christmas in the city!

nisarga had hoped we would be spending it in goa. he had wishes of hot sun, sand and sea. but we agreed on delhi. why? because of friends. i absolutely didn't want to spend christmas on the road somewhere when there is the option of being with friends. especially since i recently cut my umbilical cord with my apartment.

so we descended upon delhi on the 22nd dec, monday, and started to make the rounds. we had not expected it but we had lunch and/ or dinner every day at someones place. nisarga was resistant to going out so much. it was only his second christmas out of poland and away from his family, so there were emotions to be considered.

and there was a cultural gap to be overcome... unbeknown to me. lets see. when i say christmas dinner, i mean dinner on the 25th. when i say Christmas eve dinner, i mean dinner on the 24th. and so goes for lunch. when are presents opened? christmas morning, no... not at midnight, in the morning. gotta give santa and the reindeer a chance to reach your place during the night right?

well guess what? most of the Europeans think otherwise. christmas dinner is on the 24th, and opening presents happens at midnight. so this resulted in confusion between this american gal and the europeans. how did i not notice this before? how did i not realize this difference before? well... i had not! so i double booked us and thought we had plans when we didn't. and nisarga was frustrated with me because the night of the 24th was so important to him and he didn't want to be with strangers, and i had booked us for two dinners and a surprise birthday party that night.

so what ended up happening? we went to the first dinner, with my good friend uffe and his mother who are both visiting india for the holidays; they are from denmark so this was the European version of Christmas dinner. His christmas gift to us was an exquisite dinner at the Imperial Hotel. There were oysters, ham, sushi, lamb, cow, shrimp, fois gras, cheeeeeeze, olives, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and everything else you can think of. Nisarga, in honor of his Polish traditions, had fish (salmon and tuna, not carp) as part of his meal. (This made up for not being with Polish folk for this very important meal, a concern his mother had.) We finished there at around 11:30 and all we could do at that point was unbutton our pants before the button popped out, and take a taxi home. We put up the Christmas tree and decorations and passed out, never making it to the second dinner or the birthday party.

The next day we found that santa had come and left a little something for each of us. We went to my friend Kuku's house for Christmas lunch, and then to Anjali's house for Christmas dinner. This was the American version of Christmas. In fact Nisarga was shocked that when I called my mother and brother that morning, which was still Christmas Eve (24th dec) for them, they were not doing anything special. For Americans Christmas Eve is a day to spend with friends or simply prepare for the big day... Christmas.

Anyway, apparently I overdid it during those previous 48 hours because on the 26th my stomach said £&%! you. Yup!!! I had the runs big time. Perhaps this was the Greek version of Christmas... ala hard core partying Dionysos's style. Basically while I was asleep my stomach and intestines had an emergency meeting and having come to the realization that I was on a path to self implosion by food they decided to send me a message loud and clear: we are on strike until you stop treating us like a garbage disposal. And the whole system shut down. No one else from the dinner or lunch was sick, just me. I got the message. I ate nothing all day. In the afternoon I had a banana, and then some boiled potatoes with butter. As my dear friend Harris reminded, this was the time to be grateful I was not in some hotel room in the middle of who knows where, but comfortable with everything I needed around me, a western (sit-down instead of squat) toilet, and lots of toilet paper. Yes, I was dam grateful.

And so... we spent our first Christmas together. We listened to Christmas songs on our IPods all day for the whole week I think. And although there wasn't snow, there was plenty of chill, lots of good food, spiked spiced cocoa, way too much food, and so many good friends with loving hugs and smiles to greet us with.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away. This Christmas...

Kisses to all and to all a good night!