Second Day in Delhi

Today was my second day in Delhi and the start of the Catalyst confrences at the hotel. Uncle Kurt and Alex had to attend the confrences in the morning so I woke up and hung out in my room for a while and then went down to the lobby and had breakfast by myself. I had planned on staying in my room until the first confrence was done but I got bored of the room and the confrence got out really late so I went downstairs and walked around the lobby for a while. I really wanted to go outside because it was so sunny and warm but I couldn't leave the hotel so I had to settle for sitting on the purple couches by the window, facing the sun, outside the confrence rooms. Then after about an hour of sitting there practicing my Hindi from Alex's phrasebook, I got bored again and went up to the floor that my room is on and walked around and peeked out the window near the elevators and saw a big crowd of people marching down the street. The crowd of people stretched on for what looked like about a quarter mile. They were holding signs and flags and at first looked like the start of a protest. I asked one of the housekeeping people what it was and they told me that it is a parade that they hold every week. I'm not sure what the parade is for but I am going to look it up and try to find out. When the confrence was done and Uncle Kurt was free for the rest of the day, we planned out some things we wanted to do while Alex was in more confrences. We decided to go to Conaught Place which is a huge shopping center! The biggest one I have ever seen! It has three rings of arcade style buildings with shops and restaraunts. In the middle of the inside ring there is a park and the entrance to an underground shopping center.The rings are so big that you can't even see the whole thing from anywhere you stand! We mostly walked around the larger, outer ring and went into some stores and bought a few embroidered pillow covers. I liked just looking around because there is so much to see. A few stores were obviously targeted towards tourist, selling overpriced, mass-produced, souveniers but some of them were fun to look through. I liked the store "Fab India", which is a clothing store but I didn't buy anything because I had already bought clothes the day before. We had a late lunch at one of the outer ring's restaurants called "Legend of Conaught". It was very good food and they made really good cold coffee with ice cream. One thing I hate about Delhi is crossing the street! It is so scary because at crosswalks, the cars never stop! If you look both ways before crossing the street, like we're taught as kids, it won't matter because you know there will always be cars coming at you and you could wait to cross until the cars stop but they never will so you have to run arcross and dodge the cars and hope that they slow down just enough so that your feet don't get run over! When Alex was done with confrences we were going to go out to dinner, but again, none of us were hungry so we went to the movie theatre instead. The movie theatre was within Conaught Place where we had been shopping earlier. The movie theatres here are very fancy and they have metal detectors and security gaurds checking your bags and pockets at the entrance. I noticed that everywhere there is a security gaurd checking bags and pockets, if there is not a female security guard then they let girls and women go through. They will only check your bag, backpack or pockets if there is a woman security gaurd to do it. At the movie theatre there was a security check line for men and one for women. I walked in with a full water bottle that had been purchased from a street vendor and I thought that they would make me throw it away in the theatre because that is what they do in the U.S. but they let you bring in your own refreshments. The thing that they are strict about is bringing in cameras. I still had my camera from earlier that day in my bag so the security woman told me to take out the batteries while in the theatre. The doors to the individual theatre rooms were big, shiny, double doors with gold handles with fake diamonds. In the lobby, there were big sparkly chandaliers and gold colored sofas for waiting. The theatre seats were big, puffy seats that you sink into when you sit in them and they felf a little bit damp and the room smelled musty, like a damp basement. We saw a movie called "Tanu Weds Manu". It was a Hindi movie without subtitles so I was able to practice my Hindi listening skills! I could pick up on a few words or sentences here and there, enough to get a vague idea of the story line, until the middle when I started getting really sleepy and was only half awake for a small part of the movie. I was fully awake after intermission though. That is something that you never see in an American movie theatre! In Indian theatres the movies that they play are usually very long and have an intermission half-way through it and for the intermission, they turn on the house lights and people come by to take your order if you want to order sandwiches, drinks, or fast food. I noticed though that this particular theartre did not sell popcorn or candy which are American theatre classics! It is really interesting to see the differences between our countries! We took a taxi from the hotel to the movie theatre but we decided to walk back after the movie. I don't like walking around Delhi at night because the sidewalks are not well lit and there is a lot of liter on the sidewalk and it is difficult to see where you are stepping. I got my clothes delivered to the hotel tonight and I tried them on. They look great.... well, except for the sari! It took me forever just to get the blouse on because of all the tiny hook closures on the back and it is tight fitting so it is difficult to reach the hooks. Even after I got it on, I realized that I had no idea how to put on a sari! I looked up tutorial on youtube on how to put on a sari but it was very confusing and when I was done I looked very foolish! Obviously I need more practice so that I don't wander around looking like I wrapped a big sheet around my waist and then tossed it over my shoulder! I'm sure that eventually I will learn the right way to do it! I hope so anyway!