Year 1999

PHOTO ALBUMS
(Click on the pictures or the titles to see the album)

Year 1998 + 1999

Kelkar Photo Albums are intended for the private enjoyment of our friends and family ... visitors are requested to respect our privacy. If you have come this far, you must be friends or family, so thanks for visiting and click on the pictures below to see what we have been up to. Keeping in touch with our near and dear ones spread across the world is what this website is about, so write to us on rkstuff yahoo.com.

Winter 1999

(Click on the pictures or the titles to see the album)

Thanksgiving 1999 ... we enjoyed the Southern hospitality of S and M in Nashville, TN, and then went home to Wilton, and to the New York City area to meet friends and family ...

Sunday after Thanksgiving, we had a day out on the town, including a cruise on the Thames, a portrait session in Leicester Square, and a carnivore's feast at the Lahore Karahi Restaurant in Southall ...

We visited Venezia in mid-November ... it was beautiful but cold, the canals incredible, and we had to contend with the "acqua alta" (high tide) which flooded the hotel and the town itself each morning ...

Fall 1999

Click here for a Diwali Card from the Kelkars ...

Halloween and Diwali in London were great ... the liberal fire code in the UK meant that AK and MK could actually light the fireworks in Regent's Park. ... and too many candies as usual for Halloween - on the right is MK as a ghost and AK dressed as a Yankee.

We visited France with Aai ... click here for pictures ... where we visited Normandy, Monet's Giverny, Paris and Disneyland. Click here for other recent pictures including a Let's Go Fly a Kite experience in Hyde Park, MK horse riding and AK at the ASL. You can also click here to see photo albums of our summer vacation in Switzerland and a recent trip to the Lake District

The chateau we stayed in Caen (on the left) was on the grounds of William the Conqueror's coaching inn. We visited Omaha Beach and later visited Monet's garden at Giverny. MK and AK had fun at Disneyland Paris ... MK celebrated Halloween in the Magic Kingdom, face paint and all ...

Summer 1999

38 Carlton Hill Surprise ! We have moved to St. John's Wood, London, as of July 30th on an expatriate assignment so that Ram can spend more time at home and less time commuting to London ! While we are all excited, it was quite a production to move from a town that we have lived in for over 11 years. AK and MK will be attending the American School in London while Ram will be working in the Salomon Smith Barney offices near Victoria Station. We will keep you all informed about our European sojourn. The picture on the right shows where we live ... the room at the top with the Gothic windows is where I am sitting right now in my study. Two houses away is Abbey Road, leading up to the road crossing made famous by the Beatles. The garden in the front has roses and lavender, the one at the back has roses and a pear tree. And parked on the street is our new set of wheels ... a Landrover Discovery 4X4 to go off hiking into the wilds of Oxford Street !

AK and MK's playdates have started with new friends from Chicago, Texas and Long Island, NY, though they still miss their old friends from the States. UK has become adept at driving on the left-hand-side in the record time of two days, and is already busing the kids and their friends around. However, it is taking time getting used to smaller roads, "uneven" service quality in restaurants and stores, inscrutable road directions, separate hot and cold taps, and so on ... with no offense to our friendly and gracious English neighbors, we must say that "East or West, home is best" is indeed a truism.

Click here to see a photo album of our Summer vacation in Switzerland ...

We went up to 11,000 feet to the "Top of Europe" on the Jungfraujoch railway. We also visited the 360º revolving restaurant atop the Schilthorn at over 10,000 feet in the Alps, made famous by James Bond in "On His Majesty's Secret Service", (yes, really, the Swiss are crazy ... they build railway tracks and restaurants at altitudes over 10,000 feet that work better and in clockwork fashion !).

Click here to see a photo album of our vacation in the Lake District ...

Last weekend, the "Bank Holiday" weekend marked the end of summer in the UK, and we drove to the Lake District of England, home to William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter. Ram and UK enjoyed the home of the daffodils (I wandered lonely as a cloud... was written in the Dove Cottage in Grasmere), and MK and AK discovered the home of Peter Rabbit. The local sheep discovered us ...

Come visit us soon ... the guest room is downstairs and we have spare room in the attic too. Heathrow is but a short 15-minute train ride from Paddington Station, which is only minutes away. We are taking bookings now for the Kelkar B&B, but space is limited, so better hurry !!

1998 Update

1998 was an exciting but hectic year for all of us, with UK keeping up with AK and MK's school activities and Ram's travel. Highlights of the year are pictured below ... and some of the other things that happened this year were ...

AK seems to have become quite the thespian, having acted in "Hamlet" and the "Wizard of Oz", and MK performed with the Walter Schalk Dance Studio in New Canaan. AK and MK went to India all alone this year for the first time ever over the summer holidays, and returned singing "Aye kya bolti hai tu" and enjoying Indian food and movies. UK and Ram took the opportunity to ride on the Glacier Express and hiked in the Alps in Zermatt, Switzerland. Aai visited over the summer and Maa was here to enjoy the fall colors. Over summer, we enjoyed a great stay with Indu Mavshi and Rishi in a cottage on coastal Maine. The kids had their beach fun over in the Hamptons on Long Island as well as on the Connecticut coastline.

Work ... more of the same, I guess. Ram is busy with new bond issuance in countries across the globe, including Taiwan, Singapore and Italy, and trying to cope with a monumental merger ... Salomon Smith Barney and Citibank. For the last few months, he has been shuttling to London on business and adding to his frequent flyer mile collection. UK is currently treating the residents of the Wilton Meadows Nursing Home but is thinking of spending more time with the kids and quitting the job for a few years. As 1999 rolled in, we were in Puerto Rico for some sun 'n sand.

The photos in these albums are intended for friends and family of
the Kelkar family of Winnetka, IL, USA ...
other visitors are requested to kindly respect our privacy.

PHOTO ALBUMS BY YEAR

			2007
2006	2005	2004	2003
2002	2001	2000	1999


Winnetka, IL	Pune, India