-shifting meta-characters, acting out various scenarios from Usher’s colorful imagination. Some of these meta-characters are completely abstract (“Good morning, internalized self-loathing”). Other scenes illustrate imagined conversations with his family (in which his meta-father is called Mufasa and his meta-mother Sarabi, the names of Simba’s lion parents from The Lion King), showing us the disappointment of his father, his parents’ fears of HIV, and the prayers of his mother that Usher’s play will be some mix of gospel and a Tyler Perry show. (It’s quite a scene when that comes to life in his head.) This poor guy is certainly dealing with a lot of shit when even his fantasies end up disappointing and demeaning him. It’s a strange combination of heaviness with music and comedy that could only work in theatre. It is a loop in that Usher ends where he begins, wondering how his play will end, none of his issues really resolved, except that we’ve all watched him explore all his issues in his head, a communal theatrical therapy session. It was strange being made to laugh as this guy is baring his inner demons. In the end, it was provocatively entertaining, there were very talented performers on stage, and I was glad I saw it.

FILM: Ghostlight

 The beauty of Shakespeare’s works is that they are so much a part of our culture that they can be adapted and translated in all manner of creative ways. The film Ghostlight gives us a unique new spin on Romeo & Juliet, not so much as an adaptation of the play, but a story in which a community theatre production of the play helps a family work through deep emotional issues in unexpected ways. Shakespeare as therapy. The film unfolds the story deftly, at first just introducing us to Dan, a generally mild-mannered construction worker who shows a bolt of anger that seems to come out of nowhere. And then we meet his daughter Daisy, who has even more serious anger management issues and is about to get thrown out of high school. Wife and mother Sharon is just trying to hold the family together. Through a random encounter, Dan gets pulled into a local community theatre group who needs someone for a reading they’re doing. That encounter turns out to be just what he needed at that moment, and through his improbable continuing involvement with this bunch of theatre geeks, the story of what this family is really going through, and how they might get through it, unfolds. The main actors are not big names, but they are a real-life father, mother, and daughter, and their chemistry in the film is great. If you with patient ears (and eyes) attend, you will be moved.

FILM: Hit Man

Hit Man, while it doesn’t require quite the same level of seat belt as The Fall Guy, is also great summer fun. This is Richard Linklater (the “Before” trilogy, “School of Rock”, “Dazed and Confused”) taking on film noir romance-murder-mystery in New Orleans. Glen Powell stars as Gary Johnson, based on a real-life story of a mild-mannered college professor who moonlights for the police department as a fake hit man. Johnson turns out to be a master of disguise and acting, as he wears a wire to catch people attempting murder-by-hire. It’s fun to see this side-career evolve, but then things get really interesting when he ends up romantically involved with a woman who seeks out a hit man to take out her abusive husband. Lots of good classic noir twists (think Double Indemnity) with a good dose of steamy romance (think Body Heat), and add a pinch of philosophical reflection on whether people really can change.

FILM: The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy is an unabashed petition to the Academy to finally create an Oscar for stunt work. Director David Leitch is not only familiar with action thrillers, having helmed films in the John Wick, Fast & Furious, and Deadpool franchises, but he’s also a stuntman himself, having been a stunt double for Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. This film does double-duty as a rom-com with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt (who wouldn’t cheer for them?) as well as an action thriller, all while highlighting the craft of stunt workers. This fun story follows Colt Seavers (Gosling), a veteran stunt man who flamed out years ago when a stunt went bad, and Jody Moreno (Blunt), a rising director working on an action-thriller-sci-fi-romance. The big name star of her new picture has suddenly gone AWOL in the middle of the shoot, and the producer recruits Seavers to find the star, while possibly rekindling their romance that also flamed out years ago. When Seavers’ quest to find the missing star suddenly turns into its own real-life action-thriller, with blockbuster stunts and some nice plot twists, the movie gets really good. As a romance, it’s a bit cheesy, but as an action thriller with a meta layer, it’s really good fun and you’ll be cheering in the suspenseful end of the film and the end of the film-within-the-film. And you’ll join the chorus clamoring for that new Oscar category for stunts.

STAGE: The Rhythm of Mourning

Last Thursday, we saw The Rhythm of Mourning by the Bethesda Rep company. On a bare stage with minimal props, a strong cast, with some subtle but effective lighting, costume, and choreography, tells a powerful story about loss and grief. At first we see a woman wordlessly express mixed feelings about the space she has just entered. She is soon followed by a handful of other characters who are talking about her like a kind of Greek chorus, except that Greek choruses spoke with a unified voice, and these characters are arguing with each other. Before long, it becomes clear (if you hadn’t already noticed from the cast of character names in the program – Anxiety, Shame, Hope, Innocence, Anger, Denial, etc) that what we are witnessing is the grieving woman’s internal struggle, her mental wrestling made manifest as a whole cast of emotions and stages of grief. It’s a powerful device deployed to great effect in this production, as the audience slowly learns who she lost, and how, what that person meant to her, and why this place she has entered is so fraught, all while we watch her movingly move her way toward an uncertain closure. We caught it at the Bethesda Rep’s home stage, but there will be a half-dozen more performances through June as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Check it out!

