The group returned from the Ranthambhor National Park at about 10 am and had ample time to freshen up and rest as the train moved on to the next destination, Chittaugarh. Lunch was served on board and the Malaysian contingent had their tables set in the Maharani Cabin.
pakdokter's partner, Jess, Siti and pakdokter....
Indra and Sheila.....
One of the passengers on the Palace on Wheels was Ms Verna, a lawyer from Boston who provides Consultancy Services to Law Firms on matters of Cultural Diversity. Pakdokter actually first met Verna when she happened to be the passenger next to pakdokter's seat in the flight from New Delhi to Khajuraho six days earlier. What a co-incidence it turned out to be! Verna was also joining the Palace on Wheels with pakdokter and company the following Wednesday.
In our conversation, we discovered that Verna had studied Law at the Harvard Law School and was one year senior to Mr Barack Obama. And of course she knows Mr Obama in person....And we told Verna that when we next go to Washington, she has to arrange for us to have tea with Mr Obama in the Oval Room!
Verna was on a month-long holiday and tour of India. She travelled alone for the first half of the holidays but would be joined by her 20-year old son from the States after her Palace on Wheels holidays for the remaining tour of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and finally Mumbai. Verna got on easily with pakdokter and partner and we exchanged cards while promising ourselves that we will meet up again when we join the Palace train. Actually we bumped into each other every time we went out in Khajuraho! We stayed at the same Taj Chendala hotel in Khajuraho. And we kept meeting her at the different sites we toured in Khajuraho.
On the train Verna was introduced to the rest of the Malaysian gang, and Verna, together with Indra and her son, Mehdi, (from Mauritius) quickly became adopted into our party. We discovered that Verna had taken this holiday to co-incide with her 50th birthday which fell on the 5th of April. The Malaysian gang told her that we would celebrate her birthday one month earlier and went about planning a surprise for her!
The Malaysian Maharanis noticed that Verna was very fond of scarfs and pashminas and decided to buy one for her as a birthday present from us. The execution of the purchase of this item was like a secret-service exercise. Verna was always looking at the many different pashminas on offer everywhere and kept asking the Maharanis whether it was nice or not. Since the ones she picked out always turned out to be closely similar to the one that had been secretly bought already for her, the Malaysian Maharanis had to tell her that her pick was not good! It was a relief to everybody that her own purchases were of different colours and designs to the one the Malaysians bought for her....( Verna later told us how she thought what funny tastes these ladies have!)......
Our butlers, Prakash and Pradeep, were ordered to get the kitchen to bake a birthday cake for Verna. And after lunch, Maharani Sheila had to literally drag Verna from her lunch as she was fully engaged and engrossed in conversation with another group of travellers in the dining car.
And what a surprise birthday party it turned out to be for Verna. Happy Birthday Verna and the pictures and video-clips below hopefully captured the mood of the moment....
waiting for Verna to come to the surprise party....Phaik Choo, Papa Segaram, John and Mehdi....
pakdokter, Siti, Sheila and Ravee...
Verna broke into tears with the surprise....
a little birthday cake with two wholesome bananas for good luck.... 
and the surprise 'pashmina' gift which Siti, Sheila and Jess had to keep telling Verna that it did not look good on her...
Sheila, Verna, Ravee, Indra and Dilip presenting the 'gift'...
she could believe it....the pashmina matched her kurta...
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