Delhi's "Organized Chaos"

We arrived successfully in India, but not without one of the worst plane rides known to man. Over an hour of sitting on the runway, screaming babies, no air-conditioning, a mother (cathy) who would not stop moving through out the entire flight...just a straight up boiling disaster. We managed to make it to Delhi a bit passed 5 AM and arrived at our Riad-like homey-hotel meeting up with Emma, Alex and Lisa. Great to see Emma again, didn't think she was real its been so long. She just ended her semester in Australia and came back a greater hippie then she was before. Alex arrived from Singapore and his travels with a great beard that Lisa refused to call anything else but "pubes on my sons face that he needs to shave." I think that the wolfy thing is something to be some-what proud of.
Alex eating a mango drink, which was the most delicious thing on our street-food tour...with the grizzly beard to capture some of the mango goodness in his mustache

India is unlike anything I or probably anybody has ever seen. Overcrowding, uncontrollable beeping, cows walking through the streets, monkeys that behave like raccoons, the most beautiful/elegant women dressed in exquisite (intricate) sari's, as well as some of the most poverty-stricken slums in the city of Delhi (also elsewhere), which has the makeup of roughly 14 million people. Still, with all of Delhi and the great many of India's problems, I have come to realize that this city is a city of humility and true acceptance. As you walk through the streets or around one of our first destination stops, the India Gate (which for the local residents is quite the hangout spot), people only smile as tourists pass by. Not only to they smile widely, but also accept every and all colors without so-much as a hesitation. We are some of the only white people through as we tour the sites (we have maybe seen a handful of other Caucasians), but I have yet to feel any sort of uncomfortable. It is the tourist off-season due to the monsoons and humid air at the most extreme level...its almost absurd how much you can perspire in 5 minutes here. Even though the 6 of us stand out, the people show nothing but kindness. But it goes beyond this as they approach us constantly not to beg, but mostly to just take a picture with the "fair-skinned" people. Its obviously a weird transgression at first, but then it makes you feel wanted/accepted and beautiful by Delhi's local population.
This accepting nature is also heightened by the city's diverse religious and cultural melting pot it has developed into. You look down the street and residing within a block of each other is a church, a Hindu temple and next to that...temples of various other religious sects. The Lotus Temple is one of the most architectural astounding buildings and officially home to the Baha'i faith (we experienced this on our first day), but it remains open to all, regardless of religion or social makeup. No sermons or ritualistic ceremonies take place so people can gather and worship in any way they choose year round without having to feel like an outsider.

I have always personally thought of religious as a way of just dividing people further, but as we took off our shoes and covered our heads and walked into the Sikh Temple of Delhi, it was the complete opposite feeling that I encountered. A sense of community, giving-back, not to mention beauty engulfed the temple members and its physical marble build. Sacred holy water pools remain on the outside of the temple where you witness adults taking a spiritual dip while children playfully laugh while they put their whole bodies in for a little break from the heat. The temple community offers meals of traditional Indian cuisine to not only followers of the Sikh tradition, but to everyone (regardless of caste, religion, race etc.) with no questions asked...7 days a week. It really is a beautiful sight.

Max and I at the Sikh Temple ("Hey Inder")

The Sikh's finished off the day, but the morning was equally incredible as we started it with a visit to the Red Fort we had to enter with a security check because of a 2000 terrorist attack upon the monument that killed 2 soldiers and 1 civilian. It is an exquisite monument, the biggest of Old Delhi.
Alex, Me and Emma at the Red Fort trying to keep straight faces because Indian's in Delhi rarely smile in their pictures...we are trying to fit in

From the Red Fort, we walked throughout the Old City (which our tour guide Dependra described as "organized chaos") and did a street food tour. I am currently in hopes of overcoming my sensitive mouth habits, but it remains a little difficult as my family is experiencing while i breathe deeply trying to remove the fire going on in my mouth at every meal. "Mild" in India means excruciatingly spicy beyond belief to me, but I eat as much as I can, but then continue to watch Alex, Max, Emma and Cathy sweat from random peppers they oddly take joy out of eating more then one of. Naan and myself staying pretty close these days (a garlic flat bread), but hopefully I will keep progressing as the days continue.

Spice Market where all the evil happens

If you know me though, you know 1. I don't like hot drinks and 2. I rarely drink caffeine, but India's Chai is heavenly! Even if you are dripping with perspiration in places you have not yet experienced and are basking in 100 degree weather, this boiling hot, sweet, gingery drink is so fresh. This is completely absent from our industrialized culture of America, which favors corn-syrup/obesity to real organic foods. As for solid food, Butter chicken and Tikka Masala still remain my favorites, you can really never go wrong with any of the curries or lentils either. Everything is great other than the inhuman amount of spice they put within their dishes, but I accept it as I admire people who are able to eat it.

Walking out of lunch we experienced probably the most adrenaline yet of the trip when Cathy was pick-pocketed by a young teenager who managed to unzip her person and snag her Iphone. Luckily, our two tour guides, Dependra and one (who I have named the "milkman" for his strange love for pure milk straight out of the cows nipples) of the food-tour guides for the day chased after him and recovered her phone. This episode consisted of some team effort on their part; Dependra grabbed the kid by the neck while "milkman" proceeded to slap and kick him profusely after they had found the phone in his pocket. I asked the "milkman" later if he hit people a lot and this chubby-smiley tour guide of the day smiled and replied "yessss, I do." Supposedly he has a very hard-hand and that hard-hand made him the hero of the day. Mommy got her Iphone back and all was well for the Americans, not so good for the lying thief who claimed "someone else had handed him the phone," when clearly he ran into my mom and swiped the phone from her purse.

We are now back at the hotel waiting to receive word from Lisa to see if she will feel better (she just got home from the hospital with dehydration) to stay in this incredible country with us :-)