Not only do I love cupcakes, but I'm in India. There's so much to say about my first impressions, luckily I can claim a time constraint and skip out on being thorough. Really though, it's almost midnight here and I have to catch a train at a little after 7 from the Delhi train station. It may not be as crowded that early in the morning, but I know from going there today that it can be harrowing and I better get at least a little sleep.

Where to start? I've been in Delhi for three full days. The first day all I did was sleep, get up for lunch, and go back to sleep. But I've tried to make up for it in the past two days. The main operative words have been disoriented and overwhelmed, of course - of the billion or so people in this country, I feel like I must pass at least a cool million of them walking down the block from my hotel. Really, though, I've been comfortable in the confines of my hotel (which is a bit pricy even by US standards, and I'll be better informed next time I'm in town), and then almost lose my bearings any time I'm out in the city.

Granted it's been a little crazier week than normal in Delhi. Saturday the 26th is Republic Day, so they've been rehearsing for a huge parade all week. This snarled traffic through the city, increased security on public transportation, and shut down many important monuments for fear of terrorism. But that combined with the layer of smoke/smog which has thickened in the cool weather gets to my head by the end of the day. That said, the weather has been one of my favorite parts so far - sunny and cool, I can wear long sleeves and walk around in total comfort.

At the end of the first day, I made it to my first main tourist spot, Humayun's Tomb - a precursor to the Moghul architecture of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so you'll just have to imagine how lovely it looked in the sunset...red sandstone and white marble with lattice work and onion shaped domes.

Today was much more productive. After getting my ticket at the train station, I visited the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara (see above photo), which showed me how much I have to learn about Sikhism in India, as opposed to have I've learned it so far. This was a very diverse and metropolitan place, where everybody seemed to have their own activity and rituals, different than anything that had been explained to me. No kirtan (singing) while I was there, it was a sermon and then a prayer. Still, the pool (Punjabi word that escapes me right now) was lovely (and symbolic), and I'll be seeing much more of that in Amritsar.

Then, I met up with a Delhi-based documentary maker, Yousuf, who took me through the twisted alleyways to the Hazrat Nizammudin Shrine. If you're not up on your Sufism, Nizammudin was a 13th-century Chishti saint, who is buried here along with the poet/companion Amir Khusro. Anyway, Sufi shrines are sometimes the site of qawwali performance, especially thursdays, so after Yousuf showed me around we heard a little bit of music in the courtyard outside the tomb. Then, we went to coffee and met Yousuf's friend Dhruv, and the two of them reignited my enthusiasm for music, which had grown a little grimey under the soot and frustration of wandering Delhi. Dhruv is a very accomplished singer, who had much to say in our far-ranging dinner conversation about the state of India, the state of America, the world, the history of Indian music. Both of these guys were hugely helpful, and I hope to stay in touch and get back to Delhi soon to discover it as the high-brow capital of classical music.