Good-bye, Delhi

I’m in a plane right now heading to Mumbai. The expat part my trip has ended, and I’ll finish India as I started it, as a backpacker.

My ten weeks in Delhi has been mixed, mostly because there were a few weeks when I didn’t feel I was accomplishing much with my charity. With so much of India to see, I probably should have left two weeks ago. But right now, it feels like my time in Delhi was just enough. Delhi doesn’t have the best reputation compared with some of India’s other cities—too aggressive, too in-your-face, not exciting enough—but once I got past that, I found a Delhi filled with green parks, wide open spaces, and a thriving social scene.

And good people. That’s what I’ll miss most about this place. There’s a line from a song I love by Dolly Parton’s Traveling Through, where she says good-bye to everyone and adds, “…you meant more than I knew.” When I sing along, I always change that to “you meant more than you knew,” because the truth is, I always can tell how much someone means to me. They just never know the ways in which they’ve enriched my life.

So I’m thanking them all here, all those people who helped make Delhi a better place for me (even though I’ve told none of them about the blog and don’t intend to).

Thank you to the friends I’ve made, whether it was via the expat sites, a grad school connection, my volunteering, a mutual friend, or we were living together. Thank you Priya, Jon, Jennifer, Ethel, Lindsay, Katherine and Julie, for keeping me busy on weekends, inviting me to dinners and parties and karaoke, letting me watch the Super Bowl at the American embassy, and telling me about the European Commission movie festival.

Thank you to my fellow volunteers at Asha, Annie, Arian and Frankie, for keeping me company at the office, introducing me to the wonder that is Sarojini Nagar market, letting me film you teaching at the slum, and introducing me to your wonderful kids, who welcomed us into their homes and got their mothers to cook delicious chapatti for us.

Thank you to my co-workers at Asha, especially my officemates Kiran, Jibin, Faith, Shubprah, Vinola and Bobby, the office mouse. I know it was strange at first dealing with a volunteer so determined to do things her own way, and for the first few weeks I’m pretty sure you all thought I was crazy. But by the time I left, I felt a part of the office family, and I loved laughing with you and making you all laugh (and Jibin, I don’t really think all Keralites are cockroaches).

Thank you to the kids I played with for the Kutumb Foundation. Munisha, Sangeeta, Simran, Lalit, Rithu, Preeti and Ankita, you brightened my Saturday mornings. I loved how you held my hand and called me didi (“older sister”), and how we played soccer and you all let me teach you a few self-defense moves. One of my Delhi highlights is sitting in the gardens outside Humayan’s Tomb and chatting with you guys.

Thank you to my “one-site stands,” who I may have only hung out with for a day or two, but they were memorable days. Alexis, I had a lovely time wandering Old Delhi and relaxing in beautiful Lodi Gardens. Kathy and Kashi, I’m glad I spent Holi with you two. And Anu, that conversation about crossing the street and stray dogs was one of my best in India.

Finally, thank you to the men of the Delhi Cobras, my softball team in the U.S. embassy league. Harry, Rakesh, Sebastian, Sylvester, Shiv, Vivek, Marsh, Fabrice, Brian, Viren, Omri and Ravinder, I appreciate how you accepted me and cheered me on, even though I was only one of two women in the league and half of you only spoke Hindi. It’s too bad our season ended on such a contentious note, but I’m not sorry I told the league commissioner off on our behalf. Gentlemen, it was an honor.

I still think I stayed in Delhi too long, but when I look back on you all, it doesn’t seem near long enough.