After our Varanasi adventure and little mini-introduction to Buddhism in India on our trip to Sarnath, we were eager to head to Dehli and meet our soon-to-be friend, Janis. We took an overnight train from Varanasi to New Delhi, and then found our way to the Delhi Metro station. At this point, we knew the drill when you leave any transportation station, so the touts and rickshaw drivers didn't bother us too much. We must have achieved the "Don't mess with us" look on our faces!
The Delhi Metro system was designed by a Japanese company, which means it is absolutely state of the art: clean, efficient, and just a pleasure to ride. Except during rush hour. With a design capacity of something like 1000 people per train, rush hour traffic sees approximately 7000 people per train, so you have to literally push and shove your way onto the train or you simply won’t get on. Good thing we went to all those metal concerts and worked on our moshing skills back in the day. So we "moshed" our way onto a train with our giant backpacks on our backs, our regular day-trip backpacks on our chests, and a couple of duffle bags in our hands. For a short while, we were regretting buying all the things that we now had to carry with us.
Side note: Another interesting thing about the metro is the "ladies only" sections. We're not sure exactly why these exist, but our guess is that part of the reason is because India has a large Muslim population, so as a respect to their customs, the ladies have their own riding car. Our other guess is that as much as we'd like to think that men can behave, they still act like dogs sometimes and it's safer for woman, especially unaccompanied ones, to travel separately. This is probably a good time to mention an interesting cultural difference between India and Western countries. Some of the Asian countries are so ancient that they seem to have a much slower pace of time than we do in the West. For example, many families still do everything themselves, rather than rely upon mega grocery stores and corporations to supply the things they need. They get fresh milk delivered and make their our curd (yogurt) every day. Many families still make all their own food from scratch. They are skilled and can build, sew, craft, and fix things. Along with this exists ancient and unmaintained electrical lines and plumbing systems, which is why you're not allowed to put any tissue paper in some toilets (that is a request to foreigners, since Indians have their own system and don't need toilet paper) and why the power is out for most of the day. We would drive past some electrical lines and they would be sparking and blowing up. Rob literally thought someone was welding on the side of the road during one car trip until we got close enough to realize it was just a jumble of power lines making a pretty little plasma arc. Safety isn't really a concern! On a social note, it's still somewhat accepted that men don't have control over themselves and women have to be very careful about "inviting" inappropriate attention. Pretty much, if something happens to a woman, it's because she caused a man to do it - either by the way she looked at him, what she is wearing, where she is at, or simply that she is existing. We started to understand more why Muslim women cover themselves. Not only is it a religious thing, but this one lady explained to us that back in the day, women remained inside all day or were kept separated from men to protect themselves. Then, they started to be able to go out in completely covered carriages. Now they have the burqa, which allows them the freedom to leave the house and go wherever they need to. The law doesn't protect women, so they have to protect themselves. It may seem strange to Westerners, but when you look at the history, it helps you understand a little more where they are coming from.
So, back to the Delhi metro. When we arrived at the Gurgaon station, we were greeted by Janis and her seven-year old daughter Sophia, who was sporting a handmade sign saying “Welcome Rob and Amy” in classic kid’s handwriting. It made us grin from ear to ear. We hopped in the car and met their driver Vaseem, and then made our way to their farmhouse out in the rural edge of town. Gurgaon itself was a shock to our senses, just when we were beginning to think we couldn't be shocked anymore. After being engrossed in one of the oldest cities in the world, we now found ourselves in one of the newest cities of the world, where global companies like Microsoft, LG, and Reliance are plopping down skyscraper office buildings amidst American-style malls and world-class condominium towers. There was new construction of office buildings for miles and miles, all going up at the same time. And once you go a little bit further, there are just shacks and falling-down concrete hovels with fruit carts and cigarette stands mixed in. There were big chunks of road that were washed out from the monsoon rains, so you couldn’t do more than 40 km per hour (about 25 mph) for any extended period of time
as you dodged potholes and cows. Old meets new, I guess!
At Janis’ house, we were able to unload our loot and leave it there until we came back from the second half of our trip. She and her husband Micky were in the import/export business several years ago, and were able to get a decently big house on some property that has now easily tripled in value because of the building boom. They have a full staff working for them, including a driver, a cook, and a few others that help with various parts of their businesses and housework. We were super excited about their cook, because this guy had been trained as a chef and worked in Goa for several years before coming to Gurgaon to work for Janis. He made some amazing meals for us, and we spent a day learning to cook a few Indian dishes with him. Amy mastered the “roti,” which is basically an Indian tortilla that can be eaten with just about every meal. It turns out that many of the
spices they use overlap with New Mexican cooking (cumin, coriander, garlic, onion, salt, and chile powder), except that they add turmeric, ginger, and sometimes a masala spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, cloves, and other Christmas-type flavors), and they use about four times as much spice as any American would think to use. So it’s actually not that intimidating to cook up some amazing Indian dishes.
