Socks and the city

---

Another first was achieved today, in that I purchased a train ticket to Nawalgarh at New Delhi railway station. There's a special section of the station just for foreigners, which is an oasis of calm compared with the madness at the main booking section. It's not the most efficient of systems - you have to fill in a reservation form before you can go to the counter to book the ticket, but half the information that's needed on the form (e.g. train name and number) isn't available until you've been to the counter.

My mood darkened after this early success, when my new phone refused to work. Back at the shop, the owner said that he didn't know what was wrong with it, but he had figured out how to unlock my UK phone. Since this was about a third of the price of the new phone, I figured it made financial sense to go for this option and get a refund for the phone. No doubt the profit margin on the unlocking is larger than on the phone sale, but whatever - everyone's happy. So I now have an Indian SIM in my UK phone - it's about Rs 7 per minute for local calls, and only about Rs 12 per minute for international ones. I immediately demonstrated how useful this will be to me by booking a hotel in Nawalgarh.

Admin for the day done, I then went over to the Red Fort for my daily dose of sightseeing. It's enormous, and the walls encircling it really do seem to disappear into the distance (though the guidebook rather mundanely puts their length at a mere 2km). Inside the fort are several impressive buildings, the most inspiring being the Khas Mahal, containing some highly intricate marble carvings. I was roped into action as a prop in several people's photos.

I subsequently went to the nearby Jami Masjid, India's largest mosque, turning up in the middle of a prayer session so I had to loiter outside for a while. The mosque can apparently hold 25,000 people, a decent crowd for some Premiership sides, and, like most Premiership grounds, there are numbered gates for entry. I was scammed again at the entrance, being told I had to hand my boots in for safekeeping, whereas in fact virtually everyone else just carried theirs around with them. Given the size of mine though, I shouldn't really complain at not having to lug them around.

After taking a seat in some shade, I fell into a couple of conversations with Indian guys who really did want to practise their English, the first one ending when one of the mosque officials told him to stop talking to me, the second ending when 3 Czech girls asked if I would accompany them up the minaret - there is a rule that all-female groups are not allowed up it for "safety" reasons. There was also a restriction saying foreigners could only go up in groups of 2, in the manner of animals entering the Ark, but this seemed unenforceable given that any even number of tourists could be broken down into some number of groups of 2.

The trip to the top involved a dizzying spiral staircase with no passing spaces whatsoever - I have no idea how logjams are avoided. It reminded me a lot of climbing one of the towers at La Sagrada Familia, but I don't think anyone pulled a moon this time (you know who you are). At the top was a small platform, on which were crammed about 15 people. With the head for heights that I have, the last thing I needed was to be jostling for space next to some extremely rusty safety mesh at the top of a minaret but, as tends to happen, I survived and got some great views of the city.

Back at the hotel, I took stock of my clothing situation. My trousers are disgusting. Apart from any sweat that I have personally contributed, there is all manner of stuff that has been picked up from either rubbing against things, or sitting on things. Mud is probably the least offensive substance that has been kicked up onto them by my boots, with the urine of 100 people quite likely not even the worst. (When I say 100, I am of course using this figuratively - the number is actually much higher.)

My socks are on the verge of walking away under their own steam, as goodness knows what they encountered as they were padding around the Jami Masjid. In one of those lucky finds that would be meaningless to anyone not living out of a rucksack, I discovered I actually had 2 spare pairs of socks, rather than just 1. I remember thinking back in Saltburn that I only needed 1, but I (fortunately) forgot to remove the second pair. Unfortunately there's no extra pair of trousers floating around. I have these, and I have my travel pants. It's possible my nose is deceiving me, but I don't think any of this stuff (apart from my socks) stinks.

My Internet cafe today was the worst so far. A pitifully slow connection, a keyboard on which none of the numbers or special characters would function, and it was stuffy to boot. To top it off, I saw a rat shoot down the wall next to my machine. It then apparently started playing with the cables at the back, as the webcam would randomly move around the work surface as though possessed by the soul of one of the deceased at a seance.

---

Photos

Horn Please/Keep Distance
50% of these commands were obeyed 100% of the time

Red Fort
Arches 2

Jami Masjid courtyard
The shadow is that of the minaret

Red Fort
Arches

Red Fort
Diwan-i-Khas

Comments

[PP]

Sagrarse Familia
Look, it was a hot and sticky Barcelona summer's day and my lower regions needed an airing. At least my tinky remained in camera during that particular trip unlike another's.