Fearing, Loathing, and Leaving New Delhi

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In my opinion, the only good part of Delhi is leaving it, but they don’t make it easy! My departure from Agra was painful. After waking from my short nap I find that I have a bit of a sunburn (not surprised) that is uncomfortable enough to slow my packing process dramatically. Not feeling well either—also not surprising, the food here takes some getting used to, but I pack on. I must leave this city! I first haggle with the damn tuk-tuk drivers who want to rip you off—and I’m haggling over about 92 cents! It is a chore that I’m happy to be rid of. I endure the endless stares at the train station but just sit in agony and wait for my train. My stomach is churning and the smells of the station do not help. I want to vomit but am trying to maintain my composure—the good thing is if I were to explode in a vomiting rage no one would think much of it. I would simply walk over to the empty tracks and help myself—I just saw a man peeing off the ledge in front of everyone, so apparently we’re all friends here! My train whooshes into the station wafting all the wonderful smells the tracks have to offer and I thought I would faint. Mind you, I’m not a prissy traveler—the garbage and smells don’t often offend me, I think they are more of a social and economic commentary on how a government has failed it’s people in some of the most basic and primitive senses. But I’m sick and all bets are off. An English fellow helps me lift my backpack to the overhead space—I can carry my 40 pound backpack on my back…but sadly, I can’t hoist if over my head and thrust it into a small space. Then I collect my seat and prepare for the rolling and jerking of the train which I’m SURE will soothe my stomach! Shocking, I was wrong. A good two hours later I arrive in Delhi and negotiate a taxi to the airport where I will meet up with 3 people who are also going to the Yoga school. Together we will share a taxi ride up there. My game plan is to just relax in the airport with cushy seats and wi-fi till they arrive (about 4 hours), unfortunately I did not know that to enter the airport you must have a ticket…which I obviously did not have. I was however able to wait in a “visitor’s” area but it had lousy seating and no bathrooms! Hospitality India…it’s a thing. Look it up. So I sleep on the floor only to awake about every 10 minutes with someone staring at me—and to be clear I am not the only one doing this. Hours pass and finally my traveling companions arrive. Relived I feel like I can actually make it through this evening/morning. Turns out finding a ride out to Dharamsala is harder than we anticipated. We had to get a cab from the airport back into Delhi, he took us to some visitor center (which was oddly open at 4am) and they were just assholes to us. Then another cab took us to the train station (my least favorite place in Delhi—aside from the airport) where we inquired about a taxi to Dharamsala and were laughed at. Yet someone took us to a tour office where we bargained for an hour and finally got a driver to take us up to Dharamsala—for a premium price of course. Finally…after about 8 hours running around Delhi I finally get to leave it.

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