Also, by this point in our trip we had noticed that we were mostly eating vegetarian, and Amy was pretty much completely veg. We hadn’t even missed the meat in our daily meals because the vegetable dishes tasted so amazing. We were also vaguely scared of getting sick again from eating improperly cooked meat, so that kind of narrowed down our options. But who knew that peas, carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes could be so satisfying? Rob had also gone down two more holes in his belt. In fact, he was on the last hole of his belt and couldn’t bring
it in any tighter. The pants he had bought for the trip were bunching up around his waist because he had lost so much in the middle! Through a magical combination of very little meat, lots of walking, and the occasional sickness, Rob had lost 15 pounds by the end of our trip. Amy didn’t have much to start with, so she didn’t really lose any.
Speaking of sicknesses, Rob brought a little present to Janis' house. On the train to Delhi, he started to notice what looked like mosquito bites on his hands and feet that were really itchy. We didn't think too much about it and we resolved to be more vigilant in our application of mosquito repellent. The day after we got to Janis', the itching got worse and Rob had the bites all over his hands, arms, feet, and legs. We decided it was time to visit the doc. Janis has an amazing doctor, so we paid this wonderful lady a visit. After one quick look at Rob's hand, she nonchalantly stated, "Oh, you have scabies." Scabies??? Yes, scabies. We had heard of this, but didn't know exactly what it was. She gave him some pretty strong medication and sent us back home to wash and serielize the sheets we had been sleeping in, since scabies is highly contagious. We wish SO much we still had the pictures to show you! It was SO gross. Amy felt a little proud after the doctor said that she hadn't gotten it because she probably has a stronger immune system. Amy is always the one to have health-related issues in our lives, so this was a moment to celebrate. Good job immune system! Way to attack those invaders!!
At this point, Amy was dying of curiosity and just HAD to google scabies to find out what it really is. Oh man, it is creepy stuff!! Read on to find out what scabies is - or skip to the next paragraph if you'd rather believe that gross things don't exist. So, scabies. It's a microscopic mite that finds thin areas of your skin (mostly the webbing between your fingers and toes) and burrows itself under your skin. Then it proceeds to travel under the skin depositing eggs. These eggs take about 20 days to mature and hatch. Once they hatch, you develop a red, raised bump that resembles a mosquito bite and itches like nobody's business. Amy just couldn't get over the idea that Rob was nourishing little eggs under his skin for almost three weeks. Oh my god, totally gross. Blech!
Anyway...thankfully the medication worked as Rob was quickly recovering. Luckily no one else in the house caught it. We spent a few days with Janis, then headed up to Dharamsala and Rajasthan for several weeks before heading back to Delhi, which is where we left from. More Delhi in our next post...
The Delhi Metro system was designed by a Japanese company, which means it is absolutely state of the art: clean, efficient, and just a pleasure to ride. Except during rush hour. With a design capacity of something like 1000 people per train, rush hour traffic sees approximately 7000 people per train, so you have to literally push and shove your way onto the train or you simply won’t get on. Good thing we went to all those metal concerts and worked on our moshing skills back in the day. So we "moshed" our way onto a train with our giant backpacks on our backs, our regular day-trip backpacks on our chests, and a couple of duffle bags in our hands. For a short while, we were regretting buying all the things that we now had to carry with us.
Side note: Another interesting thing about the metro is the "ladies only" sections. We're not sure exactly why these exist, but our guess is that part of the reason is because India has a large Muslim population, so as a respect to their customs, the ladies have their own riding car. Our other guess is that as much as we'd like to think that men can behave, they still act like dogs sometimes and it's safer for woman, especially unaccompanied ones, to travel separately. This is probably a good time to mention an interesting cultural difference between India and Western countries. Some of the Asian countries are so ancient that they seem to have a much slower pace of time than we do in the West. For example, many families still do everything themselves, rather than rely upon mega grocery stores and corporations to supply the things they need. They get fresh milk delivered and make their our curd (yogurt) every day. Many families still make all their own food from scratch. They are skilled and can build, sew, craft, and fix things. Along with this exists ancient and unmaintained electrical lines and plumbing systems, which is why you're not allowed to put any tissue paper in some toilets (that is a request to foreigners, since Indians have their own system and don't need toilet paper) and why the power is out for most of the day. We would drive past some electrical lines and they would be sparking and blowing up. Rob literally thought someone was welding on the side of the road during one car trip until we got close enough to realize it was just a jumble of power lines making a pretty little plasma arc. Safety isn't really a concern! On a social note, it's still somewhat accepted that men don't have control over themselves and women have to be very careful about "inviting" inappropriate attention. Pretty much, if something happens to a woman, it's because she caused a man to do it - either by the way she looked at him, what she is wearing, where she is at, or simply that she is existing. We started to understand more why Muslim women cover themselves. Not only is it a religious thing, but this one lady explained to us that back in the day, women remained inside all day or were kept separated from men to protect themselves. Then, they started to be able to go out in completely covered carriages. Now they have the burqa, which allows them the freedom to leave the house and go wherever they need to. The law doesn't protect women, so they have to protect themselves. It may seem strange to Westerners, but when you look at the history, it helps you understand a little more where they are coming from.
