The Littlest Ambassadors

The people of India are exceedingly warm and gracious and their love of children cannot be overstated. Our experiences at the Taj have not been isolated. Everywhere we go people smile and approach us. They ask the same questions: "Boy or girl?; or in many cases just "Girl?" - as boyish as I think my children look, Indians always guess that both boys are actually girls - and then of course they want to know their names. These questions are punctuated by a stroke of Eli's cheek and an attempt at patting Evan's head - which he hates. Everyone from doorman to bathroom attendant to hotel manager shares in this ritual.

Travelling with children as young as ours has been one of the most difficult and simultaneously rewarding experiences of my life. Much like child rearing itself. You make many sacrifices - in our case, a limited stay time sight seeing, many missed photo opportunities, and a few meltdowns in very public places. Despite these relatively minor set backs they have made our experience thus far richer in so many ways. Most especially in allowing us to connect with Indians in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Just yesterday, at the stunning Amer Fort in Jaipur I saw two women clad in magnificent red saris each balancing a large bowl of mixed concrete on their head, they were peeking through a doorway at Eli and me smiling broadly. I smiled and bowed a greeting before I approached. They spoke almost no English, they were lower class laborers bare foot but still adorned in bangles and nose rings and somehow immaculate in their appearance despite their work. They touched Eli's cheek and nodded when I said "boy". Through sign language and broken English I came to understand that they were mothers too. As we stood together their faces were radiating a warmth and happiness, the depth of which I lack words to describe. It was a very quiet, yet powerful experience for me. I would have loved to have taken their picture and wished I had the camera at that moment. But, in the end it was about more than the visual souvenir I could have had, it was a shared connection between mothers of very different places and means. It was beautiful. I will keep their image in my mind for years to come.

Evan enjoys the elephant carvings at a Hindu temple just outside the gates of the Amer Fort