Rob and Anna's travel adventure

I was struck by the oddity of a lunch we had the other day. It all started normal enough, we were at a favorite local establishment in Delhi reviewing the newspaper. Anna is quite enamored with the "matrimonial" section. Those are classified ads for bride or groom searches (a form of this is at http://www.simplymarry.com/timesmatri/faces/jsp/advancedSearchProfession.jsp ). She wanted to have a copy, so I was about to capture some digital images. Anna was puzzled why I wasn't pointing the camera at the newspaper, and similarly baffled why everyone in the restaurant seemed to be looking at her. Then she felt some warm wet wind on her neck, and turned around to be looking straight into a cow's face that had wandered into the restaurant. The cow proceeded to blow snot at her, possibly expressing some interest in placing an order at the dining establishment. Fortunately for me, camera was ready!
The restaurant owner calmly poured some water on the cow's nose, and that was enough of a deterrent to wander off down the packed street to possibly root through some garbage or bug someone else (incidentally, I'm impressed with the gentleness people here seem to have towards animals. Imagine the fiasco a similar event would have in your area. There would be animal control staff, panic/commotion, and possibly hamburgers at some point.).
After the excitement wore off, some lady sat at our table in tears. Seemed that she and her partner split up after eight years. Meanwhile, Anna struck up a conversation with a traveler from Kazakhstan (in Russian) about Russians living in India, while I tried to console the emotional lady. Later during the meal, we had an interesting chat with an Indian lady of very high class about visiting Calcutta, her British governess, and Anna's travel sandals.
Naturally, this combination of events is somewhat peculiar in itself, but the part that made the most impression on me was the following. After our lunch, Anna and I continued our day as though all this was perfectly normal. Reading ads for securing brides, cows wandering into businesses, life dramas, etc. were as natural as going to lunch, noticing a shoe sale, passing a street performer or panhandler, and so on. We didn't really give any of this a second thought (well, at least not a third). That is what our life has become.....

Photos below


Anna is clueless at this point.....



Anna fully comprehends what is happening by now.
Note the background people, just another day in Delhi......



The happy couple.