This is India

To fly from Bangkok to New Delhi takes a mere 3 hrs, a pleasant flight with good entertainment and food aboard Jet Airline’s Boeing 737-800. It would however be a further 6 hours after landing at a wet Delhi International Airport before I arrived at my hotel at 03:00 in the morning … welcome to India.

First impression from the plane before landing at 21:05 was how dark the city was. After the bustling metropolises of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Saigon which are lit up like Christmas trees, Delhi only had a few isolated pockets of street lights emitting a dim orange glow. After collecting my bags and clearing customs I joined a queue to hire a pre-paid taxi into Delhi city. The line was not moving very quickly, in fact the line was not moving at all! After 45 minutes without a single customer leaving in a taxi I decided to abandon the queue and brave the touts outside (it was late, I needed a hotel even if it meant paying more for a private taxi). But outside it was the same - no taxis here either, just stationary queues. How could this be possible? An international airport without any taxis! I returned to the inside of the airport (dry and air conditioned) and rejoined the back of original queue.

At 23:20 I finally managed to get a taxi (shared with a woman from France [Katherine] as we were headed in the same direction) and the cause of the problem became clear. The date was 14th August, the eve of Independence Day in India (a national holiday) and the most appalling traffic jam I have ever seen (it had managed to swallow up every taxi servicing the airport). The hotel was only 15 km from the airport but it took about 3 ½ hours to get to the suburb called Karol Bagh - an unsettling drive with hooting, frustrated motorists and every few hundred meters an accident or abandoned car or truck which had given up.

It took the driver a long time to find the hotel Katherine had booked as street names exist only on maps or business cards (there are no street signs). We stopped at several hotels to ask for directions and each time we seemed to be pointed in a different direction. I had anticipated coming to this area alone and then walking around to find a hotel, however it was now very late and the streets were dark, with broken up paving and packs of angry dishevelled dogs roaming the streets. I made a mental note not to walk around in this area after dark. The driver out of desparation suggested we go to the next hotel he can find but when we check the price it's twice what we're willing to pay. When we finally arrived at the correct hotel I decided to check into the same hotel which was OK, if a little expensive compared to the accommodation I had enjoyed in Thailand.

I woke up late the next day - an advantage of having a dark windowless room - and caught an autorickshaw ride around the city. Security is very tight around Delhi, everywhere there are armed police and check-points with metal detectors and bag searches. Nothing, I don’t think, can prepare you for the filth of Delhi’s streets. They aren’t just dirty because dirt is composed of soil and dust. The “filth” in the streets of Delhi is a mixture of garbage, food scraps, excrement (animal and human), building rubble and mud. I found the smell unbearable. The roads do not appear to have been maintained since they were first laid and in places are riddled with huge pot-holes, in others the tar has completely disappeared. They look more like river beds than roads. The state of urban decay is alarming; the soft red bricks being used to build new houses are crumbling on the pavement before they have even been laid. If buildings were lucky enough to receive a coat of paint when they were built, they have never received another kiss from a brush. At construction sites I’m not sure whether they’re putting a building up or pulling one down. Modernity appears to have taken to India like wet cow dung flung against a wall. I now appreciate the description I’ve heard that India makes Thailand look like a first world nation. Where is this incredible, romantic India I’ve heard all about? I’m not quite sure what to make of it, it’s overwhelming … I want to run away and hide in my hotel room.

I didn’t hide in my hotel room … well not too much. I visited several sites including the India Gate monument (a war memorial to the soldiers who served in the world wars) which was crowded due to the Independence Day celebrations, a large Buddhist temple and Humayun’s Tomb complex. The most impressive was Humayun’s Tomb which is a precursor to the Taj Mahal, less marble used in its construction, more red and white sandstone. It houses the remains of the Mughal rulers and their relatives (Persian rulers during the 16th century). It did have an unpleasant smell about it though and some dodgy guides/beggars hanging around hoping for some money.

The following few days I travelled around the inner city using the relatively new metro railway. Very crowded but cheap and air conditioned. The Indian’s don’t seem to have grasped the concept that in order to board the train one must first allow disembarking passengers to get off. I, along with fellow passengers, had to fight our way through a sea of hot smelly people forcing their way onto the train to get off at our destination every time. This despite platform conductors urging people to stand away from the doors and arrows on the pavement indicating where to wait and repeated announcements over the train’s P.A. system advising people how to behave.

The most impressive area I’ve seen in Delhi is the Red Fort. I wasn’t really prepared for the scale of this complex. When I think of “fort” I think of a small armoured facility. This place had a wall 33 metres tall x 2 km long, a moat 10 metres deep, massive gates and huge open gardens with paved walkways and fountains - it was a castle! A magnificent area and it seemed a shame that it wasn’t still in use, somehow a living part of the city instead of being relegated to a museum piece (although the Prime Minister does still gives his “state of the nation” speech from the ramparts of the fort walls each year). Inside there were various white marble domed platforms, intricately carved and decorated with coloured stones. Only a shadow of what it must have looked like when it was in use by the emperor and before looters had their way with the place.

Eating, for the first time on my journey so far, has been challenging in India. I’ve decided to eat only vegetarian meals (the meat is dodgy - trust me, I’ve walked past the err … meat shops and there don’t appear to be any health codes in effect). The main trouble I’ve had is that the menus tend to be in Hindi and I have no idea what I’m ordering. The staff are usually helpful, although when you ask for no chilli it can be a bit hit and miss. Fortunately India has some of the best vegetarian food in the world and so far I have enjoyed a couple of delicious curries with spiced rice.

Next I’m off to Jaipur on the Shatabdi Express, a rail journey of about 4 ½ hrs. I wonder if it’s the same as Delhi. I hope not.

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