We finally made it to New Delhi!
After a short bus ride from the airport, we got settled into our hotel Taj Palace around 5:00 pm. Took a quick shower before meeting in the swanky hotel bar to celebrate Justine's birthday. It was warm, but we sat outside while nearby some of our students practiced putting on the hotel's practice greens.
After one drink we went inside and had a nice Indian dinner. My friend Aashish arrived during dinner. He is a Kelley alumnus who lives in Delhi and with whom I spent time in Oxford in 2009. After dinner, he took the faculty member Ramesh and me out to the Kahn Market, a happening area for night life. We had a nice visit in a club there, discussing issues related to international students at Kelley, recruiting in India, and alumni involvement.
We got a little lost on the way back to the hotel. New Delhi is set up in a radial pattern with roundabouts everywhere, and Aashish was having a difficult time finding the road leading back to the hotel. So I got a nice late-night tour of the city, past the Parliament House, india Gate, shopping areas, a Sikh guru dwara, parks, embassies, the National Museum, National Archives, and lots of tree-lined streets.
Finally made it back to the hotel in time for about 4 hours of sleep. We're currently on our way to Agra and the Taj Mahal. We just stopped at a state border crossing to pay the taxes, and a lot of guys had monkeys to show us in hopes that we would take a picture and pay them money.
Enough time on my BlackBerry for now - time to once again focus my attention on the interesting surroundings.
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