No Problems Here

I’m sorry for this past hiatus, guys. I am in Bhopal safe and sound alhamdulilah. I have a lot to say about Bhopal, but first a couple more snapshots of my day in Delhi.

Bishal took me around to see, from the back of the Tuk-Tuk famous temples, memorials, museums and government buildings. At most, I just snapped a blurry photo or two as we whirred past.

The only place I actually visited by foot was the Gandhi memorial, which featured a walk through his hollowed out house, a memorial wall of photos and a walk with posters of Gandhi quotes and defining moments along the sides of the path. Unfortunately, the camera with me could not handle the Indian heat and decided to refuse to work for this portion. My pictures since then are sporadic and completely based on the whims of the camera’s functionality.

At one point we reached the majestic Birla temple and Bishal offered to watch my bags while I toured it on the inside, as there were, according to him, no bags allowed inside. I wanted to take him up on that offer, but I hesitated for two main reasons. 1) He was fully aware of the amount of valuables I had purchased from the gift shop from hell and we both knew they were much more than whatever I was going to pay him at the end of the day. (Of course, the rationality of that did not stop me from feeling a tinge of guilt for being obviously uncomfortable with entrusting him with my things.) 2) I was not entirely sure I would be welcome, or even allowed, inside a temple in my hijab. I had heard from a Desi friend back home that Muslims were not allowed in the Hindu temples, and I did not want to risk offending anyone. I kept trying to find out the truth from Bishal, but I did not want to be offensive. A few minutes after departing from the Birla temple, I decided I was foreign enough to pull off the question.

“So Bishal, anyone is allowed in the temples?”
“Yes ma’am, everyone.”
“…even Muslims? I had heard somewhere that Muslims were not allowed inside…”
“No ma’am, everyone allowed.” He said.
A few moments of silence passed.
“Ma’am, this is India, Hindus and Muslims no problem”
I smiled and nodded, but my mind instinctively flashed back to photos and videos of deadly riots that said exactly the opposite. Although it was hard to believe such a simple generalization, it did make me think of the implications of my American background. Surely, there are some Hindu/Muslim tensions in India, but was I allowing my upbringing in the US to force me to mentally fit this society into an Americanesque racialized dichotomy? It is a question I continue to ask myself now, 2.5 weeks into my stay…
Around 2 pm, Bishal asked if I was getting hungry. In fact, I had absolutely no appetite despite hardly having touched my room service the night before or my breakfast that morning, but I wanted to see where Bishal would take me so I feigned hunger. He promised to take me to a great restaurant, and I was excited to see what he had in store. I imagined a stand on the street with piping hot pakodas and samosas or a little hole-in-the-wall that made up in food what it lacked in décor.

I was disappointed when we arrived at a posh restaurant with AC and a set up that reminded me of a typical fine dining place in Ann Arbor. Before I could protest, I had already been led inside and seated. The food was overpriced and mediocre; the wait staff was overly haughty and irritating. I spent my time inside itching to go back outside. Afterwards, Bishal asked if I liked the restaurant. Irritated with him for having taken me there, I forewent the option of a courtesy lie. Instead, I shrugged and said “it was just like American restaurants. I thought you would take me somewhere more...”I searched for the appropriate description “...a place with less tourists."

“You will not like to go there, ma’am. Food hurts stomach and very crowded with people sitting around.”

Bishal seemed to know a great deal about what I wanted and liked, and neither of them involved interacting with locals or seeing anything that did not attempt to replicate the place I had just left. It was frustrating, but I knew that with just a few hours in Delhi, I had to take what I was given by fate and my rickshaw driver.