Today was a day I made for me.

The voice of God woke me up by 7.30 a.m. which means that my local guardian called up to find out what the hell was happening with this reprobate child. We laughed it out and then I was awake so I scooted over to Lodhi Gardens, where I stopped thinking and just walked on the circular stepping stones that led through the greenness. Tall trees, bloodred canna, a Great Dane, squirrels, sparrows, ducks and a meditating man whose energy I felt even before I looked across and saw him sitting among the trees on the opposite bank. I remembered something I always knew about Nature while I watched the animals and tested how close I could come to them without disturbing them. You can't get too close unless the animal chooses you. (Or else use sneaky feet) The cool part is that while I was playing with these animals from a respectful distance, there was one squirrel and one duck that came away from their friends so that we were about two feet apart, and stared right back at me for the longest time. Nice to be looked at by something you can't understand but want to get to know.  

There was this Discovery channel episode where this man spoke about a bird that just followed him everywhere and sat on his head even when he went to work. He couldn't get rid of it so he finally gave in and everyone accepted the bird was there to stay. It was a pigeon or a parakeet or something, can't remember but they looked really cute together, the man looked exasperated and laughing most of the time because the bird kept pecking and cooing and was having a great time being itself.

The second story is an awesome play I saw, another all-time favourite, directed by Rehaan Engineer called something thirteenth, black thirteenth, something. And a woman remembers this pair of birds that made a nest in her garden and everyday she would find some way of communicating with it, give it food, make sounds, getting closer to it each day. One day they just left and she was broken, thinking all along she may have just been dreaming that she mattered to them like they mattered to her. I think that's just interpreting animals in human language, animals always seem to have their own rules in giving love.

To get back to the day, I then proceeded to spend the next hour and a half waking up Little Heart, my darling roomie from last year who's moved to Delhi also. We went to Paharganj by Metro and I really wish I had a digicam now because everything I bought I truly fell in love with. There was a tribal store, where the owner sourced heirlooms from nomads in Central and South India. They're a little worn but got that authentic feel to them, such a beautiful way of living. I think I like that about tribes. Their possessions seem to have a really raw sense of beauty that grips you inside.

What really struck me was a small rectangular piece of  embroidered cloth with mirrors on it, which had a rectangular gap inside it as if to hold something there. I couldn't imagine where on the body I could put it so I asked the owner. Women put bands on their heads to hold pots and this cloth is to go around this band so that the head looks pretty while carrying pots of water. :) I was very careful about what to get, because a lot of the jewellery especially seemed like bondage to me. I found a silver ring that had a small bundle of bells on the top. And a wall hanging that looks to me like the sky reflecting the earth. I looked at something that only a picture would do justice to. It's a huge woven piece of cloth that covered the entire wall and looks like someone thought of the universe and wove it. It's just made of beads, cloth and thread, and is geometric patterns running in different patches. Little Heart said she could look at it forever. Too expensive for now of course but one day.

Ajay Guesthouse in Paharganj. It has a German bakery and I had lemon honey chicken breast for just Rs 150. That's mashed potatoes, boneless chicken, buttered vegetables and a lemon honey dip. I nearly died, it was so good. I used to say "so good it was orgasmic" when I was younger but of course I don't say such stupid things now. Even if it's true. There's a firang who sits with a ciggie and a computer and a smile, surrounded by things to sell in the cafe. It has silk handbags for Rs 200 and I was completely broke by then so I just accepted it as reason enough to return to Delhi later. :) The guy who worked there said that the German who started this bakery had started several in India and although he had sold it to Indians, he kept visiting them and ate the food and gave feedback on how authentic the cuisine is.

Oh it was raining throughout the day and I didn't have an umbrella. But like Bombay rain, which means if you keep walking you won't get wet, but if you stand in it, you'll be pretty uncomfortable soon. Paharganj is full of firangs, like they own the place. This is really strange for me, because the rest of Delhi that I've seen, they are in small groups and seem like well foreigners in a country. In Paharganj they're everywhere and groups keep greeting each other and a really hot firang at the Nepali shop said he'd been living in Paharganj for 22 years. A friend says dope is freely available there. There's something I don't want to understand but I see very often in India - adult foreigners walking holding several Indian street children by the hand. The children seem unconcerned, even happy sometimes, although when I saw one of the girls walking by herself later, her body was carefree but there was a hardness on her face that adults usually have. In Mahabalipuram, I saw foreigner children also holding Indian street children by the hand, so I thought, maybe they're just friends, but I don't think it's true for all adults. I feel really terrible saying this. Little Heart said she had tried doing her investigative project on these children and she said the children had a very strange way of talking back, like they were trying to lure you. A week back I was in the auto, and a child came to ask me to buy Tehelka. I didnt want to, so I just gave her the money to keep for herself. I felt shitty after that. I can't believe a world in which children have to beg to be looked after. What is wrong with adults? I'm one now, and that sucks. Ha. From a broader perspective, I can make my peace with it, I can say "To each his own experience, who am I to judge the world?" From close, I am really really glad there are so many people who do what they can to make these children feel loved.

I am done! I haven't written like this on Xanga in ages. I suppose the chicken breast has gone to my head.

As I sort through my house of light, I find that one of the biggest problems I've had with the world is its norms.

So I thought of making a list of norms I do like:
1. Don't kill people on purpose.

That's about it. Everything else people do anyway and can still go on living.