OPERA: Turandot

On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of seeing the sumptuous production of Turandot at LA Opera. The magnificent cast is lead by house-shaking soprano Angela Meade, the honey-rich tenor Russell Thomas as Karaf, and vibrant soprano Guanqun Yu who moved us to tears as Liu. (We had enjoyed seeing both Russell Thomas and Guanqun Yu a few years ago here in Mozart's The Clemency of Titus.) And expanded chorus voiced the hopes and fears of the people of Peking sensationally (of course we're partial since we know so many choristers). The sets, designed by David Hockney, are fantastic. Opera is an extravagant art form, and this is one of the most extravagant of operas, filled with passion and passionately beautiful music. If you have a chance to see it, go!

FILM: Challengers

Challengers, directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, among others), makes tennis look sexier than ever. Zendaya plays a fierce up-and-coming tennis star, Tashi Duncan, who ends up in a complicated relationship with two other young tennis stars Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist). The two guys have come from prep schools and backgrounds of privilege, while she has definitely not, and has had to work hard for everything she has. “Tennis is a relationship,” Tashi says early in the film, and the game at its highest level of competition is inextricably intertwined in the relationships of these three, with the two guys, closest of friends, also competing for Tashi. It all takes some interesting twists and turns, with a riveting final match with so much riding on it. The strong performances are underscored by great sound engineering, where the effort of every swing and the impact of every contact of racket with ball are visceral with layers of emotion.

FILM: We Grown Now

We Grown Now is the most heartwrenchingly beautiful film. Early on, one of the characters says that there’s a poetry in everything if you look for it, and this film proves that out. The film follows two young boys growing up in a sprawling public housing project in Chicago in 1992. It has the tender bittersweetness and nostalgic wonder of Stand By Me, the honest examination of Black American experience like A Raisin in the Sun, and some love for Chicago with a couple of winks at Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but none of those comparisons captures it. Everything you might think of when you hear “public housing project” – struggling single-parent families, poorly maintained buildings, drug gangs, random shootings – is all there, not glossed over, but not the focus either, just the background for showing how someone can still see the stars through the cracks in the ceiling. During the credits of the film, there is a series of beautiful archival photos of people living in the Cabrini-Green housing project (since demolished) where this film was set, and I wonder if those were the starting point for writer-director Minhal Baig to imagine what life was like for those people in that place and time. I know it’s only April, but I’m ready to nominate this film for next year’s Oscars in nearly every category. The script is so fresh, original, authentic, and full of heart. The direction is absolute master class in what film should be about, tethered to cinemaphotography that is the most gorgeous visual poetry. The ensemble of actors are brilliant, making a compelling story of action and expression from this character-driven, slice-of-life script. I can’t remember the last time (if ever?) I thought that sound added so much to a film, but here sounds as simple as the drip of a leaky pipe add a rich dimension. And all enhanced by a subtle but powerful orchestral score. This is truly film-making at its best.

FILM: Wicked Little Letters

In 1920 in the quaint English seaside town of Littlehampton, a curious scandal erupted when scores of townspeople started receiving nasty handwritten letters full of profanity to make the Edwardian mind explode. Based on this strange-but-true story, Wicked Little Letters is a wicked little delight, thanks to memorable performances from Olivia Coleman as prim spinster Edith Swan living with her parents and Jessie Buckley as foul-mouthed Irish immigrant Rose Gooding living in the adjacent row house. A small constellation of other great characters and actors add color to the story as well. Rose is framed, but by whom and why? We find out halfway through, but the real question is whether the perpetrator can be caught, or whether the powers that be prefer a tidy solution even if it’s not true. Littlehampton’s first woman police officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) is on the case, but a lot of social structure and expectations stand in the way. A little social commentary is smuggled in, but under cover of an engaging procedural with a hefty dose of dark comedy. We loved it.

FILM: One Life

 

One Life presents the inspirational story of Nicholas Winton, a young Englishman who visits Prague in 1938 to help with a refugee organization, and is horrified to witness the plight of hundreds of Jewish families with young children fleeing from Hitler. Despite the seemingly impossible challenge of finding money and sponsors and moving the English immigration bureaucracy, he organizes the rescue of hundreds of children in the weeks and days before Hitler invades Czechoslovakia. After the war, his efforts were generally unknown, and he personally felt very burdened with the memory of all of the children that he was unable to save. The film cuts between showing the events of his heroic efforts just before the war, and then his life some four decades later. Anthony Hopkins gives a masterfully nuanced performance as the guilt-ridden Winton in his later years, in a role that could have been maudlin in lesser hands. Helena Bonham Carter is also pitch perfect as his mother in the 1938 scenes. While the film is inevitably compared to Schindler’s List, it is its own unique story, and a very timely one, in illustrating the plight of refugees in a war zone, and the genius of boldness to do what might seem impossible. The film’s title, One Life, alludes to the Jewish proverb that saving one life is to save the whole world, but it also shows what difference one life can make. You may walk out after this film wondering, as I did, what you could be doing with your one life.

