day three

I don't plan on updating this page this often, but the door to the freaking internet attic is seriously three feet from the door to my hostel. Today I hopped the subway to Old Delhi, where you can barely move for the throngs of milling people, cycle rickshaws, and cars. I had the best samosas EVER from this guy who wouldn't even acknowledge me until I put money in his hand. The food is so good and so cheap. Dinner has consistently been around .50-.75: Biryani (rices with bits of veggies) and Dhal (lentil/potatoes/spices) and Chai. I haven't gone for the real good stuff yet cause I'm waiting for my gut to adjust, which it's doing pretty well at so far. After a walk through the Red Fort, I came across a fantastic garden featuring Samadhis (worshipful monuments?) of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Ghandi, and Rajiv Ghandi, erected on their cremation sites. Hundreds of huge unique rocks surrounded them in a multiple-acre verdant garden. I also found (well, it wasn't really lost) a hydroelectric station near the Yamuna river. Adjacent to it was the cyclerickshaw driver enclave; just hundreds and hundreds of bikes, cows, naked kids, flies, and not another westerner in sight. Everybody was very nice there, and it's the first part of Delhi I've been to where I haven't been constantly hassled for money.
Earlier today I met a guy (15 yrs old) named Ajay, who wanted me to go to his boss's shop to look around. I didn't want to go, but we went to a nearby eatery and I got him a pakora and a chai (less than a quarter). He was appreciative and stopped badgering me to go to his shop. I ran into him this afternoon as well, and he was at it again; after enduring a bit more badgering, I just decided to get overly self righteous and say to him: "See that man, that woman, those kids? They ALL tell me to visit their damn shop and dish me sob stories. I thought YOU were different, seeing me as a flesh and blood person not a stack of dollars. I know you're a good guy, but c'mon!" He understood that his touting cost him a pleasant aquaintance. He didn't try to follow me as I slowly walked off. I hope I see him again, he's a nice guy. I also had a tea today with a guy named Sanjeev, who tought me a few Hindi words. Tomorrow I'm bearing down on the industrial zoned areas; I have a suspicion they'll be cool. I'm pretty sure I'll leave on Monday for Calcutta with a stop in Varanasi to scope it out (I want to spend a good bit of time there later on). I'll go with one of the Australians, named Max. We've had a few more conversations, and he's an all right guy, if a little strange.