Jet Lag

I went to bed at a reasonable time (9:45-ish) last night but woke up at 3:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep. So now it’s almost 6:00 and I thought I would write before going to the gym. 

Last night I had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. It’s called Dhaba and specializes in northern Indian cuisine. Actually, I didn’t eat in the restaurant itself because I didn’t make reservations and would have had to wait until much later if I wanted to eat inside, so the host suggested I sit across the hall at the Japanese restaurant and the Dhaba server (my new best friend, Afit) would bring the food over. That worked for me! Nothing like eating Indian food while listening to Japanese music and reading a novel that takes place in Ghana.

The food was glorious. Buttery naan on steroids, a spicy eggplant dish, and a couple of Kingfisher beers outshone anything I’ve ever had on Devon Ave. THEN the host came from across the hall and asked how I was enjoying the food. When I raved about it, he said, “I will bring you one more thing.”  It didn’t stop him, when I thanked him and said I was full. “No, no. One more thing, a very small thing.” And back he came with a “very small” cup of black lentils, a unique dish I had never even heard of, and it was the best food that I’ve ever tasted in my life! Sorry for the exaggeration, but wow. I told Afit that it felt like I was eating dessert and I was serious. “No, ma’am,” he chuckled warmly, “it is not dessert.” But I was right that it had cream in it—so rich. He said the lentils are soaked for two days before cooking. 

First food photo on my blog—best naan ever!

After dinner my room phone rang, and it was Abhijeet (Abi for short), my trip leader, whose room happens to be three doors down. He wanted to stop by and meet me and give me an intro form to read. I have a good feeling about him already! He said he tried calling me several times but I was never in my room—ha! I told him what I’d been up to and he said, “Oh, you’ve been in Delhi 3-4 days now?” Ha again! 

Abi told me a little bit about our first day. One thing we’re doing is going to a soup kitchen in a Sikh temple to help feed people and also eat there. Another thing we’re doing is going to the Khan Market, the seedy strip mall with the 24-7 flea dogs I told you about in a previous post. I said, “Oh, yes, Khan Market—I was there once at 3:30 in the morning!”  Abi already thinks I’m crazy, I’m sure. 

So I am supposed to meet everyone in the lobby at 10:45. Wish me luck!