Remembering Bev

My heart goes out to the Stern family upon hearing of the passing of Bev — wife, mother, and grandmother, and adoptive mother of countless lucky people. She was the mother of my friend and college roommate Hal, and I met her during parents’ weekend of our freshman year at Princeton. She was one of those people with a smile that lights the world, and a warmth that makes you feel like she’s your Mom too. Fittingly, she was a school nurse for many decades, and I’m certain there’s a whole generation of kids who grew up in Freehold, New Jersey who think she’s their “other mother” too. She was a fount of boundless encouragement, her children’s greatest cheerleader, propelling her family to be both happy and highly accomplished through force of will, power of love, and no shortage of her famous kugel(*). She lead not just by encouragement but by example, being a strong and accomplished woman herself. Hal was not the first Ivy Leaguer in his family; she had graduated from Penn. And by the end of her school nurse career, she was leading the nursing program for the district and establishing best practices that were adopted statewide. In her later years, she was organizing things at the assisted living community that she and Joel had moved to. She was also social media savvy and doing her best to make Facebook a more benevolent place with her uniformly positive messages. While wholeheartedly Jewish herself, she was open-hearted to good people of all faiths, and always made a point to send out good wishes for Christmas and Easter and other religious holidays for all who observe. One of the silver linings of the Covid pandemic for me was that I was able to join the Stern family seder via Zoom where I was welcomed like family. In a beautiful funeral service this morning (which I was also able to attend thanks to Zoom), it was so moving to hear her children and grandchildren all remember her so vividly and lovingly. I loved seeing just how much of Bev lives on in them — the way they speak, the way they laugh, the way they support and hold each other up. I hope they draw comfort in those moments when they recognize a glimpse of the parts of her living on in themselves and each other. May her memory be a blessing to them and to all of us who knew her.

(*) Hal reminded us this morning that his mother’s kugel recipe was one of the first things to go viral on the Internet, more than 30 years ago, long before Google, Facebook, or any of that. Try Googling “Mom Stern’s noodle kugel”. It still comes up, just one indicator of her lasting positive impact on this world.

FILM: Problemista

I thoroughly enjoyed Problemista, bringing cinematic magical realism to the story of a young Salvadoran man with big dreams navigating the Kafkaesque US immigration system chasing sponsorship in the New York City art world. The protagonist Alejandro (played by Julio Torres, who also wrote and directed), despite an endless barrage of obstacles, clings to the optimism instilled in him by his artist-architect mother, and never loses the literal bounce in his step. There are delightfully creative surreal touches, like the literal personifications of Craig’s List (fiendishly portrayed by Larry Owens) and Bank of America, and the imagery of Escher-like staircases, escalators, and office mazes, of hourglasses ticking down (Alejandro only has 1 month to find a new job when he unexpectedly gets laid off), and of other immigrants who just fade into thin air when the bureaucracy announces their time is up. And there are very real touches, like the claustrophobia of a Brooklyn apartment shared by too many roommates. And then there is Tilda Swinton playing a self-absorbed monster of an art critic who tantalizes Alejandro dangling the prospect of sponsorship if he can just do one more impossible thing. Every character is delightfully exaggerated, making light so that you can’t help but laugh, despite what is an unbearable situation. But Alejandro is an unsinkable rubber duck who will not be held down, propelled by force of will to an unexpectedly hopeful ending note. In the end, the film pulls of the trick of keeping heavy things light, keeping the viewer off-balance and delighted, but leaving you thinking about entitlement and privilege and wondering how we might make our system just a bit fairer for the people who have to engage with it.

India Itinerary (Jan 2024)

On our first visit to that part of the world, India delighted and amazed us. India is a vast country, and rather than trying to do a broad survey, we decided to focus on the "golden triangle" of Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra, although we extended it into more of a "golden decagon", doing a more extensive exploration of the state of Rajasthan, an area rich in UNESCO World Heritage sites as well as natural beauty and cultural interest.

Air Connections

Our itinerary began and ended in Delhi, which simplified flights as Delhi is very well connected. India is pretty much the other side of the world from LA, so going east or west are both options. On advice from Indian friends, we chose to go round trip on Qatar Air connecting through Doha, and we splurged for business class "Q suites" with the lie-flat seats, which made the 15-hour plus 4-hour flights bearable.

