Studying in Delhi

Koenig Solutions Pvt Ltd

So, that was the end of my four months travelling! I returned to Delhi where I was to start five and a half weeks study for a professional IT qualification.

I’m studying at a company called Koenig Solutions. They are a bona fide IT training outfit which offers programmes to westerners. I was there for an intensive 40 day programme to become a “Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer” (MCSD) in C#.

Joining me on the course is my friend: “other” Nick from London. He’s just quit his job to go to live with his woman in Ireland. Meanwhile, he’s taking the opportunity to re-skill before looking for a job over there. Nick had brought my laptop over from London and was a little surreal to see both him and it for the first time in four months.

We are staying in an area of the city called Patel Nagar. It’s some way west of Connaught Place: the main shopping area of the city. It’s so nice to walk around here as we get next to no hassle from anyone.

We took the brand new Metro system into Connaught Square. This stretch only opened within the last year and there wasn’t any metro in Delhi until 2002. Before getting into the station you have to go through a metal detector and be patted down by a security guard (for some reason, most security guards in India seem to be Sikh). I think you could only have this kind of security in a brand new metro system in a place where people don’t know any different and are kind of used to security anyway. I don’t see it being practical in London. Delhiites are still getting used to their new system and it shows!

Other than Patel Nagar, Connaught Square was to be the main part of Delhi we’d get to know. It’s the hub of the new metro system and that Sunday was full of families out and about. We had nice meal at a nice restaurant and had a geeky time browsing some of the computer book shops. In India, you can buy legit copies of textbooks for a quarter of the price you’d pay in the west.

That night was our last in that particular hotel. We were glad to move out of it as there was a weird atmosphere with the staff hanging round you when you ate meals in your room. The second hotel was much better.

There’s not too much to say about the next five and a half weeks. It was very intensive. We had only Sundays off and they were spent revising for exams. It got very tiring spending the evenings reading ahead for the next day and trying to keep on top of the course material. In all, I had seven courses and five exams. I managed to pass all my exams and was very much relieved. I can’t think of a time when I spent so long without a single day off!

My daily routine started with my alarm call at 8am. I then rang Nick (who didn’t have an alarm clock) to wake him up. I’d pre-order my breakfast and take a shower. My breakfast was a traditional Indian one: Aloo Parantha with curd. “Aloo” means potato and a Parantha is one of the many delicious kinds of Indian bread. I also had a fruit salad and a cup of chai - sweet, milky Indian tea. At the training centre we could order lunch and most days I would have a salad from Subway as anything stodgier made me sleep in the afternoon. Most evenings, I ate at the hotel restaurant. It was pure-veg, good value and delicious.

Two Sundays, Nick and I went to Humayun’s Tomb to sit and revise. It was a peaceful place with nice gardens and nobody hassling you. That was about the only sightseeing we had time for during the course as it was so intense. However, I have no complaints about that as being away from distractions allowed me to achieve something difficult, which will be of value to my career. I think that four months is enough time to be sightseeing. When I met Adam in Sydney, he’d been on the road for six months and felt a little jaded but from what I hear is now itchy to travel again. By the time I arrived in India, I was ready to stay in one place and do the course. You can probably guess from my last posting that I found my two weeks travel in India tiring! I may not have felt that way if I had been fresh.

Despite not having much time, it’s impossible to spend six weeks in Delhi and not pick up something of Indian culture. My Hindi learning went out the window, but I picked up so many little details about Indian life. Indians really do wobble their heads and I’ve been told I’ve picked up the mannerism while here. You get used to the crazy driving too.

I would say the teaching I had was adequate. I had a good instructor, yet many other students were not so lucky. Having seen it on the ground, I now know how large a profit margin Koenig makes (despite the fees still being tiny by western standards). That’s not a crime, but they pay their staff the same as if they were charging Indian prices and seem to view their customers as cash-cows rather like many tourist places do. If anyone reading this is interested in following in my footsteps, I know of other places (that don’t advertise as Koenig does) where you can pay less and have more leverage to ensure you get good service.

The day I finished my last exam I felt drained rather than elated! I went out that evening to celebrate and after one beer had to leave for bed at 9pm because I was turning white.

A traveller again

The following day, I did not feel ready to go out into Delhi. Besides, I had a lot of things to sort out for my return. This was just as well as the World’s most powerful (and vulnerable) man, George W Bush, was in town. This meant loads of streets in New Delhi being cut off and lots of traffic jams. Indians know how to shut things down for security reasons and Bush’s lot ask for a lot to be shut down to protect their man.

Actually, I didn’t see much complaint about the man in India. There were a few demonstrations with 100,000 people or so (not big by Indian standards) but they were almost entirely Muslim or people from left-wing parties. Most Indians seem either not bothered or positively proud that such an important visitor has come to acknowledge the rise of their nation. During his visit, he signed a controversial economic and nuclear deal that does indeed seem a good deal for India.

