Succumbing to Relaxation

For the past few days, I've been trying to operate on a New York time schedule here- always needing to have a plan ahead of time, annoyed by time that was wasted when we got lost in the city on the way to meetings, and not be able to handle abrupt changes in schedule that led to me constantly cancelling on plans to meet with family and friends in the city. However hard I tried, I could not make Delhi and India mold to be receptive to my desire to always be doing something productive on a strict time table.
Yesterday, we finally decided to give in and go with the flow. Ehi spent the day working in the sunlight of the lobby of our hotel, occasionally watching all the people who walked in and out of the building during the course of the day. We lingered over lunch, savoring the spices, talking about our trip, and getting seconds on everything. In the afternoon, we headed to a beautiful outdoor market, with individual stalls selling all kind of items from shawls to wooden elephants to cotton tunics to decorative purses, and spent hours wandering and bargaining for items for ourselves and friends.
Most importantly, we took everything in stride. When the bank at the market was closed for lunch, instead of being irritated, we held hands as we managed to cross the busy intersection and start looking for a money changing location. It turned out to be very fortunate for us, because we found a place next to a luggage stall where Ehi purchased a much-needed suitcase as well! When Ehi and I were stuck in heavy evening traffic for two hours last night, instead of getting upset about the wasted time, we leisurely sat back and napped for the trip, waking up at the guest house refreshed and ready to tackle our work for the rest of the evening- after we ate of course.
By simply giving in to the reality of the laissez-faire nature of the community around us, I was finally able to relax, (temporarily) discard my desire to schedule everything in my life, and truly begin to appreciate and enjoy the pace of the culture around us. Perhaps this is another aspect of our trip that is important to realize: the general atmosphere of the community around us, and how it shapes the questions we continue to ask about the intersectionalities of race, gender and caste.