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Published: March 17th 2007
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Paan vendor
Locals pose with a vendor selling paan, a local addiction made with chewing tabacco, supari (tastes like incense), or sugar and fennel seeds wrapped in betel leaves. It turns your teeth red, but they love it! Mar 17 - 24
A week in Delhi
A week in Delhi
Throughout our travels in India, we had heard so many negative things about Delhi from other travelers, so we weren't expecting anything special. We were very pleasantly surprised at this lively and beautiful city! Compared to Mumbai, it is much more spread out and much greener and cleaner. The poverty is there, but it wasn't as in your face as we experienced in Mumbai. Granted, we had already two months of India under our belt, so we had probably already gotten used to much of the craziness and noise of a big Indian city as well as had a pretty good introduction to Indian culture by this point. We really loved Delhi! The people were friendly and helpful, the city was beautiful, the shopping was great. I would highly recommend coming here!
We arrived on St. Patty's Day from our bumpy night on the bus from Dharamsala and went to find a room in Paharganj, near the New Delhi train station. The weather was sunny and beautiful and we headed to Old Delhi to do a bit of shopping and sight seeing. We had
a bike rickshaw guy take us around from Chandni Chowk, the main market in Old Delhi. We saw the beautiful Jama Masjid mosque and red fort. It's funny though how the rickshaw drivers treat you like you're fresh off the boat - I guess in Delhi they're used to meeting many tourists on short trips to India who don't know the fair price of things and overpay for everything. All taxis and rickshaws were on a strict bartering system, so we liked to ask the locals' advice first. For the rest of the week, everytime we would walk down the main bazaar in Paharganj or in one of the markets around town, different rickshaw drivers and vendors would call out to us, 'Yes, Madam Rickshaw??' or 'Hello, Madam Money Change??' We started to believe that those were our new names. How did they know, Madam Rickshaw?
We also soon discovered that the 9 day long Hindu period of Navratra had just begun, so people were abstaining from alcohol and meat. We didn't have high hopes for a St. Patty's day celebration that first night, but we thought we'd try. We had gone to a bar at a fancy hotel,
deceptively called 'Dublin,' but ended up at an even more unlively scene at the Golden Regency bar/restaurant in Paharganj -- a dark, yet flourescent lit dive with the most unenthusiastic band of Indian musicians I'd ever seen. I guess you can't really come to Delhi during Navratra and expect a rockin St. Patty's day party! This is India after all...
We began the next day early on a sight seeing mission and started bartering with the autorickshaw drivers on the main bazaar again. We found this Sikh rickshaw driver, Mr. Singh (I didn't know before coming to India, all men who practice the Sikh religion wear turbans and have the last name Singh). We began to barter but found there's actually another game to play with the drivers. If you agree to 'come look my shop,' you can often times get a free ride. The driver takes you to an overpriced souvenier store, and the store gives the driver a voucher for 1 liter of gas, regardless of whether you buy anything. These stores are typically out of the way, so that's really the only way they can get customers. So, during the day we alternated between looking at
an overpriced store and going to see a sight. We went to see India Gate Monument, the Parliment building and Presidential Palace, a Sikh temple, and the impressive Humayun's tomb. We also spent some time in the tourist shops, but these were also interesting. For instance, we learned a great deal of how they make fine rugs. One rug was just absolutely beautiful (but cost as much as I'm planning on spending in this entire year). We also looked at beautiful saris, furniture and metal sculptures. I know I really needed a 6 foot circular statue of Shiva, but I eventually decided against it. I guess it would've been a tight squeeze in the backpack. But it's something that everyone needs, right? It was a great day though, and after 7 shops Mr. Singh was very happy with the vouchers. He dropped us at the revolving restaurant where we got a bite with a good view of the city.
The next day, I went to a musical instrument shop on Subhash Marg that we had been to the first day and bought a beautiful sitar for Doug. Jen spent the greater part of the day frustrated at the HSBC
still trying to sort out what happened to her ATM card. We met up later at United Coffee House on Connaught Place (CP) with Denis and Vanessa and their friend Rajat, the cousin of their friend whose wedding they had attended in Delhi. We later went down to Saket to meet up with Anindo's friend, also named Rajat at a restaurant/bar called Buzz. Again, not too many people out due to the religious holiday. Everyone in the bar had their eyes glued to the TV for the Cricket world cup. (India subsequently ended up losing royally and the country was distraught over their team's pitiful performance. There were some demonstrations, people burning posters of the players.)
Later in the week, we tried to do the same sight-seeing thing with another taxi driver - even though we were pretty shopped out at this point. But the sights were great - the beautiful Birla Mandir temple to Laxshmi, the Qutb Minar complex, the Bahai Lotus temple, Humayun's tomb again (this time touring a bit inside). We later met up with our new friend Rajat in Khan Market and went out for a bit in Saket (south New Delhi). It was great
Chandni Chowk
On the main road of the Old Delhi market, Chandni Chowk, is the spice and food market. to get to know some locals and learn about their lives here in Delhi. This really is what makes the whole trip worthwhile - all the great and interesting people you meet along the way!
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One random story to share with you... Since we both really wanted the bright pink from the Holi festival out of our hair, one morning we sought the help of the lady at the "Hotel Polonia Hair Saloon" (no standardized spellings in Hinglish). However, communication was a challenge - Our consultation went something like this:
"So can you get this pink out of our hair?"
"Yes, madam, color out, yes..."
"Ok, so how are you gonna do it, do you strip out the color?"
"Yes, madam, pink taking only... color putting, yes..."
"What, so you're covering it up or you're taking it out?"
"Yes, first the putting, then the sticking, yes, madam, no problem, yes sticking..."
"What do you mean, 'sticking?' What's sticking?"
"Yes, the color putting, then the sticking..." It continued like this for a while. In retrospect, there were several warning signs that this wasn't the best professional to go to. Well, she had bad
Sari Fashion Window
A window in the Old Delhi sari market displays the latest in fancy sari fashion. hair for one. And she said that she'd do everything for 1200 rupees (< $30). Later as she washed my hair, she started laughing hysterically,
'Pink is coming! Pink coming! Tee hee hee' When I got to the mirror, I saw the patchy mess of calico hair. This is a new look for India I guess. She 'fixed' it as best she could and we got out of there...
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So after Delhi, it was off to Varanasi. We bought train tickets to Agra, and then continuing onto Varanasi.... I have lots of stories from these places and will get these entries up soon!
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Ann Marie
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Pink Hair
Did the pink ever get out or do you still have it! By the way, I think it looks COOL!