Haircut

I decided after 3 months it was time for a haircut. I noticed a barber just opened up across the street in one of the construction worker housing units. It consisted of a mirror and a chair. I wasn't feeling that so I searched on and found a Loreal Unisex hair Salon. It has only been open for two weeks. I ask how much for a haircut and get passed between three people before some English comes out. She said 100 bucks. It was cheaper than I though 100 = $2us. I sit down in the chair. They wrap the bib thing around me and my big American neck was too large for it. It took them about another 5 minutes to find one my size. I knew I was in trouble when my stylist spoke little English. We communicated short in the side and backs and medium on top. Then away he went with scissors only and was chopping away. He did just as good of a job as using electronic shears, at least at first glance. Then he got out the straight edge to clean out up around the ears and back of the neck. He wetted me down with what said it was rubbing alcohol before and after, but who knows what it was. Then he gave me a little head massage and asked me if I wanted a full head massage or body massage. I didn’t like where this was going so I said no. When I went to pay, the receptionist again asked me if I wanted a head or body massage. I don’t know if it was part of the deal or not. I still said no. I will have to ask around the office. I paid my 100 rupees and tipped the guy 20. The haircut was definitively worth $2.40.

Then I decided to walk around and go cow hunting with my camera. It was about 3 in the afternoon and hot again. There were not many cows out. First I ran into a mom and calf and the dumpsters. Then a couple of bulls. Pics are below.

Pics of water buffalo from Thursday

My view from the taxi backseat.

Driving too fast to get a good shot.
Mom and calf checking out the dumpster.

Pics of cattle from walking around

The calf was sniffing me out trying to figure out what the camera was.

Cow and dog sharing scraps from the dumpster pile.

Quick Gun Murugun

An Indian Cowboy. Need I say more.

I had an adventure getting to work today. First last night a coworker said she scheduled a cab to pick me up at 9 am. I went to the lobby around 8:45 since he has always been early in the past. Come around 9:20 I make a phone call wondering where my ride is. The coworker forgot to make the call last night. She then called the taxi and he finally got there around 10:45. I was in the lobby waiting for 2 hours. I would have been better walking or at least less frustrated.

On the taxi drive at the one lane underpass a herd of about 10 water buffalo come walking by and under the bridge. One of them looked right at me and licked the back seat passenger side window I was sitting next too. These animals are big and black and they have a big black tongue. There horns looks like an Alfalfa hair cut with small ends that curl up. I was too slow on the camera to get a shot of the lick. I tried to take a couple pics, but the car was moving too fast to get off anything decent.

For lunch I had something different called a dosa, a southern Indian favorite. It was a rice battered pancake filled with a spiced potato filling. The pancake was longer than the cafeteria tray and was very light. A coconut sauce and lentil sauce was given to dip it into. The lentil was a spicy vegetable soup and I could not tell there was any flavor to the coconut. It was a change of pace to rice and curry. Plus it was only 30 rupees or 60 cents. However, I would have been happier with a plain pancake and some syrup.

I don’t know if this is a bad sign or not but I am marking off the days on the calendar. As of today it is 10 weeks down with about 14 weeks to go. Just two more weeks to the halfway point.

Mukesh is out of town for the rest of the week and I have to take a taxi to and from work. I had a 10 minute conversation with a taxi driver last night when I was trying to say pick me up at the apartment and drop me off at the office this morning. With the language barrier the message was not comprehended. I then had to have a coworker talk to the guy. It took about a 30 second Hindi conversation for that.

Driving this morning the taxi driver was burning incense in the car. I think he was trying to cover up the alcohol scent. As a result the inside of the car was also smoky. Plus the taxi driver was showing a different driver the route. A little taxi driver training. The trainee struggled with the underpass bridge just like everyone else. I made it to work in one piece at least.

At work I am still trying to get use to the time frames. When someone says I will give that to you tomorrow it usually means about a week from now. Unfortunately that doesn’t work for my due dates. I go around and stop at the same people’s offices everyday to check in with them on the status. The answer is always one more day and then it never comes.

