As I depart Delhi

I left Delhi just over 48 hours ago. I so glad to be home. Coming home has made me so appreciative of what I have here in Canada: clean water that I can drink from the tap, space to move, not having to haggle every time I go into a shop.

The Delhi international airport is lovely...it is everything that Delhi is not!  Spacious, clean, relaxed.  I'd forgot to mention that when I first arrived in Delhi, that the customs hall was so pretty!  I spend a fair bit of time in airports, so let me say that if I know one thing, it is airports! The Delhi customs hall has this massive wall with discs that are convex and concave, a copper colour.  And these hand sculptures on those discs, in gestures, typically "Indian".  Parna told me they are the hand movements from an Indian dance of welcome. Departing gave me the opportunity to see more and I can say - it was the most relaxed I was in Delhi the entire time I was there.  Soaring ceilings, quite spaces, good food.

I'd said in my first post that people were almost deferential.  Well, the longer I stayed, the less this was so. Example: I needed an ATM so I could get cash for the rest of the week.  It was after 9.30 at night, so quite dark.  I asked the gal at the front desk where I could find one.  She didn't even look up at me - said there was just a short walk away - 2 or 3 kms "over that way" vaguely waving her hand.

Let me set the scene better, so you really understand how completely inappropriate that answer was: It was dark.  There are no street lights around. The roads, as I have mentioned, are kinda crazy with drivers and stray dogs.  The location of the hotel is set across from a field of garbage with shanty huts on it.  And she is telling a female tourist to just walk across that field to get out cash - probably alot of it, given that most Indian purchases start with a minimum of 100 rupees - and walk back by herself.

Example #2: I tried to get internet connection in my hotel room. I called to the front desk and asked how I got this.  I was told I had to buy a card.  "Ok, where do I buy a card?"  "Oh, around, m'am."  So I asked Parna when we were out, and she had no idea what the hotel was talking about.  So, when we got back that night, I stopped in person at the front desk and asked again. And they had the cards there for purchase. ??????? Why didn't they tell me that when I called and asked originally?


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I ended up seeing cattle eating garbage on the side of the roads, alongside hogs and dogs. No elephants, though. Tons of those motorized rickshaws, men pulling carts both on foot and bicycles. Women in saris of all colours. Food stands on the sides of roads. How the weather impacts the traffic so dramatically, like rain and fog. The smells - not all unpleasant, but definitely a different smell.

I am thankful for the adventure and thankful for the generosity of Parna, who spent pretty much every day with me for 8 days. But I am so thankful to be home.