Aaah, out of Delhi

This keyboard is no good, so excuse if there are more than the normal number of typos.

I am in Jaipur. My new hotel kicks butt. I like getting room service because I can tear my chapati with two heads instead of the grab, press, extend acrobatics that are required when using only the right hand. So anyway, today was surreal. I'm sure that description is overused, but today sure was wacky. I checked in, ordered room service, and used the hotel owner's computer for a half hour. My thali arrived and I ate it. I took an autorickshaw to Nahargarh, a fort on the hill above Jaipur. I began the 2km walk up the hill and that's when the magic started. Normally the women here will stare you down and not return a smile. But the children love foreigners. Their eyes get wide when they see you and they exurberently yell 'hello!'. They're thrilled to receive a wave or to have you say their name. Along the walk up, many children were flying kites along the steep hill face. Countless mangled kites in the trees indicated this was a popular passtime. One kid handed me the string of his kite, but I wasn't too sure about the controls so I handed it back once it got close to the rocks.

By the top of the hill I was feeling very good. It was hard to keep from smiling. I met some doctors visitings from Chennai. When I bumped into them later, one introduced me, correctly reciting all my biographical details. I was impressed so I swapped addresses with him. Perhaps I will visit when I fly down there.

A bunch of students from a nearby medical school were visiting and wanted to be photographed with me. They claimed today was 'rose day' and gave me a yellow rose to symbolize friendship. They would ask me questions and when I said something like 'Indian food is the best' they would all ooh and ahh and smile.

On the way back to Jaipur, I began speaking with a group of boys. They invited me back to their dorm. I admit I was a little nervous at times, but I went. They seemed harmless. We bumped into other students that they knew which made me more confident. I made sure to talk to some neighbors before I went to their room. One of them ran to get sugar, made chai, and gave me a churma that his mther made. I only drank and ate what they did, which hopefully eliminates the chance of being drugged (unless they have built up an immunity to iocaine powder).

I took pictures with them and then bid them farewell since it was getting dark. They walked me back to the road to get an autorickshaw back to my hotel. Well, anyway, I won't get into the details too much here, but we were stopped by the police and taken to the police station. An officer hit one of the boys as we rode, and since they were the only ones who spoke any English (and they weren't in a position to explain) - I had nooooooooooo idea what the hell was going on. When we got to the police station I learned that they were being arrested for suspicious of theft from me, though nothing had been stolen and I didn't want to press charges (obviously). The police would not release them, and after hitting them some more and making them grovel, they were taken into a room to be interoggated to determine if they were thieves. I was free to go, but I waited for an hour or so at the station to see if they would be released. Nope. Eventually I left because it was getting late, and travelling by autorickshaw in the middle of the night sucks.

Okay, so I returned to my hotel. I talked to the owner who showed me his dining area with wall paintings of the forts of Rajasthan (the state of India that I'm in). He also broke out the design sketches for his custom furniture designs. He's altering the rooftop to match an old fort that it overlooks. The tables and chairs will have animal themes. Some looked weird. He said he sits in each chair for 15 minutes to ensure it is comfortable.