Close to the Finish
Fun India fact of the day. Did you know that all Levis jeans in India are size 34? I don’t know why, but they are. I went to the Levis store today to buy some cheap jeans and couldn’t find my size. Why? Because it doesn’t exist. Instead, they take your measurements and custom alter the jeans while you wait. Pretty cool.
Today some people from our host company took us to a Ruby Tuesdays so we could enjoy some American food. I know it seems silly to come all the way across the world and then eat at a restaurant that I have two of within 5 miles of my house, but we were really just looking for the old familiar food at this point. It has truly been a challenge trying to find what to eat every day and I went a number of days without really having dinner because it was such a hassle to find something we could order. I want to go home and eat a huge salad, some tuna, grilled chicken, fruit, vegetables (believe it or not), orange juice, cereal, yogurt, etc, etc.
Tonight while we were out, we ran into one of the many children on the street begging. What was interesting about this encounter is that our Indian fiends with us actually gave the child some money hoping that he would then leave us (the foreigners) alone. However, all the kid did was beg even more and eventually got frustrated and hit the side of our car. It was a pointless gesture and resulted in him getting chewed out by our friend Sandeep, but the frustration from this kid caught me off guard. The sad part is most of the kids are merely working for a sort of mob that puts kids on the street to beg and then takes all the money they make.
Tonight was also the first time we have been in Delhi really late at night (we normally work the the suburb known as Gurgaon). What I noticed was how many people were laying down to sleep on any and every surface they could find - the side of busy streets, medians, parks, benches - literally hundreds and hundreds of people just laying down and sleeping anywhere there was a free patch of dirt. It takes homeless to a whole new level and made it evident just how many of the 1.3 billion people here in India live in poverty.
This week has flown by, and the arrival of two colleagues from back home this past weekend certainly helped with that. Dolores has been great to travel with and her general outgoing nature has helped to counter my fairly reserved demeanor, but I think just seeing some familiar faces from home helped to brighten our spirits this week. We also managed to hang out with them some last night despite it being after 1am when we got home from work. At least now I can say have stayed up through an Indian sunrise.
Tomorrow we pack our bags, go to work for a half day or so, and then head to the airport. I am looking forward to the flight home and just relaxing knowing the next place I will be will be my own house and my own bed. I still have all the pictures from the Taj Mahal to put online as well as some taken this week and what I am sure will be taken on the way home. Be sure and check back in the next couple days because I will make another final post or two and get all those pictures online before locking this site down to preserve it in Internet land.