hellos, goodbyes, and shaking some earth

This weekend we took our last trip as an IES group to Jaipur, which is about a 6 hour bus ride south of Delhi (a drive that would take maybe 3 or 4 in the US). It was nice to be with everyone and the forts, etc. were cool, but I'm getting a bit monument-ed out. However, we got to ride an elephant, so it was totally worth the drive! We also stayed in a cute inn that had homey rooms and we caught the last five minutes of Dumb and Dumber dubbed in Hindi. And, as always, the food was ya ya yummy. On the bus ride home we stopped at the ultimate tourist oasis to use restrooms and we were all appalled by the prices. The chai was 40 rupees and the candy bars were 50 rupees (about Rs. 37-40=$1). I got lunch today for Rs.13, took the bus for Rs.5, and bought a dress for Rs.20, and I'm very upset if I have to pay 70 or 80 for a 10-11 kilometer auto ride home. Suffice to say, I'll have trouble buying anything when I return to the US (which is ok since I'll be broke from being here...)
This is my last week of classes so I have finals and tests and it's oh so much fun. Today I was woken up at 4:43 by some shaking. I thought it was our upstairs neighbors at first because sometimes I hear them moving stuff around...but then I realized they never actually make my room vibrate. By the time I realized it was probably an earthquake it was over, so I got up, went to the bathroom and slept the last 15 minutes of my night. Later I did wonder if it was a bomb blast too because there were some in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Farizabad last week, but the news confirmed that it was just a 4.3 level earthquake. Even in my last few weeks here, Delhi never ceases to surprise me.
The last week or so I've been cherishing my morning bus rides to the hospital my friend Bacchus picks me up from to go to college. I always go to the same stop and wait and tells all the autos that stop no (I still have pride for taking Delhi buses!) and notice the looks of people surprised I'm waiting for the bus. I'm starting to recognize some of the bus money collectors and no longer really care too much if the bus is overloaded, this time of year the coziness is welcome as the mornings are chilly. If I do get a seat I can watch the sun in its last few minutes as a red disk before it hazes higher into the sky. I can see the sari-clad, shawl wrapped women ride their bikes, which always amazes me as I sometimes even get my pants caught in a bike. Then there are the tall bushes with bright pink flowers and their purple remains scattered underneath. The "Vasant Sqaure Mall" that's being constructed is next. Now it even has smartly landscaped gardens in the front, but the real mall is the row of fairly large stands of fruit and clay pots and buckets that follow. I feel like I'm changing countries when the mall complex ends and the shake-like shops begin. When we were in Jaipur we went to a tourist shopping center that was inside...and I realized I felt very uncomfortable buying anything because the shops weren't outside. Funny, na? Finally, the bus reaches the hospital and I get down, sometimes as the bus rolls a bit and stand on the corner waiting for Bacchus whose always at least 5 or 10 minutes late. I'm not sure why I continue to be punctual in my waiting for him because I know I will have to if I leave on time, but now that I have waited so much I've come to enjoy watching the normal procession of people from my corner. The same school buses come by at the same time and the same big hummer-like vehicles with the same foreign passengers that must live in Delhi, the dogs waking up and beginning their day of roaming, and, my personal favorite, the juice and food stand guys that push their cart into the traffic lanes, wait at the lights like the cars and then running full force when the light changes to make the turn right (like us making a left) and skidding their feet on the pavement to slow the cart down on after a successful venture into traffic. By then usually Bacchus shows up. This week I have to say good bye to those mornings.

Luckily I'm only focusing on saying Hello to my Ramjas friends as I tell them I'll be visiting after I return from Nepal, God willing. Right now though, I need to get acquainted with my studies for my history final tomorrow, so more of my ramblings on joys of India and sorrows of leaving soon!