Speak Softly, Work Gently

After a full day spent flying over the pacific and prodding the questionable delicacies of China Airlines, I am in Delhi! The first leg of the flight from San Francisco to Taipei was a breeze of 13 hours spent dozing and befriending the adorable woman from Hong Kong sitting next to me, whose name happened to be Kelly! Upon arriving in Taipei all of the UC students participating in the India study abroad program converged and met each other--there were about 20 of us on the group flight and there are 42 all together representing every campus except Merced and Riverside. On the flight from Taipei to Delhi (a mere 6 hours), I got deep into Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts which is SO GOOD. Read it.

We touched down in Delhi around noon Sunday--1130pm Saturday Cali time. The heat was palatable as soon as we stepped off of the plane into the tube that connected us to the Indian International Airport. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit--I have yet to learn the Celsius conversion (being American is ridiculous), cooler than the 110 we had expected from the past week's weather stats. Army officers strapped with AKs patrolled the customs lines; they were not many in number and the threat of force seemed to be more perfunctory than intimidating.

We met our program director Viji at the gate and were loaded onto a charter bus equipped with air conditioning--a huge bragging right in this city. Driving from the airport to the YWCA guest house was a trip. Everything is under construction. Roads to and from the airport, the airport itself, shops, sidewalks, national pride. EVERYTHING. It's due to the Commonwealth Games that are happening in September--an event that I had not even considered the implications of, but I digress. On the ride I learned how to count to ten in Hindi, but not how to curse which I think will be a valuable aid in navigating the streets of Delhi in the future. We arrived at the YWCA and shacked up 3 to a room--WITH AIR CONDITIONING. After a lunch of rice, roti and various curries at the YWCA a few of us schlepped out to the streets where we passed through some 3 outdoor markets and were accosted by infinite wallahs of goods ranging from head massagers to pencils to men's briefs to roasted corn. The pencil-wallah was an adorable boy, probably around 9 or 10, who was such a sweet talker it was ridiculous. But I didn't buy a pencil. I don't really know how to handle the beggar situation here. it's an issue I'll have to tackle in the days to come.

Tomorrow I look for an apartment and get an Indian cell phone. More latezzzz!

PS: I am ridic jet lagged so I promise these will be more hilarious as I return to my natural self/get over the fact that blogs are ffff weird.