More Angels in Delhi

I left Mamallapuram at 3:00 AM to catch my flight to New Delhi, the first leg of a multi-vehicle trip to Himachal Pradesh in Northern India. I boarded a 5:55 AM flight that arrived in Delhi at 8:30 AM. I then jumped into a pre-paid taxi to the area of Paharganj to find a room for the next 10 hours before jumping on an overnight train. When I arrived in Paharganj, a maze of market streets that are part of a huge bazaar, a man immediately asked me where I was going. When I told him the name of my guesthouse, he said to follow him. I did so not knowing if I should trust him or not. We walked a short ways to a tourist office where there were several men. One man wearing a leather jacket with a mustache and a cell phone headset in his ear asked me where I was staying. He looked like a 90's cop straight out of a Bollywood movie. When I told him he called the guesthouse. It turned out that they had taken my name, but didn't assign me a room so now they were all full. The Bollywood Cop then suggested a hotel whose advertisement was pinned to the wall. No way, I said, was I going to pay that much for a half day stay, so I whipped out my Lonely Planet and gave him several more numbers of guesthouses to dial. All full. He pushed for the advertised hotel again. When I said no, it seemed he was at his whits end because none of the places I suggested from my guidebook where suitable for a lady and if I wanted to meander through Paharganj then go on ahead. I was already up with my pack on my back when I said if I don't find anything I'll come back. Bollywood cop said okay. "Are you disappointed I didn't take the hotel you suggested?" I asked. "You seemed mad."

"Of course not," he said. "It's not about business. It's about helping out your fellow man." I softened up. Then the man who brought me to the tourist office in the first place, Vijay, invited me to go upstairs to the International Tourist Office desk. I followed him upstairs. "Is this all free?" I asked. Of course. I thought they were touts that my guidebook forewarned me of, especially with Bollywood Cop, whose name is Kamal, pushing his hotel.

Suman (pronounced Schuman) got behind the International Tourist Office desk. He served me some tea, served up some small talk, then filled out a pre-paid hotel reservation voucher and got me a room within my price range. Part of the small talk was what I was going to do for the day. And soon enough we had a plan: he would meet me at my hotel where we would have lunch and then see a Bollywood movie. Vijay arranged for a cycle rickshaw to take me to my hotel and on the way out I apologized to Kamal for being so hard. I didn't know what was going on and what their intentions were. No problem. After finding out that I can read Hindi and with my Indian looking hair he pulled me aside and said if I ever wanted to get married in India, he approved of me and when I decide to let him know.

I arrive at my hotel and an hour later Suman met me for lunch. He also took care of the bill. I ran a quick errand and met him back at the tourist office and it turned out that he couldn't go to the movie because he had a meeting with his boss. I went with Vijay instead, but we left the movie early. Neither of us liked it. He took me to chai, the India Gate, to the train station to buy a chain for my luggage. We had a plan to meet up again in an hour so he could take me to the Old Delhi station where I would catch my overnight train. He didn't end up meeting me, but I made my train on my own just fine.

I am truly blessed and protected in India. I don't know where these guys from the tourist office came from, but they sure saved my ass in Delhi. Not only did they save my ass, they were gentlemen who took me out to lunch, paid for my movie, and paid for the rickshaws to the India Gate. Then they faded into the distance with the rest of Delhi as my train pulled away.

I'm learning that for me, India is a tough balance between staying guarded with edges rough enough to keep me safe and remaining open to and receiving the guidance and protection that the universe is blessing me with. It's like having a strong, clear protective layer that my heart can still see and act through.