Running in Delhi

None of the three young ladies took me up on my offer to go run so I had to do it myself. It was so much easier running without the afternoon traffic so I got a chance to run behind some of the bikers. There are many of them! The park where I run has several groups of people doing yoga and meditating. The seem to end with clapping which I, of course, appreciated greatly because my speedwork is getting better. ha ha.

Across the street from the park is a huge dirt field where there are people living in blue tents. I was about to think that these people were all down and out, but having started Gandhi's biography I have begun to wonder. He talks in it about moving to smaller and smaller quarters to save money, and I have begun to wonder how many of these people are actually working. Two kids ask me my name and I shout it back, and then another asks where I am from and I yell, "Chicago". For the most part people speak HIndi, and I am a little surprised to hear English. I have noticed both here and in the Philippines that poorer people seem to be very attractive. For Americans who prize being thin and having tans this seems understandable. It was interesting to notice that some of the people from the tent area bring buckets to get water from the irrigation hose in the park. I remember Reshma telling me once that for poorer people the time spent looking for water is much greater than for middle class people.

We will be leaving for Calcutta this evening. We have really enjoyed getting to know Mr. Banga. He is a Seikh, and he has a great sense of humor. Last night we had dinner at his house with his two boys. His wife and the two house servants served us, but it was disconcerting to see her not eat until we were finished.

We visited a shirt factory this morning. Outside were about twenty bicycles and a handful of motorcycles. There were metal containers called diffin which men use for carrying their lunches. The men working at the sewing machines were in their twenties and thirties, and they might have been the people that I was racing when I returned to the hotel. Ha ha.

I will have to end here. I have so much to say, but I have to rush. Lunch is waiting.