Chpt 12. 17th August

Technically the day had already begun in Haridwar…

We reached Delhi around 5.30 a.m. and caught an auto to the guest house. Gopal ji was not to happy at having been woken up so early. We were just too tired and sleepy to care. We left a request for breakfast for us and crashed out for the next few hours.

At around 10 a.m. we woke to have a hearty breakfast and read the newspapers (something we hadn’t done in days!). We had a bath and decided to set off to Delhi Haat and some shopping. Vidya said she wasn’t up to it and instead planned on meeting some of her Delhi friends. I think she was just tired and lazy to get out.

We took an auto to Dilli Haat and shopped around in the sweltering heat. Liza managed to charm a shop keeper into lending her a hand fan, which she duly returned after the shopping expedition. We bought a few earrings, bangles and bags and had some of the famous momo’s and fruit beer as a snack. Our next stop was M Block market at GK. We had a late lunch at Moti Mahal, visited a few shops and then took off to Lajpat nagar market.

Vidya, all refreshed, joined us here and we did a bit of window shopping and bought more bangles, lace and a few small gifts. By this time our feet were aching, so we decided to head back to the guesthouse. On the way back on a rickshaw, we stopped at the Haldirams for a bite of chaat and packed some sweets for office/home.

At the guesthouse we stretched out, chatted, repacked our belongings, finalized the shared accounts and watched TV. After a yum dinner of chicken and roti, we went off to sleep.