I want to stand up, I want to be heard, Dont put me on the backburner

A new month has just begun and I am still trying to figure out how time has passed by so quickly. I feel as though the last time I checked, I had just arrived in New Delhi and was unsure of what to expect. Now, I feel as though I won’t have enough time to completely learn and enjoy myself here. Maybe a year internship would have been a better idea. But, I am here and what can I say other than that I am slowly starting to fall in love. The city of a million sights, smells and sounds. Being woken up by devotional songs at dawn, to the smell of garbage everywhere, to the smile on a young child’s face when you show them a bit of love and attention. It’s as if there is no pause in Delhi. Time and change are intertwined into a single sentence and I am just here along for the ride.



Purana Qila


October also marks the beginning of the festival season. First up, Navratri where the women keep 9 days of “fasting” until the festival of Dusshera, in honour of one of the goddesses Durga. What I didn’t realize is that I would also be indirectly partaking in the fasting rituals whether I liked it or not. It basically means that my diet now consists of potatoes, more potatoes and some more. Talk about starch overload in different forms- from curries to dry fries. I hope my landlords don’t find out that I actually hate potatoes with a passion and I have been secretly living on a diet of cookies and chocolates to deal with my hunger pangs.
Eid also falls in around the same time and lastly, the best festival of the year (in my opinion) is diwali, the festival of lights. It’s going to be my first ever diwali in India and the festival honours the return of Lord Ram after 14 years in exile. For everyday folks it means...eating tons of good food and all the sweets you can possibly consume and the best part of all- fireworks!!!!

Well today being October 2nd is actually Eid as well as Gandhi Jayanti (the birth of Gandhi) and it means a holiday! I feel spoilt! I’m actually getting a holiday in the middle of the week. I haven’t had one in a month so this feels great. I wasn’t too sure what to do with myself. I have been warned multiple times not to venture out towards Kashmiri Gate or Old Delhi since there could be more bomb blasts so I did what every Indian would do on a holiday- Shop!

It was actually my first experience venturing into an Indian Shopping Mall. I seriously felt as though I was walking to Pacific center in Vancouver. The only difference was that there were tons of Indian clothing and Indian people! I’m not a big fan of malls but hey if you want to avoid being bored and get some exercise in as well, what’s a girl to do.

The not so fun part of all the festivities is the constant power outages that result from over consumption. So on a daily basis at random times, the power goes out for anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half. So, it means tons of cold showers to deal with the heat (will it ever end) and lots of walks to deal with my boredom. I am really getting to know myself well here in Delhi.

Today also being Gandhi jayanti has made me think a lot about the world today. Where our inspirational leaders that made youth believe and look up to someone? Does it mean that only in times of great struggle and world war, greatness emerges. Don’t get me wrong, I am not the biggest fan of Gandhi myself but I can’t help but wonder, what does it take to have an inspirational person move us, shake us and make us scream for our rights and our beliefs. Will I ever hear, meet or see such an individual or will it become once again about reading books to find out the meaning of inspiration.

In today’s world where death is treated as the norm and there is so much degradation and violence on different levels, where are our leaders who will fight for change, in the name of humanity and goodness.
Maybe I am being too idealistic again but we need people with souls, who aren’t soldiers and are willing to implement change in the name of love.
Rambling again 