medicine men

It all starts tomorrow. Tonight I'm laying over in Delhi, and laying low... still getting over the flu. Got a massage, ate curry, strolled through a beautiful temple in my socks, did manage to locate the only store in the city selling 'danceable cassette tapes' (Bobby brown, anyone?) in order to obtain a gift for my fixer and new friend in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Bought sandals i don't need, gave money to a street urchin which prompted a mass swarming around me; escaped into a metro station, found myself in the motorcycle district, discovered another temple, and then I met Palwan, a former strongman who now uses special herbs to break open 'the walls around the muscles that stop them from growing.' He also cures broken bones and the pink muscleman graffitti in the background is a painting of him. He's very kind and strong in that fairytale way and I wished I could take him with me on the plane to Kabul.