A visit from a rug vendor

The other day, I came home from the Knowledge Center to make lunch. I hadn't gotten much farther into preparations beyond chopping vegetables when I heard someone calling, “Didi! Didi!” (Didi means 'older sister' and is used as a general term for young women around my age.) I saw a man half way up the stairs to my balcony. I asked him what was the matter and he responded with a long string of Hindi that I couldn't understand. Finally, after much confusion, he said in English, “You are very beautiful.” Laughing, I thanked him and returned to my kitchen.

A minute later, I heard him call again, “Didi, didi!” This time, he had a huge tapestry rug rolled up over his shoulder. “Very beautiful rug for your room,” he pitched it to me. I have no need of such a rug, nor do I even have space for one the size he had. I was eventually able to convince him of this in broken Hindi and he left me to finish cooking my lunch.

I had a visit from a door-to-door salesman. He must have seen me buying vegetables on the road and suspected that since I was foreign, I was rich. I'm sure it didn't take much asking from my neighbors to figure out exactly where I lived.

I am about to take off on a nearly three week trip around India with Anya, two of her friends, and her sister. Our travel plans include Delhi, Aghra, Jalgoan, Pune, Chennai, and Madurai. I am looking forward to a break and a chance to see more of India. I don't anticipate being able to update this blog while I am traveling, but I promise to bring back lots of interesting stories.