The title of this post is from Super Khan as he sang Ace of Base from the 90s while periodically pointing to his biceps.
We arrived back in Delhi Thursday night and enjoyed hot showers and clean beds.
I woke up early to go to a guided walking tour by Saalam Balak Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to helping street kids. It was led by a street kid, Iqbal, who was 21 and had been left in a market by his father at 6 years old. He had spent a year or two living on the streets when a member of Salaam Balak Trust told him about the shelter. It was really sad hearing about what happens to these kids. You seem them everywhere, who knows which ones even have parents, but they are dirty and they beg. They can all usually find food at shelters (the Sikhs apparently are very giving to the poor), so they spend what little money they make on the streets doing drugs (sniffing glue) or going to the movies where they can get high and sleep. He recommended only giving the kids opened food, because they sell the unopened food for money. This tour was interesting and educational, I got to meet some little boys in a shelter. One of them couldn't speak or hear and wouldn't even smile at me, it broke my heart.
After the tour, I went back to the hotel to pick up Ale and we went over to parantha wali gali- a street with lots of paranthas shops (a type of Indian bread) filled with anything you want and served with several curries and pickles and chutneys. We were going to take the metro there, when we walked out of the hotel and a rickshaw driver agreed to bring us there for 50 rupees if we stopped by some stores. We agreed, as long as we didn't have to buy anything. Big mistake! The next 2 hours consisted of him bringing us to store after store and promising he would bring us to Chandichowk after. We finally got fed up and insisted he bring us, when he pointed to the metro and said it would be faster. Meanie!!!! Ale and I got played. The good news: we didn't buy anything. The bad news: we wasted 2 hours. Its a hood thing we really didn't have a whole lot on our agenda for the day. Just another Indian experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss(that's what we are telling ourselves.)
The metro was very close by and was 12 rupees each, so it ended up being fine. It was really easy to figure out, it was as clean as the New York City subways (which isn't saying much), and the trains came really fast. They even had a women's only car! This made me very happy and feel safer. We made it to parantha gali wali street, had one of the most delicious meals ever, and then walked around Chandichowk (a big Indian market not geared to tourists) for a couple hours. It was really fun. There are so many different shops and it's busy and crazy. When we were in the spice section, my eyes were burning and I was coughing it was so overpowering. We then walked over the The Red Fort, yet another fort in India. This one was built in the late 1600s when Delhi was becoming the Capitol. Don't quite me on that, since the sound and light show we went to was in Hindi. English was another hour later and we didn't want to be out too late!
We went back to our hotel and then grabbed our bags and took a cab to the airport. I'm currently in the Amsterdam airport (free hour of wifi!), almost done with my 4 hour layover. The first flight was all sleep. Now I'm on to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Miami.Poor Ale went to the airport with me and had to wait another 2.5 hours for her 5 am flight, then goes to Moscow for a 15 hour layover, then to Madrid (she is visiting her friend in Sevilla for 5 days) where she waits 6 hours for a train to Sevilla. And did I mention she started vomiting around 6 pm and was still vomiting in the airport? Ya, my little flight will be a walk in the park in comparison.
Potential adjustment issues on coming back to America:
- not being able to bargain for everything. I hope I don't find myself in Target, bargaining with the cashier over toothpaste.
- not being asked to pose for random people's photos 3-4 times a day (this will be hard, I've really enjoyed being Britney Spears for two months)
- eating bland American food after 2 months of Indian spices
- not using flip-flops to shower
- having a shower door and not soaking my entire bathroom wet
- taking hot showers daily (okay, and maybe just taking showers in general daily)
- not needing to carry toilet paper with me at all times
- not being offered food while rounding on patients in the hospital, strolling through a park, while waiting for a train, while sitting on the train, on the top of a mountain, etc
Pictures 1. Ale and I having tea in one of the shops the mean rickshaw driver brought us to 2. Idlys (that were really disappointing, but I don't have any other new pictures on my iPad) near Chandichowk
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