As the days tick down to our trip, we have finally managed to coordinate everyone’s schedule, attempted to accommodate everyone’s desires, and finalize most of our itinerary.

As it turns out we will be in India for Ganesh Chaturthi, the festival celebrating the birthday of Ganesh. During that week, different neighborhoods set up clay or Plaster of Paris Ganesh statues outside in temporary structures. During the festival, which is extremely popular in Mumbai where my brother-in-law currently lives, there is a great deal of celebration with parades, fireworks, chanting in the streets and drumming, all ending with the statues being “returned to the earth” (dumped into a river or reservoir). Of course that means grid lock traffic everywhere for five days. While I love festivals, mobs in India take on a whole new meaning. My brother-in-law’s suggestion of leaving the city for most of the festival is the better option, especially with two small children.

So after only a weekend in Mumbai with the family we will turn around and leave the city for Bangalore and Chennai. There we combine extended family visits with sight-seeing and cultural immersion for our children. After that it’s a week in Mumbai again before we go to Rajasthan for five days with our friend E. Then back to Mumbai and a local weekend trip with my brother-in-law’s family (location to be determined, maybe Pune?).

For our time in Mumbai we are armed with a list of fun activities to do with kids as well as trying to make the most of our time with my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law’s family.

7 days until our flight!