Exploring Delhi...

Day 13:

Luckily I was able to enjoy the rest of yesterday evening after battling the Delhi Belly (I truly was fortunate to have a mild case though!). I went out with Meena to the markets on the search for eyeglasses, which are super cheap here... we ended up buying a few pairs, one was $50 including lenses!

Today was a good day in the slums. A magician came to town to entertain the children as we had our "Women's Meeting." The women are opening up a bit, but are still quiet. I do enjoy our everyday tea sessions with them though. They also were amused by our Delhi Belly stories.

After lunch, I spoke with the director of the program about missing the lectures that they have scheduled throughout the program. As someone who hates and avoids confrontation, I was pleased that I spoke up for myself and tried to do so as respectfully as possible. She really runs the roost here and seems to enjoy having the control, so this was an interesting discussion. We left off with me explaining that I am not at all interested in wasting hours of my life stuck in the apartment, when I have not seen Delhi (of course I said it in a more diplomatic way that this). Neil knows that I can barely sit through programs on the History channel, and a 2 hour lecture on economics when I have to fein interest is not my idea of a good time. I explained that if the lectures were at a museum itself, I would have no problem attending. Probably sounds like I'm a Thirty Year old throwing a temper tantrum, but we are scheduled to the max and the program promised our evenings would be free to explore. However, I am proud that I was able to put aside my people pleasing, Catholic school rule abiding ways and stand up for what I think is right. I'm here to volunteer, which I do in the mornings, but want to really explore the culture in my limited free time. I got the best Indian economics lesson straight from the markets.

Anyways, I agreed to disagree and headed off with Rosie and Meena to the Red Fort. Quite expansive and beautiful.... but with my lack of attention span, I took many pictures and will read about its significance later.

Next, we went to Chodi Chak, an intense market place. I do mean INTENSE!!! As soon as we were dropped off we were harrassed by every sari shop to come on in. We walked into the market itself, which is a narrow maze of colors... sequins and saris all over, with bicyclists and motorbike riders nearly knocking you down as they fly by. I tried on a sari, but think I insulted the owner when I asked for a better price. So we left and had to figure out our way out of the maze of shops. Interestingly, whenever it rains in certain sections of Delhi, the power goes out. When we headed out of the sari shop and looked up all you can see is a tangle of wires, which looks like an electricution accident just waiting to happen.

When we drove back we briefly stopped by Ghandi's tomb. There is a beautiful statue of him in front of a building. There were also a ton of rats in the front garden of it, running around. Before we retruned, our driver drove us around the Indian Gate, as it glowed in front of the setting sun. This experience is flying by.