New Delhi (3 nights) Our hotel in Delhi, the Leela Palace, was probably our nicest hotel of the trip. Definitely 5-star modern luxury, with modern well-appointed "business class" hotel rooms, with a beautifully decorated lobby looking out onto a garden with a large Buddha statue, and other richly decorated common areas. There were several excellent restaurants. This was a fantastic first place to land and recalibrate after our long flight.	Day 1 - Arrival in Delhi We arrived in Delhi bleary-eyed around 3am and fortunately had arranged for our hotel room to be available. After sleeping for a while, we met our friends Bruce and Nitin (who grew up in Delhi), and went for some light sightseeing. We went to the National Railway Museum, which was kind of charming because it was devoid of tourists and full of local families with their kids. We did a driving tour of the broad tree-lined avenues of embassies, Secretariat national government buildings, and the Lutyens Bungalow Zone, as Nitin gave us a primer on the civic architecture and history. We visited the Ugrasen-ki Baoli, a 14th century stepwell hidden amidst modern New Delhi. And we went to India Gate, a giant Arc de Triomphe style arch 1920s war memorial.
	Day 2 - Delhi: Qutb Minar, Lotus Temple, Humayun's Tomb Our second day in Delhi, we hit the ground running and visited several amazing sights. First stop, the Qutb Minar complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site including the Qutb Minar (12th century, 240 feet tall, tallest brick minaret in the world), remnants of 14th century mosque and madrasa built from fragments of earlier Hindu temples, a couple of elaborate tombs, and a 4th century iron pillar which amazingly resists rust. Second stop was the Lotus Temple, a beautiful piece of modern architecture, and one of the largest Baha'i Faith temples, it resembles a giant lotus blossom built of white marble. The rest of the afternoon was spent at another UNESCO World Heritage site, Humayun's Tomb, a masterwork of Mughal architecture set in a large enclosing "paradise garden" containing several other smaller tombs and monuments as well. Stunningly beautiful! We capped the day with a stop at Dilli Haat, an open-air crafts market with craftsman, musicians, and dancers from all over India.
	Day 3 - Delhi: Akshardham, Lodi Gardens, Gurdwara Bangla Sahib In the morning, we visited the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple, a gigantic elaborate Hindu temple complex, a modern construction but in traditional style, from ornately carved sandstone and marble, with no concrete or steel at all. After some shopping at Khan Market, we spent a relaxing afternoon in the lovely Lodi Gardens, a large and lovely city park with a few beautiful and evocative remnants of a 15th century mosque and tomb. Toward the end of the day, we visited the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to experience a Sikh house of worship.
Jodhpur (2 nights) The Taj Hari Mahal is a modern hotel with very comfortable rooms with all of the modern amenities. The staff were all very attentive as you'd expect at a Taj (a high-end Indian hotel group). The hotel had a decent restaurant and a very good gift shop. The location is short driving distance to most of the attractions, but nothing you would walk to.	Day 4 - Jodhpur: the blue city A late morning flight from Delhi to Jodhpur got us to "the blue city" in time for a late afternoon tuk-tuk and walking tour of the Sardar central market, the ancient stepwell, and the Brahmapuri old town where most of the homes and buildings are painted blue. In Jodhpur, we met up with college friends Gene and Derek, who had already been 10 days in India, and traveled with us the remainder of our trip.
	Day 5 - Jodhpur: Jaswant Thada royal cenotaphs, Mehrangarh Fort/Palace Our full day in Jodhpur began at the beautiful and ornate Jaswant Thada, the royal cenotaph and cremation ground for the royal Rajput family of Marwar. The main cenotaph is built from ornately carved white marble, on a hill above a lake, and in view of the imposing Mehrangarh fort and palace. At the fort, we admired the elaborate carvings in red sandstone and wood. Inside we found a museum of the maharaja's royal accoutrements, like palanquins (a throne on a stretcher to be carried by several soldiers) and howdahs (a fancy saddle seat for riding an elephant in regal style). We also saw examples of miniature painting, scenes of court life painted in minute detail, sometimes using a single-hair brush. We happened to be at Mehrengarh Fort on the day of the maharaja’s birthday. There was a military band to greet him, as well as a temple ceremony and formal greetings. We got a look as he stopped by near us.
Narlai (1 night) The Rawla Narlai is a luxury heritage hotel which had been a 17th century royal country manor. The rooms are all richly decorated with traditional furniture, combined with modern amenities. The property is a cascade of lovely garden courtyards, with the rooms spread out along open hallways with furnished patio areas, an opulent oasis in a small rural village. The food is excellent, as is the service, focused on delightful experiences like candlelit dinners by an ancient stepwell. A fantastic place, we'd have been happy to stay an extra night here.	Day 6 - Narlai: Leopard safari Narlai is a convenient stopover on the road between Jodhpur and Udaipur. It's a small village, nestled beneath a dramatic rocky outcrop (a slightly smaller version of Uluru / Ayers' Rock), with 6000 people and seemingly nearly as many temples. The village is charming, and just wandering around snapping pictures of monkeys and cows, we met a local man who ended up showing us the way to this amazing little Hindu shrine way up a giant crevice in the rock. Later that day, we took a jeep safari to the local lake (to see birds and crocodiles), to an ancient stepwell, and to a leopard reserve where we got to see several of those majestic creatures living their leopard life.
Udaipur (3 nights) The Jagat Niwas Palace is a 17th century haveli (mansion) on four floors arranged around a courtyard, situated with beautiful views over Lake Pichola (the hotel is right on the water). The restaurant and bar were on lakeside upper floors, making the most of the serene lake views. We upgraded to suites here, and the rooms were very spacious, comfortable, and with modern amenities. The location was ideal, not only for the views, but just a short walk to the Jagdish Temple, the City Palace, and lots of scenic ghats (steps down to the water), shops, and more. Highly recommended.	Day 7 - Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranakpur Jain Temple en route to Udaipur Today was nearly five hours of driving, but it was beautiful countryside as we crossed from the desert into the Aravalli mountains, and our drive was broken up by two different and diversely stunning sights. Coming into the Aravalli mountains, you encounter Kumbhalgarh, a 15th century fort sometimes called the “Great Wall of India”. Its massive walls stretch for miles across the mountain, a stronghold of the Mewar kingdom. Inside the walls are the remnants of a royal residence and many shrines. At Ranakpur we saw our first Jain temple and it was astounding. The temple is a grand white marble structure spread over 48,000 square feet with 1444 marble pillars, twenty-nine halls, eighty domes and 426 columns.
