Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Assault of the Senses, written by Robinder

Today is my 3rd day and Glenn's 2nd. I cannot even begin to describe this place. It is a total assault on the senses. Every moment is filled with scents, sounds and sights, many good and many not so much. We are starting to get a little bit used to Delhi, but it is so crazy.
Everyone drives like a maniac. They never use signals but they honk at everything. Cars, buses, motorbikes, auto rickshaws, cycle rickshaws, bikes and pedestrians all share the road. Lines are a suggestion only. Riding in an auto rickshaw is very exciting, but quite nerve racking.
The smog here is terrible. There is rarely any blue sky. I can feel the dirt and polution in my skin pores and the grossest black stuff comes out my nose.
We have been all around the city in the last 2 days. In one area, called Connaught Place we made the mistake of opening up the guide book after we were dropped off from a rickshaw. Immediatly a friendly fellow asked us what we were looking for, and we told him a place to eat. Himself and a friend who appeared out of nowhere proceeded to take us to a restaurant because they are "fellow human beings". Basically Connaught Place is full of touts who want to lure you into travel offices and sell you trips at inflated prices. It can be quite frustrating! You just want to be left alone but everyone wants to sell you shit you dont need. A local Indian told us to say "Chello" which means "go away" and "bus" which means "stop". Now everytime someone approaches we just say "Chello" and they disappear. Its great! Also, if we are lost now we duck into a store before looking at our book/map.
Today I had a touch of Delhi Belly. We were away from our hotel about 30 mins after some pizza I had some serious pangs in my guts. Glenn was supposed to have the TP but he did not. I suffered through it without anything to serious but it was looking like I was going to have to use the toilet Indian Style. Ugh. It is ironic that the only thing that has made me feel sick so far was the only bit of western food I have had since I was here. I actually think it had more to do with riding the bus and forgetting to use the hand disinfectant first. DOH!
So I bet this all sounds really bad eh? Some of you are maybe thinking, why did you ever want to go to India anyway. Well despite all these bad things it is really amazing. The people are so nice and friendly (the ones who aren't trying to rip you off that is). The food is great. Everything is cheap too. We have spent our time seeing all the sights as quickly as possible so that we can get out. We have seen the Red Fort (a big fort that is red), Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India, it holds 25000 people every friday). Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, and Qutab Minar (a big tower built about 1100 CE).
Also Diwali, the festival of lights happened the last two days and it was a blast. Its basically India's Christmas. Last night, after dinner(which was wicked) and several beers, Glenn and I wandered the streets of Paharganj. Children everywhere were lighting firecrackers. Fathers would stop cars in the street so their child could set off a bottle rocket. Boys would run up to us and shake our hand to say Happy Diwali. It was a blast until a few very loud firecrackers (I call KFB's) went off close to us. We decided it was best to head back to our hotel but we could not remember the way. It was a war zone. Trying to watch out for lit fireworks and negotiate our way throw the narrow streets took another 30 minutes.
On the plane over I broke my glasses! Can you believe that people told me to bring a spare and I said no way and I broke them before I even got to India. Well I am very glad that I never listened to anyone, because it took me only 24 hours to get a new pair almost exactly the same AND a pair of priscription sunglasses for 11500 rupies or about 330 CAD.
But in all honesty, Delhi is wearing on us. That is why we are getting out asap. Friday we fly to Kashmir to Srinagar and will slowly work our way south to the province of Rajasthan and to the aforementioned Camel Festival Nov. 15th.
I could have easily written 3 times about this place but this is all you get. If you have any questions, I will do my best to respond.

13 Comments:

Blogger Summers said...

First and foremost, if you guys can, you should block this THOMAS guy from posting. What the hell is this guys all about, FFS!

Anyway, that's an awesome summary Rob, if you can keep them up at that level they give plenty of info and imagery. In addition to the photos it's the next best thing to being there! BTW, nice work w/ the glasses, Hah hah!

12:40 PM  
Blogger Glenn Saqui said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

4:46 AM  
Blogger Glenn Saqui said...

From Robinder:

Thx for the replies everyone!

Egg you dont want to know about the dogs here....

The pizza was crap. It certainly wasn't worth the gut pains I am still suffering. I gave a slice of it away to a woman with a child. They seemed to enjoy it alot more than I!

In Delhi it was hot but not too bad. Probably about about 25 celsius. It rained a little bit the last day we were there but not much.

4:47 AM  
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