$20,000.00 Street Price and a Cow at the Door

Hello all,

Well I made it - I am sitting in the computer lounge of my hotel in Delhi. And although I have only been here for three and a half hours, please do not think I do not already have stories to tell. First story: I did not think I would ever have a story that could top the Richard Dreyfus hitting on the 17 year old girl for 3 hours on the train story, but now I do. During the flight over here, I was seated to an amicable man - we made small talk. He is originally from India, but is now a US citizen (has lived in the US for 20 years). Chat chat blah blah and then out of the blue offers me 20,000 dollars if I will marry his 26 year old brother who lives near Jaipur. WHAT!!! I think I made this guy repeat himself three times because I could not believe I was really hearing this. I am still laughing as I am typing - he offered me cash to marry his brother!!!! I politely told him again that I was engaged and that the man I was promised to marry would not be very happy nor would my family (throwing the father rules culture in there), and as interesting as an offer as it was - I must decline.

I am serious - I have no idea how I will top that one.

Second story: This one is very brief. Now most of you should know about my great dislike and distrust of cows. They are plotting I tell you. So what do I do, I come to a country where cows are sacred. Yea I know. Anyway, so I am having a lovely time chatting with my cab driver (FYI - they drive on the left here, the cars are seriously old and small, the drive crazy fast - even faster the Korean bus drivers, and the roads SUCK!) So we are chatting it up and zipping down the road, we pull up in front of my hotel and as I look up what do I see in front of my cab laying down between two parked cars? Oh Yea!! A COW. A Big Cow just looking rather pissed that the lights of my cab just disturbed it's sleep. THERE IS A COW IN FRONT OF MY HOTEL!!!! A COW!!! Luckily the entrance to the hotel was to my left and not straight ahead so I did not have to walk past angry cow.

There you have it folk: an offer of marriage and a cow. I do not think I could have had a better welcoming to India. It is now quarter to 10 at night - I had yummy food that only cost me the equivalent of 3 US dollars and now I shall go to bed. I will need all the sleep I can get to out run the cows over the next two weeks.

Sleep well all.