Rahul’s Family Arrives, early of course

With another early start to the day, waking up around 6a and tossing and turning until about 8a, I realize that sleep may not be an easy thing for me to come by while I am here. Not sleeping in a bed with a thickness I am used to is a bit harder than I imagined, hopefully I will get used to it at some point in the near future. I rolled out of bed just before 8a so I could shower and get a shave across the street before Rahul’s family came in. He told me originally they should be in around 9:30, so I had plenty of time, until he knocked on the door before I started my bath and let me know they would be there in about 15 minutes. *smacks head* Apparently they had been in the area for an hour trying to find the hotel, not an easy task for most places, as though they have formal addresses, are hard to locate and people give very vague directions like turn left after the red brick building and walk about 50m, then go right and it is in front of you. So I rush to at least get a shower in before they arrive, and just as I finish up, I hear a knock on the door. Freshly showered, I greet Rahul’s brother, Rohit; his sister and her son Ruby and Segar; his father, Raj Naran; and his father manager, Lal Bahadur. All seemed very pleasant in disposition, and were very pleased to meet me. I took leave to get a shave down at the barber’s shop on the corner, and returned to them all finishing bathing also. I now did not feel so out of place that I just finished up—early morning baths, you got to love ‘em.

What ensued for the next 30 minutes have or so I can hardly fill you in on, as it was all in Hindi, with a few translation breaks from Rahul. If you ever seen a dubbed Martial art film where the native language says about 10 sentences, and the dubbing fills you in with one, then you know how I felt. It seemed like much more was being said then I was filled in on. I am sure they were just catching up, as they have not all seen each other in about a year.

Chatting out of the way, we took a few moments to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, described in a previous post. I was lucky enough to have Didi offer to let me partake in the celebration. With a knot tied around my hand, a dot with rice placed on my forehead, and sweets offered, the celebration was almost complete. Luckily I got to skip out on the last part, the sister asking for money from you, as I had no rupees on me for the day yet.

We then separated into two groups to do some shopping and exploring; Rohit, Rahul and I went to Chandni Chauk, and the rest headed to another market for clothes, etc. The three of us grabbed a few somosa’s from the shop around the corner from GTE’s, and returned to see Gaurov for our daily cup of chai. We were greeted by a beardless Gaurov, which was a shock to us, as he had quite a bit of growth the previous two days. The somosas were overpriced for the taste, but they were at least filling enough to not complain to the vendor. Through our morning banter, we discovered that GTE actually has a real name, Sharma Tea House. Gaurov chuckled at our title, informed us it was okay to tell people how to get there for future chai cups, and we parted ways.

So all you travelers out there look forward for directions to Sharma’s Tea House, also known as Gourov’s Tea Emporium!