Delhli

Friday nite
Late start this morning after a restless night…. I’m in the Cannaught Place section of Dellhi. Was able to get a ticket on the night running Rajastan Express and came up Tue. Night…got in early Wed morning. Was immediately approached by someone wanting me to follow them to an information center….a travel agent of course was able to use their phone to contact Prita, my neighbor Veers’ sister. Her and her husband took me out to an outstanding lunch. The contrast between the restaurant and the previous 36 hours couldn’t have been more stark.

Cannaught Place is apparently the main part of New Delhi, composed of three concentric roads around a central park. I left last nights lodgings this morning t5o check on a room at the Y for tonight and dump my stuff. On the walk to the Y, I was confronted by a guy wanting to take me to a cheap Holiday Inn (100 Rupees, right) I kept walking and a couple hundred yards ;down the road this same guy is waiting for me, then he starts following me; down the sidewalk on his auto rickshaw.

I’ve found my scowl and the rudeness it takes to repel the Touts (the name for people trying to steer travelers into travel agents offices, hotels, taxis, etc) Whenever someone approaches with a friendly smile wanting to “:help” I don’t look at them. It’s unfortunate because for me, connecting with people is an important part of traveling….

I was thinking about this as I walked to the prepaid auto rickshaw stand to get a ride to the Red Fort. Along the street, an area usually reserved for parking cars had been enclosed with vertical sheets of tin roofing. I noticed large freshly constructed sash sitting around and ducked through the narrow opening to see what was going on. LA bunch of guys were busy transforming a stack of teak into window sash using hand and older vintage power tools. I said English? No English. As I watched two guys pushing a and pulling a hand plane, I made a planning motion and pointed to myself. One guy said Carpenter? I think that’s to only English word he knew. He said something to the other guys and they all started grinning. So I looked at their tools, watched them work, took their pictures. Seems that we found something in common other than language…

With a prepaid rickshaw ticket a police, with some difficulty, hailed a rickshaw. Seems rickshaw drivers don’t like prepaids because they; make much; more money overcharging unsuspecting tourists. This guy didn’t want to take me but I suppose the police somehow required him to. On the way; to the Red Fort, he tried to talk me into some closer destination, tried to pick up another passenger. He stopped for gas and wanted me to pay for it. I was getting mad, got out and started walking down the street. After taking me half way, he needed my ticket to get paid, so he chased after me and finally took me the rest of the way. As I got out and handed him the ticket he looked so confused, wanted money from me…I kept walking. Score: taxies/ rickshaw drivers 3, Glen 1.

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