Copious amounts of love, for Delhi and Mom

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Namaste!!

We went to Amritsar the morning after the wedding, REALLY tired but reeling with good spirits after how much fun we had had the night before. I hadn't really kept warm enough the night of the wedding (have I mentioned it's cold in Delhi? It is cold in Delhi) and so was feeling a little feverish as we arrived at the train station, where, almost unbelievably (but not really because things like this happen constantly in India), we were met by the exact same cycle-rickshaw driver who had met me 2 years ago when I went to Amritsar the first time. He was a really nice older man who spoke excellent English and knew that Vancouver had an Indian member of Parliament (even I didn't know that) and talked us into using him the following day to see Amritsar's sights. Unfortunately, I was still feeling kind of under the weather the next day but it wasn't so bad because I had already been to Amritsar, so I stayed in while sending Mom out with the cycle-rickshaw driver and apparently she had an amazing day. I watched Erin Brockovitch which was also amazing, hahaha! He dropped us back at the train station so we could head back to Delhi after offering me a prayer for my health – so sweet! Luckily I didn't get any sicker and thanks to the enormous quilts we bought ourselves the sleeper-class train ride was a lot warmer than previous rides!

Getting back to Delhi was awesome, we spent the morning on the Salaam Baalak City Walk tour so Mom could see where I worked while I was here and I was so excited to visit Aasra, the transitional shelter home where I taught computers in the morning. When I walked into the room where all the boys were sitting a bunch of them ran over to me shouting “Diidi! Computers!” and miming typing on a computer keyboard – cue the tears hahaha! I had to break the news to them that I wasn't back to teach computer lessons but it was ok and I got a bunch of big hugs from sweet little arms anyways while Mom got a headstand demonstration and we all had thumb wars with the boys. It was nice seeing the staff as well and all the City Walk boys except for Tariq, who is in his home village in Nepal trying to get enough documentation so he can get a passport (quite a challenge in red-tape India, so I am really praying he can get all his stuff together!).

We then went down to Hauz Khas and had an amaaaaazing dinner at Gunpowder, a restaurant introduced to me by the lovely Daniel Norfolk when he was here last in October and which I have been dreaming about going back to since, and I was again so grateful at how much I love travelling with Mom – we've been getting along so well over the last month and I am so excited and happy that we're sharing this experience together. I am going to digress a little bit here, but I want to say how I feel so lucky that I have a mother who is willing to come with me on this trip and put up with all the sleeper trains and sometimes crazy ideas that I have (the Indian wedding really threw her for a loop) and who does so with such patience! I know that this is an experience that we'll be able to look back at for the rest of our lives, saying things like “Remember that time I gave you a haircut on the roof of our hotel with 15th-century ruins surrounding us? Remember that time I spit out a mouthful of water on the train all over my backpack and made everyone on the train stare at us because you made me laugh so hard? Remember how good looking those Spanish guys were at the Jaipur train station? (note: they really were) Remember that goat dressed up like an old lady at the shop in Agra? Remember when I FINALLY beat you at travel Scrabble?”. There are so many times where we wish the whole family could be with us (as if we would ever be able to convince my brother to come!) but having a “girls only” trip is something really, really special and I am well aware of how lucky I am 😊 And Dad, don't worry, I am already planning a trip for you and I to the far north of India and Nepal!

The next morning, we went on an Old Delhi City Walk (which is a new, more historical city tour SBT is working on developing) with two of the guides and Nick (who we were with at the Jaipur Lit Fest) and got to see a bunch of stuff we would never have known was there, like a holy tree and a haunted alleyway and the rooftops of the spice market. It is always nice being with Nick because he knows SO much about Delhi and its history and appears (from the little time I have spent with him, but the feeling that I get) to have the same emotional connection to India as I do, or at least a similar one, given that he comes here a couple times a year and has been doing so for some time. We said an indefinite goodbye after the tour was over, since we were leaving Delhi the following morning, but sort of figured that we would see each other here again eventually (I am going to try for an every-two-years India trip – if I say it out loud enough times I think it increases the likelihood of it coming to pass!). Mom and I carried on from Old Delhi to DMRC Shelter Home, which I did not work at but it's where 2 of the boys I worked with at Aasra (Vicky and Rajesh – I mentioned them in a previous blog) were now living and I was beyond, beyond thrilled when we got there and I found them doing schoolwork with a tutor (and my heart was warmed even more when I got actual HUGS from them, which probably embarrassed them but I don't care hahaha). It was awesome to see the way they are thriving now that they have a permanent, safe place to live, and they both looked really happy when I saw them.

