Delhi at Leisure

Well face-pagans, my time in India is fast drawing to a close. Now both Cynthia and Christina have left, and I am spending my remaining time sitting in the hotel lobby smurfing the internet, awaiting my flight.

Today was so low key that I'm exhausted. We didn't do that much, but what we did do involved walking, which requires significantly more energy than sitting in a car.

First, we walked to the National Gallery of Modern Art because Christina and I were tired of seeing old things. We entered its "New Wing", which turned out to be the only wing that has anything in it (literally anything; I think they just moved all the old stuff to the new wing) and which is so new it looked and smelled like it had been completed and opened to the public ten to fifteen minutes before we got there. And by completed, I mean that it was still totally under construction, and there was construction dust everywhere that the docents were beating away with wet towels. But I digress...

The gallery was actually hands-down the most well organized thing we saw in India. The exhibit chronicled the development of Indian art from cave paintings to the Indian Modernist and Post-Modernist schools, showing the influence of western and eastern art styles and the development of a distinct Indian style. How do I know all this? Because, for the first time, things were actually labelled, in grammatical English, with descriptions. Nice one.

Second, we walked back to the hotel to pack up our stuff and check out of the hotel.

Third, we walked to the concierge to ask about how to get to a handmade paper bazaar in Old Delhi, and were told that we didn't want to go there. Fair enough. Instead, they suggested we walk around the corner to the Kahn Market, which turned out to be awesome.

So fourth, we walked to the Kahn Market. This market was a lot like some of the other markets we had been to, but with some important differences: (1) the stores had doors on them, (2) the stores had names instead of stall numbers, (3) the stores took credit cards, and (4) the "carefully arranged presentation" had replaced the "pile" as the primary display technique for the stores' wares. In other words, they were actual stores.

In all, it was a nice way to ease back into living in the Western world; we even walked into one store that looked like I was having a garage sale in my apartment back in NYC - I don't think there's a single thing there I wouldn't have been in the market for had William and I not already reached the absolute limit on household goods and decor items that 500 square feet can hold. I did walk away with a few wedding magazines and a book from a very respectable bookstore, that had a surprising number of design books from all over. A good experience day.

And that's all there is to report. I hear the airport is a disaster, so I might write about that in a few hours when I have nothing else to do. Wish me smooth sailing!

EFF, I spoke too soon. I just checked my email, and my flight out of Delhi has been delayed three hours, until about 6:30 am. Great...

Monkey sightings: No change. Except that I assume my plane's engines must be clogged with monkeys. Son of a %)#@$*@#$.