Bapu

We spent a lazy day at the hostel in Agra playing chess, cards, and snacking. Other than walking around during the day my rhythm here has been quite sedentary.

The guy working at the hostel assured us that we could show up at IdGah bus station and get tickets just before boarding a 9 pm AC bus to New Delhi. After a short tuk-tuk ride we arrived at the station to find out this wasn’t the case and that only local buses left from the station. An opportunistic bicycle tuk tuk guy jumped on the chance to take us to a local tour agency with a private bus leaving that evening. While the bus was loading up, I tipped the guy putting the bags in the bus 50 rupees (around $0.80) and he was floored. His buddy gave me a huge smile and a huge handshake. Apparently the typical tip for this is 5 rupees. Whoops.

The bus was tightly packed and we arrived in Delhi at 1 am. We took a tuk tuk to our hotel and slept immediately.

Today we walked along the Main Bazaar and feigned interest in shopping. We bought nothing. A shoe repair guy noticed a flap hanging off my sandal and tried to sell me on repairing it.

We bought four white goaba fruits and the vendor sliced them opened and spread a maroon powder inside them. We sat to eat them and two inquisitive kids tentatively approached us. We offered half a fruit each and they chewed the fruit while starting at us. The dark powder was extremely salty and I think used to bring out the flavor in the fruit.

I ate mushroom masala for lunch (phenomenal) and we took an uber to the Ghandi museum. The museum was free and Ghandi (nickname: Bapu) quotes accompanied photos from his time in South Africa up until his eventual assassination. They also had a slightly gruesome display of Ghandi’s bloodied robes from the day he was killed. The photo shows one of Ghandi’s favorite songs that he sang shortly before he was killed.

The heat exhausted us and we took an uber (uber in india?!) back to the hotel for 100 rupees. A nap followed. This evening we cabbed back towards the red fort and happened upon a large Jain temple. We removed our shoes and entered. The temple contained showers and animal hospitals… while I sat on a bench, a man transported a wounded pigeon up the stairs. Louise and I entered the temple one at a time. People prayed in a seated position on mats while others burned small candles on trays and moved smoke symbolically around the room. In an adjacent area, a small, intricately decorated room was packed with people chanting, singing, and clapping rhythmically as they passed around the candles.

Afterwords we walked around a large mosque and picked up take out butter chicken from a crowded outdoor grill. It was mouthwatering.