New start: New Delhi

Delhi's airport

I arrived at Delhi's airport at noon, with the sadness of a lost, the fear to the unknown and the hope of finding something new. At least this time, I didn't have to make a two-hour queue to go through the migration process. I had in mind that the first thing to do was to get my luggage, the one that was left in Miami and was supposed to arrive at this airport. It took me some time to fight against the bureaucracy of the Indian security officers, until I could arrive at the airline desktop to ask for my bag. 

They made me wait for more than an hour and I left without my luggage and without a clue of where it was. I was super hungry and went to a small kiosk just outside the airport, where my first "What am I doing here?" came to my mind. Everything on that kiosk was vegetarian, or vegetarian and spicy. It took me sometime to find something that looked like a hamburger and it turned out, that it was potato, not meat. Disappointed, I called for a taxi. It was a small (the smallest I've ever seen) van, super narrow. I get on it, and the second "what am I doing here?" pop into my mind, accompanied by a " I'm going to die".  The old man drove like crazy, with that narrow car, he was getting between two other cars, making four lines in a three lanes street. He was accelerating and hitting the brakes every 10 seconds. After five minutes, I decided just to calm down and trust on him, I thought that that should be the way they drive here, so he should know better. 

The monkey on my balcony

I felt it was a long drive, and I was just waiting for the landscape to change, from the small apartment buildings that were almost falling apart, to nice big buildings. It never happened and when I noticed, we were stopping in a super crowded street, with small, old, dirty houses.  The third "What am I doing here?" came to my mind, this was my block.  I walked slowly towards the entry of the gated community. I saw some ladies, wearing their saris, kids playing on a dry dirty park. I started looking for the number of the house, when I saw three monkeys jumping from one house to the other. It was outrageous! I even had monkeys on my block! Finally I found the house and the apartment, it wasn't as nice as I have pictured it. It was messy and dirty and with a continuous dripping from the shower that was driving me crazy. I put my things on place and went to buy some food.  

The market was just in front of my block. It had mostly restaurants, a lot of food that I have never seen in my life. I managed to find some food and decided to get a SIM card. I needed a copy of my passport, some pictures and to give the number of a reference person, as if I was applying for another visa. I went to get the copy of my passport and the old man who attended me didn't have change for my 10 rupees note, and he told me "bring it later!".  I was impressed, he didn't even know me, that was something that hadn't happened for me in a while. I managed to get my SIM card, the man on the store filled all the forms for me. Then I wanted to pay the man for the photocopies, but still didn't have change, so I asked someone on a store. He told me "I don't have change, but I can get it for you". So the man left his store and went to a near restaurant to get me the change. 

Riding the rickshaw

I went back home, met my new flatmate (an awesome, super friendly guy) and went to sleep. Before sleeping I was thinking on how lucky I was to have found a flat so close to the place I am working on and with so nice people, how lucky i was to get a SIM card activated on the same day, while it usually takes two, even for the locals. The next day I woke up with a renewed attitude, went to work on a rickshaw and realized that without knowing, I chose the perfect place to work on, doing exactly what I love. I have been here just for a few days, but I am starting to understand why am I here: I am here for the thrill, for the adventure; I am here for the smiles, for the kindness: I am here to challenge myself: I am here for something different, to see that the world is much more than what I am used to. I still don't know the whole reason, but at the moment I just feel is just right. I am just in the place I am supposed to be, that's why everything has worked out so perfectly.