Incredible India

I feel like saying “where the hell do we start?” but as we landed in Delhi I guess that has to be the answer! Upon landing in Delhi, after a much shorter flight than expected, we started to feel the nerves a little. India was the last country on our trip and, from what we had heard; we expected it was going to be the hardest. This meant it had a different feel to it than other destinations. To boot, we were meeting up with family which was exciting, so there was a real mixture of emotions going on. We had heard on our travels many stories; mostly good and some bad, regarding India.

The India Airways plane we were on was an old heap, they didn’t put much effort into the safety briefing (we couldn’t actually hear any of it or see much of any stewards). Once airborne the lights and seats in our section lost power, so there was no reading lights and our headphones were now useless. We were seated luckily with extra leg room but unluckily right by the stinking toilet. In addition we had the most abrupt old hag of an air stewardess. It was all quite funny really and it felt like we had had a taste of things to come.
Some people on our travels had mentioned that you get hit by the smell of the place as soon as you got off the plane, so it was a pleasant surprise to step out into what we thought was relatively ok air (we had just spent a week in Bangkok and three hours by a toilet though). That seemed like the first myth dispelled straight away. We stepped inside to collect our luggage in relatively calm conditions which was also not what we had expected.

Out we went and met up with Bina in arrivals (Bina is Dipi’s Masi, which means aunt, on the mother’s side, in Hindi) and still not a hitch. After the meetings and greetings, we were soon off down the road for the one hour journey to Kalkaji which turned out to be fairly tame compared to what we had expected on India’s roads. You do have to bear in mind of course that we were travelling around 11.30pm. On arrival at the house in Kalkaji we were greeted at the house by a nutty German Shepherd, their live in maid and Kartik (Dipi’s, cousin). We were welcomed with some food and beer which all went down an absolute treat! We chatted for a while and once we had sorted out where we were going to sleep (they were preparing for a big move, so things were a little up in the air) we all said our goodnights and got our heads down. All seemed pretty calm and organised to be honest. Then the madness showed up, just a sneak of it.
Dropping off to sleep all of a sudden we heard a whistle outside, like a ref’s whistle, but slow and steady, at regular intervals. Then a clattering noise. This carried on for a while up and down the street and we didn’t really know what to think of it. We tried to get a look but could not see over the garden wall from our window, so we just tried to get off to sleep. Next thing we knew we were woken at some time in the morning by more strange sounds. It was early, we knew that, but what was it that woke us? The sound came again and now that I was no longer in a sleep state I could tell what it was. It was someone warbling in Hindi at the top of his voice. WTF?? Dipi then explained that people wander through the suburbs pushing carts laden with goods selling things like fruit or collecting old news papers. They shout their business right into your house 1st thing in the morning! It also turned out that the noises during the night were coming from a “security guard”, one that’s paid to go up and down the street with a whistle and a stick; blowing the whistle and hitting the stick on the ground in order to deter any would be car thieves. Noise literally gets delivered to your front door in India!!
Kartik found our bemusement most amusing and had plenty of funny and nutty stories to tell us regarding how things are in India. One of the stories we were told during our time there was the one about the dancing transvestites. They knock on your door, do a dance and if you don’t give them money they drop their pants! Minging!
On a shopping trip the very next day we went on to see how the roads really are when it’s busy along with how mad everything is out in the city. The roads, the traffic and chaos are something to behold! It was what I think they call a culture shock! We can’t actually remember much detail of the first few days due to sensory overload!

Me enjoying a dosa.


Oh, and of course, the cows. There are cows everywhere, mostly walking down the middle of the road or just stood in the middle of a junction chewing cud!

We had a little bit of organising to do as we wanted to do a couple of things away from Delhi prior to Chandra (Dipi’s mum) arriving on the 20th of October. There were also a few things planned for us all to do in Delhi. What with all the work and organisation they were doing for the move, running a business and looking after us two it was quite a busy time! We managed to get out and about during the week sightseeing, going shopping and trying out some food stalls and markets. One evening we made it along to India Gate which looks a little like a certain landmark in Paris (can you tell that I don’t know how to spell it??)

Anyway, on arrival we dumped off the car and headed towards the monument which was quite a sight even from a distance. We managed to look around the place buffeting off “salesmen” offering all sorts, from monkey dancing (completely ignored that one by the way) to glowing bombs that you throw high into the air and watch propel themselves slowly to the ground. Needless to say it was a little crazy. One guy, who was selling vampire teeth of all things, made it into our self take photo!

Crazy fool!

The monument itself is a beauty – a 42m high stone memorial arch which pays tribute to around 90,000 Indian army soldiers who died in WW1, the Northwest Frontier operations of the same time and the 1919 Afghan fiasco. The names of all the martyrs are chiselled into its walls, and has a flame that burns constantly which is tended by soldiers.