Family House in New Delhi

Yes, there really are people left who will carry three suitcases on their heads and still load up more. I was so impressed I had to take a photo. This is in the New Delhi train station - and that's our train on the right. I know the bars on the windows look a bit frightening; it's just one more thing you try not to think about if there was an emergency. Another thing to not worry about is rocks coming up from the ground below you as you are using the "Indian" toilets instead of "Western" toilets. Something unnerving about watching the ground go by so quickly underneath you. That's enough on toilets (well, at least until the place by the Ganges).
Here's a picture of my room at the Gujrati Samag. The Gujrati's have this cool place that anyone who is Gujrati (or honorary Gujrati, ME) can stay for a very reasonable fee. There is a large canteen open 24/7 with hot meals and an open air fast food type area with lots of trees and cool breezes. It seems as if they do not turn anyone away (thank goodness) and so sometimes I would wake to find that some people had arrived in the night and were provided bedding to camp out. I talked with some of the travellers, some kids were brave enough to approach me and say that they were going back to Amedebad (Gujrat) after visiting Delhi for a length of time; some had arrived and were anticipating visiting many holy sites as we were. Security was very good there as well and I was glad that when there was a change of shift, they asked who we were! Delhi was on high alert after the Lahore bombings - the metro was heavily patroled (as was the train we returned on) and you could see increased presence at the places like the Sadu Gathering.
This is the New Delhi train station - see the guy pulling that huge cart full of stuff? One more type of transportation to watch out for when you're crossing the street!

The open green area is the Metro plaza and the pride of New Delhi. It's very modern and similar to BART in the Bay Area - they even had charging areas for your electronics. We were frisked upon entering the metro and again, police with machine gun in bunker type looking things.

I'm taking these arial photos from the Joshi Family House that we're visiting. It's in a very famous shopping area that's kind of like living in Manhattan - bustling, can-get-anything-you-want-any-time-of-the-day type of place. I'll include other photos on the next blog.....