Book Fair- Day 2

We had so much fun that we went back to the Book Fair again today for a few hours and sat in the food court for lunch. Again I was approached by three little beggar kids—the youngest was not even 5. They surrounded me—keeping about two feet of distance-- and only knew the word, “maam,” which they said over a million times. The youngest got so tired that he turned it into a song. In the meantime, I watched two girls in yellow and orange saris look up at me as they were walking by and grin. I thought they were noting the scene—white woman surrounded. (N was off getting food) And then just a minute later the yellow sari’d girl was sitting right—I mean like so right next to me that even N wouldn’t get that close in public. She just sat down and said nothing. I smiled and she smiled back shyly. Then I noticed that a friend of hers had a camera phone and was taking our picture. I laughed and then they switched places. But orange sari’d girl was even more shy and got up right away and yellow sat back down just as close. So, I said hello and tried to chat. She knew a little bit of English, and I learned that she and her girl friends, who now I noticed were huddled and giggling about 10 feet away, were training to be police women in Harayana, the province just south of Delhi. They were here on a day excursion. Rosie, this beautiful bright eyed 21 year old clearly has some spirit. In the first 2 minutes she’d asked me to come to Harayana to see her!

Rita took another picture so that she could get Norbert in, and I noticed that those little kids were now trying to get themselves into the picture too. When Rita checked the camera, they ran behind her, laughing, and tried to see themselves. She tried several times and the kids kept running back and forth. A couple more girls got up the courage to come up to us—and one had purchased two books, O. Henry and Gorky, and she hesitantly showed them to Rosie. Rita, the one who took the photograph, got a little more comfortable and sat next to Rosie. The group of girls went away and we sat there a little longer and struggled with English and then we just sat like that for a few more minutes. Then she’d ask another question or I’d think of something simple to say. I learned that she has a “cruel” instructor—who she pointed out to me laughing. Then Rosie looked at us and said, “Love marriage?” I confirmed that we were and that in the US that’s how it works. And what about her? She said she wanted a love marriage, but shook her head making it seem that wasn’t likely. “Here we have arranged marriages…that’s the way,” she said now looking down. We sat there while I finished my popcorn, which I offered to her and Rita, and they declined. Then we said we had to leave. “Where are you going?” “To look at more books,” I offered. And as quickly as she’d pressed herself into me, she and Rita were waving goodbye.