Fun with a Family

Today was spent with Shashi and Shammi at their Aunt's house. It was a family get together, and I was invited. For the most part I sat there and listened to their conversations. Well that is not true. I listened to their words, but had little to no understanding of their conversations. I did however take this as an opportunity to practice listening.

It is not that I think I am a bad listener. What I was practicing was being able to listen to individual words that are spoken in Hindi. See, I am learning Hindi right now. And I thought I was doing fairly well learning it. I was wrong. Simple sentences spoken by native Hindi speakers eluded me. This was because I was not used to listening to it.

I have had a similar experience in my own native language. When in the southern USA sometimes I can not understand a damn word some of the people claiming to speak a language of which I was fairly sure I had a solid grasp. So I spent today learning to listen to Hindi. I will get back to you when I have actually made progress.

In the evening We all piled into cars and went to see India gate. It is a huge monument similar to the Arch de Triumph in France. It commemorates all the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in the first world war. Surrounding this impressively large arch are wide open fields, where many citizens of Delhi gather in the evenings to sit and picnic. It was very pleasant to walk around the arch and see all the people just lounging around, sitting, chatting, and having fun. Very peaceful.

After India Gate we headed over to a canteen for dinner. This particular canteen was known for its excellent quality of food. What was not made known to me (immediately) was that it was also famous for being incredibly spicy food. Over the years I have developed a (mostly) respectable tolerance for spicy food. This place, however, made my eyes water and my nose run. That being said, the food really was excellent.

Came home, blogged, went to bed.