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Published: January 27th 2010
India Gate
So glad the dude taking the pic did not run away with the cameraI have come to learn that being a "tourist" in India is going to be the way of things! My skin and hair colour have been the signals alerting the locals to this "eternal tourist" and bringing with it an unspoken understanding that I am a target to be ripped off! Rob and I have only done a few "touristy" things since moving to Delhi - one of which was visiting India Gate and Old Delhi this particularly 'sunny' (meaning that visibility was about 30m) Saturday morning. We left home all smiles and giggles enjoying being in the city but needless-to-say... this did not last. India Gate was our first stop and within 5 minutes (seriously 5 MINUTES) of stepping out of the auto I was asked to pose for a pic with a local! We then walked around the other side of the 'arch' and Rob was asked to buy me a very romantic, plastic bracelet (Ah, sweet!). Given that the little girl couldn’t have been older than about 10, he agreed. No sooner had he returned the piece of paper with the correct spelling of my name on it, was he accosted by a MASS of noisy and insistent
Tourist
Could I look any more like a tourist with the big, bling camera around my neck? Ha sellers. I relented to the henna but as soon as Rob was offered more bracelets, necklaces and sunglasses (and by offered I mean he was used as a real-life mannequin) he lost the plot and at the top of his voice reminded the crowd that “THIS IS WHY PEOPLE HATE INDIA!”
Finally getting away and giggling, we headed for Old Delhi. Now with my limited travelling experience, I often found the older parts of a city cuter and prettier but as far as Delhi is concerned, I now understand why they created ”New Delhi” - what a dump! It smells, it’s SO loud, so chaotic, so crazy, so overcrowded and not in the least “pretty” or “cute”. Granted, there were a few ‘nicer’ bits (see the pics) but one dead rat in the gutter, an open sewer, a few mangy cows and goats sniffing around the fresh produce and LOADS of live rats the size of Joey, was enough to convince us that we got an AWESOME deal living in New Delhi!
Now, this may not sound like a busy morning, but let me just remind you that “sight-seeing” or even just walking the streets in Delhi is
Even sober
Broad daylight and I'm still asked to be in pics nothing short of exhausting! We are on constant alert for an enormous amount of things: pick-pockets, pooh on the ground, live animals, traffic and people. In addition, we are constantly saying “No” to all the offers of tuk-tuks, belts, USB sticks, chipati, jackets, bicycle rickshaws, samoosas, blankets, sarees, shawls, t-shirts, pashminas, autos, shoes, leather goods, pompedoms, taxis ... get my point yet????
So you can image that after a morning of this constant hackling and friendly-ish bartering that getting a glob of s**t chucked on your shoes is not gonna sit well. At this one particularly hectic and pushy underground market called Palika Bizaar, there is a little, scheming local who commonly shouts “sir, shit on your shoe” to unsuspecting passersby. What this little native does is chuck a big glob of greenish, runny pooh onto a shoe and then conveniently pulls out a shoe shining kit to quickly rectify the situation, happily charging Rs1200 (± R200). Now, this had already happened to Rob one Saturday before I joined him in Delhi but on this particular day (after the morning we’ve had) - he got ‘caught’ again! I have NEVER seen him get SO mad (Mike would have been
India Gate
Inscriptions of soliders who lost their ives in WW1/2 (can't remember) proud!). He shat (ha ha ) all over the dude, demanded he cleaned off and then stomped away without paying while the little native ran behind complaining that Rob had not paid him! Needless-to-say for those who know me well, I thought this was freaking hysterical!!! In fact it still makes me giggle today!
Rob, not so much! Anyhoo, it was a good day and one worth recording!
Hope you're all well! 'Stay tuned' for our trip to Jaipur in Rajasthan!
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MARION
non-member comment
mind boggling
Hi Megs, this is such a lovely way to spread news. Your photos give a very vivid picture of what you have to bargain with every day. Is there no clean area. Is this the same around your flat. Please send me some pictures of something clean, uncluttered, 1st world and assure me that you do not have the same electricity supply as shown in the photo. Are you and Rob well? God bless. LOL Marion