The family has descended on Goa for much needed decompression time. One week in a “in balance with its surroundings” complex of villas called Coco Shambala (cliquez sur le foto of le living room above), developed by a British tropical garden specialist and his local partners.

Lush surroundings, spice farms, Portuguese churches and forts, Hindu temples and a particularly beautiful, small mosque: Goa has it all and is giving us an energy recharge after a full year in Mumbai.

The past couple of days there had been articles in the Mumbai newspapers about the redevelopment of bhendi bazaar, a particularly messy part of the city, inhabited mostly by Dawoodi Bohra Muslims. This particularly affluent sect has decided to give back to the city by redeveloping this part of Mumbai, apparently the fourth such project to be kicked off. Click on the photos to be taken to the full article in the Mumbai Mirror. I’m incredibly excited about stuff like this, and as the article says, if they even do a fraction of what they’re promising then it will be an improvement.

-My Morning Jacket
-Lucinda Williams
-Adele
-Radiohead

Happy 4th of July

As we sit here at that bastion of Victorianism, the Bombay Gym, watching Djokovic and Nadal battle it out, close to a full year after we left Chicago, we wish all six of our American readers a happy Fourth of July. And so this week's blog is not about Bombay and all that it has to offer, but about the things that we miss about life in the Etados Unidos, and Chicago in particular. 

1. 1.First and foremost, America's gift to the free world:
   
   

1. •Barack Obama?
   
   
2. •The Library of Congress?
   
   
3. •The transparency of Chicago city politics?
   
   

All worthy contenders, but the winner is ...

The whoopie pie, available in handy boxes of six at Trader Joe's. 

And now for the stuff we don't miss:

1. 1.The NPR / WBEZ pledge drive. Surely there has to be a better way to raise money then to have two a -commercial anthropology graduates drone on at each other for 9 hours explaining how happy they are to be handing out a set of matching WBEZ coffee mugs. 
   
   2.The Department of Homeland security's airport details. Never before were stupidity, boorishness and physical intrusion brought together on such a scale, and so early in the morning. 

1. 3.Indian call centres. Strangely, since moving to Bombay no one called Bob with a deceptively indian accent has tried selling us on new phone services. 
   
   

But on balance, we had a great time. Thanks for everything. 

Happy Fourth of July to all our friends.