Sunday is the day off from the Institute: day of rest, which was exactly how I began my day. I remained in bed long after I was awake and considered cancelling my lunch plans because I did not feel like standing up. Eventually I got out of bed, only because I wanted a cup of coffee. Just after noon I met Kerri from L.A. at the end of my drive and we both confessed that neither of us were hungry but we should walk somewhere for a cool drink. Not far down Hari Krishna Mandir Road was a man pushing a cart filled with coconuts and we ran across the street to start our adventure there.
After drinking the coconut water we walked down the street with the Chetak and Ambassador Hotels in search of a place I could print off some documents from my thumb drive. No job is ever quick or simple. After the young boy booted up the computer and put my thumb drive in, he clicked on every icon on the screen and hit refresh several times. Eventually the right combination of things worked and the documents appeared. I indicated which ones I needed printed but there was a hold-up on the printer end of this task. I suspect that the printer was not plugged in. He shut down the computer, fussed with some cables then turned the machine back on. He started to click all the icons again but I simply pointed to the name of my thumb drive and voila! A few seconds later the printer was working as well. Not a painful or frustrating experience as they sometimes turn out. I realized later that I forgot to print one of my tickets so I’ll probably have to make a return visit.
We continued down the road, I had a place in mind for a refreshing drink and I was starting to get an appetite. We went to Lalit Mahal, a place I frequented during my 2005 trip – I think I went out to eat almost every night that trip, now I just eat Papaya for dinner. We shared some Dahi Idli, fermented rice cakes dunked in spiced yogurt, and vegetable samosas with cilantro/mint chutney. Kerri had her first sweet lime soda and I indulged in a mango lassi. I could hardly believe that Kerri had not yet tried a lime soda and she thanked me for introducing her to so many new things. I thought it was funny because I still consider myself a novice here, especially compared to my flat mate Kathy who has been to India several times and seems comfortable here, but for Kerri I was adventurous in trying different foods. I guess it is all a matter of perspective.
We left Lalit Mahal – I will definitely need to make a few return visits and made our way down Fergusson College Road (FC Road). It was midday by now and the shops were closed so we decided to turn down another road in the direction that we came from and do a little exploring. We passed a huge and very clean temple and some empty lots. As we continued the road became denser with people and the side lanes were packed with houses, the streets filled with children and everyone sitting in shade in search of relief from the heat. My toes were burning. We were entering what felt like a very local area of Model Colony.
I am not sure how it started, but we saw a couple of girls sitting in the back of an auto-rickshaw and they saw our cameras in hand, so we started to take pictures. ‘Mera! Mera!’ ‘Mine! Mine!’ other kids shouted as they made their way in front of the camera in search of a shot. Thank goodness for digital cameras, we pressed the button until most of the children in the area had been photographed. Some adults jumped in as well. Young boys looked straight into the camera, serious. Girls would pick up and hold smaller children for the photo and throw their arms around each other. The older boys waved fingers in the air as though they were auditioning for a Bollywood movie.
We finally came to the end of the street and familiar surroundings. I looked down the street and remembered someone warning me to not walk down that street – I wondered if she too had come across the hundreds of children asking to have a picture taken.
We went to the vegetable market and the Maharashta Store and also to visit Mr. Singh, my papaya supplier, but today I only bought bananas.
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