FIRST DAYS IN DELHI
Arriving at Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi is much like arriving at any '2nd world' airport...it's warm, it's plain & there's broken roadways as soon as you get outside the building. We arrived at 3 am & had a speedy but long 'cook's tour' through the backstreets of Delhi on our way to Wonghden House in the New Tebetan Colony in Majnu Ka Tilla, involving lots of horn-honking to let other vehicles know we were passing. My impression was one of decay...light industrial/commercial areas with buildings in disrepair. Many appeared to also be homes. This is similar to what we've seen in Mexico. Haven't seen the downtown tourist areas yet, where the markets & sights are.
Delhi is a fascinating experience, not one to be missed (I guess)...but not for the faint of heart! Getting around is a challenge due to the chaos & our hotel was far from the centre of town so we had to take cabs, auto rickshaws & rickshaws. Everyone drives very fast between lanes more than in them, even though the government puts up signs reading 'stay in your lane, be sane', & cuts in front of others with inches to spare all the while honking loudly (that's recommended). Myriad motorcycles & auto rickshaws weave in & amongst cars & loads of bicycles. All motorcycle drivers appear to wear helmets, but not cyclists. Many women ride behind on motorcycles side-saddle, appearing very relaxed in their saris or salware kameez (pants & tunics) with no helmets on!
Within the past week I have noticed an odd parallel between Vancouver & Delhi news re public reaction to bus drivers running over or almost running over people on the street. Quite a few people have been killed this year in Delhi by buses (70+ I think) & passengers rioted & tried to set a bus on fire a few days ago when a young man was killed on his motorcycle. In Vancouver many people have been complaining to the bus company about bus drivers' dangerous driving.
This first experience of Delhi is not particularly positive for me. Each time we go into the heart of Delhi there are touts and merchants constantly at us to buy something or go somewhere with them. They won't take no for an answer. It's almost like we have a big sign on our foreheads "newbies". This on top of the heat and traffic chaos has been overwhelming at times. We left after 4 days and went to McLeod Ganj (Upper Dharamsala), where the Dalai Lama makes his home, then returned for a couple more days before moving on to Varanasi.
5 WEEKS LATER - BACK IN DELHI
Well, here we are back in Delhi after a long day of travel yesterday. We left Kochi at 7:30 am for a 10:30 flight, but the flight was delayed until 12:15 (it actually left at 1ish). I believe all our domestic flights have been delayed.
We arrived at the Delhi airport at 5 pm, purchased a government taxi ticket to Paharganj, the district our hotel was in (these fixed price tickets are about 1/2 the price of the private cabs). But, these drivers don't speak English & we didn't have the street address for the hotel, only detailed directions. There are so many hotels here, especially in the Paharganj area near Connaught Circle, that the cabies don't know many of them. Our driver did his very best, stopping along the way as we drew closer to Paharganj to ask other drivers & people on the street. Most of them didn't seem to know much about it! Then, like a small miracle, we stopped to ask a stranger on the street. This man read our lengthy directions, understood them perfectly, said he wanted to go that way & asked for a ride. He directed us to within a block or so of the hotel, then got out at his destination.
We drove through a packed, extremely narrow market street for the length of at least 3 city blocks. The street was full of people, all stalls were open. There were a few cars squeezing through, plenty of motorcycles & bicycle rickshaws. It wasn't really wide enough for a car street, but this is the way in India. The teeming market with it's lights & multi-coloured goods looked very magical. It was a good intro to our last day in India!
Our hotel is good, quite retro looking, with the room freshly painted in torquoise, quite clean. The Paharganj area is an alternative to the expensive Connaught Place, which has many upscale shops & hotels (e.g. Benneton). Yet it is tightly adjacent to CP. We've seen lots of younger, hippy-looking travellers on the streets here, but also many middle-aged people, mostly European & English.
We had the most amazing morning. I wanted to go to the centre for street children, a place where they get off the street for a while, eat, wash their clothes, and get tutoring. We asked directions at the front desk and were told that the owner of the hotel works with street children. We were taken to his basement office where he told us all about his volunteer work & explained about 'giving back' to others to repay bad karma from past lives. He said a 27 year old daughter, an only child like our daughter, who is born into wealth (his take on it) to loving parents in a country like Canada has good karma.
Brij, the owner, belongs to a volunteer organization. He's a former auto rickshaw driver from Paharganj (but an unusual one in that he's college educated) & supports many, many charities for the poor. He took us to 4 in the basement of the hotel...tutoring for young kids, computer training for men & women, sewing training & a doctor's office!
Then he drove us to the orphanage in a nearby hindu temple; he showed us the infants' room (the other , older kids were at school I think; they live in another part of the temple in an ashram). There were 8-10 babies & one 10 yr old girl who's slightly mentally handicapped. The babies are rescued after being abandoned; the police call the association & someone goes immediately with a nurse to pick them up. One baby was very white skinned & I feel that may be the main reason for her abandonment in a park. They were mostly girls as people don't want them.
The babies are cared for lovingly by paid nurses, given good medical care & food. Then they're adopted out to Indian families who are unable to have their own babies. The youngest are only given to couples who's 2 ages do not exceed 90; if they're older they get older kids. The babies were so beautiful & seemed so peaceful; the energy of the whole temple was like that.
We met a dutch woman who is volunteering for 6 months. She's doing the website for the children's centre as that's her work + she works with the kids too. She doesn't go every day as she gets too attached & then they're gone. We may want to do volunteer work through this organization.
Our afternoon was an enormous contrast to the morning viewing the facilitities for poor people in
Paharganj. We took the subway one stop to Connaught Circle as my partner wanted to see what an Indian subway was like. (The subway stations & toll booths resemble Bart in San Francisco in apperance) & are 5-6 years old. They help relieve the bazaarly congested traffic on the roads we were told). Connaught Circle is a very upscale area of stores as I believe I mentioned earlier & expensive hotels & restaurants. We walked around, had a pizza at Pizza Hut (my choice, I'm beginning my re-entry!), then had dessert & coffee at a new chain of Indian cafes. I wanted to take a bicycle rickshaw back to our hotel for one last ride, but they're not allowed into that area, so we took an auto rickshaw. After returning we walked through the busy lanes of the Paharganj bazaar again for an hour...our last time...& took a few pictures in the waning light.
Now I am in love with Delhi...especially the Paharganj district in the heart of the city. I can't wait to return!
Copyright 2008 Ellen Besso
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