The days are also getting shorter here. The sun is setting around 6:30. I am ready for the fall weather around here. With this summer being so hot and no monsoons, people around here are wondering what the winter will be like. Will it continue to be warmer than normal or will it be cold? An article in the paper said this change is from the El Nino affects. If it is a cold winter, people around here are worried. The buildings are all designed to keep the cool air in and the heat out. No one has heat, and only a few people have electric heaters. If it gets down to freezing at night, the houses get very cold as well.

With the interviews I was talking about yesterday, another difference is people talk about salary in a monthly total and not an annual total.

It was only 90 outside this morning. A breeze picked up and I actually had goosebumps. I don’t know what you Minnesotan’s are complaining about back home about 90. It is a welcome relief over here even if it might be just for one morning. It still got up to 110 today after an hour of rain.

I ran into the British guy at breakfast that has been here for about 5 months so far. I must have a much higher patience level than him. He got all worked up about all the issues he has been facing and I have been going through the same things. Everything from the newspaper being hand delivered at 6:30 am to the room by a house boy ringing on the door bell to the internet not working. The newspaper thing is ridiculous. How difficult is it to quietly put the newspaper outside the door? Now the person throws the newspaper against the door and it make a loud noise around 6:45 am. It is my new alarm clock.

His best story though was on the third day he was here. He was asked to go out to dinner with a coworker and he agreed. It turned out to be a Delhi Rotary Club dinner with over 100 people there. First the India National Anthem was sung by the group, then they asked him to sing the British National Anthem. He said why the hell not and went for it. There was also an American guest speaker, but he refused to sing the anthem. During the dinner he joined the Rotary Club and then had to give a presentation to the group of why he was thankful to join. He thought he was going out for a one on one dinner and ended up being the main attraction for the Rotary Club.

We are looking at more at work for the Royalty team. A resume is called a CV. Another difference is on the CV they put their date of birth, marital status, sex, father’s name and father’s profession on it. Most of the candidates are right out of college. I am feeling old since most of the CVs have birthdates in 1988. It is also nice to see the optimism in their eyes and the eagerness in their voices that they are ready to take on the world.

At lunch a few people are testing me with new foods. It’s all homemade by their families and vegetarian dishes. I have been sticking with the dryer green vegetable concoctions. They are either salty or spicy or both. Some are deep fried. One thing I had today, it looked like a leaf curled up and filled with crushed up spices and vegetables and deep fried, was salty at first. Then about 2 minutes later my mouth was on fire and I had no water to rescue me. After words they told me there was no English name for the dish. I just keep telling myself it is all about expanding my horizons. However I have stayed away from the red, yellow and watery type dishes so far. The combination of bright colored spices and no refrigeration has me worried.

Many of the people bring in their own food and share it family style on the lunch table. The only thing I do not like about that is they use the same silverware that they eat with to scoop up more food. To me it is much worse than double dipping.

Sunday was the birthday of the elephant looking deities, Ganesh. Around my apartment people carrying a statue of the Ganesh and banging on drums. I watched them form a circle and do a little dance around the statue. The paper showed a few large parades in the Delhi area.

I saw an elephant this morning on the drive to work. It was on the opposite side of the road and moving out. I also counted 16 people in an auto rickshaw that is meant to seat 2 comfortably. Plus the front seat was still open. The rickshaws are jammed pack in the mornings.

I also saw a tourist company have a weekend elephant polo event. It had a picture of a long polo club and a guy trying to hit the polo ball and another local person steering the elephant. I might have to give that a shot.

I was talking to a few of the coworkers who live on the other side of town. One guy lives 30 kilometers or about18 miles away. His daily drive is 1.5 hours each way. With Friday’s monsoon rain it took 3 hours. Another guy it took 5 hours, plus he was stuck on the bus with no a/c.

I had the crispy evil snacks again tonight. My nose is still running. They jalapenos in the things.

I think this last week was a success. I stayed mostly healthy and I did not run into the old guy again. Although I have not been sleeping that well. I have been eating dinner around 9:30. I think my body just used to eating that close to bedtime.

The other thing I learned is never drive in front of the Blue Line busses. They are known to kill people on occasion. A Pearson employee was a victim a couple weeks ago but was not injured. He decided to stop for a red light; however the blue line bus behind him decided not to stop. He nailed him from the backside and caused some serious rear end damage to the car.

