In the raw

So I made it to delhi and am not sure why a place so crowded, congested, noisy and chaotic with insane horn honking and pollution, touts using the same lines to lure you here there and everywhere for a commission, a place where the streets smell of urine and incense, a place where every time your tuk tuk stops little kids are grabbing at you begging for rupies as their parents look on to make sure they're doing their job and your tuk tuk has not taken you to where you wanted to go has struck my heart so but it has. I guess i'm in love with the pure rawness of it all. Yesterday i had my first two auto rickshaw rides and despite the lonely planet warnings, i managed to get ripped off by both just as i swore i would not allow to happen. On my first excursion, the driver jerked to a stop in the middle of a busy intersection claiming to be out of gas and instructed me to get out and hop into another rickshaw he'd flagged down. We're in the middle of a busy intersection... what else am i to do?! i've agreed on a price with the first driver but of course i wind up being charged more by the second driver despite my arguments. During my second ride, for which a police officer assisted me in the bargaining of a fair price, the tuk tuk chugged and clattered to a stop just minutes down the road and the driver claimed to have broken down. Again i was sent away in another, being charged a higher fair. i've loved every second in the tuk tuk's tho. for some reason the way they weave in and out coming so close to hitting one another, buses, motorcycles; the way they high-beam each other and honk to move others out of their way; the way they tear down one-way streets in the wrong direction, etc is exciting to me and i love just experiencing this foreign city streaming by... the colors of sari stalls, pumping of punjabi beats, smells of incense and curry and all the oddities of a place that seems hasn't changed in centuries with the wind whipping thru my hair. these are my first experiences in india and my senses are overwhelmed... i've read that india is an assault on all the senses but until i arrived, i had no clue what this meant...
one thing i'm struck by is the male dominance here... i mean, i expected to be a minority as a white tourist but i guess i hadn't expected to be the only woman around in so many places. sometimes i feel uncomfortable and exposed but other times i feel empowered... i'm so grateful to have been born an american woman that CAN go out and see and do what i want to see and do (as long as i can convince my driver to take me there). sadly i don't make eye contact with many people (a lesson i learned in morocco) and not many people that don't want to scam me talk to me. the poverty is quite extreme but i somehow feel safe here. i just can't explain it...

today i started my day with a walk led by a former street kid of delhi who was brought into salaam balaak trust and has reformed his life now working for the trust as a guide. all proceeds from the walk go to the trust which provides shelter and education to street kids here. i visited places in delhi not many tourists see and i find difficult to describe... communities living in tiny ramshackle shelters on the railway where a baby is being bathed directly on the rails of the operating tracks while another naked infant lies on a tall table with no supervision, "contact points" where kids are encouraged into the shelters and off the streets, the shelters themselves where loads of kids sit on the hard floor which is their classroom during the day and their bedroom at night and where they have just a tiny locker to store all of their worldly possessions... words cannot describe. the poverty is astounding and seeing all these kids living such hard lives in such dangerous and unsanitary conditions is difficult to stomach. please check out the website for salaam balaak trust.

sidebar: the emotions of the day have been overwhelming but, as we passed thru a narrow alleyway near the old delhi train station on the way to the boys shelter, i couldn't help my nose from being tantalized by this amazing curry smell wafting thru the air. i soo wanted to stop and investigate the contents of the huge simmering pots but then i quickly remembered my destination and how these kids are hungrier than i'll ever know and ashamedly continued on.

anyway, power shortages are quite common here so before i lose this post, i'm going to sign off. i have so much more to tell but for now, i'm loving india in all it's chaotic wonder! (i have also escaped to some beautiful and serene monuments, temples and gardens so it's been a good balance). tomorrow i'm off to darjeeling! anyway, i hope all is well at home and i'm thinking of you all! cheers!!!

p.s. photos are of tuk tuk chaos on the streets of delhi (sooo many near misses and my favorite thing is going the wrong way down a one way and playing chicken with other auto rickshaws, motorbikes, trucks and whatever else is on the road) and truck on my way from bagdogra to glenburn tea estate ... the trucks have eyes!