This post has sections for all the good goodies in Delhi.
Traffic and Getting around
Traffic is chaos. Gaps between vehicles on the road start at zero (the bus that we argued with in our tuktuk) up to a couple of meters. Everything with a hooter makes a noise and somehow it works. Really well.
Rush hour trains are an experience that is recommended. As long as you're taller than everyone else who is being crushed up against you.
Someone wise said "If you don't like people, don't go to India." True.
Bloomrooms Hotel
The hotel is an art deco building probably dating from the 1920's that's been beautifully renovated. It's affordable and lovely.
Lotus Temple
The B'hai faith's temple. This absolutely stunning off-shutter concrete. Worth a visit to find out about a religion that I bet you know nothing about. :-)
Lovely and noisy. it's amazing how soon you find yourself chanting along.....
Humayun's tomb
This is just beautiful architecture from the mogul period.The proportions of the buildings are just do perfect.
Sikh temple
Once again, its great to learn about a religion I knew nothing about. Wonderful friendly people at the temple welcomed us and showed us around their beliefs.
General Thoughts and Happenings
I wanted to go to Dilli Haat, a market recommended by the argetinian girl at the hotel; the Lotus Temple and the Red Fort. Just a day of dight seeing and absorbing this place. In the early morning outside my hotel the hooters start blaring early and incessantly. Delhi is wide awake early. Breakfast (300/-, R50) in the hotel is very western, even with marmalade .
In the end Dilli Haat didn't happen and neither did the Red Fort. I did see the Lotus Temple, the Hare Krishna temple, Humayun's tomb. Last night was spent eating out in Old Delhi under Sid's guidance. What an experience! Once again we ventured where there were no tourists and repeatedly committed the Great Folly - eating from street vendors but under strict supervision from Sid. Its disturbing out there though: We ate, perched on plastic stools in an alley, oblivious to the fact that a man had collapsed not two meters behind me and was sprawled on the ground. Passers by just pass by. The poor sit in neat rows outside some of the food shops, waiting for a charitable meal-buyer. We each gave 150/- (R25) and that provided 30 meals of a flat bread and a bowl of curry. Do they just sit there each night and get a couple of meals a week? No need to work? Charity is difficult. Beggars there tug at your arms and clothes for attention. A firm "No", which works at SA traffic lights, has no effect. Sid's 12 year old daughter looks at them and indicates to me with a dismissive wave that I should ignore them. She is Delhi born and hardened and lives next to poverty.
We got home late and full of the finest indian food I've had. None of it was too weird, except for the excellent sinew curry. Just seriously good and never too hot. I like.
DAY 3: MORE DELHI
First order of the day was to return to Old Delhi and the Jama Masjid mosque that we passed last night on our way to food. It's name means common mosque, referring to it's role as a place of prayer for common use in the area. It is also the biggest mosque in India, catering for 25 000 worshippers! Typically Muslim, it is beautiful and functional. The attending multitudes are all housed outdoors while the mosque building is only about 20% of the ground area. When prayer time came it felt like being in one of those Pretoria shops that eject everyone quite unceremoniously, in this case by people who could not speak and so added to the aggressive feel by their hand gesturing and guttural grunts. Disconcerting for tender western souls!
Also typically Muslim, we have found, is the fact that entrance to the mosque is free but they charge 300/- per camera and, yes, you do have a camera. Other temples are free and rely on the enticing charms of multiple donation boxes for funding. The camera toll is more effective.
Lunch was practicing what we'd been taught by Sid. We went into a grubby but busy little restaurant and ordered a cheap chicken curry. (Cheap means about USD1.50 in a sit down place.) It arrived and we ate all the chicken and rice, ignoring the sides of cold and raw stuff. It was yummy.
After lunch it was into a tuktuk with orders for him to take us to an old observstory. Actually I shouldn't use the term tuktuk - in India they are 'auto rickshaws' or just 'autos'. Anyway, price agreed, we set off. Within 5 minutes we'd been convinced to take his tour of 5 places for 4 times the money. It was great. We saw the majestic British colonial government buildings, so like the Union Buildings in Pretoria but on a far grander scale; a Hindu temple, so much more colourful than the Muslim equivalent; Indira Gandhi's house, including the spot where she was assassinated by her body guards.
Our auto driver was a total maniac, feeding off our squawks, but we only had one physical contact with another vehicle. Such collisions are completely ignored in a world where road users miss one another by millimeters at every opportunity.
Back to the hotel, pick up luggage, put it in the small taxi that was there for all 6 of us and then walk to the station, beating the taxi over the half kilo by about 10 minutes.
INDIANS
At the mosque, a young man approached me, addressing me as "my uncle".He wanted to practice his listening skills, his English pronunciation, get advice for life as well as for the Indian nation. not being shy, I obliged in all areas by briefly discussing India's 2013 cricket series, telling him to stay as focussed as he is now and repeating Ghandi and Madiba's advice on non-violence and peaceful co-existence. Cool. I am a guru.
Young Indian people want to talk and explore other cultures. They are outgoing and extremely polite. Sandeep wants to be my FB friend. We met in an extremely crowded metro train in Delhi at peak hour. He got off at our station to talk and then caught the next train. All over we are the subject of these long conversations with young Indians. Tejen seems to be picked on most often: she has a friendly face and smile. It's weird but so positive.
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