Mid-morning, December 6th. It's been a bit of a whirlwind...

The other day after checking email, AJ & I left the market area where the internet cafe is and walked right into a fight. One guy was turning onto the one-way street to Kan Market. The other guy was backing up & backed his fancy Civic right into the turner. Then he tried to blame the turner for the accident. They got up face-to-face & it wasn't too pretty.

We all went walking in Lodhi Garden down the street. Beautiful big trees. Parakeets & mynahs & kites all over. A big fort in whose crevices young couples like to hide. And a few old above-ground grave dome kind of things with these vast insides. Cold stone & lots of light. There was a little kid just learning to walk who had the biggest smile on her face! Hiding behind her mom's legs, then bobbing off in a new direction...

Then it was off to meet with the caterer at the Gymkhana Club where the wedding reception will be held. Negotiations. A few mosquitos. Tea and toast at this oh-so-colonial relic. A late-night hunt for a restaurant that would give us take-out at 10:30 p.m. Ended up with pizza, & it wasn't so bad. MN & fiance discussed the ongoing family drama in the other room. It's not pretty.

Yesterday morning we went for a run in Lodhi Park. These lungs aren't liking the Delhi air too much. It was pretty though. Got a "good morning" from a group of schoolboys who were sussing out my accent. It felt good to run fast. Then we had to jump in an auto-rickshaw to get back home as quickly as we could to get to lunch in time.

Then we headed out to Neemrana, in northern Rajasthan state. It was MN's birthday and her fiance wanted to treat her -- us -- to lunch at this beautiful old fort tucked up on the hillside. It was maybe 150 km out from central Delhi. It was stunning. Beautiful old rock. Soaring archways. Right up against this curving mountain. I could see & hear goats clambering around on the rocks. We turned off NH8 and wound our way through a market area and onto this dirt road. Twisted and turned. Dodged cows and even a camel-pulled cart. It felt like the buildings were leaning over above us. Beautiful, brightly-colored saris. A few stares. Silver shops. Little kids laughing and playing. And signs pointing up, up, up the hill.

The buffet lunch was amazing. Bindi in some kind of red sauce. Palak paneer. (I learned that palak is a type of sag, or green leafy veg, but sag is not a palak. AHA!) Tandoori-cooked gobi. I don't even like cauliflower & this was delicious. We sat & enjoyed the cool mountain air. Laughed. Talked. Ate. Laughed some more. Explored. Looked out at the village below us & the vast dry area beyond.

Then on the way home we hit the lovely Delhi traffic. It took four hours to drive home! FOUR HOURS in this crazy, wild, weaving, honking jerk-to-a-stop traffic with people darting across wherever they could. Man. We went through the entire repertoire of American music, with MN's fiance wincing in the driver's seat. (Wincing from the traffic, of course, not JW's amazing ability to hold a tune!) We were exhausted by the time we got home.

So still no working cellphone for me & JW. We were going to borrow someone's Nokia, but when we turned it on there was a graphic digital image of two people in flagrante delicto. With "shit" written beneath the image. No matter what we do, we can't make the picture go away. Now the phone isn't working either. So we'll have to figure something out today.

Looks like AJ will head out to visit her family today. JW & I are heading to Rajasthan tomorrow. Looks like two days in Jaipur & two in Pushkar/Ajmer. (Udaipur & Jodhpur are too far, given other things we need to do. Too bad -- I really wanted to see them.)

I've found a potential story idea I want to explore. Has to do with capacity-building & appropriate technology. But I swear it'll be more interesting than those sound. Barefoot College. Google it & see what you get...

Anyway, after that we'll head back to Delhi. If I'm motivated enough, I may do a two-night trip out to Varanasi to visit the Ganges & explore a little. JW will stay to help MN with wedding plans. Somewhere between the wedding days I'm hoping to squeeze in a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Preferably at sunset.

I feel like there's so much other stuff I want to see. JW & I are heading to a few markets today to look for holiday gifts for family. I have a feeling this trip is going to go by far too quickly. As usual...

I will try to post some pictures when I can. I'm not sure where there's wireless around here.

Hope you're all well!

S.