Who'm I, Ann?

I set off yesterday to see Humayan's Tomb, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a complex of buildings built as the Moghul Emperor Humayan's tomb," commissioned by his wife in 1562, and designed by Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyath. It created the precedent for the Taj Mahal.



The Moghul Empire lasted from 1526 until the mid-19th century. As they came to India from further west, their reign accounts for the presence of Urdu in India, which is pretty different from Hindi and resembles Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish.

It was actually somewhat eerie going around the complex because it was early in the morning, I was one of few people there, and the crows were doing lots of ominous cawing. Then I almost failed to see the actual tomb itself because of the many doorways through crumbling walls. But when I did, it was rather spectacular.
















The taxi driver on the way back made me go to some artisanal clothing complex. While I was very angry, I bought a shirt anyway, and it's pretty, though today I think I'll be checking out someplace cheaper. It was strangely satisfying to tell the refined saleslady that I didn't even want to be there and the taxi driver had brought me against my will, a comment which she ignored.

I spent the rest of the day napping, studying Hindi (हिन्दी), and completing menial tasks that would be easy in America, but that seem more difficult here, such as finding a place to purchase cereal (solution: gas station). The more I wander around, the fancier my neighborhood looks. I think I'm in some kind of jewelry district, stores of which alternate with Levi's, McDonald's, and Nokia's. There's something almost reminiscent of the pictures I've seen of Tokyo in the way buildings are laid out, with a chaotic smorgasbord of billboards piled on top (only to 4 or 5 stories though).

I've made contact with my office and am going in at 11:00 on Monday.