How many ways can you spell my name? If you are the people at Dominos and never heard the name Jason before it becomes quite interesting. My favorite was Jaissoine. Then there was Jashon, Jaisone, and Jaisoan. I might go with my last name next time to see how they tackle that.

Puruna Qila

See what 2 months in India has done to me. It is my taxi driver wanting a picture taken of hime

National Museum 3

National Museum 2

National Museum-1

Delhi in Day - Round 3

I went to a couple sites today, The Indian National Museum and Puruna Qila, an old fort and one of the original cities of Delhi.

When I got home today the feels like temp was 114. With the sun baking down it felt hotter.

The ride to the museum was the scariest yet. It seemed like cars were cutting us off from every direction. There was one really close call. At the time the driver said a few Hindi words and waved his hands up in the air. When we got into Delhi I noticed him pull out a bottle that was wrapped in a news paper and take a big swig. This was not his water bottle. That did not make me feel any better either.

At the National Museum were many pieces from the 1200-1700 area. I think the Brits took the better pieces. Last year when I was at the British Museum I remember there being a wing with more impressive pieces with gold and other fine metals on them. This was primarily stone and a few bronze pieces. They had a weaponry area with a few swords and old guns from the 1700s. I snapped a lot of pics, but nothing really stood out to me.

We drove to the other site. I know what the name of it is, Puruna Qila, but when the driver said it I had no idea what he was saying. Finally he slowed it down and made out the Qila part. Then he took another swig of his newspaper covered bottle and put on his seat belt. There are no seat belts in the back seat. I was even more worried.

We get to the site which was the same parking lot as the zoo. I wish the other tour would have taken me here when I went to the zoo. The driver invited himself along with me. I go to buy my ticket and he is standing there tyring to say buy mine too. Mine was 100 rupees and his was only 7. I buy it for him. All the sites I have gone to the local price is 5-20 rupees and the foreigner price is 100-300 rupees. Quite a mark up, but it is still only $2-$6.

We start walking around and it is a large area. This was the spot that was in the worst shape and people were working on it. Women were carrying bricks on there head. One area looked like the entrance to the Taj Mahal. Another area looked like the entrance to the Red Fort. They began doing excavations in 1992 and found many artifacts. There was a little museum with a few of them. No pictures were allowed in the museum. Amirjit, the driver, wanted me to take a pic of him. That is one of the pics.

I have now seen all the major tourist sites in Delhi. Next are the markets. I will wait until I get a local with me before I walk around them.

Through the Expat club from last Tuesday I found a couple weekend events in September and October. I signed up for a white water rafting trip on the Ganges and a trip to the Pushkar Camel Mela which is the largest livestock market in the world. There are over 200,000 camel herders at this event which is only one weekend a year. Plus on my Rough Guide book it is the number 2 thing to see after the Taj Mahal in the area.

Akshardham Temple

I visited the Akshardham Temple today. It was build about 15 years ago and took 7,000 craftsman about 5 years to build and carve. The carvings and architecture are amazing. The base of the building had 114 elephants around it and several other animals all carved in pink stone. No electronics were allowed inside the place, so I did not even bring my camera.

Here is a link of the site to see a few pics http://www.akshardham.com/

I wasted about 2 hours going through their Exhibitions 2 were mainly focused on the god of the church, Neelkanth Varni later know as Bhagwan Swaminarayan, who was around in the 1700's. It is an impressive story as the god at age 4 already began teaching his ways of life. It is purely peace, harmony, and the vegetarian way.

There is a church of this same religion in Chicago.

At least the Saturday's I go touristing the sky is blue. However once again it is hot out there today. It is around 110.

I left the Temple around 2 and decided I needed something more modern for the rest of the day. I went to the Great India Place, the biggest mall in the area. I went to TGIF for lunch and had the lamb burger. It was burnt and had tin foil on it, but I was hungry and it went down. I also had a Tiger beer. It was about the size of a 40. That went down pretty easily also. After that I walked around the mall for a while and came back home.

My driver was struggling but I enjoyed the trip. His horn was not working. I heard him beating on the horn, but no sound came it out. It was quiter drive than normal.

A new record, I saw 7 people on a motorcycle. It was kid, dad, kid, kid, mom holding two babies. Of course the only person wearing a helmet was dad. The man is always the only one wearing a helmet. Occasionally I will see a man wearing cotton gloves that go up to his elbows. This is to protect his skin from the sun. The ladies that drive a scooter always are wearing those type of gloves. The ladies driving a scooter are a new phenomenon around here. It has only started in the last couple of years and is still a rare site.

