Delhi. Aur kya kehun?

I am in Delhi now on my mid-term break for a week, chilling with the world's best Hindi teacher, the wonderful Bimla Ji. I took the morning train here from Jaipur with two other students, and unlike my trip to Udaipur in sleeper class (matlab no AC no nothing very cheap seats), we took advantage of the VERY luxurious Third AC, meaning yes AC, no nothing else. Also, a mirror. It was super exciting, and so cold we went to the door and watched the countryside roll by for a bit. Since the rain has come, everything is so green and beautiful it's hard to describe. It helps that Delhi has been called the greenest capital in the world. It's easy to believe - it has more trees than some forests, and a lot of them are flowering now. I arrived at about 12:30 in Delhi and after a fairly long metro ride to Gurgaon, a technically separate city that is culturally and infrastructurally directly linked to Delhi, I met with my wonderful Hindi teacher, met her family and spent a really wonderful afternoon with two of her sons, their wives and her two grandchildren, who are unbearably cute. Then yesterday I was installed in a guesthouse owned by the parents of Bimla ji's daughter in law, an incredible Punjabi couple who treat me better than could be imagined. After two plates of rice and daal AND bhindi (okra, or as they say her, lady's fingers), Delhi auntie (as I will call her to distinguish her from Jaipur auntie) looked slightly distressed and said "beta, bahut kam khaya hai tumne!", or "My child, you've eaten so little!"We then all spent the afternoon together at the guesthouse, and then I went to bed after an awesome day.

But today was even awesomer. I finally verntured into the city, and really only saw two things, but it took up most of my day anyway - Safdarjang's tomb and Connaught Place. Safdarjang's Tomb is an incredible Mughal tomb, and has been referred to as the "last flicker in the rapidly extinguishing lamp of Mughal architecture in Delhi." It slightly predates the Taj Mahal, and looks almost exactly like it, but in red sandstone (I think? It's definitely red) and minus the minarets. Pics are forthcoming. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful - almost no one else was there, despite the fact that it is one of the only monuments open on Mondays. Then, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Connaught Place is the hotspot in New Delhi for upscale shopping and I mostly walked around and drank a ton of cold coffee, and book-shopped. I am starting to amass a tiny Hindi library - I now have a collection of short stories by Premchand, and one by Narendr Kohli, as well as the first Harry Potter. Bimla ji and a few of the teachers at AIIS have told me that my best bet for a really solid Hindi grad program might be in India, where Hindi Literature is a very well-developed program, and universities such as JNU in Delhi put out some of the most proficient and well-trained graduates in Hind-related fields (education, literature, linguistics, etc) in the world. So obviously, I have to start reading. :)

After a full day in the city, I met up with Bimla Ji and another of her students at the Rajasthan Tourism Development corporation in Bikaner House, where her brother works. The company puts together luxury train tours of Rajasthan, and so ironically in Delhi I was still surrounded with pictures of Jaipur. :) We had samose, chaach lassi and sandwiches, after which we returned to Gurgaon, had tea with Bimla ji's sister, and went out to dinner and we all four ate until we were about to explode. After a few tiny fiascos - (The metro pedestrian gate was locked and my new totally badass India persona jumped the gate, only to become much less badass when my pants ripped (only a little...) and then when I got to my stop, I got lost walking home. A couple I asked directions from were surprised when I spoke to them in Hindi, and replied "Your Hindi is very good. You're not from around here." That made it a little bit less stressful. ) - i did finally reach home, with much help from Delhi auntie and uncle. And now, I need to sleep. It is 12:00 here, and I'm catching the metro at 8:3- to hit up Jama Masjid and the Red Fort! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!