flies buzzing round their heads, vultures circling the dead
(or at least huge numbers of hawks chasing soon-to-be-dead pigeons), horns a plenty, seemingly no traffic laws, and people people people everywhere doing something i'm sure. so i'm not really that displaced. it's definitely more full-on than west africa but i'm older (7 years!), wiser (well...), street-wise (landan innit), more cynical (possibly), and whatever, than i was.
i'm having a quiet day today, partly as it needs to be cheap, and partly because i don't want to stray too far from my hotel... last night the contortionists in my digestive tract finally put on the show they'd been promising all day. looks like it was a one-night-only performance, thank god, but i'm not taking any risks! the experience was made all the more magical for the gremlins who'd somehow removed my bathroom light and replaced my main light with a very slow strobe, having blown the bulb in my trusty torch the night before. so, by the light of a mobile 'phone screen...
here are some things i've done: arrived on friday morning, very tired - didn't sleep on plane, not good - went to new delhi which is fairly uninspiring, planned, impressive buildings etc. but old delhi is unplanned, chaotic, nuts. really enjoyed it. here's the red fort:
its from the Mughal reign (17th century), built by Shah Jahan (of Taj Mahal fame), with a nice mix of crumbling red sandstone buildings and intricate marble-inlayed courts. history on a plate, very relaxing after coming through old delhi.
here's the largest mosque in india
where i burned my naked feet on the searing stone.
old delhi was incredible but possibly a bit much for my 2nd day in india. The bazzars are so easy to get lost and overwhelmed in - they look a bit like this:
but i stuck it out for an hour or so before retreating onto a cycle rickshaw. this was not quite the relaxation aid I was looking for though & after 45 minutes of hair-raising manouvers through bursting streets that were bumpy as hell, across major 6-lane intersections with buses bareing down, I was exhausted... imagine how he felt:
meet Faroz. i like to think i paid him well for an amazing ride but, actually, he ripped me off. nye's advice to treat 100 rupees as if it were 10 pounds seems about right (its actually about 1 pound 25p) but is easier said than done, at least to start with. it's amazing how quickly you adjust - i was probably hassled 3 times as much on my first day as i was today. and i'm getting used to having cobras shoved in my face when i've just avoided being run over too.
here's Paharganj, where i'm staying:
its pretty seedy, but is the only place i've met fellow backpackers.
to be honest, i'd probably have left delhi after a couple of days if it weren't for the imminent arrival of the bartlett-domino roadshow. i'm pleased i didn't though... yesterday, having had 2 very full-on days, i was really glad to meet Henning - a thoughtful , easy-going dutch carpenter with considerable indian experience. having established the importance of not being constantly on the go, we decided to take it easy and went for a stroll off the lonely planet map (!) north of paharganj to an area henning had found the day before. we quickly got lost and found oursleves far away from the main roads in a maze of pastel-coloured houses (no 2 the same), doors open to small rooms where entire families live, streets of laundry, men playing cards & being shaved, exquisite tiny crumbling temples, you get the picture. it was nice to see indians doing their thing, fairly oblivious to us (or at least looking with curiosity rather than dollar-signs in their eyes). became involved in a street cricket match which was great fun, and the whole experience was quite a privilege. not without its sobering sides though - whilst most people seemed quite content, there were several people clearly in need of medical treatment and the sight of horses tethered in the sun without water and cows eating rubbish, slowly dying, is not so easy. i didn't take my camera, which was probably a good thing. after a while it became a bit intense as we entered an area where all the kids seemed to be, at first only a few plucked said hello, but then all their friends joined in, then all theirs, it all escalated and we had to get out! felt quite shell-shocked for a while, but it seemed like my first real experience of india. which is nice.
so, its all good. it feels like parts of me that have been in hibernation for a long cold winter are waking up to some serious sensory overload...
