Hello, Again!

Hello everyone, sorry that it has been such a long time since my last post.... To update from where I last left off: I went home for the holidays and had an absolutely wonderful time - it was so nice to be with my family over the holidays!

A few days after returning to Lucknow, I became pretty ill and had a hard time getting out of bed for about a week. I was/am pretty frustrated with my general poor health and the ensuing weakness that follows these bouts of illness. Last week, I was feeling a little better, but still tired and weak. Because the doctors in Lucknow seemed at a loss, I decided to go to Delhi to see a doctor there. Early, early this morning I returned to Lucknow and am now back in my cozy room.

When I left for Delhi, my train was at 5:30 am. To get to the train station in time, I had to leave my house around 4:30 and find a rickshaw. I walked to the railway crossing near my house, as many of the bicycle rickshaw walas sleep on the ground, next to their rickshaws there, even though it is freezing outside. Wala is a great term in Hindustani and has many uses. In this case it means one who does something, so a vegetable seller is a subzi (vegetable) wala and a shopkeeper is a dukan (shop) wala. If the person doing something is a woman she is not a wala but a wali. Back to my morning adventure: I was a little reluctant to wake them up and began by quietly murmuring namaste (hello), hoping someone was just pretending to be sleeping. Unfortunately, everyone seemed fast asleep. After some time, my namastes became louder and eventually a rickshaw wala opened his eyes. He looked at me and my backpack, jumped off the ground, wrapped his sleeping blankets around him as a coat, correctly guessed my destination was the train station, and peddled me quickly there. So nice and so uncomplaining about the hour.

In Delhi I stayed as a (paying) guest in woman's home. It was pleasant and probably the best place location-wise I've ever stayed in Delhi. A very short walk to Khan Market, one of the nicer shopping areas in Delhi, and India Gate. I love Khan Market because it has a bookstore with a lovely coffee shop. The lady I stayed with was also very pleasant we had a nice walk around her neighborhood the evening I arrived.

The doctor was good, the tests not so scary, and I now have a bunch of medicine to take that will hopefully take care of whatever is plaguing me.