	Day 8 - Udaipur: Jagdish Temple, City Palace We had a guide-led walking tour, starting with Jagdish Temple, a large, ornately carved white marble edifice atop a high platform at the top of a long flight of white marble steps flanked by stone elephants. Its commanding presence signals its importance as a major shrine to Vishnu, in continuous use since its construction in 1651. From there, we went on to the City Palace, situated at the highest local point above the lake. It is actually a complex of palaces constructed by various maharanas across many centuries. Parts of it are still the residence of the Mewar royal family, part is a luxury hotel, and another part is a museumeum displaying royal artefacts like swords and guns, carriages, furniture, and paintings of royal court life. After exploring the palace, our driver took us to another part of the city to see Saheliyon-ki Bari (Garden of the Maidens), an 18th century garden with many prominent water features meant as a retreat for the ladies of the royal court, near another of Udaipur's lakes. We then had a lovely lunch at Tribute Restaurant, on the shore of yet another lake. The rest of the day was on our own for relaxing and some shopping.
	Day 9 - Udaipur: the lake city Udaipur is an absolutely enchanting city situated on several lakes. The royal palace and many mansions-turned-heritage-hotels are lakeside, along with temples and “ghats” - stair steps that lead right down into the water for ritual bathing. Udaipur has both the serenity of its lakes, but also the cacophony of a vibrant Indian city with ancient temples jumbled next to 20th century commercial construction and remnants of once-beautiful havelis (mansions) waiting to be fixed up as the next Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Scooters and tuk-tuks buzz around everywhere as monks light incense in shrines and chant. We spent the morning just wandering and exploring this fascinating city. In the afternoon, we walked to the City Palace dock where we picked up a lake boat to enjoy a cruise in the late afternoon golden light. The boats stop at Jagmandir Palace, built on an island in the lake as a royal summer resort and site for royal parties.
Bundi (1 night) The Ummaid Bagh Resort is situated on a lovely green field beside a lake just outside the city of Bundi. In winter, the lake is full of migratory birds, and there's an elevated platform for birdwatching. Along the green field is a row of large tent-rooms - this is a "glamping" situation. The tent rooms are quite spacious, nicely furnished, and have electricity and full bathrooms with modern fixtures. The one drawback is that the provided space heater was no match for a cold January night in a large uninsulated tent. This would have been lovely in milder weather, but we ended up bailing out early on what was meant to be a 2-night stay. The food, which was quite decent and prepared using some organic vegetables from the associated farm, was served outdoors under a canopy, which also would have been lovely in milder weather.		Day 10 - Chittorgarh en route to Bundi This was a five-hour drive day, but with an amazing stop about midway to break it up nicely. Chittorgarh is an amazing fort built atop a mountain ridge, with an 18 kilometer wall encircling an area including palaces, temples, and lakes. Some people still live inside the fort even today (though a larger city has grown below). The most prominent structure is this 120-foot tall limestone victory tower erected in mid-1400s. It has a unique design that is narrower in the middle and wider at top and bottom. It is completely covered in ornate carvings.
Sawai Madhopur (3 nights) The Zana Forest Resort in the city of Sawai Madhopur was our base for doing safaris in Ranthambore National Park. It's a new property, open for less than a year when we stayed. The rooms are all freestanding cottages, with an extremely spacious and comfortable main room and nice modern bathroom. We were grateful for an actual built-in heater that could heat the whole room. The dining room was generic and basic, with an adequate buffet, but staff that went above and beyond to be accommodating.	Day 11 - Bundi: Royal cenotaphs, Queen's stepwell, Bundi Palace / Taragarh Fort Today we spent exploring Bundi, which is very much off the tourist track, but has some unexpected delights. We started at the Kshaar Bagh, where the maharajas of Bundi have been cremated for centuries. Each king has his own monument. Some of the carvings are quite intricate. It’s near a lake in a spot seemingly visited more by monkeys and cows than people, a bit overgrown but that’s part of the charm. In the center of Bundi is the Raniji ki Baori (the queen’s stepwell). We’ve been seeing stepwells all over, but this one is unique in that it is a grand and elaborate closed structure with arches and columns and 100 steps down to the water. Derek declared it a cathedral for water. Gene said it was a cathedral that you enter at the top. At 260 feet in height (depth?), it is comparable to Notre Dame. It certainly has the same awe-inspiring quality. Bundi has a beautiful palace built from the 17th century into the larger 14th century fort. The grand edifice perched high above the town is an imposing sight. It is no longer inhabited but still maintained. The Bundi Palace was a beautiful and ornate stone edifice, with a style distinct from others. But the real treat is what is inside, something we hadn’t seen anywhere else: this palace has several galleries of the most beautiful fresco paintings. They were painted in the 1700s when the region had developed a culture of finely detailed painting. The finest miniature details were painted with a single hair brush. Some of the scenes depicted are of stories of the god Krishna (who was kind of a playboy), while others were of palace and court life. One of the striking things was the activities that the women participated in, including smoking the hookah and hunting all sorts of game with guns, spears, and arrows. The women in this royal family were bad-ass. As if the Chitrasala frescoes weren’t enough, the Bundi Palace has several other galleries with fantastic frescoes in different styles. The Badal Mahal (“palace of clouds”) is the highest room in the palace and is painted walls and ceiling like the Sistine Chapel.
	Days 12-13 - Ranthambore Tiger Reserve Ranthambore National Park has some beautiful natural scenery and wildlife, but the star attraction are the 60 or so Bengal tigers living wild in this reserve. Since the tigers have 515 square miles to roam, and the visitors are limited in number and to specific zones, there's no guarantee of seeing a tiger. We booked three safaris over two days to maximize our chances. Our first safari was in the afternoon. In a large open Jeep, we had an E-ticket ride on jeep tracks through wooded areas, open plains, and watering holes beneath rocky ridges. We saw a variety of deer and antelope, lots of birds, more than one mongoose, a sloth bear, and a leopard eating its kill. We stopped by a small watering hole for some great birdwatching and monkey-watching. Though no tiger, the bear and leopard were uncommon sightings, and it was an awesome day. The next morning, we got up before dawn and it was a very cold jeep ride, but totally worth it when our guide found some fresh tracks and we got to meet tiger T-58 nicknamed Rocky. He’s 14 years old, 600+ pounds, and the largest of the 78 tigers living in the park. Our breath was completely taken away. What a majestic animal! We watched transfixed as he stretched, yawned, and strolled across the road right in front of our jeep before disappearing into the brush. On our third safari in the afternoon, we saw only sambar deer, axis deer, and gazelles amidst gorgeous scenery, but we'd seen our tiger, so we were content and enjoyed the ride.
