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After numerous evenings in Mumbai eating the most incredible feast at Soul Fry in Bhandra, playing Wii with the Braganza's, rounds of Cutthroat and Kingfishers at Ghetto, bizarre burgers at Woodside Cafe, home delivery of the highest quality, X amount of taxi rides in 35 degree heat, I decided to head North to the promised shelter of the Himalayas.
Being a "local" I don't travel with guide books, or watches for the most part... there was a slight predicament when I was supposed to wake up at 1pm for my flight... having accidentally re-set the clock on my ipod and Ekta's laptop being either 6 hours later or early depending on its mood, the only thing I could do was keep waking up, turning the tv on in the lounge and finding a news channel. I finally managed to guarantee the time by television and searching for "world clocks" online. So I arrived at the airport well before my plane, sat at Cafe Coffee Day and had a glass of white wine while reading the newspaper..... boarded the Spice Jet flight to Delhi.... sat cramped next to a beast of a man who kept snoring the entire time... flight delayed
and delayed... arrived 2 hours after schedule which is nothing in India... managed to share a cab with a friendly Japanese bloke to Paharganj and checked into my regular haunt...Anoop.
I have been here 3 days now. I have enjoyed it immensely. The last time I was in Delhi was back in 2003 when I headed up to Leh and the Nubra Valley. This time I have taken it easy, ordered room service, slept, watched crappy yankie doodle tv shows, walked around Connaught Place in the afternoons when its bearable... avoided the endless sellers and beggars by listening to my Ipod on the streets (genius!).....
Friday night I called one of my school friends Paroma and her husband Raj. The last time we had met was on the last Serena-Maneesh US TOUR when we played in Chicago and they drove over from Wisconsin for a night that will not be described in this blog at least.
We met in Defense Colony at a Bar/Chinese Restaurant and ended up having an incredibly cosy night.. one of the most pleasant evenings I have had in a long time... talking about things worth taking about... catching up... reminiscing... all the
ingredients that make a night out memorable!
I ended up getting a rickshaw home who agreed to go by meter and then 5 minutes into the journey started shouting 500 rupees... thankfully he was a lot smaller than me so I was not really scared if it came down to a fistfight.. but I swore at him repeatedly and ended up paying the meter plus a little for the night tax. He was not impressed. I was not either.
Last night I had a quiet one watching another suffer-able performance by Arsenal.. we just can't fucking WIN these days!
Today I will organise tickets to the mountains and eat some good Delhi food. CIAO!
Memorable nights in Delhi are now left to dissolve and reappear in nostalgic contractions later on when the times are duller and the nights colder.
I finished off the Dehli days with a fantastic meal at Defense Colony, slept it off, had a final day of wandering around the markets taking photographs, then headed to Metropolis Bar for their INCREDIBLE black dhal and roti's. Said bye to Paul the waiter who had waited on me well that week. Caught the new
Delhi Metro to Chandni Chowk, made the schoolboy error of asking someone the way to the actual TRAIN station and got this reply: " No sir, you are in total wrong palce. This part Dehli not station. You take metro to New Delhi then walk. This place not Old Delhi.. Take rickshaw fifty rupees then finished!". I said thanks and asked another person who pointed lethargically and said THERE! Of course it was 300 meters away obscured by signposts and smog.
I boarded the train to find a disgruntled Englishman lying on the seat adamant about not speaking to anyone at all. Fine by me. He looked like a plumb anyway. Two Russians ended up in our carriage and they sat by me for an hour trying to tell me that Yoga would save the world...etc...etc. They were friendly and we ended up sharing a cab up to Mussourie the next morning.
The drive was reminiscent of Ooty ascents but more rugged and drier. I was up front in the cab listening to Beefheart and Popol Vuh as the mountains formed walls beside us. We walked around for a good hour before finding a hotel. The rest of
the day was familiarizing myself with the new surroundings, eating excellent Momos and Thukpa (Chinatowns is still better), and finding an internet cafe to upload my shots... which with the slow connection took a good 2 hours.
Mussourie is a nice place. Small streets. Indian tourists. Chilly at night. Friendly. Great views. Fresh air after the claustrophobic fumes of Delhi. I think I will potter around another night and then head down/up/east/west... wherever.. whenever.. just take it as it comes.
Holi in Mussourie]
It had been many years since my last Holi experience in India and I finally got the chance to get drenched in paint and water and also get revenge on the few that were within arms reach. I spent the whole day walking around town covered in yellow paint, shaking hands with strangers, eating samosa's. A carefree, child-like day when the whole country turns to dance and song and paint-throwing.
I came to the conclusion after all this fun that perhaps I should see a place I had yet to visit in India. The Golden Temple sprung to mind.. and my mind was away...
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