Tomorrow I am off to see a couple more sites.

Today I saw my first monsoon rain. Around 3:00 I noticed it get darker in the building. Around 4 I could hear the rain hitting the building. One of the guys grabbed and had me walk out on the balcony. I thought a fog rolled in. However the rain was coming down so hard that it had this affect. I could not see more than 100 ft. The winds were howling, the rain was whirling around in the wind and there was a lightning. I have never seen the rain come down like that before. It was intense.

Almost all roads in the area have standing water on them. A couple areas in Delhi had washouts.

Thanks for everyone for clicking on the ads. Unfortunately you did too much clicking and google shut down my account because of suspicious activity. At least they did not shut down the blog.

The Big Bazaar last night was crazy between the number of people and the employees yelling away. 5 or 6 of them would stand next an item that was buy 2 get 1 free and yell this out at the top of their lungs in Hindi. At least that is what I am guessing they were yelling. It is a different retail shopping experience.

Also their grocery store part had 3 aisles dedicated to rice and 3 aisles dedicate to different cooking oils. That area took up about a quarter of the grocery part.

The Muslims are now going through a one month fasting period. They cannot eat or drink anything between 3am and 8pm for the next month. I can’t imagine the not drinking part if you work outdoors in this heat.

I have been noticing more and more men with reddish orange coloring in their hair. I am guessing this is used to cover up the gray, but I have not asked anyone yet.

Well I survived the week so far without any ill affects from Sunday. I think my tastes are changing too. THis morning I just had scrambled eggs and toast and it tasted bland. I felt the need for a little heat. They had some chily potatoes to help the cause.

I went to he Penguin office this morning in Delhi. I forgot my camera. The next time I go I will take a few pics of the Penguin Logo.

I am trying to figure out what to do this weekend. My first item is to stay away for the old dude. I might see a temple and a fort. They are the last two main tourist sites in Delhi on my list.

After searching through the internet over the weekend, I found a Delhi Expat group that meets every Tuesday morning for coffee. I was able to get the time off to go to the meeting this morning. For about a 15 mile drive it took about an hour and a half. Traffic is crazy. I saw a couple new things – 5 people on a motorcycle made for 2, child on the gas tank, dad driving, another kid, then mom sitting side saddle holding onto a baby with one arm. The other site was 4 men on a bicycle – 1 sitting on the handle bars, the guy peddling was standing up, another guy sitting on the seat, and the 4th was standing on the spokes area. I also saw an elephant on the way back on the side of the road. It looked like it was lifting cement pylons for the road construction crew.

Anyway the event was at the Hyatt Regency. It is an upscale place. I saw more Caucasian people there then the entire two months I have been here. After asking for directions a couple times I found the conference room. There were about 100 people there. I counted 5 men including me and the rest were women, the wives of the expat workers. It was basically a social gathering for them to figure out how to stay busy during the day and who were the best babysitters. I was even offered a babysitting job. I asked for American wages and was shot down.

Tables were marked for each city. My table was Noida and about 4 other towns. Not one other person was from Noida, they were all from the other towns with are about 10 miles away. People at the table were from Australia, Holland, Germany, South Africa and the UK. I did not hear a single American accent there. It was mostly British and Australian accents. They all had the same complaints of the heat and the spicy food. Most were renting new apartments and all the paperwork was delayed for one reason or another.

I sat through the meeting, they were mostly looking for volunteers and money for different charities in the area. I stood around for a little bit afterwards and took off. It definitely was not the event that I was hoping for. I had the concierge call my taxi for me from the parking area. As I am waiting I saw the best vehicles since I have been here picking up the other individuals. They were mostly Honda’s and a couple Land Rovers. Then my little hatchback taxi pulls up. I proudly strutted into the car and did not tip the concierge as he opened and closed my door.

The ladies mentioned there is another group that the US Embassy has. I will have to look into that.

