So I haven't updated this thing in a while and that makes me feel bad because there are people that I care about that I feel I just have so little energy to communicate with. That sounds awful - let me try to clarify. Things are amazing and wonderful and I feel like my life is the plot of a movie right now. At the same time, I'm stressed and dealing with completely foreign (literally and figuratively) situations. The way I look at it, you swim or you sink and I don't want to fucking drown so I'm swimming as hard and as fast as I can.
With that being said...what have I done during my time here? We went to the Taj Mahal the first day. That was amazing and touristy but still necessary..because how can you NOT go to the Taj if given the opportunity. We've been so old Delhi which is SUPER Muslim so that was interesting. No matter how conservative you dress...you stick out like a dumb American. That was fun though, I felt like my life was kind of like that video game tomb raider, except without the zombies. Except I've been dreaming about zombies so I don't know maybe the compilation of the two complete my fantasy. Then there have been the regular trips that don't really have names - like going to various markets and eating in cafes in back alleys and meeting lovely Indian men on metros that compliment you for reading Tagore and then put their hand to your cheek and tell you you're a good person. An assortment of things really.
One thing to note - I visited a resettlement colony on the outskirts of the city. This was two days ago? It was a 40 minute metro ride, 15 minute bike rickshaw and then another 20-30 minute auto rickshaw. For mental visualization, a rickshaw is like a little funny car that is structurally like a moped with two back wheels that rests inside a green and yellow open-air cab. AND you can smoke a bogue while riding in said rickshaw...ahhh the beauty of it all. Sidenote, cigarettes are like 100 rupees here which is like $2 - just for cultural context I guess.
So anyways, the resettlement colony. These people are dirt poor. They came to Delhi post-independence as contract laborers and once the city began beautification projects in an attempt to boost India as a nation - they were forcibly told to vacate and their homes (the slums) were demolished. Then, once they left they were given no source of employment nor homestead. Instead, they were forced to PAY the government 7,000 rupees for the land and building in which they currently reside. And let me clarify, when you enter the resettlement area...the first thing you see is a mountain, a mountain that almost seems to reach the smog-filled sky. Then, you realize that it's not a mountain at all. It's trash. Once you pass the range, you are welcomed by a foul swamp with cows and goats grazing on the algae drenched flora that lies on the outskirts of the pool. This is not land, this is a hazardous wasteland.
The people were great though. It's entirely re-assuring that people are universal. A smile is universal. A handshake is universal. It was so funny. Imagine 35 tiny children in saris and elaborately embellished bell-bottoms and "western" cowboy tops and rags following us in parade down a narrow walk-way. They were all smiling and waving and shaking our hands like we were fucking celebrities. It was so happy and at the same time sickening. One of the kids turned to one of us and said "can you take my brother and make him like you?". I don't really have words.
We're leaving Delhi tomorrow and taking an overnight train to stay on a farm in Nagpur? I'm pretty sure we're going to Nagpur. Either way, I'll be on a farm for the next two weeks eating oranges. This is what I know.
P.S. I'm just really sorry if I haven't contacted you or have not talked to you a lot. I feel like it's an excuse but I'm so mentally full that free time is like napping and doing homework. I just want to say this to clear my conscious at least because I think about it a lot. Even letter writing is not what I thought it was. I hope people are doing really well and yea. I'll try to update this more. It's a pretty awesome outlet.
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