I arrived in Delhi this morning after a frenzied rush to the train station in Ludhiana. Persistence certainly pays off because I managed to secure a seat despite being told that all the seats were full. AND my seat cost less than I would have paid had I purchased the tickets at the station. I think that the conductor just pretended my seat was empty and pocketed the money directly, because he pulled me over to the end of the traincar to collect the cash and would not give me a receipt for it.

     Delhi is a lot of what I expected to find in India. Crowds. Extreme poverty. Cows on the streets, on the sidewalks, and everywhere really. Huge traffic jams for no apparent reason. Men standing on the sidewalks nonchalantly pissing on walls. People trying to sell you things all the time. Honking, noise, and general filth. Not my kind of place at all. I found relief almost immediately in the fact that I only have three days in this place before I fly home. I would seriously go nuts if I had to stay here any longer. Now that I have that anxiety out of the way, I have time to enjoy the little things that you learn in a city like this. Neha has kindly put me up at her family's place here, which is conveniently close to the airport, though far away from everything else. Sheru, the Nepalese servant, is very nice if only we could communicate better. Sunsets here are beautiful- bright orange in the smog filled air. I find it ironic that sunsets can be this beautiful in such a polluted place. In fact, the more polluted the air, the more brilliant the sunset, usually.

       Today I attempted to take a package city tour from the Hyatt Regency hotel, but the tuk-tuk (a motor-tricycle) driver was going unusually slow. They normally speed down the road at dangerously breakneck speeds. I missed the tour by about 15 minutes, so instead I arranged with a taxi driver to take me around for the afternoon and then to take me home again. We visited a tomb, the India gate, the consular buildings, and Parliament. We had the brilliant fortune of getting roadblocked at the Parliament because the president was leaving the building. I unknowingly walked around where I shouldn't have and was approached by armed soldiers and escorted away. I'm sure I didn't really appear threatening in a ponytail and jeans, however. For lunch I asked the driver to take me to a local place. He took me to a fancy tourist restaurant full of Japanese tourists. After about 5 minutes of contemplating, I walked out and told him that the restaurant was not what I wanted at all, that I wanted him to take me to a place with no tourists, very small, very cheap, I said. So he did. And it was great. For less than 2 dollars I got a lassi, shahi paneer, and butter paratha. After the tour, the driver took me home and as expected asked for more money than we had agreed upon. I walked out of his taxi. There was no way in hell I was giving him more money. A few minutes prior, he had gone around a corner with some puppies playing in the street. I thought he would slow down but he didn't and I felt the car go over something. I turned around to see the puppies writhing in agony and heard them scream and the mother dog chased our car down the road in a rage. It was terrible and unreal and I can't believe he didn't look twice. That's India, I guess.