so, last night we walked to connaught place to meet my friend KV (at the McDonalds.. actually one of two mcdonalds in connaught place) so we could go for dinner.. he took us to a South Indian restaurant (he is originally from Orissa - S. India.. but has been in Delhi for a while with studying and then immediately after he was fed into a company and now he works for another company doing marketing and how do you call PR or something like that..) anyhow he was actually taking a short break from a conference he was in that he had to be back at after.. he said that night he'd probably work til 1am.. they work hard in india, the business/IT/medical eschelon of Indian culture.. so far removed from most of India that i've seen so far, really.. such a contrast.. there we were in our scruffy clothes from tourist stores and there he was in shiny shoes and black pants and nice shirt and briefcase.. and it was good to see him.. maybe i'll try to meet him one more time before we go to pushkar..
and then today we changed hotels from a tourist-geared hotel that (at 300 after bargaining) wasn't really expensive and was full of all conveniences including rooftop restaurant, internet, snack bar, etc. but which had little atmosphere as it was full of israelis and the indians who are used to serving israelis aren't genuine and for good cause.. israelis dont seem to really view the staff as people.. so they just do same same.. but anyhow now we're in this cheap little hole in the wall for 120 / night with a shared indian style bath and all the ambience you could ask for.. and this afternoon i sat surrounded by french trying really hard to follow the conversation (almost exactly like trying to follow a conversation in hindi as my proficiency in both is about the same. except i speak less french than hindi, which is not saying much for my french). and met a crazy ex-pat who lives in cambodia (and speaks frehcn and english equally well by the way) the year round, with a hotel he owns i think.. and comes to india every 2 or 3 years.. those are some of the most interesting people to meet.. the ones who've been in india for a while..
after we spoke (just now actually) with a man who does marionette.. one of the biggest observations i get from indians who've travelled in europe (the ones who come back) is that people in the west are lonely.. separate.. as someone put it: india has little money but big heart. and the west has big money but no heart.. as a culture, that is.. not as individuals.. every individual is different.. but on the whole.. anyhow,, nice guys.. one more observation/story for you before i go -- this morning, lea talked to a "baba" (baba or sadhu are holy people, saints, theoretically.. but in practice you hardly meet a real one.. many imitations.. in agra we met a real baba.. i dont remember if i talked about him, but anyhow). he said he wanted to tell her something and she agreed and so i had to sit there and listen to him feed her basically bullshit.. he had a little power, though.. enough to get her to talk to him, and enough to get her to give him 150 rupe.. he read her palm, this and that. three things she had to do.. and maybe i'm wrong and he really had power but for me the kicker was - he asked for something nice for the kids.. music he preferred he said.. and lea has these necklaces she made in france of river stones and colored clay and beads.. and she offered him one and he had absolutely no interest whatsoever.. and she said but they are made with love, they're better than fancy or nice things from the market.. i laughed in his face many times.. and i told him to his face he was no baba.. but she had more patience with him and listened.. anyhow who knows.. maybe he was the real deal.. but the real deal wouldn't ask for money.. and wouldn't wear nice shiny leather shoes.. anyone can tell you you need to find god and meditate like this and so on and so forth.. but when lea gave the man from earlier - the marionettist or puppeteer - one of her necklaces, and one for his son whom he loved dearly you could tell.. his eyes lit up with real love.. the look of a real baba (baba also means grandfather). anyhow that's that.. i'm off to eat dinner.. hope all of that made some sense to everyone.. tikke cello..
