Trip to the Market

Saturday, June 14th: The first non-work day in Delhi. Slept in until 10. I had another kind of ‘off’ night of sleeping, so I was glad to get some good sleep in the morning hours.

We decided to go to the markets to buy some weather-appropriate clothes for work (the operative words are 'thin fabric.' By the time we left the B&B it was 2:00 pm somehow. We haggled a price with an auto rickshaw driver and off we went. The market we went to is Connaught Place, a massive rotary with 10 roads spoking off. (Spell check didn’t like that word, so I guess I just made it up, but you get the picture).

We’d been advised to go to a store called ‘FabIndia.’ Clothes are pre-cut (not the case everywhere) and very good quality. Although more expensive than in the local markets, you’re able to try the clothes on, something that proved to be very important. (Maria Luisa and I both were not the sizes we are at home – they clearly don’t have vanity sizing in India…). And, ‘expensive’ means embroidered shirts were $12 and pants $9. But, compared to shirts being $5 in the local mkts, we won’t go to FabIndia often. I needed pants, though, as I only brought one pair of long pants in addition to jeans. After trying on a number of different styles, I stuck to a familiar cut and got some simple linen pants. I also bought a gorgeous embroidered, long-sleeved, very light-cotton shirt. All of the clothes were really stunning.

We stopped by another market (Sarojini), very close to where we work. It was what you think of when you picture an Indian market. There were tons of stalls, all close together, with rows and rows of bright fabrics, small plastic toys, vegetables and fruits down one row, shoes down another, and countless little food stands of fried dough and other goodies.

We’d planned to take pictures today, but never felt comfortable taking out the camera. It is very crowded, and people are constantly coming up to you asking if you want to buy something, or to come visit their shops. Kids offer to carry your bags, and will literally follow you around until you say yes or until you’ve ignored them for long enough. As a person who values relationship and human interaction, it is an awful feeling to intentionally ignore another human being, let alone a child. At the same time, it was very annoying and as time went on I resented their insistence. By the time we headed home (~7:00) we were exhausted and I couldn’t wait to lie down with some peace.

That wasn’t in the cards, as we’d told the B&B family we would make them salsa fresca (Maria Luisa's El Salvador recipe). They then invited us to eat with them, which was lovely...and required the last bit of social energy I had. As you can imagine, it was real Indian food! Not drastically different, but somehow still more authentic. It was flavorful, but not over-spiced like they at the restaurants. You could identify each flavor instead of experiencing a single, powerful blast of spiciness.

I’m now sitting quietly on my bed, finally alone and reflecting on the day, thinking about tomorrow. Maria Luisa and I are moving to our new place in the morning. It’ll be great to be there, as it’s very homey and more spacious than the 1-room we have right now.

Speaking of pics, Maria Luisa sent me some photos which I’ll share with you. The first three are of her and some of the staff at the Taj Mahal last week. The guy in the van (picture 1) is my boss, Jim. The Indian woman to the right in picture 3 is Charu, someone I will work with closely this summer. The last three photos are women from a focus-group of micro-credit recipients in Jaipur, a city 5 hours south west of Delhi.

I’ll stop there. I have to pack up a bit, and the plan is to get to bed early tonight.

Missing you all a lot.

Sarah