Day 79:

Weird. I found myself with a free driver and a very nice a/c car today. We drove around alternating between running silly errands (post office, consulate, supplies, bookshop...) and stopping and surreal shops selling carpets and silks, all of which paid my driver a few bucks for putting me through the door. "Look like a proper tourist," he told me before we set off, "bring your camera." It was certainly strange - the staff there all assumed me to be interested in purchasing overpriced carpets and all gave me the hard sell on those, and also on three thousand dollar jewelry. Of course, all of the "Kashmiri" handcrafts they sell for a hundred bucks a pop are available on the streets of Kathmandu for three or four dollars.

I now know (and am trying to forget) all about how carpets are made, all about "knots per square inch," and how many Kashmiri families are employed in the carpet-making racket (thousands). Similarly, I know all about precious stones and semi-precious stones, which are which and how the earth creates them. The jewelry guy at the last shop was a sad little fellow who clearly dropped out of geology program at a local university in order to sell junk to tourists. He spent more time talking about the science behind his wares than about the beauty of them. There was such sorrow in his eyes.

C'est la vie.

In addition to my errands, my driver and I managed to visit a few of Delhi's tourists sights. Our first stop was at Qutub Minar, a mosque complex (historical and ruined... not alive) on the outskirts of the city. It proved a compelling, if dead place, home to India's very first mosque (built in 1193), and a 73 metre tall Afghan style minaret (Turpan's was cooler). The complex also contains some nice gardens.

We later visited a temple of the Baha'i faith, the architecture of which looked rather space-age. I must admit that that religion is a mystery to me - the signage indicated that the faith encompasses all forms of religion as well as science. They've got some nice gardens too, but no benches.

In between our last few silly shop visits we visited Delhi's National Museum. That is a very wonderful sprawling complex of three floors and many interesting exhibits. It contains the usual pottery and ceramic artifacts, but also some neat displays on the history of currency in India, and on fabric making in the country. Getting lost in those corridors I felt a little bit more of that sorrow that's been chasing me around these past few weeks - I thought of a visit to the sprawling AGNS with L sometime ago, before that relationship got all topsy-turvy.

I left the museum around five and headed over to the main post office. I found there a letter from J sent to me Poste Restante a few weeks ago, the second of her letters to find me since I started travelling. I'm madly in love with both letters and with J, and so reading it really chased AWAY the sorrow for a bit.

Later on I booked a train ticket OUT of this town. On to Agra and the Taj Mahal tomorrow afternoon.