Delhi

Tovah and Anna at rooftop in Delhi
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We spent about 4 or 5 days in Delhi. Most of the time was spent drinking Chai at various rooftop restaurants, where I wasn't sure if I was in the smog or above it. At least I was out of the street. The big cities, like Mumbai and Delhi have really shown me how polarized this country is, it can be tasty and repulsive, bright and dingy, argumentative and easy-going, a constant surprise. Delhi is old and new, cows and auto-rickshaws, book carts next to internet cafes, the streets are lines with brown water and garbage while bright colors of people's clothing goes by, with shops everywhere. As far as I had seen the only sanitation system for garbage removal are the cows. Even when you throw waste into a bin it seems the bins are just dumped onto the streets.

Red Fort gates in Delhi
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Lots of old and lots of new. Many buildings have old dome tops some with marble fronts, in them, maybe a barber or shipping business. Just outside they'll be a tiled public men's urinal, though most men just pee in the streets, we saw more than we really wanted to. The metro is sparkling new and efficient, only 8 rupees- unlike the rickshaws they don't charge tourist more for a ride than a local. As it grows and more stations open, it will be the best way to get around Delhi.

Delhi has really shown me how polarized this country is.

Wendy, Alex, and Charlie
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Delhi does have all the amenities you need like internet, and it's cheap, about $.50/hour. One of my favorite moments was seeing the internet man with turban on his head and an old School Wisconsin Badger's shirt on. Of course, I got a picture.

We found ourselves constantly bargaining and arguing. For instance, you'll fight with an auto-rickshaw driver to get a reasonable price for a ride in his little gas death mobile, get kind of close to what you want to pay (the inflated prices are cheap, but it's the principle!), then he'll bring you to a shop you didn't want to go to (so he gets a cut from the shop owner)- this often causes problems, we would refuse to get out of the rickshaw until he would get back in and takes us to where we wanted to go in the first place, about a 5-8 minute argument. This would happen about twice a day. It's kind of funny, but gets very tiring. Not to mention that we were constantly being approached by scam artist and tour operators. "No thank you" doesn't do it.

Wendy and Anna sleeping on train
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One day at the Lodi Gardens, a man came up to me and put an Indian Flag pin on my shirt, he introduced himself and wanted to know what country I was from, he then asked if I would sign his book where he collects names of his friends from other countries, then he asked for a 500 rupee donation to the blind school, I told him I wasn't interested and gave him back the pin, but he would not leave me alone. Finally a local elderly lady came over and yelled at him, telling him he should be ashamed of himself. She was nice, but then tried to organize a tour for us. It's exhausting, yet hysterical.

Delhi streets
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A big shopping area is Connaught Place. There are lots of pricey theme restaurants, and an underground bazaar with everything you can think of from bangles to cameras, in fact Wendy got a new digi there, as her's broke in Zambia. To continue with the hassles every time we sat at a restaurant around Connaught Place and started into a seemingly innocent conversation with the guys at the next table, we got asked to come with them to their travel/tourist shops to organize a tour. Needless to say we stopped talking to strangers.

Safdarjung's tomb
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Anna's (our aussie friend from Varkala) friend Charlie came to India on his way to London. The two of them came to meet us in Delhi so we could all travel around the rest of India together. We went to a travel agent who schooled us in planning itineraries, and rerouted our northern exploration. Finding a real travel agents was a pain, there are HUNDREDS of people on the street trying to sway you away from the DTTCP (Delhi's government approved travel authority), some have names close to that, mostly they are scams. So it took awhile to be assured we were in the right place.

Palace at the Red fort
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While in Delhi we all went to the Red Fort's Light and Sound Show. It's just that. At night they light up the white marble palaces while a narrator tells the "colorful" story. The Hindu version is the earlier show. In time and translation humor must have gotten lost in the jokes- like blaming the downfall of the Maharajahs on the King's temptation for the "common slut." We got some great pictures though.

Our travel out of Delhi turned out to be just as much mayhem as traveling around Delhi. Our friend Alex (from Kerala) came to meet us in Delhi on his way to Jaipur. Our hotel (as the same with many "tourist" hotels) wouldn't let Alex and his friend up to the rooftop restaurant, as they were "locals". No Indians were allowed in or allowed to stay there. This sent us out to one of the few, and I stress few, taverns. The trip to the tavern was perhaps the cause of us loosing track of time, but more likely, it was due to Alex's ability to kidnap us. He yet again distracted us from leaving. We did not leave enough time to head to the station. In a panic, 4 of us, with 4 packs had to run and find 2 rickshaws that were not trying to charge 100 rupees for a 50 rupee ride. We then had to race across town (Delhi has 3 major train stations). We arrived, ran across the station to the platform only to miss our train by 5 minutes. Wendy and I stayed with the bags- more out of exhaustion than anything else, while Anna and Charlie ran around trying to figure out if there was another train. There was- LEAVING IN 2 MINUTES, from the other side of the station. More running, with packs. We practically had to jump onto the moving train. In the end we had to purchase new tickets. But we were still headed to Dharamsala. We learned later that the unused tickets could be returned for 50% refund, but only in Delhi. Lessons learned: don't listen to Alex about the time, no matter how late Indian trains tend to be get their early and in the worse case you can buy a ticket on the trains, but that doesn't guarantee you a seat.