We got up early today – Christina at 4am and I at 5am. Couldn’t sleep anymore. Christina headed down to breakfast early and I followed soon after. Ebbie and his girlfriend Ayana asked if we wanted to go shopping, and since our tour wouldn’t start until 2pm, we went with them. We took one auto rickshaw with Ayana sitting on Ebbie’s lap, Christina sitting in the middle, and I by the door.
Entrepreneurial kids with a shoe-shine business. more pics
The first shopping area didn’t have much in it, so after taking some pictures, we went towards some auto rickshaws and asked them to take us to a market. Not understanding English from Ebbie and Ayana, the drivers came to me speaking in Hindi. I must be mistaken as a native. Eventually, we found a driver who spoke English and suggested “Dilihad” or something that sounds like that. So, off we went, in two rickshaws this time. We ended up in an open market that looks like Divisoria in Manila, except this is much smaller.
We looked around at shoes and at the textiles. The first textile vendor wouldn’t talk price but kept bringing out different colors. When I asked him to go lower on price, he would offer me the mixed silk kind instead of the pure silk that I wanted. The vendor next door came down to 450 rupees for pure silk since Christina and I wanted to buy four between the two of us. I decided I wanted three, so after more haggling, he came down to 400 rupees for the fifth saree. (I later found out that it wasn't pure silk, but 450 rupees was a good price for a silk blend.) It was just so much fun to haggle with the second vendor, because he was such a good sport.
Open-air tailoring. more pics
We headed back to the hotel at 12:30pm for lunch. Christina and I got to the dining room and saw the brothers Mohit and Rohit. Mohit came to our table to chat and we told him about our adventure in the morning. He helped us choose what to order as well and he recommended the Chanda Malai Tikka, which he said “melts in your mouth.” We also ordered the Butter Chicken, which turns out to be what’s called Chicken Masala in the US. And we asked for garlic naan, no rice. Well, when Mohit said that the Chandi Malai Tikka chicken melts in your mouth, I thought he was exaggerating. I mean, I’ve had melt-in-your-mouth chocolate, but chicken?!? When it arrived, it was so moist, it really almost melts in your mouth. It was a very good lunch.
Sight-seeing
In the afternoon, the same white van picked us up, and we had a tour guide in traditional saree. I forget her name but it means sacrificial offering.
There was a lot to see, but we got off at only a few places.
On the bus, our tour guide explained the dot on her forehead, which is called “bindi.” Historically, it was meant to ward off the evil eye, but, nowadays, it’s mostly worn for décor. She said that the women wore a round bindi and men wore an elongated one. If the wearer worships one god incarnation (I forget which is which. Krishna? Vishnu?), there would be three dots in a vertical line. If the wearer worships another god incarnation, the three dots would be in a horizontal line.
Later, I mentioned that we had shopped for sarees in the morning and she explained how it was worn. You wrap it around your waist once, do some pleats that you tuck into a belt or jeans, which you could also wear underneath, and the rest of the material goes over your shoulder. The other type of native costume is called a salwar (pronounced "sal-var'", meaning trousers) kameez (tunic or chemise). The men wear something similar to the salwar kameez but in a different cut.
Qutub Minar. more pics
Our first stop was at Qutub Minar, a minaret with ruins surrounding it. As I was taking pictures, Dave walked by and asked if I was looking for a good view. I said yes, and then I later saw him on top of a short wall. I joined him to see if he had a good view from that position, then I noticed green parrots against a ledge on the arches in front of us. Unfortunately, my zoom doesn’t work well, but Dave got pictures of them.
Our next stop was the wholesale marketplace, where we got off the bus and onto old fashioned bicycle rickshaws – the man-powered ones. Then we went through the marketplace in a narrow lane full of shoppers, sellers, and suppliers. We wove our way in between cars, mini minivans, motorcycles, and rickshaws carrying merchandise. It was an incredible experience. I realized how vulnerable I was, as cars and large busses came only inches from me, honking at our caravan as we merged into the traffic.
Riding through the marketplace in rickshaws. more pics
The rickshaws dropped us off at the foot of a mosque. We hurriedly climbed up the stairs and took our shoes off before entering. (I paid 150 rupees for the privilege of taking pictures inside the mosque.) The entire complex is the mosque. In the middle was a large square populated by pigeons. The square was surrounded by long open buildings with arches to look out from. In one of the buildings, we found worshippers kneeling and bowing to the ground on red rugs.
One side of the mosque. more pics
Magic carpet
Our final tour stop was a showroom of hand-knotted rugs. It was supported by the government to subsidize the cottage industry. We got the entire spiel from a charming but sleek salesman. First, he demonstrated how the carpets are made in a small loom. Then his young assistants served us a wonderful spiced tea. Meanwhile, the salesman and his crew continued to demonstrate the quality and uniqueness of the rugs – how the colors change (they spun the rug and lifted it from one end), how it can’t be scratched (they scratched it with a comb-like tool), how fire-resistant it was (they lit a lighter on the rug). At the end of the presentation, the salesman finally revealed the prices in US dollars. The lowest price, he said, was US$400. I was very disappointed. After the presentation, we were allowed to look at the rugs and the salesman insisted that there was no obligation.
Silk hand-knotted rugs. more pics
I was looking closely at the pattern of one of the runners when one of the assistants approached me and asked what I was interested in. Then he said there were more patterns like those downstairs. I followed him down. Brian was already down there with another assistant.
The assistant and one of his friends brought out a couple more patterns but the first one still looked better than the others. The tag said $2800 or something like that. He said that we get a discount and got the price down to about $2200. I said I wanted to look at something smaller but with a similar pattern. The salesman overheard us and said he’d lower the price on the runner. I said I can’t afford it unless he got it down to $1500. He punched some numbers on the calculator and showed me $1625. He said he can’t go lower than that. I should have asked for $1200 instead. As soon as I gave a hint of my assent, he (too quickly, I thought) ordered the assistant to roll it up and tag it for me. I realized I left my credit card at the hotel, so I put half on my debit card and the assistant came back in the evening to charge the rest on my credit card. They would ship it for free by courier.
Underground dinner
The bus dropped us off at the start of a small alley and we were led to a building at a bend in that alley. There was a narrow passageway, and then we went through a door that opened to a set of narrow stairs with low ceilings. At the bottom was a restaurant that was decorated with native paintings on the walls, on the stairs on the steps. There was native furniture on each side, including a bed. A section of the floor was lower than the rest and there were painted stumps that served as steps.
We sat around a long table and were served one dish at a time individually. But the dishes came so slow that it was like having dim sum. At the end of the dinner, we got gifts from the wife of our travel agent Anup, who came to join us. Arvind was guessing what the gifts were before we opened them and he got almost all correctly, except mine and Amanda's, but he knew our gifts were the same. We got woven purses. Back at the bus, Christina showed me her gifts and said, “I have two balls.” Well, they were the embroidered kind.
Observations, insights, and lessons learned
Everywhere we went we were watched and stared at. The people of India were not shy, and they don’t look away when you stare back; they could easily win in a staring contest. We also saw children begging. A few girls hung around our rickshaw as we waited for the others to get on their rickshaws. One laid her hand on my knee familiarly, as though she were my child or my niece. It was so hard to ignore them.
I think I read some article somewhere about the diversity of the people of India and I see it firsthand. They look alike on the surface, but it’s easy to see the individuality in each one. And I realize how Mother Teresa could love them all.
I learned a few Hindi phrases today. “Ha” means yes; “ha ji” is a polite way of saying it. “Na hi” means no. “Shookria” means thank you.
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