Although yesterday’s lunch of paratha was delicious, today it came back in an unpleasant way for five of us students and two of the interns. With the food poisoning affecting the majority, our activities for the day were canceled. For those who were feeling well, our day was still filled with adventure and learning.
After a familiar breakfast of toast and bananas, four of us used Uber to take an auto to Commercial street. We paid the driver a little extra for taking one more person than his vehicle was meant to hold. This was our first outing without a professor or intern. Getting out of the auto, we were overwhelmed by the many storefronts lined up along the street, the people walking every which way, and two-wheelers and autos passing by.
The vendors were selling all kinds of clothes, jewelry, snacks, and other things. We walked down what we could tell to be the main street, going in and out of stores and buying a few clothes. While we knew that we could have bargained the prices, we were happy with the prices of about 150-250 rupees for each item of clothing, which is about $2-$4 U.S.
Trying to take an auto back without Uber proved to be slightly challenging. The first driver we talked to agreed to take us for a good price, but wanted to drive us to a store first, likely as a part of a deal with the store owner, which we didn’t have the time to do. The next driver we asked refused to lower his price from 150 rupees, about double what we had paid to get there. Finally, after some back and forth, the third driver agreed to 100 rupees.
For most of us, the night ended early as we set our alarms to wake up for our 7 a.m. trip to Navadarshanam and quickly fell asleep.
Mia K.
