8.13.10 - Delhi continued

Ahhh so now that I’ve been home, washed the dirt off my face, arms, legs and feet, and slept in my jail cell that I’ve become rather fond of, I feel much better about my trip to Agra yesterday. The plus side of the non-A/C seating was that on the way back to Delhi, I had the whole bench to myself and could stretch out and sleep – it was fabulous. Especially when we stopped for 2 hours so that the rest of the tour group could visit some obscure temple to honor Krishna, whose birthday it was. We had stopped in his birth town for dinner earlier (I had the most tasty samosas and chai ever, and also walked around town with a guide to find the world’s most well-hidden ATM to pay back my benefactor) and I got to watch a terribly cheesy movie depicting Krishna’s kidnapping and reappearance, which I’m assuming is typical to this season. It’s a bit like Christmas in the States I guess; people are all out on the town, shopping for each other and for offerings to leave at the temple, decked out with strands of jasmine in their hair and beautiful sarees on. It was a nice cultural experience, and a few of my fellow travelers took the time to explain to me where we had stopped and why it was important. But when we pulled up to the place where they would go to the temple, nobody told me what was happening and everyone just piled into autos and left. I decided that I would just as soon stay in the bus and sleep. Also it was the perfect opportunity to pee in the woods, which I did promptly once I discovered we would be stopped there waiting for a few hours. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible trip. I arrived back to my cell at 4 in the morning and was able to sleep a few more hours before the heat made it unbearable.
Delhi is hot. Really hot. And dusty. And I think the entire city is under construction; everywhere you go there are roads being torn up, two lanes of traffic being funneled through a passageway barely big enough for one lane of traffic. There are cranes, backhoes, and piles upon piles of dirt which all turn to massive mud puddles when the deluge of rain comes. All of this has the combined effect of making me exceedingly glad that I’m leaving tomorrow. But for now I’m going to make the best of my time here. I’m off to use the internet, then go exploring. Tata!