So we arrived in Delhi, only to find out that...

That Delhi was actually a lot nicer than Kolkata. It partly owes this to being the capital, so the government works harder at making it nicer. There's not as much diesel, since all the auto-rickshaws and taxis are running on Compressed Natural Gas, burning a lot greener and cheaper. There's also a lot more parks, so I guess that's good. The first night, we stayed in a place called Majnu Ka Tilla, a Tibetan refugee colony. They keep it pretty clean, and the hotel we stayed in was phenomenally so, for a pretty good price too (7.50 for a double room, if you want to talk dollars.) After that, we ended up moving to Sanskriti Kendra, which I really can't fit into my idea of Indian cities. It's a park, with avenues leading through it to houses and gardens and orchards, with craftsmen's workshops everywhere. Woodcarvers, painters, sculptors.. basically a lot of artists. In the middle is a meeting hall, and off to the side is a museum, and apartments for people who stay there. Everything's so green, and it's right smack in the middle of Delhi and you can barely hear the horns. It's an anomaly.

We went there for a retreat, although it wasn't so much relaxing as interesting. A bunch of activists went there to talk about things like activism and education and India, and I stayed there for half of it and walked around whittling (I whittled a spoon that sort of looks like a not-spoon) and whistling outside for half of it, and came round at mealtimes to be stuffed, because that's how they feed you in India. Anyways,

After the retreat was done we ambled around Delhi for a couple of days, stayed in a couple of bad hotels, visited a huge mosque and a slightly smaller Sikh gurdvara and then jumped on board the train for Kolkata, which I can't really pass over because it's a doozie. Woo.

26 hours of, let's see, beggars with awful, terrible burns all over their bodies, with their chins fused to their necks, either accident or because someone wanted to increase their profitability, just standing there and looking at you, not bothering to even ask, beggars with arms bent the wrong way, beggars busking by hitting their staff on your bed for percussion and singing at you, beggars telling other beggars who gave money, so they know who to hit again.

26 hours of hawkers, and I mean hawkers, walking up and down the train yelling out their wares, despite the fact that you're two feet from them. How they yell! Everyone's got their own hook.. IdLI.. IdLI.. Chai-COFFee.. Chai-COFFee.. Chat Patta! Chat Patta! Pani jol water bottel! And of course the two main food groups, VEG AND NONVEG! It all runs into one after a while.

26 hours of being sick, taking a "veg cutlet" for breakfast and regretting it. I tell you, an Indian train toilet is the worst possible place to be sick, especially if the train's moving. You finish throwing up, and then you remember where you are, and see the ground whipping past through the bottom of the toilet, and it just makes you throw up again. The best I can say is that they give you a bar to hold on to, and the disinfectant they use shuts down your nose with eucalyptus.

It was wonderful to arrive in Kolkata, clutching two small plants in plastic bags from Delhi. We aim to travel all over India with them, or maybe not.

I'm planning to include, with every post, a little feature that India has that might help you understand what it's like. Today's feature is:

Spitting and nose-clearing: This happens all the time. Spit, spit spit. If you're lucky it's just spit. If you're not, it's yellowy muck. If you're really into this sort of thing, you can see someone spit red, which is not blood but paan, which is a thing they chew that stains your lips and teeth red. They don't really seem to feel embarrassed about it unless you stare right at them, although they probably just think "I wonder what he's staring at me for" more than anything.
Snorrrkht, khaaaak! Patu.

The nose clearing is a rarer occurrence, but every so often you'll get to see someone sticking their finger in one side of their nose, and blowing out a long string of muck. It's quite normal. I saw one guy do it while walking.

Here's hoping I'll see you guys sooner rather than later,

Bashu

P.S. I've been having dreams about being at home. Not especially spectacular woop, here's a dinosaur dreams, just dreams about lolling around at home, watching some deer in the back yard.