Budget: 3640 Rupees/$70 Spent: 3600 Rupees/$69
Jeff here.
We slept in a bit today, and didn’t get going until around 10am. We had been invited to Mintoo’s uncle’s for breakfast, so after some showers off we went. Of course, Mintoo was seeing this side of his family for what I think is his first time, so attention was obviously on him, but his aunt and uncle are extremely sweet people and really welcomed us into their home. They don’t speak English, but we exchanged a few words and mostly smiles and nods.
Breakfast was composed of a pancake-like bread called parathas, one filled with potato (aloo) and the other with cauliflower (gobhi). We smeared butter on these and they were fantastic. I had about six of them. They also offered us some home-made yogurt that they assured to us was safe. We tried some, something I don’t think we’ll be doing again for stomach-related reasons, and it had a very sour taste to it. Not really my cup of tea. Their tea, on the other hand, was our cup of tea. They made some fantastic tea for us with milk. I guess they boil water, add milk, boil it some more, then add herbs and a tea bag. All this is a very typical breakfast in Northern India and we loved it. Everything was homemade.
We met two other people, Mintoo’s aunt and Mintoo’s uncle’s son-in-law's father from England who is very talkative and friendly. The plan for the day was for Mintoo’s parents to take us to a nearby market after breakfast, but they had a couple things to do so we hung out with Mintoo on the roof of his uncle's house for a bit. The view of Delhi from up there is exactly how we imagined India to be: blue sky, warm sun, busy street below, and rooftops with children playing and women doing laundry. It was fantastic.
Minto also took us to a nearby Sikh temple (called a gurdwara) and led us inside. We had to remove our shoes and put a piece of cloth over our heads, like a bandana. Basically, a Sikh temple houses a book, which they believe is the word of God. People pray to this book. The common practice is to approach the book, put some money in a container, step back, clasp your hands in prayer, and then get down on your knees and bend forward in another prayer. Patty and I both mimicked Mintoo at two different spots. The second time it was in front of two people and it was a little awkward, but they didn’t seem to mind.
Afterwards, Mintoo’s parents took us to a nearby market to look for clothes for the wedding and other ceremonies. Patty and I didn’t have anything nice to wear so we were desperate for anything. We got there on a rickshaw, which is just a carriage attached to a bike. I sat on the back facing backwards…that was an interesting experience for me. I awkwardly met other drivers’ eyes who were driving right up against the back of the rickshaw. I would never drive here.
The markets were similar to those in other counties, except the honking of horns filled every corner of every store. The noise here is incredible. I honestly think my hearing has declined noticeably! The other big difference from other roads we've seen is Asia is that they are extremely dusty and there is garbage and little pebbles everywhere on the sides of the roads.
I ended up buying two pairs of dress pants, with alternations, for about $25. Patty bought an Indian style outfit called a pant suit for about $30, and it’s quite beautiful. We ate at a small restaurant for a late lunch and had some excellent food. It was like a huge crepe (called a dosa) filled with potato, as well as a soup (sambar) that I won’t even try to describe. It’s pretty scary eating here though, since everything here looks dirtier than anywhere we've been.
We split up from Mintoo’s parents after lunch and went to a mall. It’s very nearby the neighbourhood we are staying in and it is huge and modern and a stark contrast to the slum right next door. It’s very sad to see all the poverty present here. We didn’t stay long at the mall and decided to walk home. It was a small miracle that we made it back since we made several choices we were unsure of.
There is garbage everywhere here. It’s incredible. People just throw things onto the street and there’s nowhere to put all the garbage. No one really cleans the streets, either. If you can believe it, we actually recognized a pile of garbage we had seen driving out with Mintoo’s cousin last night, so it helped get us back home. We've seen people rummaging through piles of garbage apparently looking for bottles to sell for some money.
Later that night there was a wedding event that we attended. We went to a building that had been rented out and there we ate some food and met some more of Mintoo's extended family who were all very welcoming to us. After eating, the custom is to light a lantern and carry it through the streets to another family member's home, all the while dancing and celebrating. But before the dancing through the streets started, Mintoo’s mom took us to a more elaborate wedding to show us what they sometimes look like. It looked like a movie set. It was huge, with a grand entrance, pillars, and walls. During the day, the location is just an empty field and looks like nothing. Everything is brought in for the wedding. It was empty though because it was early in the evening and no guests had arrived at that time.
When we got back to the rented hall the lineup out the door formed and we all began walking down the streets. Most of the women and a few guys were dancing to four guys playing the loudest drums I've ever heard. I couldn’t even get close to them. Most of the time I had my ears covered with my hands. My ears literally hurt they were so loud. Patty got pulled in and carried the lantern on her head while dancing to the drums. Unfortunately, she was also carrying the camera at the time, so we have no pictures of this! I think many people were shocked to see her have the guts to do it, but they loved it. It was all very neat to experience for us.
After the ceremony, we left with Mala, Mintoo, and two of Mintoo’s cousins, Kamal and Manu, who are also from Winnipeg visiting India and we went back to the elaborate wedding venue Mrs. Kamboz had taken us to earlier. We wanted to see what it looked like later in the night and we also wanted to see if we could be wedding crashers and join the festivities. We decided that instead of being Uncle Ned's kids like in the movie, we would tell everyone we were Uncle Jasbir's kids. We walked in and, hilariously, as we entered in our everyday attire, the band in the entrance began playing as if to announce our arrival. Prior to entering we chatted up some English guys who told us they had tried themselves to crash the wedding but had gotten kicked out more than once. We were worried the same would happen to us but I guess we looked the part. I think having 4 brown guys with us didn't hurt either.
Some weird guy standing alone at the bar got us all drinks and then got someone to start giving food to Patty and then offered her another drink. Pretty sure he was hitting on her. He actually got angry with the server because Patty had to repeat herself when she asked for a drink. It was very odd. It was after 11pm and Mintoo’s cousin Mala explained that most people leave before midnight, so there wasn't that many people left there, so after we finished our drinks we started to leave. The guy at the bar looked angry that Patty wasn't staying for another drink. He then approached the server who was serving Patty and the poor guy looked terrified of him like he was going to hit him or something. Very strange to see.
After this, we came back to our home and just chatted with Mintoo for a couple hours, although I fell asleep on Patty’s lap not long after getting there. It has been great hanging out with Mintoo, here in India of all places. It's so nice to have a good friend and some familiar faces around.
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