I should mention that last week there was a terrorist attack in Mumbai. For us, the freaky thing was that if we hadn't been unable to get an Indian visa in Iran, we most likely would have been in Mumbai. Since Mumbai was closer to the South than New Delhi and the airfare was the same, I had suggested flying there. We'd like to thank the Indian consulate in Tehran for changed our plans for us.

Rowshan got his shoes repaired and understands how I felt when I got mine repaired in Osh. We couldn't find a shoe repair guy in Thamel (duh!) so we walked South past Durbar Square. Rowshan asked a woman selling shoes if she knew where to repair shoes. She pointed ˝ block down the street. There we found a man sitting crosslegged in a small shop stitching a pair of sports shoes. The shop was about 8ft by 4ft with the front made of wooden doors opening onto the street. In one corner was a sewing machine. He sat with his tools all within easy reach. Rowshan showed him his shoes which were torn between the sole and upper. The cobbler said for 100rs (about $1.50) he would patch them and it would take about 10 minutes. Rowshan stood outside the shop, since there wasn't room inside for customers. I went for a walk and when I came back, the man had one of Rowshan's shoes supported on his upturned bare foot while he worked a needle through the tough edge of the sole and the the leather patch. The shoes were soon patched up. I had found a sambosa, pakora and fried curried potato puff maker so we had a delightful lunch of greasy but tasty Indian street food.