Trying to recover from our weird yesterday where I was trying to reach the spice market in a taxi going in circles around Delhi for 2 hours and then I was dropped at an empty store selling containers of tea. Only to be told I can only get to the spice market by rickshaw ! Sitting a top a rickshaw I asked how long on this thing? He said 20 minutes!
It is so draining to feel screwed with And ripped off! And I am afraid to go by taxi Anywhere in Delhi now- lost All interest in leaving the hotel. And I am feeling very depressed about life.
Plus our hotel we have been staying in was booked by the crooked first travel agent who introduced us to the terror taxi driver from yesterday and we had to get back to that office today to pay our hotel bill. Allynn insisted he would go by himself , as we were also meeting a taxi driver who was arranged by our new travel agent, Mr. Gupta, to take us to a better hotel at the same price. So I was sitting in the lobby of our hotel and Allynn left with a taxi. And we have not been separated for the past 6 weeks for more than 5 minutes! Also- Allynn does not have a cell phone with him ( to save $) I have mine and now he is out of my sight and is now Unreachable! His taxi driver said they were just going around the corner! So I read one of my books and tried to relax. Soon the new driver appears and I say- We will be ready to go in a few minutes, as soon as my husband returns. 20 minutes later I called the first travel agent who Allynn was going by taxi to see. Glad the man answered the phone and he said ‘ he just left here. I was relieved to hear that but by the time another 25 minutes went by I was in a state of panic, imagining that Allynn had been kid nabbed, hidden away, robbed, left for dead down a dark alley. I was beside myself with despair as I was not prepared for a tragedy- who is- and suddenly he returned and we got in the other taxi and after 40 minutes we arrived to a much nicer hotel than we were in for the past 2 days. And I am again shaken and afraid to go out of the hotel. We spent the afternoon doing research on South India in the hotel room. I expect to be in Mysore for about a week. I don’t think I will even want to spend a month at the Ashtanga place – even if they do let me in because I have only 6 weeks to be in South India. Allynn has shows in feb. In Delhi which is screwing up everything. And I cannot figure out how I could manage- if he were to go by himself to Delhi- I would absolutely freak out – after today’s episode- I know I could not handle it- and this is occurring to me now as I write this. Tomorrow we will see Sharon, the Indian dancer who has our suitcases and is the one hiring Allynn to perform. So I will voice these concerns to her and I will get to see some of my wardrobe I have been missing since the beginning of our trip. I hope I don’t sound too much like a sour puss to her- will be hard to disguise my repulsion for her city of Delhi . She will be sending her driver to pick us up so at least I will feel safe, not rattled. After Allynn finally returned and we were driving in the cab, low and behold, something remarkable occurred- we passed an elephant on the opposite side of the street- walking slowly, taking up half the street, carrying a passenger on top. My heart sang for joy ! I was hoping to see an elephant here and I did! Yippee! Tonight we had another great Indian meal in our lovely hotel room. Food heals everything- my new motto! I am including a wall painting I shot on the streets of Varanasi of an elephant.
Namaste, Annie