Thanksgiving in Delhi

There are no turkeys in India, and there is no pumpkin pie. It also goes without saying that no one celebrates Thanksgiving in India – because while there are Indians, there certainly were no pilgrims here. This honestly made me a little sad. After almost three months of being here, I miss the familiar things of home. I miss cooking. I miss Thai green curry, roast chicken, macaroni and cheese, and burgers. I miss the farmer’s market. And I miss all the fuss over holidays.

Everyone on Facebook is posting their tales of cooking and eating to their statuses. It's actually a little hard to avoid being jealous. I want to be sharing in the sweet potato-tofurkey-family drama festivities. I want to sit down to a plate of gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes.

Honestly, it’s been exhausting to be here this long. Not knowing the language(s), feeling isolated and out of place, occasionally being treated like an object, having to interact with people constantly, not having my own private, quiet space – I’ve basically had to be “on” all the time, and it’s worn me down. Maybe it would have been different if we’d had our own apartment, instead of staying in one-room hotels where it’s easier to feel crowded and where we have to go out to do anything besides sleep. Missing a food-related holiday was just another in a growing list of things to be grumpy about in India.

Danny knew I was sad about missing Thanksgiving, and he tried to find a restaurant that might be serving Thanksgiving dinner. No luck. There really aren’t that many Americans in Delhi, I suppose. Instead, we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Paharganj, Green Chili Bar & Restaurant, which is just around the corner from our hotel. Even though it wasn’t turkey and pie, we still managed to have quite a feast: veg wonton soup, tempura prawns, fish in black bean sauce, steamed rice, and beer. (The soup was especially good. Besides the really tasty vegetarian dumplings, there were lots of fresh veggies in the broth.)

And you know what? It was a pretty nice Thanksgiving after all. I was with Danny, I’m no longer working a job that makes me crazy and miserable, and I’m doing something different and adventurous with my life by living in India – even if I don’t always enjoy being here, it’s been a good experience.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.