"What kind of monkey is that?"

"The normal kind."

That conversation happened two days ago on the way from Delhi to Jaipur, between one of the other students on my program and our Hindi teacher. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that there ever could be a "normal" monkey but so it goes. We got to Delhi on Monday night just fine, and stayed in a YMCA hostel for the first two nights. We went to Gandhi's crematorium on Tuesday, a very beautiful and understated monument. Afterwards we had lunch at a delicious (but I've said that after every meal...I don't think I've ever been so content with every meal I've eaten before) South Indian restaurant and drove by the India Gate and the President's House, which face one another. Republic Day was a few days before, so there were still stands and chairs set up along the side of the road between the two.

Two days ago we drove from Delhi to Jaipur, which took about 8 hours including stops for lunch, chai, and our bus getting pulled over. It was really cool to see everything along the side of the highway, especially the mustard plants in full bloom. Yesterday we saw our program center for the first time and had a talk/discussion with Kamla Bhasin, a South Asian feminist activist. She was really candid and upfront with us about her views and the way she sees the world. She also threw around some really great phrases like Compassionate Socialist. When she walked in and sat down, the first thing she said after we greeted her was that she didn't like how we were sitting. We had just been told the proper Indian classroom etiquette, which included not showing the soles of your feet to the teacher (everyone interpreted this as not being able to cross your legs at first, because it shows the tops of your feet and we were all super paranoid) and sitting up straight. So as soon as she said that everyone straightens up and tries to figure out what they were doing wrong. What she really meant was that she didn't like how the desks were set up in a lecture style, and wanted a circle so we could all see each other and discuss, which was an instant relief and everyone was happy to oblige.

After we finished the discussion and the rest of our orientation session we hiked to the top of the Nahar Garh fort, which overlooks the whole city. The views and the fort itself were both beautiful, and we watched the sun set from the top.