Everybody WANTS Presents!

I finally started to get a little excited last night about this trip. It's been hard cause I barely landed from the trip of my life only to take off on another trip of my life. I got an email from my virtual coworker Pulkit in India. Some of you have heard me talk about him. He is just so great! Always so warm and friendly, very funny, deep, ever curious about american life and ever quotable.....he always writes very profound life statements to me that are always pertinent to the moment. Pulkit is the one I work with most closely on projects. For those of you who don't understand what the heck I'm doing for a living working thru space here...suffice it to say Pulkit and I exchange ideas over cyber and then work on them together on our various ends, all in the name of marketing audio software.
I also work with other indian workers but I never get a sense of their personality except for the very serious working side. Pulkit is 360 degrees from that and I think it's cause he's younger than the rest at 26. In any case, he's a blast! Wrote me last night a very welcoming email: Hi dost! (friend in Hindi), calmed my nerves about air travel, told me how excited he was to see me,expressed his passionate desire to see america,told me once again how music is his life,and asked me what presents I got for him and that his list started and ended with chocolate!
I thought that was so funny and not rude. The little I know about Indian culture I'm aware that there is big gift giving. Plus I had been thinking about how everytime I mention to all my friends here on Lopez that I'm going to India they immediately go wow! that's great, bring me a present, ohhh I wish I could give you some money, bring me back something! yada yada yada

So friends Indian and Lopezian I am packing light, coming and going and will try my best to shop. Alia's wish list is: pretty jewelry and a PINK sari.
Pulkit will get his chocolate and I am going to try and get some more american music for him on the way down.
Okay adios.