Step 3: The Real Deal

Okay, sorry for all these huge posts. It's not that I think you NEED to know every single detail... It's just that, well... I want you to.

After our pleasant first day of being touristy, we kicked it up a notch in the grittier, less prettier old Delhi. Okay, qualifier: that is true in general, but we actually started with a red-colored fort that is very significant to India's heritage, called the "Red Fort." We learned some stuff about the Mughal kings that built it and the British kicking them out, but if you'd like to know more, please check your local library! Or google it, whatevs. After being mobbed by adorable Asians who were over the moon that we, fellow tourists, would deign to take a picture with them, we started our tour. We had an awesome guide, so awesome that some dudes started merging into our relatively small, relatively white group and hopping on our tour. I mean, it would have been fine, but the constant staring and taking pictures of us were detrimental to our educational experience so our guide told them to go away. Those guys, huh? Can't get enough of us!

Great fortitude

After a fair degree of tranquility in the fort, we entered the real world. Old Delhi b cRaZy. There are market areas with narrow streets that individually specialize in just about everything (car parts, wedding lace, jewelry, etc) and we marched single file down them. They were packed to the maxxx: envision a street about six feet wide with tons of people, motorcycles, rickshaws, and carts barreling through opposite directions at breakneck speed. It was a fun and challenging game of follow the leader knowing that if you got separated, you would never ever find your way out yourself, you had no phone, you wouldn't really know who to call anyway, and you don't speak the language. Not to mention the usual foreigner in a big city danger... But isn't risk what makes it fun?

AHHHHH

We finally made it out of that labyrinth and onto the crowded main roads, past a mosque. Though because it was Friday we couldn't go inside to see to look around, we still got to see the demonstration of Muslims praying out on the front steps. The pray-cry-song echoed from huge speakers and was incredibly beautiful and eerie. We all want to repeat that experience. The neighborhoods surrounding the mosque were primarily Muslim, and I felt very exposed in my jeans, loose t-shirt, and hair down when walking past women looking fresh in their burkas (but seriously, if I go back there, I feel like I should cover my hair or something).

We were brought to a restaurant that was supposed to be some of the best Muslim food in the city. We got some chicken that was not spicy for every else in the group, but somehow still turned me red with full on watering eyes. Talk about EmBaRrAsSiNg!

Final notes of the day:

-When we were packing, Sucharita warned us it was going to be flipping freezing because even though it's India, it's still winter! WRONG. It's just India. Everyone else is walking around bundled up while we're mostly wearing t-shirts (side note: there was a cold front going through India, killing hundreds of people. Indians don't heat their homes). What winter does in fact mean for them is fog/smog. It's partially pollution, partially mist, but either way it makes everything super dreamy and ethereal, which is pretty, and destroys proper long distance camera shots. 

-An odd thing we've been noticing today is the male to female ration around here... It's crazy off. Some places are more equal (the mall, go figure) but the workers at our hotel and people in the street mostly appear to be male. For example, today on a very crowded street, Adam and I counted women. FOUR. 

-Gulab jamun. Go eat it now.

Lylas,

Reetz