All in the Family

The sisters 5! Fulertal, Cachar District, Assam, India

Do you know what we did for our first overseas trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? We visited our India home, after 5 years (our last visit was 2017). (By the way, we have 3 homes, in 3 different countries, ahem.) Here are the family photos of our trip home. And oh my, how the ‘kids’ have grown in the 5 years since we last visited. See for yourself!


Anu and her sisters. From right, Manju (eldest), Sandhya (2nd), Anu, Rekha (3rd) and Amrita (youngest), in front of Rekha’s house


Justin, Jayden and cousin Mahi (Rekha’s daughter) – Mahi was born in the same year as Jayden, but is 8 months older


Jayden and Ankit (Anu’s godbrother’s son) – Ankit is also a 2014 child. He’s 3 days older than Mahi if I’m not mistaken


The youngest cousin in the family, Anshu, born 2019 I think, (left most) with his father, Anu’s second eldest brother, Ganesh. Finally, Jayden became a ‘dada’ (elder brother). Together in the photo are the kids’ cousin Sonia (middle) and aunt Amrita (right)


Ganesh’s house in Pailapool, about 20+ mins slow drive from Anu’s mum’s house in Fulertal – In the photo are, from left: Justin; Sumitra (Anu’s sis-in-law, wife of eldest brother Ramesh); Anu’s mother; Ganesh and son Anshu; Ganesh’s mother-in-law; Jayden and Amrita; and someone whom I can’t remember…


Breakfast at Manoj’s house – Manoj is Anu’s third eldest brother – In the photo are, from left: Rohan (Ramesh’s eldest son), Sonia (Manoj’s daughter), Deb (Ankit’s elder brother), Anu, and Akash a.k.a. Chhandam (Manoj’s son). This was where we stayed when we were in Fulertal. Thank you Manoj dada and bhauju Ruati


Akash’s a keen footballer – Here’s he (middle) warming up for a match against an opposing team. Akash is his Gorkhali name and Chhandam his Mizo name as Manoj’s family used to live in Mizoram until a few years back. Till now, Akash is more comfortable with Mizo. His team mates are mostly, if not all, Hmar (a sub-tribe of Mizo), from the neighbouring Hmarkhawlein village. That’s the beauty of this place, it’s mix of all types of people! This football match was played in Singerbond, a predominantly Manipuri settlement


We’ve come to watch the football match! Akash! Akash! Akash! (We don’t know his team’s name). From left: Ruati (Manoj’s wife & Akash’s mother), Ankit, Amrita, Anu, Justin, Jayden and Rohan


Visiting a friend at their riverside abode. From right: – Amar Gurung (son of Sangeeta Gurung a local politician – Amar used to work with us in the Pune-Solapur Highway Project in Maharashtra in 2011); Amar’s grandma I presume; Anu; Jayden; Sangeeta Gurung (Amar’s mother); Justin; Manju; Ramesh (Anu’s eldest brother); Anu’s mom; and Amrita


How can we do a post on Fulertal, without a picture of the Barak River? – A view from Amar’s riverside house. At the time of writing, the river has swelled up considerably, and big parts of Assam including the Barak Valley are flooded. Pray that the rain stops soon and the waters recede before more deaths and damage occur... 


Justin and an old friend Vineeth from his past home visits


Anu meets her college friend, Gayatri, in Pailapool


Family pic at the Mukam, Fulertal, Cachar District, Assam, India


Bye till we meet again, gotta get back to work in Dubai – Family in front of our Silchar home. At the back, from right: Sandhya, Gopal Singh (Sandhya’s husband); Debanjan (Sweety’s husband – Hey, when did she marry?); Sweety; Justin; Kunal (Manju’s son); Deb; and Amrita. In front, from right: Ramesh; Manju; Jayden; Raja (Ramesh’s son and Rohan’s younger brother) and Zeeva (Sandhya’s son and Sweety’s brother)

That’s it for now folks!