A Day with Indian Red Tape

Full day number two in Delhi-
Today was also not an incredibly exciting day to describe...we went again to the government offices. Yet again, Rajiv had a highly placed friends (it's great to have someone connected!) and we were able to cut down ou time there to only about 2 hours. Imagine the DMV only 10x more frustating! We filled out more ridiculous forms and waited to get approval. Finally, we got a handwritten note in each of our passports that says we are allowed to reenter the country in December. How exciting! ;) Rajiv was explaining to us how corrupt the Indian government is...although it has gotten better apparently. There is still a lot of paying off and a lot of bribing that happens. After our adventures in the office, Rajiv took us to meet Anu's mother who was incredible. At 77 she wakes up every morning at 4am for her walk goes to a class on 'discovering herself' and is full of energy!

After that we drove to a local mall area to go to lunch. We had Indian "rolls" which was somewhat like a tortilla with spicy eggs/chicken (eggs for me) and veggies inside. DELICIOUS :) In general, we've been eating really well. In the morning we have toast, an oatmeal/cereal-like thing, iced sweet coffee, lassi, fruit and some form of protein (eggs, sausage etc). For lunch the past two days we've been out and about (listed earlier) and for dinner we've had various dishes. The first night, we had a lentil dish with rice that was meant to test our tolerance for spice :) Last night we had dumplings and soup. All of those have been prepared by Rajiv and Anu's staff. Their staff is truly incredible, getting us drinks, cooking, preparing cars etc. They're really nice. There are two boys and two girls that work here.

After lunch, we went to some local shops for about 30 min with Anu (Rajiv's wife) who showed us some of the local fashions and told us to get an idea of what we wanted and then she had a friend who could make it for half the price. We looked at some jewelry and such as well. And now, we are back in the room, half of the group is taking an afternoon nap I believe, and the rest of us are just hanging out a little.

A few notes on the characters in this adventures...
Rajiv- the man that started this program after his daughter (Anchu) decided to take a gap year but couldn't find a program she liked. He raised Anchu as a single father and she is now in her 3rd year at Harvard. He is incredibly nice and kind and open. He serves as our "banker"...we gave him all the cash we brought with us and he gives us rupees and keeps track of the money for us. He is great to talk to and super friendly!
Anu- Rajiv's wife...they married about four years ago. She has three sons, one of whom is getting married in October (we met his wife-to-be...she's fantastic!). Anu is very fashionable and incredibly kind and welcoming as well. She's a yoga teacher and will lead our yoga in Gangtok. She's very interesting to talk to, and we all had a great conversation yesterday about Buddhism.
Laura- from Manhattan, she went to the UN International School.
Steven- from Conneticut.
Claudia- from North Carolina, but went to boarding shool outside Philly.
Alex- from Northern California.
Rebecca- from New York as well.

I think that pretty much sumarizes anything exciting here. Tomorrow morning at 11am we'll fly to Kalimpur and then drive to Gangtok! I'll post as soon as possible!

All my love,
Sara :)