It is said that when you first come to Delhi, you cannot stop talking about your experiences....and when you have been here a while, you cannot find the words to describe your experiences anymore.

I have experienced some sort of writers' block the past months... I had no words to describe the problems arising (literally) because of the heavy monsoon, or the frenzy that swept the city when it was preparing for the Commonwealth games, nor what happened during the Games...collapsing footbridges, dogs shitting in the athlete's quarters, and the likes. I tried to upload pictures showing people painting the pavement the day before the grand opening of the Games, or headlines I found in the newspapers about beggars that were being moved to areas that were less crowded with tourists....I made pictures of slums hidden behind huge posters advertising the games, with ironic slogans as "come out and play" and wanted to talk about the fact that suddenly it WAS possible to clean the city....but the words failed me.

My new year's resolution is to write more often about the many noteworthy things in India. Headlines, things that happen on the streets, or even the interesting battle that T has now taken up with the neighbours who ALL seem to have chosen this particular time to knock down their houses and build three story appartment buildings, no doubt with the purpose to rent them out to foreigners against ludecrous prices. The work is being carried out by workmen and -women who earn 100 rupees per day...or less. For this they officially work six days a week from 8 to 8.....unofficially (which is why T started his battle) they work 7 days a week from 6 to 11, and even sometimes pour concrete at 4 at night....next to our bedroom.

So today a few of the noteworthy things that I found in the newspaper yesterday: a Sadhu blowing for good luck in the new year, a headline about how "no honking day" was going to be celebrated on january the 1st (never noticed anything....honking as usual) and -very noteworthy for a Dutch person like myself- a picture of our traditional new year's fare, the "oliebol" (literally meaning oil-ball).
Only a few weird things in the wonderful world called India......more to come!