Oh Sheesh Ya'll! 9/4/10

Songs being listened to:

“Long black veil”—The Band

“Skinny Love” –Bon Iver

“Shift” – Grizzly Bear

“For the widows in paradise, for the fatherless in Ypsilanti” -- Sufjan Stevens

When Michael and I got back from our first days work at the orphanage we felt really good about we were doing. We really loved our new Schedule For a while our schedules were just really hit-and-miss, but now we had a solid rain or shine, five hours a day three days a week schedule for the orphanage. Besides this we were also doing teaching in the Wazipur slum twice a week and helping with homework with the boys at our hostile five days a week (previously three). But the day we got back we found out that for complicated financial reasons, we were probably going to have to leave Delhi. We were pretty bummed, but felt really good about the option of going to Dehra -dun (a city 7 hours train from Delhi at the foothills of the Himalayas). After making a few calls this became our official plan and we were planning on leaving in 5 days.

Knowing we were actually leaving put everything into bittersweet perspective for me. Though I was excited about living with my friends in Dehra Dun, It was really hard knowing I would have to say goodbye to all the boys at the hostile and all the kids in the Wazipur slum that I had grown to love . I was also dishearten that we had to leave our new found home and friends at the orphanage. On Friday we went to the orphanage and told the Father that this would probably be our last day; he was very understanding. At the End of the day I told him I was free all weekend and could come every day for 5 hours a day until I left Delhi.

Knowing I had to leave Delhi also meant I could start doing some things that I was previously afraid of doing -- mostly in the metro-- for fear of getting in trouble. For Instance: Every metro station (subway) has beautiful long handrails that go down the steps that just BEG to be slid down. I finally decided to start doing this without discrimination...every metro station, every rail. I can’t believe more people don't do it considering how wonderfully long the ride is. I also started making ridiculous faces at people that were already staring at me in the metro. Michael and I had an entire metro car laughing hysterically when we kept mimicking the pitch of the metro horn every time it honked at people in each station. This all lead to a climax to the time I rode on the brand new just opened metro line. Things got a bit out of hand...

So to give you a little background; at home I have a giant swing set that has a rope hanging from it. One of my favorite pastimes is to put all of my body0weight on the rope, pivot on the tip of one foot, and then spin ridiculously fast on it. It’s really fun, you should try it. A while back I had the idea of doing this on the handles that are dangling from the ceiling inside the metro car, but was always to afraid/smart/common sensical to do this. One day I figured "what the heck! I’m only going to be in Delhi for 2 more days”.

The metro car was fairly empty so I had plenty of room for my acrobatics. I kicked off my sandals, pivoted on one toe and hung from the handle and just started spinning. It worked remarkably well and was really fun. Of course there were about twenty people staring at me, but they would have been anyways. I did this for over five minutes, maybe ten. Time flew. Something in me expected everyone to start trying it for themselves, and maybe they would have…. but…as I started spinning again, with all my body weight dependant on the handle, the rope holding that handle snapped and I came crashing down with a thud with the handle in hand. Oh sheesh ya’ll! Surprisingly, nobody laughed.

I jumped to my feet, and put the handle in my pocket and ran out of the train at the next stop. I ran because after the handle snapped I realized that there were brand new surveillance cameras in this brand new metro line that had just opened the day before. So somewhere out there is great footage of a Ferangi (derogatory term for foreigner) eating shi[shkababs] on the Deli Metro. The metro station I got out on had also just opened the day before. Because it was a new metro line, it would be 30 minutes before the next train came. In this time I heard the automated PDA that I’d heard a thousand times played in the metro stations, but this time it came to life for me: “vandalizing or defacing metro property is a punishable offense”. Oh sheesh ya’ll! Even in my most paranoid of states my common sense had not yet repossessed me: I got extremely bored in this empty metro station, so I decided to walk up the excalater in the wrong direction… for 10 minutes strait. It was then a metro official said “Come wiwth me”. O sheesh ya’ll! As I walked with him, yet another PDA that I’d heard so many times came to life “please report any suspicious activities or individuals to the nearest metro official”. The metro official to be to his boss’s office, that scene from Slumdog Millionaire where he was being interrogated by a cop with a bucket of water and a car battery occupied my then paranoid imagination. Especially because I thought they would pat me down and find the metro handle, and then of course I would have to account for every moment in my life that led up to the moment I was destined to break off the metro handle… so that I could be reunited with Latika…. Ok… bad reference

But the boss said with a wag of his head “why is it that you walked down the escalator the wrong way?” and I was like “I’m so sorry sir! I guess I was just really bored”. He laughed and said something like “Sir, the Race Course Metro Station is not a place to come for boring!”. I knew what he probably meant and thanked him for his advice and they let me go (without patting me down).

Oh Sheesh ya’ll! Twas a Dream