That afternoon I spent at the post office. Yes, really. If anyone has been to India you will know how hilariously long things take (and I am smiling widely and affectionately as I write this, because all you can do is laugh!) and when I went to the post office I was expecting the normal bureaucracy and red tape that you get whenever you try to do anything official. I know it seems weird to blog about going to the post office but it was so funny and so typically INDIA that I have to. I get there and there are 2 guys in their twenties and one old man who looks like he is on his last legs sitting behind the parcel-packing counter (oh, have I not mentioned the parcel packing? Well, in order to send anything from India, you have to have it wrapped in white fabric and sewn shut, a process that is arduous at the best of times (finding a tailor, negotiating a price, etc...) and which I don't get. What's wrong with a cardboard box?). The job of the old man is to do the parcel packing and the job of the two young guys seems to be to throw customs forms at people and giggle at the foreign girl. The old man is incredibly slow at parcel packing, making about 3 stitches before taking a deep, wheezing breath, maybe making a comment to one of the other men in line waiting to have parcels packed, and doing a couple more stitches. While sewing my package shut he stopped midway through and just wandered away – I was told by one of the young guys to please sit down, but that the man would be back in 2 minutes only. It is never a good sign, in India, being told to sit and wait and I had a feeling the man would be a little longer than 2 minutes; I was right, and after about 20 minutes I picked up the needle and thread and began to finish stitching the package shut myself, which elicited even more laughter from the two young guys. The old man came back eventually and while I considered asking for a discount due to the fact that I had performed much of his job myself, I withheld my request and went to the “Ladies, Seniors and Handicapped” queue to send the parcel home. I then had to wait behind a guy who was most definitely none of the above argue that based on no evidence whatsoever that he belonged in that line before I managed to get the parcel addressed and, hopefully, sent on its way – we'll see if it makes it!

After Delhi we headed to Orchha, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which was a new destination for me – it reminds me a lot of Hampi, in that it is very chilled out and pretty quiet, by Indian standards anyways, and it is just full of old palace and temple ruins for exploring. Apparently this used to be the summer home of the Maharaja of Madhya Pradesh, and it is beautiful, this old ruined palace overlooking a speeding river, with a big nature reserve in the background. We had been planning on just spending a day and then going to visit Khajuraho, where there is a huge complex of Kama Sutra temples, but decided against it as we hadn't really slowed down much in the last couple weeks and we felt that we needed a bit of a rest for a while, and I am really glad we made that decision, as we can just visit everything at an easy pace, and it allows plenty of time for us to be in everyone's family photos (hahaha, as usual!). So we have just spent our days wandering around the old ruins, taking it easy, and recuperating a bit. One huge plus is the temperature here, it actually gets hot during the day which is a wonderful change and which I am soaking up as much as possible since I know we'll be in Darjeeling before too much longer and it will likely be very, very cold there!

We are headed to Varanasi next, which just so happens to be my favourite place in the entire world, so I am very very much looking forward to that and to proving to Mom how amazing it is (she has heard some not-so-nice stories from other travellers and doesn't believe me when I try to explain the pure magic of the place)!

Spicy love and Namaste,



Shannon xoxoxoxo

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Photos

Amritsar Taxi Guide
Nicest man ever!

City Walk
Tabrez and Iqbal doing their thing!

Gushing Love
This one was a heart-exploder, for sure!

Delhi Girls' School!
The first girls' school in Delhi! It has a Muslim entrance and a Hindu entrance. Maybe someday we can have an "Everybody" entrance...

The haunted tree, or alley
Apparently this tree steals food from people who pass out drunk in this alleyway.

Food!
Papad being dried on a rooftop in old Delhi

Canada's Next Top...
... Madhya Pradesh Tourism Spokesperson

Wildlife
Mom gets acquainted with the local fauna of Orchha, or rather it gets acquainted with her

Sunset
The perennial sunset shot... this time, of the Ram Raja Temple and Krishna Temple in Orchha!