So, back to the Delhi metro. When we arrived at the Gurgaon station, we were greeted by Janis and her seven-year old daughter Sophia, who was sporting a handmade sign saying “Welcome Rob and Amy” in classic kid’s handwriting. It made us grin from ear to ear. We hopped in the car and met their driver Vaseem, and then made our way to their farmhouse out in the rural edge of town. Gurgaon itself was a shock to our senses, just when we were beginning to think we couldn't be shocked anymore. After being engrossed in one of the oldest cities in the world, we now found ourselves in one of the newest cities of the world, where global companies like Microsoft, LG, and Reliance are plopping down skyscraper office buildings amidst American-style malls and world-class condominium towers. There was new construction of office buildings for miles and miles, all going up at the same time. And once you go a little bit further, there are just shacks and falling-down concrete hovels with fruit carts and cigarette stands mixed in. There were big chunks of road that were washed out from the monsoon rains, so you couldn’t do more than 40 km per hour (about 25 mph) for any extended period of time
as you dodged potholes and cows. Old meets new, I guess!
At Janis’ house, we were able to unload our loot and leave it there until we came back from the second half of our trip. She and her husband Micky were in the import/export business several years ago, and were able to get a decently big house on some property that has now easily tripled in value because of the building boom. They have a full staff working for them, including a driver, a cook, and a few others that help with various parts of their businesses and housework. We were super excited about their cook, because this guy had been trained as a chef and worked in Goa for several years before coming to Gurgaon to work for Janis. He made some amazing meals for us, and we spent a day learning to cook a few Indian dishes with him. Amy mastered the “roti,” which is basically an Indian tortilla that can be eaten with just about every meal. It turns out that many of the
spices they use overlap with New Mexican cooking (cumin, coriander, garlic, onion, salt, and chile powder), except that they add turmeric, ginger, and sometimes a masala spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, cloves, and other Christmas-type flavors), and they use about four times as much spice as any American would think to use. So it’s actually not that intimidating to cook up some amazing Indian dishes.
Also, by this point in our trip we had noticed that we were mostly eating vegetarian, and Amy was pretty much completely veg. We hadn’t even missed the meat in our daily meals because the vegetable dishes tasted so amazing. We were also vaguely scared of getting sick again from eating improperly cooked meat, so that kind of narrowed down our options. But who knew that peas, carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes could be so satisfying? Rob had also gone down two more holes in his belt. In fact, he was on the last hole of his belt and couldn’t bring
it in any tighter. The pants he had bought for the trip were bunching up around his waist because he had lost so much in the middle! Through a magical combination of very little meat, lots of walking, and the occasional sickness, Rob had lost 15 pounds by the end of our trip. Amy didn’t have much to start with, so she didn’t really lose any.
Speaking of sicknesses, Rob brought a little present to Janis' house. On the train to Delhi, he started to notice what looked like mosquito bites on his hands and feet that were really itchy. We didn't think too much about it and we resolved to be more vigilant in our application of mosquito repellent. The day after we got to Janis', the itching got worse and Rob had the bites all over his hands, arms, feet, and legs. We decided it was time to visit the doc. Janis has an amazing doctor, so we paid this wonderful lady a visit. After one quick look at Rob's hand, she nonchalantly stated, "Oh, you have scabies." Scabies??? Yes, scabies. We had heard of this, but didn't know exactly what it was. She gave him some pretty strong medication and sent us back home to wash and serielize the sheets we had been sleeping in, since scabies is highly contagious. We wish SO much we still had the pictures to show you! It was SO gross. Amy felt a little proud after the doctor said that she hadn't gotten it because she probably has a stronger immune system. Amy is always the one to have health-related issues in our lives, so this was a moment to celebrate. Good job immune system! Way to attack those invaders!!
At this point, Amy was dying of curiosity and just HAD to google scabies to find out what it really is. Oh man, it is creepy stuff!! Read on to find out what scabies is - or skip to the next paragraph if you'd rather believe that gross things don't exist. So, scabies. It's a microscopic mite that finds thin areas of your skin (mostly the webbing between your fingers and toes) and burrows itself under your skin. Then it proceeds to travel under the skin depositing eggs. These eggs take about 20 days to mature and hatch. Once they hatch, you develop a red, raised bump that resembles a mosquito bite and itches like nobody's business. Amy just couldn't get over the idea that Rob was nourishing little eggs under his skin for almost three weeks. Oh my god, totally gross. Blech!
Anyway...thankfully the medication worked as Rob was quickly recovering. Luckily no one else in the house caught it. We spent a few days with Janis, then headed up to Dharamsala and Rajasthan for several weeks before heading back to Delhi, which is where we left from. More Delhi in our next post...
