February 5, 2013 – Squirmunk

Today started at 8am with breakfast at the hostel: an omelet type thing with bread and tea. Again, the tea was delicious. We left the hostel and headed to our classroom in taxis. We had a CUI lecture (contemporary urban issues) about how to conduct ethical research, and we listened to a broadcast from radiolab about how these ethical concerns come into question. After, we had a tea and samosa break (yum) and came back together for another lecture on the history of Delhi by a professor from India. He was very dynamic and easy to follow, and the lecture was very informative in providing an outline of Delhi’s complicated history as well as the history of partitioning.

For lunch, we walked through the surrounding neighborhood to a restaurant called Eatopia which is like a food court with a few different options for meals. I had chicken Singapore noodles…really good and just the right amount of spice. After, we split up into four groups that each headed to a different part of Delhi for a walking tour. We took rickshaws (autos, as they call them here) to get there. You have to negotiate with the driver before they take you, so one of our autos was 80 rupees and the other was 50…seems unfair, but 50 rupees is about the same as one dollar so it was fine. Driving through Delhi traffic is an experience – I’m pretty sure my life flashed before my eyes multiple times.

We explored an area of Delhi that has ancient mosques and buildings that are preserved. It is in a “park” like area with tons of trees and flowers, but the park is private and you have to pay money to get in (5 rupees for natives, 100 rupees for foreigners. They knew by looking at us). We walked around with Sonal, our country coordinator, who helped teach us about the history of this area of Delhi. We saw lots of squirrel like chipmunks (hence “squirmunks”). We also went to the Indian gate, which is a really famous and beautiful landmark in Delhi. Tons of people there wanted to take a picture with us, but we ignored them. And Sonal bought us tea on the street – she said it was safe to drink because it was boiling hot. We then threw our cups on the ground because Sonal said that that is what people do because there are very few garbage cans.

For dinner, we met up at a garden and walked over to the Islamic Cultural Center for an amazing meal: naan, paneer, curry, and rice. Super long day…homestays tomorrow!! So excited!