Jaipur (3 nights) The Narain Niwas Palace is a luxury heritage hotel in a secluded garden setting hidden in the midst of urban Jaipur. The rooms have traditional decor elements but thoroughly modern comforts. The lobby and common spaces are sumptuous. Peacocks parade around the garden courtyards. The in-hotel restaurant is very good, and there's also a trendy Italian restaurant adjacent to the property. There are some nice shopping arcades in walking just outside the grounds. (est $150/night)	Day 14 - Jaipur: the pink city After a 4-hour drive from Ranthambore, we are now in Jaipur, the pink city. Its historic core was built in a planned design in 1727 with a harmonious style and color scheme. In the afternoon, we just relaxed and took some down time.
	Day 15 - Jaipur: Amer Fort, Elephant Camp, Jantar Mantar and City Palace Our first full day in Jaipur was activity-packed. We made quick Instagram stops at a couple of places like the Hawa Mahal (the iconic pink palace with hundreds of windows) and the Jal Mahal lake palace, but our first hefty stop was the impressive Amer Fort whose imposing red sandstone ramparts rising high above a lake make a daunting statement to any would-be invader. The fort encloses some grand public spaces, like the marble-columned Hall of Public Audience and the dazzling Sheesh Mahal (mirror palace), as well as the maharaja's palace and gardens. After the fort, we visited an elephant camp north of Jaipur where four generations of “mahouts” (elephant caretakers) have been breeding and caring for elephants since their great-grandfather was gifted two elephants by the maharaja for his service in the elephant cavalry. We met an elephant named Moti, 25 years old, which is middle-aged for an elephant. We got to ride her around the village and pet her and thank her for the ride. After lunch, we went into the the historic center of Jaipur. The Jantar Mantar (Hindi for calculating machine) is a collection of astronomical observation instruments like giant sundials, astrolabes, and similar devices to calculate the positions of heavenly bodies and to translate astronomical coordinate systems. At first glance, it looks like a modern sculpture park, but it was built by Maharaja Jai Singh (the founder of Jaipur) in the 1730s. This is 300 year old state-of-the-art astronomy (as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site). From there, we toured the adjacent City Palace, which is still the home of the Jaipur royal family. There are grand elaborate gates, halls, courtyards, and galleries of royal collections. One notable item was a pair of gigantic 4000-liter silver urns that were used by the maharaja when he went to England in 1902 for King Edward VII's coronation. Untrusting of English water, he brought his own from the River Ganges.
	Day 16 - Jaipur: Block printing, carpet weaving, evening at Chokhi Dhani In Jaipur we were taken to a handicrafts emporium where we had some demonstrations of block printing, for which Jaipur is noted, and also carpet weaving. We bought a carpet, some tablecloths, some shirts, and a few other things. (We haven’t bought all of India yet, but we still have time.) That evening we met up with our friend Pradeep who was in his home town visiting family. We all went to Chokhi Dhani, which is a Rajasthani cultural theme park. We enjoyed the music, dancing, traditional food, and the somewhat kitschy displays of religious and historic themes.
Suroth (1 night) The Suroth Mahal is a unique experience. It is a 600-year old palace in the center of a rural village in Rajasthan. It is still the home of the local Rajput (royal) family, but they have opened up a dozen or so rooms as a heritage hotel. The palace is beautiful with an ornate architecture, a couple of courtyard areas, an in-house shrine, and some interesting common areas. The rooms are richly furnished with traditional furniture and painted with traditional mural art. Our room had a large lovely balcony (with netting to keep the monkeys out!). The provided space heater was adequate to warm the room. The bathroom was marginal. (See more in Notes below.)	Day 17 - Abhaneri Stepwell, Suroth Mahal The Chand Baori (stepwell of the moon) in the village of Abhaneri is an amazing site. Dating from the 8th-9th century, it comprises some 13 stories of hundreds of stair steps leading down to the water, with an Indiana Jones worthy palace built into one side of it. It’s like an M.C. Escher painting brought to life. It's also adjacent to a lovely 9th century Harshat Mata temple. Abhaneri was a great stop to break up the 4-hour drive from Jaipur to our next stop, the rural village of Suroth (populaton 2400 families). This was a unique opportunity to experience village life, while also staying in a 600-year old palace still occupied by the descendants of the local royal family. It was palatial inside and very ornate, but also very old and with luxury on the scale of a small town. Don’t picture Buckingham Palace, rather imagine the home of a cousin of the Grand Duke of Lichtenstein. As we’ve learned, before India was unified, there were over 500 rajas and maharajas ruling over 500 larger and smaller kingdoms. This family ruled 72 villages, and were allied with the larger Jaipur maharaja. We were personally hosted by the current prince (no longer officially a thing), and his very hospitable staff. One of the palace staff lead us on a walking tour through the village, starting from a few streets lined with shops and bustling with people, but quickly turning into countryside with modest homes on decent plots of land, and open fields. We passed people walking, families out and around their homes, and some boys playing cricket. Later that evening, in the palace courtyard, there was some traditional music, and a demonstration of kushti (traditional Indian wrestling). We also joined the evening arti ceremony (lights and bells) in the hotel's in-house shrine.