One rule here that appears to be followed by everyone but me is calling your superiors “sir”. Call it my American ways, but I can’t get around to calling someone sir. Although it does come in handy if I can’t remember a name or how to correctly pronounce a name. I don’t like being called sir either. For instance at the apartment, every morning I walk to the neighboring restaurant for breakfast. Between my room and the time I sit down to eat I hear “Good morning sir” about 10 times between all the staff. Also at work it happens. The other thing is the order in which you walk. The highest superior should walk first followed by the next and the next in order. I don’t really follow this either. It really throws them off when I go first and then hold a door open for everyone else.

Tonight I looked fear straight in the eye. Time will tell how it will turn out.

At the swimming pool I have run into an older gentleman, around 65, quite often. I don't even know his name, but he has remembered mine. I told him I was Finland so he usually calls me Mr Lonne from Finland. He usually talks to me in broken English and I say a little something back. Usually 10 minutes to say 5 sentences. Today he offered to take me to his place for a home cooked meal. I said no a few times, but he insisted and I finally said yes since I have not had a Inidan home cooked meal yet. I thought there was nothing to worry about, he can afford a private gym membership, wears decent clothes and said he worked in import-export business.

We left the gym around 6 and he says he has to make a stop first. It was to the local Big Bazaar, like a mini Super Target on 3 floors with the grocery store being on the top floor. This place was packed. It was like the holiday season back in the US. He walked around and had to touch, feel and talk to every employee that walked by. After an hour we finally left and he bought about $10 worth of stuff. This included a 20 pound bag of rice and a free 5 pound bag of sugar that I ended up carrying around.

We get back in his car and head of to his place. When we pull up his says he has a very small house and it was. It was in the older part of town and looked like it was built in the 1930's and hasn't been touched since with dirt and all. It was a one bedroom place. He offered me some water, but I noticed it was only tap water and said no thank you. He started cooking right away and said it would be about 15 minutes. After about an hour he started throwing some food on the table. He said his maid usually cooks but she has the day off. It was basically left over mutton with chilly rice, fried cucumber and hard boiled eggs mixed in the mutton curry. It wasn't too bad, but I prayed before the meal that I would not get sick from this. When he put the plates and silverware on the table they had been freshly washed and still had water on them. One of my rules is not to eat anything off of dishes, silverware or glasses that are still wet - too much possible bacteria. I tried to wipe the silverware off on my shirt to somewhat help. If I do not get sick I will know my stomach is getting use to the bacteria. Also while he was cooking he changed right in front of me from his dress clothes into linen like sleeping pajamas.

We finish eating, he cleans off the table and turns on the tv in his bedroom. I hear him yell Mr. Lonne come in and relax. I go in and his laying on the left side of the bed. He points to the other side of the bed and says, "Lay down and relax". There was no way in hell I was laying down next to the guy, so I sat on the very edge of the side of the bed. THis bed had no mattress, it just felt like a board. He starts flipping through the channels and puts some Hindi movie on. In the corner of my eye I can see him scratching/adjusting himself and I mean really digging in. I am now one cheek on the bed and ready to run. His phone rings and he said it was his sister checking in. After the phone call he starts scratching away again. I finallly said I have to get going, and he said ok and took me back.

He is probably a lonely harmless old man, but I was starting to freak out. It made for an entertaining night for me. My stomach is churning already. I took a zantac and have the zpac ready.

Swine Flu has hit

THe swine flue has hit India. There have been 17 deaths around the entire country and there is panick. Mumbai is shutting down schools for a week. Some government agencies and movie theaters are also shutting down in that area. I have noticed a few more people wearing breathing masks. I went to he Shipra Mall on Friday and all the entry guards were wearing masks. THere are also long lines at hospitals that do the swine flu testing.

I think the media is blowing it out of proportion here too. 17 people out of a billion. The deaths have all been around people with respiratory issues before falling victim.

Slumdog Corepati

TOnight they are showing Slumdog Milionaire in the Hindi only version. The only part that I notice left out was the eye blinding scene. Plus they had interviews with the child actors during the commercials. Now that I have been here. the only part that wasn't realistic was stealing the shoes from the Taj. I did not have to leave my shoes, but they were put in a secure area. Most of the other sites I have gone to that I have had to take my shoes off have had storage areas. You give them your shoes, they give you a token with the storage spot for it and when you return the shoes are given back to you. Only the Jama Masjid did I have to pay when they did not allow me to carry my sandals into the tower. They asked for a donation, I gave them 20 rupees or 40 cents. They wanted more, but I was able to get my sandals back.

