The Ankle

I climbed up the stairs to the hotel's rooftop restaurant in order to eat something. There, I met a young American couple. The guy was a Jew! They were very nice, getting an ace bandage for my blown up and bruised ankle. They also gave me some of their herbal lotion to put on it. In fact, they wrapped the ankle for me! I tried to give them some tips about India since they had just recently arrived.

The couple and I went into the Jama masjid, which is a huge concrete structure. Most of it is outside and even the part covered by a roof is not enclosed. Apparently, it can hold 25,000 people for prayers. Next, we walked, or more accurately, they walked and I stumbled, over to the Red Fort. It was closed and cost too much anyway, but it looked similar to the Red Fort in Agra from the outside.

From there we walked through parts of Old Delhi. It was just as chaotic as I had remembered. People come at you like a constant wave of darts in a narrow area of public space. Because of the ankle, I couldn't push off like I wanted to and bump into people. Instead, I made futile attempts to avoid the numerous passers-by. I kept getting knocked off balance. But we eventually made it to the metro, which took us back to Paharganj, home to the Main Bazaar, quite possibly the worst street in India. What a send off!

I've paid for the hotel and the coming taxi ride to the airport. I've eaten lunch. I have 80 rupees left. 20 of those will go to this internet place. So I will have 60. That may not be enough to eat dinner at a place that takes cash. My taxi leaves for the airport at 6pm. Maybe I'll eat at the airport if they take a credit card. Perhaps I'll gorge on chocolate and Sprite with that final 60 rupees. Maybe this should be a game show, Sixty Rupees in India: How will you spend it?