Bharatpur (1 night) The Laxmi Vilas Hotel in Bharatpur is a heritage hotel in the palace of the royal family of Bharatpur. (It is actually still their palace, not for regular residence, but they do holidays and rituals here, and you can see royal family pictures around the place.) The suites are spacious, clean, and traditionally furnished. The bathrooms are modern. We actually got upgraded to the maharaja penthouse suite, which was extra spacious with high ceilings and access to the roof deck (actually open to anyone, but no other rooms are up there). The one drawback is that if it is cold (and it was), there's no central heat and the one space heater provided was wholly inadequate to that vast room. They have built a newer second property next door, in the same style, so they can accommodate large groups. The cavernous buffet dining room is in the adjacent property, though it was never overly crowded, and the food was quite good. (We've found Indian buffets can be offered at a higher level of quality than we Americans typically associate with buffets.) (est $90/night for suite)		Day 18 - Bharatpur: Keoladeo Bird Reserve Today we went to Keoladeo National Park where I added 35 new birds to my life list in a couple of hours (and countless others I didn’t get a chance to identify). This place is a birdwatchers’ paradise, especially this time of year as a lot of migratory birds winter here, some from as far as Siberia. Along with all the egrets, ducks, teals, coots, herons, geese, and more, we also saw spotted deer, nilgai (largest Asian antelope), and water buffalo. It was a delightful afternoon.
Agra (1 night) The Grand Mercure was our hotel for our 1 night in Agra. It had just been bought by Accor and changed names literally days before we arrived. It's a large tall modern hotel with clean modern comfortable rooms, like a Marriott or Crowne Plaza, solid quality but fairly generic in character. The breakfast buffet was fine, but can get pretty crowded at peak hours. (est $100/night)	Day 19 - Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal In 1571, the Mughal emperor Akbar moved his capital from Agra to a completely new planned city called Fatehpur Sikri (“victory city”), for various reasons including a prediction it would finally bring him a son (which apparently came true). It was used for not quite 40 years and was largely abandoned. It’s a fantastic time capsule of urban planning and beautiful red sandstone construction. Much has been recovered and restored, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we made our way into the ancient city, we came to a grand gate where we were told to remove our shoes as we were entering Muslim sacred space. The gate lead us to a large open square that contained a mosque, a shrine to the saint who predicted Akbar’s son, and an even grander gate, the Buland Darzawa or Victory Gate, built by Mughal emperor Akbar to celebrate his 1573 conquest of Gujarat. We’d been in India for nearly three weeks, and encountering beautiful and amazing things every single day, and worried our capacity for astonishment might be wearing down by the time we got to the Taj Mahal near the end of the trip. But then we saw it, and were in awe. It is truly magnificent. For those last golden hours of a perfect day, as the setting sun bathed the white marble in its glow, catching occasional glints of light from the gilding and semi-precious stones, we marveled at its incomparable beauty.
New Delhi (3+ nights) The Ambassador Hotel is a gem of Moderne architecture in the heart of New Delhi. Not only the architecture, but the interior decor — doors, carpets, guest room furniture — is delightfully Moderne. Our room had a number of great wood furniture pieces that looked like they could have been bought at the 1930 Expo. The room was spacious, and the bathroom was thoroughly modern. The location was great, a short walk to Khan Market, and not much further to Lodi Gardens, and close to everything else. A bonus is that a very good tailor has a tiny shop off the lobby, where you can pick out fabric and have shirts made. The hotel restaurant (inexplicably called The Yellow Brick Road) is merely adequate, but nothing special, and it wouldn't attract anyone from outside the hotel to dine there. But that's less important when you can walk to restaurants at Khan Market, or take a short taxi to any number of excellent places. On balance, we would definitely recommend the hotel. (est $120/night)	Day 20 - Agra Fort, drive to Delhi Even after the Taj Mahal, there are still other beautiful things in Agra. Agra Fort is a large fort and palace that was built up by successive Mughal emperors. The part built mostly by Akbar in later 1500s after he made Agra his capital is made of red sandstone. It is both beautiful and formidable. Shah Jehan, the grandson of Akbar, extended Agra Fort’s palaces in the 1600s with his preference for marble structures with inlay. (He was warming up for the Taj Mahal.) Alas for Shah Jehan, one of his sons ruthlessly seized control, killing his brothers and putting his father under house arrest for the last 8 years of his life. He was kept here, where he could at least watch the completion of his Taj Mahal. After touring these marvels, we made the 4 hour drive to Delhi, with a stop for a late lunch at a dhabba (roadside fast food Indian style).
	Day 21 - Old Delhi: Chandni Chowk market, Jama Masjid mosque Today we explored the wonderful chaos of Old Delhi. We came to the edge of it where our van was too big to go in, and we transferred to bicycle tuk-tuks to take us down the bustling narrow lanes into Chandni Chowk, the old market. One lane was full of things for weddings - flowers, fancy clothes, another lane was all about spices. We stopped in spice shop to smell some samples and bought some to bring home. Centuries old mosques and other buildings were tucked in between other buildings newer construction of dubious code compliance. In the street was a cacophany of street vendors (snacks, chai, flowers, and more), bikes, carts, animals, tuk-tuks, and little clusters of locals having snacks or indulging in card games or whatnot. From there we made our way to the Jama Masjid, the grand mosque built by Shah Jehan in the mid-1600s and still grand today. It is organized around a grand courtyard with a pool in the middle for ritual ablutions. It was fantastic people-watching, and we stayed to hear the afternoon call to prayer. We had lunch at a nice southeast Asian restaurant in Khan Market (walking from our hotel). In the evening, we celebrated George's birthday with a Michelin-caliber modern-Indian tasting menu at Dhilli restaurant in the Oberoi Hotel.
	Day 22 - New Delhi: National Museum, shopping, lunch at The Imperial On our last day, we visited the National Museum to see its collections of ancient Buddhist sculptures, as well as Tibetan scroll paintings, and more Mughal era miniature paintings. We did some shopping at Cottage Industries (a multi-story collection of craft vendors from many different regions, a one-stop shop for clothing, carvings, carpets, and more), and then investigated The Imperial Hotel (the "grand dame" of Delhi hotels) for lunch.
	Day 23 - Head Home Our flight departed Delhi at 3:30am, and our hotel had been arranged for an very late check-out, so we were able to finish our final packing after dinner. We returned the same route as we had come, Qatar Air with a 4-hour flight to Doha, a 2-hour connection, and then the 16-hour flight home. We definitely appreciated the lie-flat "Q suites" we had in Qatar's business class, where we could change into pajamas and lie down and sleep. With the time change, we departed Doha at 8am and arrived to LAX at 1pm. With an afternoon to unpack, and a slightly earlier than usual crash to bed that evening, the jet lag wasn't too bad.

