Dogs in sweaters

About 3 weeks ago, when the weather dropped below 70 degrees for the first time I began to notice a very strange phenomenon amongst the dogs in Delhi--all of a sudden the dogs were sporting coats.


Some of the dogs had on proper dog coats, as you see below....

... but many others were simply clad in a small-sized human sweater, which is very cute and very silly looking.

Strangely enough, it wasn't just the pets that were wearing coats, but even some of the well-known street dogs around the way were modeling winter garments (bolstering my theory that the street dogs are semi-looked after by the people who live/work on the streets, such as street guards, vegetable wallahs, etc.)

I find this hilarious because actually--it's not that cold here. Like, these dogs were prancing around in coats when it was in the mid-60s. What wimps!

Christmas in India

How does one celebrate Christmas in India? Well, there is certainly a healthy population of Indian Christians (which I might add, is definitely an overrepresented population in my office), but obviously the vast majority of the country does not celebrate the holiday. There is still a whiff of noel in the air, of course, because most westerners in Delhi are (a) Christmas-celebrators and (b) pretty wealthy compared to the rest of the population. As you can perhaps imagine (a) + (b) = healthy dose of consumerism aimed at such population, so in most of the upscale markets nowadays you do see small shops selling plastic Christmas trees and cheap ornaments. (I myself just purchased two Santa Claus hats today as an impulse buy. What I shall do with them, I do not know).

Other than the small shops selling Christmas junk the atmosphere of Christmas is pretty lacking here. In fact, I think we perhaps don't grasp how much the month of December is simply suffused with Christmasy stuff back home but here there is no Christmas music on the radio (or piped through store speakers), no special Christmas sales, no Christmas TV or movie programming, No Salvation Army dudes ringing their bell outside of my workplace, no Christmas decoration of public buildings (except, I think in some malls). For me this is a particularly striking change from last year as I worked just a block away from the big Christmas tree at Rockerfeller Center and catycorner from the Rockettes show--so I was literally at the epicenter of Christmas touristry.

However, just because there is not a citywide celebration in the offering, that doesn't stop me and my friends from getting our Christmas on!!!

So, here's what we've done:

Decorated a tree! I did buy one of those small plastic trees being sold--I'm sorry, I know my environmentalist creds just dropped a bit. My roommates and I do have an excess of Christmas lights (referred to as Diwali lights, here) which we usually use for our rooftop deck. However, I was at a loss as to what we could use for ornaments--so I decided to decorate the tree with my jewelry (including my sparkly bangle bracelets, which make excellent ornaments). And, as it turned out one of my roommates did have a box of ornaments which she'd picked up somewhere, so all and all I think it turned out quite festive!

Went to a Christmas market! This was being held at the German school and had lots of cute little gift stands. For me, of course, the best part was eating the bratwurst. Mmmmmm, bratwurst.

Held an advent party! Apparently this is a German thing--one of my roommates is German--wherein friends and family all get together on the first Sunday in December to eat, drink, and be merry. My German roommate cooked up a storm and we opened up our roof deck for a brunch party which lasted 10 hours.

 [The food!]

[We gave prizes for the person in the best Christmas-themed clothing]

 

[My favorite party guest]

 [These are my crazy roommates]
 

So as you can see, we can do Christmas quite well without any state support!

Indian tacos

Yes, in case anyone was wondering, this is what a taco looks like in India. A pastry filled with paneer, marketed by a vaguely racist chile cartoon, sold by Domino's Pizza.

Honestly, I never knew how much I crave Mexican food on a daily basis until I came to Delhi...

Hi-tech Fashion

My friend just sent me this photo. Whoever thinks that India's fashion is old-fashioned should check out the below and reconsider.

Party Horse

I saw my friendly neighborhood vegetable cart pulling horse the other day--all done up and ready to party. (Mane dyed and everything!) I wonder where he was heading when the work day was done?

Delhi International Airport

I've taken two international flights in the last 6 weeks and have gotten to know the Delhi airport pretty well. In addition to the usual duty free stores and overpriced coffee shops it has some...unusual features.

For example, there is a live sitar player and band!

Also, you can get your palm read for a very reasonable price. 

 

Coffee is not such a big thing in India yet, so the airport coffee shops need to try a little harder to attract customers. (And who am I to pass up a free tasting?)

And of course, there is the giant metallic Buddha head.

Of course, perhaps none of this compares to the Amsterdam Airport, where I recently spent a grand total of 12 hours. The only thing that made the layovers bearable? The Amsterdam Airport is the only one I know of with a dedicated cheese counter. Frequent fliers, take note.

The Worst Sandwich in the World

I've just eaten the worst chicken sandwich in the world.

This is particularly ironic, because my coworkers have been talking up this sandwich joint for weeks--and it gets a 4.5 star rating (out of 5 stars) on India's version of yelp. (It's hard to get a 4.5 rating, btw--most places don't get above 4.) I even asked my colleagues to recommend to me the best sandwich available at this place, and they recommend this one.

I might also note that this cost 25% more than my delicious daily lunches, which come with a yummy vegetable dish, a well-spiced bean dish, and an abundance of rice and fresh roti.

It was served with a packet of ketchup.

Behold the sandwich!

 

 

There's a lot of things that India does well, but sandwiches aren't one of them.