Day 2 (New Delhi) - Part 2

After our palace excursion we headed to a Delhi public school (private, for us Americans) to have a discussion with the students. We were paired off in groups of 5-6 with some of the top students from the school and compared notes on music, school, dating, politics, etc (the sex discussion was pretty hilarious, and also toured part of the school. Some other students also put on a varied and very entertaining dance display. The students were very friendly and willing to compare perspectives. We had an extremely good time chatting with our new friends and were very reluctant to leave!

We got an opportunity to hit the market, where a few of us purchased some gorgeous salwar kameez sets (and were very late for the bus...)

Our final excursion of the day was to the Live India news station headquarters, where our contact, Kumar, is a journalist. We toured the studios, watched a show being recorded, and discussed the television news industry with Kumar, who was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. For many of us, this was the first time seeing how a broadcast is put together. One method combines live presenters with a green screen (in this case, resulting in a background of bananas and a floating skull...) The conventional "big-desk-studio" set-up requires a very fancy articulated camera. It was very interesting to discuss with Kumar the history of broadcast media in India and the government's hand in the news.

Our day finished off with dinner at Salil's parents' house, where we also met his cousin and her two daughters. The food was delicious and we had a good time talking to the girls, who were our age, even though most of us found it impossible to stay awake!