Oh, Delhi!

The smog, the honking, the trash, the traffic, the tall buildings, the slums, the street animals, the poo (Jed's observation).  And yet, every time I enter the airport here, a bit of me smiles.  I'm back!  Maybe it's because this was the first place I landed in India.  We had our home here for the first 2 months.  Maybe it's the intensity and insanity that makes you at once want to jump right in and hide in your hotel room.  Maybe it's that I feel more capable to roam around here than anywhere else I've been thus far.  Maybe it's that I can find a burger (even if it's buffalo meat), or donuts, or Starbucks, or chips and salsa, or Cinnabon.  Maybe it's that I can wear jeans or walk out of the house without my headscarf and not feel shockingly indecent.

So, I had planned to go to Delhi to pick up my wonderful friend, Sarah, spend a couple touristy days, and return home with her.  But, then the flood happened and I was separated from home and ended up spending an unexpected 3 weeks there.  I got to do Delhi as a woman with a friend, a woman alone, a woman with 3 small kids, and a woman with her husband.  And you know what?  I could do it.  But I was MORE than ready to hop back on that plane to our mountain home.  Here are some things I learned:

• I'm much less hard-core than I used to be.  It really wasn't that hot in Delhi.  It was only in the mid-90s with high humidity.  Nothing like the 115 plus temps we had withstood in our first few years.  Still, I found myself walking out of an AC building and wilting.  Or praying with every breath that the power would come back on in the night when it went out for a few hours.  Or taking one trip somewhere in the city and being done for the rest of the day.  Heat is intense.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Anyone who wants to criticize the work ethic of people who live in hot climates needs to get on over here and spend a few weeks with no AC and see how many bricks they can carry on top of their heads.  Go mountain climate!  And for those of my friends who still live in the sweltering climates, consider this your formal invitation to visit!
• I have a love/hate relationship with haggling.  I alternate between complete disgust at how people try to get more from me because I'm a foreigner and elation that I talked someone down to a reasonable price.  Auto rickshaw drivers are the most formidable.  I've been known to walk several miles in the Delhi heat because a driver wanted to charge me double what it should cost.  Let alone that the price was still well under what I would be willing to pay to not walk in that heat.  Stubborn, crotchety, old me!
• I have a love/hate relationship with malls.  Oh goodness!  The first time I realized this was when Chris and I took a camping/backpacking trip in Tennessee in August.  We call in the anti-honeymoon.  Ugh!  100 degrees and damp humid.  After 4 days of this, we went to a mall and watched a movie.  Before that time, I only hated malls.  I can't stand the crowds, the prices, the over-stimulation, the shopping.  But, in Delhi, I can also love the place.  I can get some foods that remind me of home -- good coffee, donuts, Mexican, Italian.  I can walk in AC next to people who are dressed a lot like they would dress in the U.S.  (Did you know that many people in Delhi have 'mall clothes' that they pull out just to go to the malls or other modern places like that even though they would never wear those things in their home communities?)
• Which brings me to another point.  I have a love/hate relationship with the clothing here.  I sometimes miss wearing jeans and a t-shirt and feeling like I'm not scandalous.  In all of the communities I've lived in here, if I wore that outfit -- or even a long skirt with a button-down shirt, I would be stared at a lot more that I am already.  Not only because it would be strange to see a woman in that outfit, but because it would be considered immodest to walk around without a shirt that covers me to the mid-thigh (at least) and a shirt that comes past my elbows and a long scarf that drapes around my neck and over my head.  I like the idea of being modest in whatever setting I find myself.  Still, it's hard that I can't change to fleece pants and a hoodie in my new house without feeling the need to close all the curtains.  On the other hand, cotton tunic suits are really ingenious when you are talking high temps and humidity.  So, even though I loved my jeans and yoga pants in Delhi, I was thinking I'd be a whole lot cooler in my old salwar kameez.  And they're very comfortable -- almost like wearing pajamas all day.  And they are pretty.  I used to wear them sometimes in the states just because I like them.

So, in summary, I think Delhi is a love/hate kind of city.  The intensity of the place drives the emotions out of you and it's going to be an extreme reaction.  I love what a friend of mine wrote in her blog a while ago, describing India's attitude.  "She hugs you, she slaps you in the face, she hugs you again."  I think it fits Delhi perfectly.  So, until next time, you crazy city!  I've got my arms and boxing gloves ready.