Delhi is a completely different city than Bombay.
Before arriving in Delhi my professor told us that she hated coming to Delhi because it would remind her that she was a woman.
After being here for about three days I find this to be true. At first I thought it was because we were foreigners. But as I walked around I noticed that in the northern part of India I could fit in very well. People in this area seem to have more ancestry of China and the neighboring Asias. It is here in Delhi that I have been asked which part of India I am from.
I think it's just because of my brown skin, and I also find it very funny.
As we continue to venture out we notice that service in some places is not as nice and many times absent. In a restaurant we were barked at as the waiter insisted we were ordering the wrong things together. "No. We do want the Chicken Masala and rice, we don't want dosas." As he stomps away without a word.
It makes me appreciate the fact that at home I can freely walk the streets without being stared at, take a cab without being swindled, order freely in a restaurant, and have the ability to go out after the sun sets.
Because of this fact of two young women traveling alone we have had to hire a car from the hotel to drive us to our destinations. His name is Sabir. He is a hefty man about 5'9 and with a lazy right eye. He trots very slowly and I can tell that he will not go any faster even if his life depended on it.
He has been very nice and plays all the Hindi bollywood music we ask, unless its a song that HE doesn't like. In this situation he changes it and puts on "better song."
We had to hire Sabir because as journalists we were fascinated by the HIV/AIDs situation in India. We were refereed to the NAZ Foundation by one of the documentary film makers that we met in Bombay.
We didn't know much about it, but after finding the website we find out that Richard Gere is a huge celebrity supporter. And we understand why.
The foundations center is a house located in the hub of Delhi. They are an orphanage for abandoned children who either have AIDs or have been tested positive for HIV. There are about 35 children living there and they range from the ages of 18 months to 15 years.
AIDs and HIV in India is fairly new. The first diagnosis was only in the year of 1986 so this is the first generation that is growing with the disease. The foundation not only houses these children but they give a life long commitment to help them.
Not only are the children sick but they have also been abandoned and have no families. This organization is doing a beautiful thing.
After spending quite some time here Sabir decided to take us to Kashmir Cashmere. Where Professor Butt (I know but that's what his card says) showed us handmade carpets from Kashmir.
They were beautiful. And I bought one. It is being shipped to Seattle as we speak. (shipping was cheaper if we sent them to the same place)
This guy was a professional. We had three cups of tea throughout the process (yes like the book, Three Cups of Tea) one right after being introduced. Another while we were making our decision. And the third when we made our agreement.
So dang! Now I have a handmade cashmere carpet from Kashmir that is suppose to last me a lifetime. I figured it was a more substantial purchase than all of the fake pashminas and fake silk scarves that I have already bought. So when I'm in my 70's and reminiscing about my first travels to India when I was 20 I can look at my cashmere carpet handmade by village women in Kashmir and it'll be worth the hole in my bank account.
This will be my last blog until I return home.. or find free Internet. Tomorrow is my last day in Delhi, and in India. I am on a late night flight and we don't want to pay for the Internet one last time (it is sort of starting to add up.)
Goodbye smoggy Bombay, goodbye little cabby's and rickshaws, goodbye Sabir, professor Butt and the elevator man at the West End with the hairy ears (he made my day every morning because he was always so happy to see us) Goodbye street vendors and haggling, goodbye amazing spicy food, and monsoon downpours.
Goodbye India. I'll be back soon.
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