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Published: January 7th 2007
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Usually in India you can't walk 10 steps without being offered transportation by auto-rickshaw, cycle rickshaw or taxi, so of course when we really needed a taxi at 8.30 this morning (to get to the dentist) there wasn't one to be found.
After a bit of fruitless wandering around we took a rickshaw to Connaught Place in the hope there would be taxis there somewhere, and were lucky enough to bump into another rickshaw driver who spoke excellent English (quite a rarity) and understood the address we were giving him for the dental clinic, which was in a suburb way in the south of Delhi. We would have preferred a taxi, since long rickshaw rides are invariably chilly and leave you covered in soot from exhaust, but it was already looking like we would be late for the appointment. After about 30 mins we reached the right suburb (South Extension II) but the Indian system of addresses seems very similar to the Japanese system- i.e.
the streets have no names and the numbering system is almost completely random. No GPS address finder in this rickshaw either, unlike many Japanese taxis.
Eventually we found the right building, only a few
minutes late, and Toru went in for his appointment. He emerged after only about 10 minutes, looking a bit traumatised- "It was kind of rough" he mumbled, but at least his tooth was now hole-free.
After getting back and packing, we had another similar experience trying to find the joining hotel for our trip in an area called Karol Bagh- this time the address was even vaguer- "near Ramjas school"- and our driver had to stop and ask for directions, getting sent the wrong way twice before finally finding Hotel Goodtimes.
We arrived just in time for the pre-departure briefing- lots of information which I have no memory of now. We then headed out onto the main road to catch a local bus into Old Delhi. About halfway into the trip the bus got extremely crowded, truly rivalling a Tokyo rush hour train. The seats on the bus face forward and the people standing in the aisle face outwards, putting my shoulder exactly at crotch height and in very close proximity- not really a pleasant way to spend a bus ride. Finally the crowds thinned and soon after we got off at Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India, built by Shah Jehan, (or by thousands of workers actually, but they always say the emperor built it) -the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal. Apparently 25,000 people can be accommodated in the courtyard. Something different from Middle Eastern mosques was that the focus seemed to be outside, in the courtyard itself, whereas in Turkey and Syria for example, the actual interior of the building was more important.
From there we got cycle-rickshaws to the spice market- the streets of old Delhi are unbelievably busy, about every 5 seconds you have to get out of the way of a porter carrying enormous sacks of something on his shoulders or head, and you have to be quick about it because those guys don't slow down for something as inconsequential as a tourist, they have a job to do.
Our leader Bill had told us we wouldn't want to spend long in the spice market and in about 10 seconds we understood why- I don't know if it is a particular spice or all of them put together, but something in the air really irritates your lungs and nose and every person in there, including the workers, coughs and sneezes constantly. There are sacks and sacks of chillis- maybe they are the culprit, but I'm not sure.
After battling our way further along the street we reached the entrance for the new Metro- Delhi's new partly underground commuter train system. It's hard to believe you are in India down there- apparently the system was designed by a Japanese company and it shows. Security is tight- to enter the station you have to walk through a metal detector, have your bags checked, and be frisked if they decide it's necessary- the ladies are patted down separately by a female security guard, behind a curtain.
The Japanese-ness hasn't carried over into forming a queue and getting onto the train in an orderly fashion however- just like the normal trains people dive for the door as soon as the train pulls in, and the idea of letting the people inside get off before trying to get on is also unknown- it's a free-for-all of pushing and shoving, but eventually everybody gets where they want to go.
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