PROLOG

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

This will be Karen and my sixth trip to India. We are so fortunate to have our health AND a sense of adventure that keeps us coming back. Our first trip was with the Young Presidents organization in the 80’s. In 2015 we embarked on a “World Art Adventure” with our dear friends Kathryn and Marc LeBaron. We flew our small business jet around the World to see and collect art. This was the beginning of our modern love affair with India.

Kathryn had arranged for an “art specialist” to be our guide during our six days in India. We met Birgid in Mumbai and began what will be a life long dear friendship. India became a very favorite because of her and her knowledge of art in India. Today, along with the LeBaron’s we have a superb Indian Art Collection. We have featured this collection at two exhibitions at Assemblage and the Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum.

On our next India adventure, we took our four adult Grandchildren over the 2016-2017 New Year ranging in age from 16 to the early 20. None of us will forget that special time together in such a special country. In early 2019 it was just Karen and I for intense exploration (and purchase) of art. We attended two art fairs and met dozens of artists.

After skipping our now habitual every-other-year routine for covid we went back in early 2023 for two weeks with LeBaron’s then two weeks with daughter Paige and her husband Jonathan. They arrived a week early to give Grandson Duncan his first India experience. The highlight of this adventure was a very very special day for Karen’s 80th birthday with a full day of traditional Indian celebrations.

So here we are back again – this time with Son Todd and his Connie. We will focus mainly on showing them the cities and the sights with a bit of art exploration. We asked to return to Varanasi, India’s most holy place to see the burning of the deceased on the banks of the Ganges.

In case you were not counting, this is our sixth trip to India and we have every intention of not stopping there. We love the people, the chaos, the food, the architecture, the history, and of course the art. Our entire family has seen India except for the Great Grans and who knows – maybe we will get to bring them to a land that we love.

Robert