Reflections and Recommendations

Overall, we were very happy with this trip. We would definitely recommend Pink Vibgyor as a travel agent to book a custom trip. They do fully organized group tours as well, but for more independent-minded people like us, they also do completely custom arrangements. We gave them an outline of places we wanted to see, and they built an itinerary around that, with suggestions about places in between so that no day was too long a drive. We had a good back and forth about the sorts of hotels we wanted to stay in (we generally stayed in "heritage hotels" like old palaces, though some more modern hotels too). It was definitely the way to go to have a private car and driver for a trip like this (although we did meet one intrepid couple who was getting everywhere on Uber, even between cities).

About Suroth

Suroth is the one leg of our itinerary that I would conditionally recommend, as it may not be for everybody. Logistically, it could easily be skipped as you could just go from Abhaneri straight to Bharatpur in about the same driving time. The positive: we had a unique experience of a rural village, staying in a heritage palace where the descendants of the local royal family still live. The palace, while much smaller in scale than the palaces of Jodhpur or Udaipur, was definitely a palace with rich history and ornate construction and decor. You will meet the son of the current raja, who is very sociable and is happy to tell you about the village, the hotel, the royal family history, and life as a Rajput (Indian royalty). He's also the only one there who speaks much English. The bedrooms were charming and comfortable, furnished with traditional antique furnishings. The one off-putting aspect was the bathroom. While there was hot and cold running water, a sink, a tub, and a toilet, it was all very basic, even shabby. The fixtures are so old and worn, they would look dirty even when clean. There was a large bucket and a scoop, which we ended up using to bucket-bathe in the curtainless tub. So that's the trade-off you make. On balance, I personally found the overall experience worthwhile and would selectively recommend it to those who would accept some shortcomings for an otherwise positive experience you won't find elsewhere.

Notes On Timing

Overall, January was a good choice for this part of India. Our days were mostly in the 60s and a few in the lower 70s, and no rain, so quite comfortable, even a bit cooler than we expected. The nights got colder than we were quite prepared for, down to 50 or even 40s. Bring a puffy jacket, you'll wear it in evenings. It's important to note that most of the year India is uncomfortably hot, so hotels are generally more prepared to cool than to heat. Our one real discomfort was sometimes having rooms that were too cold. They almost always could provide a plug-in space heater, and sometimes those worked fine, but there were a couple of occasions where a plug-in space heater just wasn't going to get the room warm. Consider bringing winter pajamas, and definitely bring slippers (nearly all the nice hotels will have marble floors which are beautiful and cool in summer but cold in winter!). November or February are probably even better, or possibly March depending on your temperature sensitivity. (March also offers the bonus of being there for Holi, the holiday of colors.)

Notes On Tigers

I'd read that May (which is definitely very hot) is the best time to insure you'll see a tiger, because there are only a few sources of water then and so you just wait there. Our experience in January is that we saw a tiger on one of our three safaris, and just chatting with other tourists we met, we heard reports of 2 out of 3, 1 out of 1, and 0 out of 1, so I think if seeing a tiger is really important to you, you should plan three safaris (they run morning and evening, so that's a day and a half to do three).

Notes On Cost

For two of us, excluding international airfare and souvenirs/purchases, we spent a total of $14,400 for our vacation in India, including lodging, food, private car and driver (shared with two others for most of the trip), guides, local transport (including air connections within India), and tips, which is about $600/day for the two of us. The bulk of that ($12,436) went to our travel agent who arranged all of our hotels, transport (including private car and driver), and some meals, so it's not really possible for us to break that down into separate costs for lodging, etc. The international air was $12,500 for the two of us on business class (Qatar Air "Q Suites") from LAX to Delhi round trip. I can say that things are generally quite inexpensive in India from our American perspective. Dinner at a Michelin-level tasting menu restaurant in one of the top hotels in Delhi cost $216 for two of us. Eating in the hotel is relatively more expensive. When we ate at outside restaurants, we had good meals for $40 for two (or maybe $60 in Delhi which has bigger city prices).