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Published: July 25th 2008
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Paharganj Bazaar
Indian staples... July 23, 2008
After about 29 hrs traveling from Reno, Nevada I arrived in Delhi. The airport is typically in dire need of upgrades as per usual for countries such as this. The taxi that was suppose to come from the hotel did not show…so I called them from the airport. My first taste of Indian touts was right there. A taxi driver man who said he would take us to the hotel tried to convince us that my hotel would never show up and they were terrible business people for making believe they would. He had a better hotel to take me to of course for less money. My hotel read my email as 12:15 pm…meaning at night..I said noon. It so happened everyone in the hotel had a ride from the airport or train station so, my trust in the hotel was renewed. They apologized for the mix up. But no matter. The young Korean woman I sat next to on the flight from Taipei, named Kim aka Jayla as she likes to be called, needed a ride to the same area so we shared a cab. The driver Sanjay announced he loved Krishna and by his radical
Ramakrishna Mission Temple
Ramakrishnan and Vivekananda Library here... driving habits, his faith in the sheep herder Lord has brought him much good fortune amongst the herds of traffic he seemed to maneuver within. I trusted Sanjay with my life as he quickly became the most important factor between this life and my next life. My goddess…I am not sure why there are marked lanes on the roads as nobody follows them and if your horn doesn’t work, you might as well be a blind person driving! Anyways, arrived to the hotel in the craziest, most chaotic part of Delhi…the Paharganj Bazaar area. Shocking…a little at first. Hotel Smyle is this little run place in the back alley of the main bazaar road. I had to traverse a dog with newborn puppies, muddy, potholed, litter strewn pathways, an outdoor men’s urinal which is the greeting gate to the alley and directly ajoined to a stall grilling tandoori chicken…yummy…(no street meat otherwise Delhi Belly!) and a host of other random happenings to get to the hotel entrance. Got to my room which was a sanctuary from the hustle just beneath me on the street. Temperture 35 celsius, no air conditioning…but a nice fan that does a marvelous job of moving
hot air around! A good score for $10 a night breakfast included.
July 26, 2008
Well today was my third day here in Delhi. I don’t feel jet lagged at all…I have always had this funny way of denying jet lag exists…seems to work. The first shock of Delhi is wearing off and I feel I am now becoming part of the neighbourhood. Surprise…Regis DurgaDas sent me a dozen roses…I cannot believe the flower delivery could find the place! He wishes me well on the start of my trip. I am slowly figuring out that amongst India’s chaos and mass population issues…there is organization. Organized chaos…I have a comfort zone now in Paharganj. I can actually see it as a neighbourhood amongst its chaos and manic quality it possesses. The amazing thing is that there are things which have continued for millennia here juxtaposed with cell phone culture….cows wander the streets, merchants sweep their front dirt store fronts with small bundles of straw, people wash clothes on store front marble foyers, men lay around sleeping and resting on the dirt ground or on a small cloth…their home, produce sellers sit crouched on the ground with potato sac type
bags overflowing with rice and lentils, greens and fruit. I feel like I am in the middle of some National Geographic spread…it truly is amazing to see, hear, smell and feel the timeless livelihood here. Merchants display their goods for sale and the colours of clothing, and handicrafts paint the otherwise filthy exterior of the shops with marvelous hues that India is famous for. I was a tad fearful the first two days here…mostly as the heat makes the mind less sharp. One cannot have defenses low here…in this part of Delhi. Merchants, kids, mothers with babies and desperate rickshaw drivers bombard you as soon as you take one step into the street…all wanting a handout or business. I am good at ignoring or placating them…I am not easily swayed for business. So I have wandered the main bazaar, have some new friends along my hotel street I say hi to now…and am battling the heat. Even the locals say it’s hot and they are waiting for some rain. I think it hit 38 - 40 today. Humid. I moved to an air conditioned room and I feel like I have won the lottery…a reprieve from the heat and constant sweat that pours off the face. So far I have I drink about 3- 4 litres of water a day here…at Rs. 10 per liter…it’s easy to stay hydrated ($1 =Rs. 40). Did some shopping and have scoped out what I want to buy. I have even found a parcel service which will deliver to Canada. I think I will come back here to shop as I am told by other tourists this is the cheapest area in all of India. I will send a 10 kg or 20 kg package home..there is so much to buy at such cheap prices but I cannot possibly carry it around for months. I decided to buy a cheap ($3.50)Salwar kameez (Indian suit) as I was tiring of being pegged as the tourist…plus I want to go to the Hindu Temple at the Ramakrishna Mission tomorrow which is a short walk away with nice gardens and some escape from the street madness here. I stopped in the mission and felt amazing…as I have read much of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. I was so excited to see the swamis and people there in service. Every business here, including this hotel has a picture of Ramakrishna on its wall…he is so well respected and revered here. I felt so moved at the mission…as it made these great souls I have studied come alive. The most moving thing today was the pink lotus flower in full bloom in the garden at the mission…a simple, peaceful energy from nature amongst the fury of survival just a mere few steps outside the gates on the streets of Paharganj.
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