A Journalist, Southern Indian food, Narayaniji, suit shopping, Swagath and a day to relax (Day 9)

After breakfast this morning, we were visited by Ms. Seema Mustafa of the Asian Age. She is a female editor, which is much less of a rarity in this day and age, but wasn't common when she got started. As a journalist, she covers Indian politics. She kept her discussion open for the most part, and it was very informative. I was told yesterday that the majority of rural villagers are well-informed, even if they can't read. Ms. Mustafa said this was true. She explained the various political parties, and gave us some backgrounds on each. She also explained the difference between private and common law. The conversation was lively and liberal (my questions led it there). We talked about women's rights, secularism, privatization, poverty, political corruption, and much more.

After this, we headed to Sagar, a southern indian restaurant. We had dosas and upathams. I had the rava masala dosa and a mango milkshake (good!). We had to rush back, however, as Narayani-ji was coming to give us a lecture on the Indian educational system.

Ms. Gupta is a cute fun older woman. She told us about the difference between government and public (which is actually private) schools. She then answered a barrage of questions ranging all over the educational spectrum, from comparison with american students to the history of the Indian educational system. She is such an extremely positive and intelligent woman. I'm glad we'll get to see her again before we leave.

After this, Tony and I headed to the local tailor. With my help, Tony picked fabrics for a new suit. He got measured, and we'll pick it up next week. Suits here are relatively cheap, and I fully intend to get one, but now is not the time. I was actually amazed to see 180-thread count material. If and when I return to Dehli, I will definitely nab a custom-tailored suit of that thread count for roughly $550...craziness. We then looked at wallets, and Lee met up with us so we looked at suitcases. We then headed back to the guest house, so I could pack and catch up on a massive amount of blogging!

We'll head to Swagath in a short while, which we ate at before heading to Jaipur. I'm sure it will be great. Tomorrow, we head out to Lucknow on a train at 5am...in the case that I don't write for a while, best wishes to all until I see you again, and may each of your days be productive yet relaxing.