Delhi is not a pretty city. It is a jumbled city, where you find new buildings, like the hotel I am in, right across the street from empty lots filled with rubble and shanties on them.
Stray dogs are everywhere and pretty fearless. I fear for them, but my hostess assures me they are generally not killed or moved away.
Cars, cars, cars, some of the older models still spewing fumes that choke the air.
Traffic, even at 2:00 a.m., is horrid. Lanes are a just a suggestion, horn blowing is required, whether to say "watch out" "don't get in my lane" "I'm moving", or, presumably, just to say "hi". I never know why the horn, so I am surmising.
Beggars who see you in a car and literally bang on the windows so hard, you fear it might break. My hostess tells me it is only because they see a tourist in the car.
All kinds of people. Delhi has 18 million people in it. There is no escape, and the concept of personal space is completely alien to them. People bathing in the mud puddles. I only hope they don't drink it as well.
Security checks for vehicles are everywhere: to leave the airport, to cross state lines, even to get into the hotel parking lot/drop off area we had to stop, open the trunk, have a mirror stuck under the car to see if there was...what? Bombs? People? I'm not sure and afraid to ask. My hostess says this has been par for the course since the Mumbai bombings.
The understanding that you will be charged more just for being a "tourist" whether you are there on business or not. Seriously - they have separate (and mostly marked) prices for "Indians" and "Tourists". Indians will pay 10 Rupees to enter the Red Fort, Tourists pay 250. At least they don't hide it.
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Still.....people are nice. Polite for the most part....no, that's not the word....deferential. But there is no escaping that as a female tourist, I attract alot of attention, not all of it good. I see a few female tourists wandering about on their own, and wonder how they feel. Maybe it doesn't bother them, like it probably wouldn't have bothered me 20 years ago.
I have been fortunate enough that my India colleague has been so gracious to spend most of today showing me around, and will do so again tomorrow. Today we started late - about 3.30 - and we went to a crafts shopping area. So lovely! Beautiful cloths for saris, bed covers, table linens, silk scarves, wooden and brass Buddhas, elephants, Hindu gods and goddesses...a riot of color everywhere I turned. My colleague, Parna, loves bargaining - she says it relaxes her! and so I was able to get most things at half off the price being "suggested" - there were only a few items I walked away from. I only spent about 2,000 Rupees - that's maybe $50.00 We ate in another section of town, an area called Khan. I have no idea where the crafts market was, but it was huge.
Tomorrow, she is taking me to the Red Fort, one of the oldest settlements in Delhi, in the heart of Old Delhi. It is a Mughal fort, built by the first Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. If we have time, we may go to Humayan's Tomb, which looks like a smaller Taj Mahal (it was built about 100 years before the Taj, and is commonly believed to have served at the model for the Taj, although, unlike the Taj, it is built of red sandstone and not white marble). Parna tells me that on the road to the Red Fort, we are likely to see cattle and camels on the highway with the cars, and "if we are lucky, an elephant". Now that would be a site to see!
I am tired. It's been 15 years since I've traveled 25 hours to get someplace, and I've forgotten how much it drains you, especially when you yourself are 15 years older. If you are curious - Delhi is 10.5 hours ahead of EDT. It was odd calling Colin to tell him I'd arrived safely and going to bed shortly and it was just the start of his day...
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