The following day, I was still tired but determined to see something of the town. The rickshaw-wallahs were telling me much of Delhi was still cut off as Bush is still in town, so I opted to see some of the more unusual, outlying sites.

Coronation Park is where the British Raj held three durbars (huge imperial pageants) in 1887, 1903 and 1911. It’s now forgotten and dusty; and contains an enclosure with old statues of kings and rulers that were moved from the streets of New Delhi after independence. Some baksheesh got me in there to look around.

Then, down to the western suburbs to somewhere I was really interested to see: the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets. The Sulabh Foundation is an Indian NGO founded in 1970 to promote better sanitation in India. In particular, they wanted to end the practice of “scavenging”. This means collecting night soil from people’s houses and is a job that has always fallen on the dalit (“untouchables”), the lowest in the caste system. You can imagine how degrading a job this is given how, in India, people carry loads on their heads! Largely due to the efforts of Sulabh, this practice is now much less common in the country (but sadly, still not unheard of).

The museum is in the grounds of the research institute and headquarters. No other visitors were there when I arrived, nor for the whole of the time I was there. I got a guided tour of the museum by its vice-chairwoman. Then, I got shown various designs of toilets they produce for people. They all feature two pits. You fill one pit, and then switch to the other. You leave the full pit for quite some time until the germs have died. You can then dig the pit out and use the now safe material for fertilizer. It can even be further processed into hard blocks. I got given a free sample of this. I found it hard not to laugh later on when a metro security guard picked it out of my bag and asked me what it was!

Then, I was shown on a working latrine (used by local people) that produces biogas which is then used for lighting and cooking.

After this, I had the honour of meeting their founder: Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak. I signed the visitor book and in the comment box wrote: “The most interesting place I’ve been in two months in India!” - I wasn’t lying! Apparently, Sulabh (which means “easy” in Hindi) has now passed into language for toilet (like “Crapper”) and features in Bollywood films.

There was a change of pace after that when I visited the Baha’i Lotus Temple. Baha’ism is “yet another” independent religion found in the subcontinent. Founded in Persia in the 19th Century, it now has followers around the world and the largest population is in India.

The temple is beautiful! It has lazily been compared to Sydney’s Opera House. I spent some time looking around. I’d forgotten to bring long trousers (amateur!) but they were cool about letting me in, which impressed me.

The next day, I visited “Old Delhi”. There have actually been loads of cities in what is now modern Delhi, but this is the main “Old Delhi”: Shahjahanabad, capital of the Moghul Empire. The Red Fort (Lal Qila) was at the heart of this. It’s quite a sprawling complex. I took a guide, who showed me the main Mughal buildings in the centre. I had been reading a little of William Dalrymple’s book “City of Djinns” and so had heard of many of the places he referred to. I sat on the grass a while and some Indians came to chat to me. They spoke next to no English and it was an opportunity to dig out my phrasebook. On the way out, I chanced on a museum about Indian independence from the British. It was a little one-sided, but informative nonetheless.

Across the road from the Red Fort is a Jain temple with attached Bird Hospital. The temple was closed but I got to go into the hospital. Jains believe all life is sacred (they don’t even allow you to enter with leather belts on!) and injured birds come to this hospital. On the first floor were cages full of birds. I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong until I realised none of them were even trying to fly: they were all paralysed! I had heard that ceiling fans are one cause of this.

Further down the road is Jama Masjid: India’s largest mosque. I was too late to go in as prayers were being held and after that, it closed anyway to visitors. Maybe on my next visit to Delhi?

My final day in Delhi was a non-tourist day! In truth I was knackered, having not got my energy back after the course. I packed, had a nice meal and got my hair cut (had a head massage and my first ever facial as well). I left at 10pm for my 4am departure (night flight’s suck!) and arrived back in Heathrow. No stamp on my passport this time.

Trip statistics:

Best food: Laos
Best weather: New Zealand (I was lucky!), Central Thailand, Chile, India
Worst food: Nowhere, really!
Worst weather: Southern Thailand, Sydney
Number of countries that drive on the right: 5
Number of countries that drive on the left: 6
Countries entered more than once: Thailand, Hong Kong
Countries that make you pay exit taxes at airport: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, New Zealand.
Places I had visited before: none
Places which (in all probability) I’m most likely to go back to: Sydney, Delhi

Reflections on travelling:

It’s such a cliché, but this really has been a “Trip of a Lifetime”! I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to do it, but equally I had to go out and create the opportunity.

As I write this, the date is actually Good Friday, 14 April 2006. I’ve been back in the UK for more than a month. I’m back at work and now I’ve found somewhere to live. My suntan disappeared during my course in India!

Has this trip been a “life changing” experience? I don’t know. It’s been a very interesting and enjoyable experience. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things. I hope to get into better habits for the future, but don’t expect miracles.

Has it been worth it? I spent a lot more money than I planned, but yes; it’s definitely been worth it!

Nick

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