April 3, 2010

I finally have experienced Delhi Belly. NOT fun. Not at all. It kind of put a hold on everything for a few days while my stomach settled down. Then, I finally found an apartment!

We were going to finalize one of the apartments in Kalkaji, the one in GK, or the one in Noida that Rahul had found. The realtor told us the apartments we wanted in Kalkaji were already rented out, but he'd be happy to show us some new apartments. We declined. No one was happy with the GK apartment (except for me) so then we tried for the Noida apartment.

Rahul and Sid picked up Shweta and me, and all of my luggage, and drove all the way from Gurgaon to Noida to finalize the apartment and move in. However, the landlord was a brave asshole and the realtor was just an even bigger dick. The landlord refused to speak in English so I couldn't understand what was being said. And then there was a lot of talk and discussion that I could tell wasn't going too well between the landlord, the realtor, Sid, and Rahul. It turns out, the landlord wanted a security deposit which the realtor had told Rahul earlier that day that it wouldn't be necessary. Then the realtor tried to argue that he didn't know about it and kept laughing the whole time. Oh and even better, the landlord told Rahul he wasn't allowed to spend the night.

First of all, who the heck said he would be spending the night?! Secondly, you gotta have some major balls to make that assumption out loud. Thirdly, it irritated me that he couldn't say that in English...it was like he didn't trust me and I had no say in any matter regarding where I would stay. The whole situation pissed me off and I had NO desire to pay a realtor any kind of commission when they lie. That's just stupid. The boys kept trying to argue and I had to literally stand in between them and the realtor and tell them it's not going to happen and to just get in the car. I was all set to let the realtor find his own way home too because he was an ass. However, they took him back to where we picked him up from.

Then there was the problem of me checking out of the PG and not having a place to stay. Rahul and Sid decided I would stay with Rahul and his family! EEK!!!! I was definitely not ready to meet them yet. However, Rahul's parents are the Indian version of my parents so it was pretty easy to connect with them. Rahul's dad came into the room where I had been sleeping (kind of like a drawing room with a bed/couch/thing) and started talking to me about everything under the sun for about an hour in the morning. It felt like my many “conversations” where I don't give my dad a chance to speak.

My stomach was still upset from the Delhi Belly so Rahul's mom made me food which was supposed to help the stomach feel better. Then she went to the market to get stuff for lunch and came back with a lemon/lime soda drink called Limca. It's very similar to 7 Up but better. What's funny...while she was gone, I was telling Rahul that I wanted 7 Up because it always makes my stomach feel better if I'm not feeling well. He wanted to call her but I said,”No, we'd get it later”; I didn't want to put them out. She came back and said Limca makes your stomach feel better when it's ill =)

I helped her as much as I could while preparing lunch. Mainly it was just setting stuff on the table but I appreciated the fact that she let me help. For breakfast, she wouldn't let me help at all. After lunch was done, Rahul's brother came downstairs. The only person I didn't meet while spending the day was the aunt who was out of town visiting other family. I loved spending time with a family. I didn't feel like a traveler that day, just another person in the family.



So my room is in the Defense Colony area of Delhi. The apartment is attached to a house. A retired Colonel of the Indian Army and his wife own the whole home. Their son/daughter (not sure which is their kid and which is married into the family) live upstairs. Their grand daughter is a news anchor and apparently moving to Mumbai to start her job. They were so sweet and the house was immaculate. My apartment needed some heavy duty cleaner and elbow grease but it's a lot better than A LOT of the apartments we've seen. The only ones which were better were the brand new places.

I made a list of the things I needed to get and today and Rahul came to pick me up. We spent the day in the market buying stuff for my new apartment, ate dinner, and then came back to the apartment to clean. It was fun! I put on some Bryan Adams and we scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen down really well.

While at the market, I also bought some flowers for my room. I love them! It makes my house a home. Okay, well maybe not that much but it makes it feel more like mine.

Rahul said next weekend he is free and asked me if I wanted to visit the Taj Mahal or go white water rafting. I want to do both. Now I have to decide what I want to do first. Decisions! Decisions!!


Before I forget...I have to tell you the most amazing thing I've seen to date!

Friday, the 2nd, while on our way to visit the apartment I now am staying at, we were driving on Ring Road (which is like a highway) and on the road was AN ELEPHANT! Walking along the highway, was an elephant with a guy laying on top of it. The conversation between Rahul and I that took place when I saw it went something like this:

“OH MY GOD THERE'S AN ELEPHANT!”

“Yeah, there's elephants.”

“NOOOOO! There's an elephant! Walking down the highway! Oh my God! I WANT TO RIDE AN ELEPHANT!” (I think I grabbed his arm at that point and started shaking him, I was too excited)

“You will don't worry. And you'll see that a lot”

“I've been here a week and we've been all over the place and THIS is the first elephant I've seen! I want to ride an elephant!”

“You will! And it's common.”

“How common could it be to see an elephant walking down the highway in one of the biggest cities in the world?!”

“Ring Road isn't a highway.”

“It's the equivalent to a highway in the US.”

“Okay.”

“My point is: this isn't common!”

“Okay”

(I started shaking him again) “It's sooooooo awesome! I can't wait to ride an elephant!”

He laughed. I started beating myself up for putting my camera in my suitcase in the trunk of the car. Then about a kilometer down the road, there was ANOTHER elephant!

Wow!

I love this place!!!