Last night the move Gandhi was on. It is interesting now that I have been to some of the sites that took place in the movie with Nerhu's house, the place where Ghandi was shot and the place were he was cremated.

Otherwise today the couple of places within walking distance were all closed. THe president gave a speech this morning at the Red Fort. 100,000 people attended. A part of the fort walls were covered in green, white and orange flowers, the colors on the flag.

The main piece on the news today was a major Bollywood star was questioned for two hours at Newark Airport when he flew in this morning to participate in an Indian Independence party in the US. THe news cast was focusing on discrimination talk from the US side.

2 Months Down

It has been 2 months since I first arrived. I am more than 1/3 of the way through. Up to this point in some ways the trip has gone better than I expected and in some ways a little worse. It has definitely been an experience.

Today is Hare Krishna’s birthday. Legend has it that it rained on the date of his birth and every year on his birthday since. We had the rain last night. One of the roads had 6 inches of standing water on it and there were pools of water everywhere else.

I bumped into a guy from the UK this morning eating at the breakfast restaurant. I was excited just to see another white person that spoke English. He is also doing a 6 month secondment for a gas company and only has 1 month to go. He was counting down the days and was craving just a plain bland cheese sandwich after eating curry every day.

I took part in the first round of interviewing yesterday for a couple of entry level finance positions. The questioning is a almost the same with a couple new ones “Tell me about your family and specifically about your father” and “How will you get to work?” were the two that stood out to me. When I interviewed for my position the second question they asked me was tell me about your father’s background. The other difference was the candidates were straight out of college and were not prepared at all for the questioning. One said she taught English on the side, but she could not understand a single word I said and I could barely make out what she was saying.

For the first time I went out to eat lunch at a local Indian restaurant with a couple of co workers. The cups were made of brass and weighed about a pound each, but they kept the water cold without ice. The item I originally picked out and ordered was refused to me. The waiter said it would be too spicy. The waiter picked out the least spicy item on the menu and said they would put less spices on it for me. It was some kind of chicken kabob, chicken roasted in spices and wrapped around a bone. For me it was still medium heat, or my mouth was still feeling the affects an hour afterwards. I also tried a little of a veg curry that another coworker had. That surprisingly had a sweet flavor to it. The ordering process took about 10 minutes for 4 people and involved a lot of talking and sounded like negotiating. It was only in Hindi, I was guessing at what they were saying.

I asked one guy how he thought the quality of the food was. He said ask me in 3 hours. If my stomach isn’t rumbling it is a good meal. He did not like the quality. Unfortunately it did not end up being a good meal for me.

We were gone for about 2 hours and I did not tell the people I sit around that I was leaving. I received a phone call from another coworker wondering where I was. It is good to know a few of them are looking out for me.

Crunchy Evilness

Last night at work the snacks were deep fried balls of potatos and spices. They are usually crunchy and a little spicy. This time they had jalepanos in them. After one bite my eyes were watering and my mouth was on fire. Even the coworkers said they were spicy, but I was the only one in pain.

Tonight it feels like it is 110% humidity. It is hard to breath. The weather channel says the base temp is 91 but it feels like 109. Plus it has been dark for two hours already.

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I went into Delhi this morning for a meeting. It was the first time I have seen the rush hour morning traffic into Delhi from Noida. At one stop light we had to wait about 6 light changes to get through. Everyone is in a mad rush, there are no such things as traffic rules, and as a result traffic comes to a standstill. It makes 169 and 494 look like a breeze way. I have never seen so many people walking on the side of the road either.

One area which bottlenecks into Delhi is supposed to be a 4 lane road. I counted 7 lanes of cars in this section.

All in all it took about an hour and a half to go 15 miles. We had what I counted 4 close calls – missed another car by about an inch. I only heard my driver swear once, at least I think it was swearing, it was definitely yelling and hand gestures.

On the lighter side, what I have found out about the new quick dry golf shirts is they do not absorb any of the sweat. Out in this heat, I have sweat a lot. On Saturday all the sweat rolled down my stomach and onto my pants. After being out for about 2.5 hours at the Humuyan Tomb I noticed some of the locals started laughing and pointing at me. I looked down and saw why. All the sweat absorbed into my khaki pants and looked like I peed my pants. I untucked my shirt to cover it up and moved on. I never thought I would have to worry about something like that.

