Failed plans, but a nice recovery

We had planned to visit a new temple that had just been constructed in the past few years, Akshardham, but we did not have time in the day, as we had to meet back up with Rahul’s father and sister before 5 o’clock. None of us have seen the newly constructed temple as of yet, so we were all excited to make the trip, but alas, some plans just fall through and there is not much you can do about it. So instead, we contacted Ashutosh and the four of us headed into Sarojani Nagar, a nice market with decent priced clothing. Rahul picked up a nice shirt, with help from Ashutosh and me, I bought a few tshirts and a pair of jeans for our upcoming trip to the Shimla area. We got to chat with Ashutosh a little bit before we had to head back into town.

Arriving back at the hotel a bit late due to traffic, the ever present and always enjoyable traffic of Delhi, we met Ruby and Rahul’s father. A ‘friendly’ little argument ensued in Hindi, one of which I do not know most of the content, lack of Hindi speaking and all, but it at least seemed resolved when his father left for the train. Didi, Ruby’s nickname meaning older sister, stayed behind with Sagar, her son, to travel with us until we headed to Varanasi. Didi presented me with a very nice gift, a shirt that they picked up from the market for me. It was very kind of them to do so, and I am still trying to figure out what present to get them for allowing me to stay in Varanasi—Rahul is being no help in this matter.

Didi wanted to head to an underground market to kill some time before our train left for Kalka that night. This market used to be one of the more popular and higher quality markets, but due to malls opening around the area, this has become a secondary market where lower quality goods are exchanged. For instance, a vendor was trying to sell us CK One, cologne Rahul purchased before we left Chicago, for 650 rupees, about 13 US dollars. Before purchasing this, as it seemed too good to be true, a 45 dollar bottle for only 13 bucks, we asked to smell it. Not only was it a knock off, it was a poor knock off. Anyone who has smelled CK One before would have been able to let you know it was a sad attempt at faking the cologne. At least Rahul got a decent pair of pants for 350 rupees that he had been looking for for a few days. Getting annoyed by the barrage of ‘Come look at just one shirt, please sir,’ ‘Please come into my shop, finest quality,’ and ‘I have the best clothes at best prices. Please sir,” statements, we headed out for our evening train ride. This long day would finally come to a nice long sleeper train ride end.

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!