Has it only been a week?

Thursday morning marks a week in Delhi, and we're beginning to go with the flow a little more. We take breakfast at 8:00, a busy morning agenda will take us to Model Town, way up north by the University, then to the University to drop off the official looking paper the Embassy staff notarized for us, I need to get my phone working or purchase a new one to go with the Aircel SIM card I've purchased. We have to arrange train travel to Udaipur (pronounced OO da purrr, I have been saying YOU Diaper) where we've been invited to visit a Rotary contact Monica, and finally to get back to the market at Lajpat Nagar I need a good head rag and a sleep sheet for the overnight train. Julie needs some baggy legging loose cotton pants and another kurta or two wouldn't be bad.

For whatever reason the autorickshaws nearest our hotel don't ever take us anywhere, just shake their heads? So we walk a couple blocks to the intersection in the center of East of Kailash, were the traffic is brisk and one soon pulls over. 100 to Central Secretariat? Head wobble means get in, this old driver takes a slow meandering way, more shaded, less traffic, took an extra 10-15 minutes too, so we're going to be late for our 11:00 appointment that's clear. We get to the metro OK, it is near the center of the capital government offices, like the area north of the national mall in Washington DC. Lots of government workers getting to work about 9:30-10:00... must not be worries about job security here!

The metro is a crush after the first 2 stops, most of the way up the yelo line to Model Town, Julie is on the phone with Suresh our agent. Meet at McDonalds... we find it after a hot walk of a few hundred meters, a big sign "NO BEEF OR BEEF PRODUCTS SERVED HERE" I check the menu, righyoh...only chicken on the non-veg side, and veg on the other. We have a couple "large" cokes, with ice, and wait for Suresh to call or show up. A busy intersection outside the windows, I count about 75 people a minute criss cross the intersection one way or another, no lanes or traffic signal so they all weave around one another adjusting speed and location so no one has to slow down too much, once in a while a car or bus or truck will bull there way through in front of others but that's how it works here, most are respectful as long as you don't hinder them!

Suresh shows us 3 apartments, 30 to 45 thousand rupees a month... nice, fairly new, all marble floors, counters, bathrooms with tile walls. 2 3 bedrooms and a 2 bedroom, they are spacious and the one on the 2nd fl, they call it the 1st here... has 2 nice balconies front and back, spacious rooms, it's perfect.. except there's no furniture, no frig or ac, and Julie isn't yet sure whether she's going to get housing in the hostel or not (she still hasn't been admitted to the university, maybe next Tuesday, 2 days before schools starts they tell us!?)

We thank Suresh and before heading back to the metro stop in the McDonalds (next to he and his fathers office) for another cold one and a bit of food....which is no better an idea there than here... the veg patty is smothered in a spicy yelo goo that's just about unedible, Julies veg pizza puff is about the same inside... the coke is good and cold, Julie has a strawberry shake. We recap our housing strategy as I fiddle with my phone and voila the thing unlocks like majic... I've tried about 10 different things and spent hours on the phone with ATT customer service and on the web site trying to figure it out and the instructions are all wrong... there's a simple code to enter that unlocks it!

That done, we're on to the metro to the Vishawavdavalya or something close stop, for the University. I pull out the addresss card and soon have 5 rickshaw wallas jostling and fighting over who is going to take us and what the fare will be. 20-50... we settle on a guy for 20 who says he knows exactly where it is, he is the most foreceful, and we find this is great, he powers the rickshaw with the same vigor up the hill in the hot sun, passing every other rickshaw on the road easily... within minutes we pull up in front of the building and Julie is off to the line... GEOFF! this is so strange to hear, it's Omprakash, the Mathematics student from Nepal, and also Ashita, the local girl that's befriended Julie in the line, Julie's here?! she squeals... yes in the line... and off she goes to find her.. Omprakash says "it was meant to be! How could you be in Model Town and not call me?" we visit and Julie is not in line for hours this, our third time to the line... Mrs Deepa takes her papers, gives a head wobble, and we say our goodbyes and head back to the metro. Next stop Rajiv Chowk, the center of New Delhi, nearby to the train station... but after another forgettable veggie burger at Nirulas and pineapple soda we realize we are too gassed for another outing. Let's ride the metro out to the end of the blue line and cool off, then see how we feel... it's only 4 stops, and we see the slum shantytown, back of the electric power plant, water treatment plant, and cross the river to see the water buffaloes before circling back the same route. No we are done, we get an autorickshaw to the room, we'll try to make reserves on line... After a shower and a nap it is impossible to make reserves on line, no matter what they say it doesn't work. When I finally get to the page after about 20 pages, I see our train is sold out with 29 waitlisted! And like same for next 2 days! We must go to the station to see if this is real (this is more than 30 mins away by autorickshaw, which of course are not ac). But the heat has broken by now and people are out everywhere in the cool evening, all the parks are full, people are out front and on top their buildings, the kites are flying everywhere. We get to the station and run the gamut of seriously agressive touts in your face every few paces... doesn't help we're the only white people in sight, dressed in Indian clothing (they mostly wear plain western clothing, and most people look as though they own on the set they have on). The International Tourist Bureau never looked so good as the 2nd time, the white painted board with the numbers and the pale xerox copy of reservation form. We get our train number and sit on the sofa which is where the line starts. A few minutes later it's all done! Miracle of miracles, they have set asides for International Tourists only the office can print the ticket. He's on an amber monitor typing in the information we put on the form, and a few seconds later 2174 rupees (about $40) for both of us to go 600 kilometers overnight, the dot matrix printer is scrinching out our ticket. Car 1 berth 13 and 14 and upper and a lower. Back through the throng to the pre-paid autorickshaw booth, where we find how much we've been overpaying... 55 to Lajpat Nagar...we've been paying 100 or 150 to get from East of Kailash to the metro or central Delhi... of well...

The market is crowded as always in the last hour, but we bargain and get a few things before dropping into our final autorickshaw of the day. The first driver who is too proud to ask for directions when he gets lost he stops about a 1/2 mile from our hotel and turns the motor off... East Kailash! 50 he says.... No... F-Block, you stop here I'll give you 20! 50! F-block... finally... he starts up and within a couple minutes we are here.

Just time to have shower #3, a quick skype call to home, and blog a bit before lights out, tomorrow is a travel day, check out and get to the train station by 6.