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December 11-17, 1998 (and counting)

No matter what we do, we can't seem to get out of here. In Delhi, we have spent most of our time trying to figure out when and how we will be leaving. It is the largest city we've seen since Minneapolis (excluding our 8 hour stay in Bangkok). And while it has a few points of interest which make it worthwhile - such as: the Lakshmi Narayan Temple (a modern Hindu temple), India Gate (a memorial to the Indian soldiers who died in World War 1), the Lotus Temple of the Bahai faith, Raj Ghat (where Gandhi was cremated), Humayun's Tomb (the burial place of the second Moghul emperor) and Qutab Minar (a 75m stone minaret and mosque), for the most part it is overcrowded, polluted, and generally smelly.

The first day we spent in Delhi we walked from Paharganj, the main traveler's area, to Connaught Circus. Contrary to the name, Connaught has no clowns or trained animals. Apparently in the United Kingdom, Circus and Circle are the same thing. Connaught is a round park surrounded by three rings of western style shops and restaurants including Reebok, Adidas, Pizza Hut, Bose, and Wimpy Burger. There are also many stores called "emporiums" that sell goods from all of the different Indian States, such as carpets, paintings, sitars (guitar-like Indian instrument), saris (traditional woman's Indian clothing), and jewelry. It was at Connaught Place that we found the huge CitiBank building that housed the Air India office, where Aaron reconfirmed his flight. Outside this office there was an unruly crowd assembled blocking the street. While trying to find out the cause of this public demonstration we heard that there had been a fire, a train union strike, and a protest over multi-national insurance companies. We think it was the latter but can't be positive.

We booked a four-person room at the Hotel Namaskar (Dec. 11), which was our first choice of meeting places with the Josher, and was sure that he would arrive that night or early the next morning. The Namaskar is owned by two brothers who are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful on all matters concerning Delhi. For example, before we left India we met with our friend Amit, an Indian native who lives in Minneapolis. Amit helped us immensely by telling us many places we should visit in this enormous country and gave us the names and phone numbers of some of his close friends and family. In Delhi he had instructed us to contact his childhood friend Ranjit (Ron) and his wife Munmun (Moon). When we called, they graciously invited us to dinner at their home (Dec. 12). Unsure where they lived, how to get there, or what kind of gift to bring, we approached Rajendra Kumar, the owner of the Namaskar. He told us where to go, how much to pay the rickshaw driver, and where we could find a nice assortment of dried fruits and nuts, which, as he explained, would last for several months. They would remember our visit each time they tasted a piece from the box.

We hadn't realized how much we missed being in a home and eating a home cooked meal. Ron, Moon, their son, Ron's mother, and Ron's sister all made us feel comfortable and very welcome. We sat until nearly 1 am eating, drinking, and discussing life, travel, religion and politics. We got back to the Namaskar late and woke up Aaron while tripping over items on the floor. Aaron was feeling ill, and unfortunately for him, had to board a plane the next day and begin the two day journey home to Minnesota. The next morning at about 8am there was a knock on the door and we were finally reunited with Josh (Dec. 13).

After returning from our day long sight seeing tour (Dec. 15) Jeff, Mike, and Josh found a note strapped to our door asking us to call our friends Ron and Moon. They were having some friends over and invited us to come to Ron's 33rd birthday party. We got shaves, washed up as best as we could, and grabbed a rickshaw to take us to their house. It was another great evening of conversation, food (including our dried nuts, which were out in bowls and quite tasty), drinks, and this time -music. Mike brought his guitar and played songs by request (The Carpenters, John Denver, Cat Stevens, and even Woody Guthrie). We found the family's mix of western and eastern culture amazing. They all spoke great English and were well informed on western pop culture and world politics; but they also demonstrated an extensive knowledge of Indian history and culture, and in typical eastern fashion showed the most gracious hospitality to three poor travel worn souls whom they had just met. How impressive is Indian hospitality!