Winding Down

Without yet paying for this trip to an internet cafe, which will run me between 20 and 40 rupees depending on how long I stay online, I have 1510 rupees in cash. That has to last me until Tuesday night. The big money-grabbers will be the hotel room for one night in Delhi, the ride from the train station to the hotel, and from the hotel to the airport. Today I ate at an Indian fast food place, where all the rich hip kids hang out, because it took a credit card. I had a good meal that ran me over $5, one of the largest sums I've paid for a meal here. But I didn't lose any cash.

I checked out of the hotel at noon and my train doesn't leave until after 11pm. I visited the Ram Rai Darbar which looks like a Muslim tomb, but I think it's a Sikh one. Then I wandered through the crowded bazaars. It's easy to get lost on the curved streets that are packed more than your fat mother's stomach into her stretch pants. After the fast food joint, I went to the nearby park. I sat there and read. I thought about how sitting on a bench is the great equalizer. Occassionally, different men would sit far too close to me for the amount of room on the bench and start spitting. I was also visited by ear cleaners and shoe shiners. The ear cleaners offered one ear free and then only 10 rupees for both. I told them even if you offered me 100 rupees to clean my ears, I wouldn't do it!

I moved and watched a pick up cricket match. Pwhew, the fielders were terrible. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on kids. A boarding student from a hill station 300 KMs away started talking to me. We joked around about how his English was better than his favorite actor, Arnold (no one even attempts his last name here), the governor of California. The park was green with statues and plenty of people just relaxing. There was a little beggar boy cracking a whip and pretending to stab himself with a plastic red knife for my amusement. An old man, with his mouth caved in indicating that he had no teeth, sat on a bench listening to a group of 30-something year old men arguing. Eventually, the sun started to go down and I really had to pee (a-gain!), so I left.

I went into the McDonald's to pee. Although being white opens you up to potential scams, over-anxious rickshaw drivers, and touts, it comes with many privileges. I didn't purchase anything and wasn't asked. Instead, the bathroom attendant knocked on the door in an attempt to rush the man in there after I had been waiting for a while. Sometimes, people here will bend over backwards for you and it's a little uncomfortable. Indian adults will often yell at beggar children if they sense that a foreigner is beyond annoyed. Part of the reason is that some Indians I've talked to are conscious of the perception of their country to the outside. Even the poorest, dumbest, ugliest white person is treated with reverance. Believe me. I know.

After the man, who was wearing a dress jacket with a patch that said he was from a cadet school, left the bathroom, the attendent mopped it (as he did everytime someone left the bathroom) before I entered. And there it was. Perhaps the most beautiful sight my eyes have ever had the pleasure of gazing upon. Toilet paper.

Too bad I only had to pee.