Exploring the new neighborhood

Where I live (at the school campus) is the fancy neighborhood of Chanakyapuri, just so you know. The school has 8 security gates, with lovely barbed wire and a spiked fence (just to keep the pigeons away, of course).




My friend Sarah and I decided to take a walk around the area with cameras, hoping to catch some of the flavor of the ever-changing scene here. I took a picture of the usual electric pole here, where everyone does some of their own wiring to tap the power source. Remember, this is the FANCY neighborhood. Finally, we went to the local markets. There is no such thing as a "supermarket" here. All of the neighborhoods have stalls; the larger wealthy areas have some stores, but whichever it is, they are packed with "stuff" of all sorts. Those who have been to Russia have probably seen stalls like this in the Metro. They sell everything from pharmaceuticals to electronics to groceries, but you can't tell what they actually have unless you ask.






Sarah wanted to take a picture of me buying bananas and mangoes from one of the stands.
This produce actually looked pretty good. The bananas were 3 rupees each, or about 6 cents; and the mangoes were 30 rupees each, roughly 60 cents (OK, if your math is better than mine, don't tell me). Anyway, you can see from my stance that this $2 transaction was a serious matter.
At the corner next to these stores was the usual "don't feed the monkeys" sign - don't you have one at your local supermarket?
Well, you can almost read it, anyway. Trust me on this one.


Our last picture stop was the "Mother Dairy" store. This is a chain store that's all over Delhi. People stop by and buy bags of milk - that's right, bags. Others just fill up their milk jugs from the tap here. The milk is pasteurized and supposedly fresh, but I don't think I'll be drinking from the tap anytime soon.

I was going to include a picture of a beautiful banyan tree, but I'm too tired. Also, there were lots of great pictures that I didn't take out of respect for the potential subjects, such as the woman carrying a huge bag of sticks (for cooking fuel) on her head. Sticks are a hot commodity here, as cutting live trees is illegal, yet people living in the slums use wood for cooking. How far she had to go to collect those sticks, one can only wonder.

One last story - this has happened to me twice. When you go to a cab stand to get a cab, most of the drivers are napping on makeshift cots, either outdoors or in an open-air office. Tonight, the driver got into the car in his undershirt and undershorts (and turban) and then said, "Excuse me, I have to put on my pants." It takes some getting used to, not to mention that taking a cab is an adventure in and of itself. I have yet to see the same fare twice for the same distance. I did not know that cab driving was such an art.

Until the next time . . . look forward to the "preparing for school" pix.