Solo Adventure

Today after classes ended I decided to go on a solo adventure. I've been with people from the program 24/7 so it was time to take a breather and navigate for myself while running some "errands." I needed some toiletries, some flip-flops for the bathroom (bathrooms here always have wet floors so you need separate shoes for them, otherwise you track India-filth everywhere), and I also needed to pad my very limited Indian wardrobe.

Above is me in front of some stalls that are between my house/school center and the Delhi Metro station.

Eye-spy: stray dog napping, the first man who noticed my friend taking a picture (notice the beginning of the starring).

I took the Metro, which is super nice to a market. The Metro has "women's only" cars and it goes all over Delhi (see map below). I get on at Jasola Apollo and today got off at Lajpat Nagar.

The complete Metro map (right), and the closeup of the Purple Line (left), which is the Southeastern line that I take.

Below is a quick little pic that I took after buying my flipflops.

Not gunna lie, being alone in Lajpat Nagar (the market) was crazy! There were a lot of people, and becuase I had all of my school books in my backpack (no worries, worn on my front) I felt super bulky and it was a little hard to walk around. There was a lot to take in: all the people, the smells (good and bad), the noise, the vendors shouting at me to buy things and of course the beggars. There were a lot of beggars of all types: little kids, women and disabled children and men. It is still (and probably always will be) uncomfortable to see them, and learning how to deal with them and with my emotional response to the poverty is still something I need to do.

Begging is unbelievably common around Delhi. There are people everywhere asking for money or things. We were encouraged not to give anything, but if our heartstrings were being pulled too much, we were told to give them peanuts (nutritious and not sellable). I didn't have any peanuts though ... I need to get some.

The poverty is obviously an enormous issue, but not one that I want to discuss here yet. We are going to a slum tomorrow, so maybe I'll address it then.

On a lighter note, I did find almost everything I was looking for, and then I relaxed a little bit in a "coffee" lounge while I started my Hindi homework. It was really nice to be able to travel alone and get out of the group-bubble, even if my bartering skills weren't so stellar.