Saturday is Independence Day for India celebrating their independence from Britain. I have received a couple more of the Warrant messages from the Embassy to be extra cautious as there could be terrorist activities during the holiday. As a result, I will stay around the Noida area to avoid any potential issues. The holiday is on a Saturday so there is no time off.

I heard the big activity for the holiday is flying kites and trying to cut the string of the other kites flying around.

Last Wednesday was another holiday. A brother sister holiday where the sister ties a colorful string bracelet around the wrist of the brother and the brother gives the sister a gift. The gift could be money, clothing, or anything else the sister wants. Most of the people in the office took the day off to celebrate this. I was one of the few people in the office. A couple of the guys here were complaining/joking that all they get is a piece of string and then they have to empty their wallets for a gift.

Delhi in a Day Week 2

I took the day off of work on Saturday and decided to check out a few more sites around Delhi. It was another beautiful day. There was not a cloud in the sky. It felt hotter than last weekend, I am guessing around 120. Basically I was testing myself with getting heat stroke. I was on the verge this time.

I left at 10 am. I had a different taxi driver and he took a different route which was all back roads. It took about an hour to get to the first destination. I was getting a little worried as the night before on the National Geographic channel they have a show called Kidnapped Abroad. This episode was in Ghaziabad, the part of the town I am staying in but back in 1994. Bin Laden’s right hand man lived in this town and kidnapped several Americans. That was going in the back of my head as we were going further and further into the back roads. There were even a couple dirt roads.

Finally I saw the Red Fort and new I somewhat where I was. The first destination was Jama Masjid which is India’s largest mosque. It was built by 5000 peple between 1644 and 1655. I had to take my sandals off to enter. With the beating sun, the red sandstone was intensely hot. There were a couple of burlap trails to walk on, but I think I still burnt my feet. The highlight was going into the tower. It was a narrow and winding walk. The top had a great view of the courtyard and a topside view of the marble domes.

Next I was off to Raj Ghat, the place where Mahatma Ghandi was cremated. There was a blackstone monument and an internal flame. I saw the sign saying to enter with no shoes and Leave shoes at no risk. Thinking of a couple scenes from SLumdog Millionare, I decided not to risk it and just walked around on the path that surrounded the memorial.

Next was Jantar Mantar an astromical observatory from 1700 with several measuring devices to tell time and the month. Some of the instruments looked like art work. I used the restroom and this was the first time I saw the squatter toilet.

Next was the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, or Birla Temple. It is a bright red and yellow temple that has many idols. To enter you could not wear shoes. Also any electronic devices were not allowed. They did not pat me down so I had my camera and cell on me. I did not take any pics though.

The last destination was the Humayun Tomb. This was a massive complex of tombs that was built in the 1500’s. The Rough Guides book lists this as the number 6 site to see in the area. It did not disappoint. It is a Moghal monument. Walking around I felt like the tomb raider. There were a couple hidden stairways to walk up on the roofs of a couple of the tombs. They were narrow and had bats flying around. Up on top the views were spectacular. I think I hit every building on the complex. I spent about 3.5 hours walking around.

This is where the heat stroke kicked in. When I got back to the taxi I guzzled 1.5 liters of hot water. The a/c was not cooling me down. I had 2 more spots on my list but told the driver to take me back. There was a language barrier issue. He knew 5 English words and I know about 5 Hindi words. After a half an hour ride I was starting to feel light headed. Once back to the apartment I attempted to take a cold shower, but only hot water was coming out. Then I became nauseous. Finally I mixed in a couple of Gatorade packets into the water for the electrolytes and laid on top of a few water bottles that I had in the fridge to try to cool down. After about an hour I was feeling better. I was worried for a while.

Other minor injuries were burnt red feet from walking barefoot and walking on sandstone. Today I am just going to take it easy and get as many liquids in me that I can to recover. I woke up this morning with a runny nose and a sore throat. Otherwise I am feeling ok.

Once again I took many pictures. They are posted on the picasa site.

Humayun Tomb

Humayun Tomb

Isa Khan Tomb

Raj Ghat and Jantar Mantar