Sorry for the hiatus, all. (Update: apparently my blog is now big enough to attract 5-10 spam comments a month). For those of you who don’t know, I’ve moved to Delhi!
After leaving Zambia in the most dramatic way possible, I’ve landed on the other side of the world. The story of how I got here, like all good things, involves a play and a philosophy podcast.
Delhi (to clarify: South Delhi, in February) has been amazing so far. Call me back in three months, when it’s hot and humid, and see if I’ve eaten my words.
Delhi might be the most interesting place I’ve been to just be. Every time I walk or drive around the city, I’m amazed by how much there is to see here. And after a year and a half (and a near lifetime, bar college) of being stared at, I like how in this big city, a person can almost be invisible. I love the metro for precisely this reason (also, it is possibly the cleanest metro I have ever encountered).
Every day, there are moments I could write about and I narrate in my head how I’d tell them to my friends, or write them in a book, but then I get home and am tired and only have the notes in my mind, because being in Delhi takes a lot out of you, too. So here are a few vignettes from the last few days:
Saturday: Took my first trip out of South Delhi in an over-packed cab through the city. My colleague from Delhi pointed out all historical sites along the way, just sitting there along the main road, no barriers, no need to pay entry. They’re just there, old temples and tombs, part of the fabric of the city, alongside the asphalt and lovers and trees.
Sunday: Sat in a tree in a park for what seemed like hours. The right half of the park was almost void of people, with pathways and flowers everywhere. From my tree, I could see crows converge apocalyptically on a small pond, darting in and out of beams of light. The weather was perfect. I half fell asleep.
Today: Walked through my new neighbourhood. Got lost in a maze of apartment buildings and wires, balconies with colourful clothes hung up to dry. There were open-fronted shops frying food, tailors, small convenience stores, motorcycles zipping through the lanes. Playgrounds were everywhere, and trees, and smoke. Saw a man operating a makeshift Ferris-wheel about eight feet high; children were sitting in it, laughing as it lifted from the ground.
There have also been such adventures as:
- Visa delays
- Apartments with blood on the floor
- Bar fights
- Chronic coughs
- Rooftop monkey attacks
- Paying for seven nonexistent G+Ts
- Credit card shutdowns
- Furniture bargaining marathons
- Near-death experiences from cars (all day, every day)
(For those of you who had been lulled into a sense of security, and to ease you into the mood shift of my next post).