the day after my college graduation, i jumped in a van headed to chicago, where i got on a plane headed towards delhi, india. i spent five weeks in india with my professor, who we affectionately called chacha, and twelve other students. over the course of these five weeks, i traveled to twelve different cities in india, each of which was a world of its own. i willdedicate a blog entry to each city that i visited.
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DELHI
we arrived late tuesday night. as soon as we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by rows of ambassador taxis and the constant blasting of their horns. westood on the curb, waiting for chacha's friend ajay to find our bus to take us to our hotel. we eventually discovered that our bus was a little ways away, so we carried our luggage across busy lanes of traffic and down a small airport road to get to our bus. the whole walk, ajay held hands with chacha while they shared the duty of carrying his suitcase. men holding hands is a natural sign of affection between friends in india. our bus driver semi-carefully loaded our luggage onto the roof of the bus, which he secured haphazardly with a rope while ajay handed us each a litre of water. commence bus ride number one. we sped down the highway, swerving around rickshaws, bicycles, taxis, and large tractors pulling HUGE loads of cotton on wagons. we arrived at our hotel, the YWCA on ashoka road, and went to bed shortly after.
day one in delhi:
my roommates, laura and grace, and i woke up early, so we got dressed and walked around outside for a bit. we didn't want to go too far, so we went back to our room until breakfast, which consisted of a hard-boiled egg, a veg cutlet, porridge, and toast with jam. not too bad. we then headed into new delhi, where we visited a sikh gurdwara, saw hanuman square and the south-indian-style temple there;visited varun's shop, where his grandfather gave us all free sodas; went to the underground shopping center in connaught place, where i bought saree fabric and a punjabi. we then headed back to the hotel for lunch and to change into our punjabis.
breakfast
head coverings for inside the gurdwara
sikh gurdwara
temple in hanuman square
chacha and varun
our first punjabis! (and stiff dupattas, aka the scarf)
after lunch, we headed into old delhi, and BAM! india hit me full force. as soon as we stepped out of the metro station at chandni chowk, i could tell that the atmosphere in this part of the city was completely different. first of all, it was much louder: horns blasting, shopowners calling out for customers, women calling out to us from blankets on the curbside, and music. second, the smells were much more potent in this part of the city (and not necessarily all in bad ways): more fried street food, fresh mangoes, and the smell of an unclean bathroom following you everywhere you go. third, the sights: SO MANY COLORS! fresh fruit stands, goods hanging and resting on stands, cows in the streets, congested streets--so full with cars and bicycle rickshaws and animals and people that i don't understand how anyone moves, people everywhere, and streets lined with shops--shops set up in places you would never think a shop could fit or sustain itself (such as in a small nook between two walls, or in an indentation in the side of a wall). we walked the streets, chacha paused to buy us all water, and we continued walking to the bird hospitpal, which is part of the jain temple. unfortunately, both the temple and the bird hospital were closed for the afternoon when we arrived, so we were only able to look through the gates. we then headed the jama masjid mosque, the largest mosque in india. the mosque is built of red sandstone, so after sitting in the indian sun all day, the walking surface was extremely hot. we had to remove our shoes to enter the mosque, so we basically took off at a sprint to get to the rugs that were a refuge to our feet. tina was still in her western clothes, so she was required to wear an "indian dress," which looked more like a child's oversized hospital gown. after the mosque, we headed into the bazaar to see one of chacha's old acquaintances who owns a brass shop. we hit a few more stores before heading to the kwality restaurant to celebrate kyle's birthday! we enjoyed chocolate cake and kingfisher beer, a staple of india. after this celebration, we headed back to the ywca for dinner and an early bedtime.
old delhi
jain bird hospital
jama masjid mosque
birthday celebration at kwality
