Incredibly India - Part 2 - A Day in Delhi

Thursday Nov. 16, 2006

Breakfast was a very nice buffet with a combination of western & Indian foods. There was a veggie curry dish with rice & a very thin pancake filled with potato mixture that was really good. Of course tea & yogurt & fresh fruit (I was told it’s OK to eat these items at big hotels, but otherwise avoid fruit & yogurt). The other Cadmus people met us in the lobby (Alok & Pradeep – are the Cadmus Delhi staff), they were very nice. Alok’s wife, Rajnee works at the Shangri-La Hotel in Delhi, so she had sent a list of things that I might enjoy doing for the day. John had to work, so I was on my own. The Cadmus guys met in the hotel for about an hour & I decided to entertain myself my walking the grounds of the hotel. It looked like it was attempting to be elegant, but nothing seemed to be finished or working or in repair. There was trash all around, piles of it. There was a very nice walkway across the front of the lawn, but no good way to get to it. You had to go through some bushes or mud to get to it on either end. I did notice a fairly nicely dressed man urinating on the side of the hotel. I guess this is not unusual. I thought I had seen a man the night before doing the same thing along the street on the way to the hotel. I noticed that the women have the most incredibly beautiful clothes, brightly colored with embroidery & sequins. Most of the women wear the traditional saris or baggy pants with long tunic top & always a scarf. Everything matches & everything is bright. The men are mostly in earth colors – beige, brown, tan. Sometimes the younger men will have bright colored shirts.

When it came time for the Cadmus crew to depart I have to admit that for the first time in a very long time I was really scared about going out on my own. John & I went to the room to get something & I actually broke down & cried. I guess all that I’d been told & my experience thus far just freaked me out. It was so different from anywhere I’d ever been before. I told John I just wanted to stay in the room all day. John assured me that India isn’t unsafe; you just are very likely to get ripped off if you don’t know what you are doing. Westerners are over charged for everything. He explained that I could hire a taxi for the day & he would just wait for me & be there when I was done to take me to the next place. To my way of thinking this sounded very extravagant, but John assured me that is how it is done & it will probably be less than $20 for a taxi for the day & I should not worry about it. Alok very nicely negotiated the taxi for me & told him exactly where to take me. Alok told me it was going to cost 650Rupees for the entire day & not to pay him until he brought me back to the hotel at the end of the day. So, 650 Rupees is like $13.00, what a deal. I was feeling better already.

My driver was very nice & spoke some English. He told me the hotel was in New Delhi which is where all of the embassies are located. He seemed to know them all and pointed them out to me as we passed. All were very well fortified with huge fences & barbed wire & guards with machine guns outside. My first stop was the National Train Museum. The driver told me exactly where he would be waiting for me. When I got my ticket (which was about 20 cents), I noticed that you could also rent a canoe, kayak or raft. This seemed kind of strange at a train museum, but I thought there must be some park or something. The museum consisted of lots of trains scattered around a mostly dirt area. There was a building that had many artifacts & history about trains in India. It was interesting, but I don’t really know much about trains, I mostly liked the brightly painted engines (as you can tell if you’ve seen my photos). The museum looked very neglected & outdated. There were indeed some canoes & kayaks & a rubber raft in the grass area, but the only water I could see was a large tiled pond that couldn’t have been more than 2 feet deep & was probably only 100’x 30’. Nobody was using the boats.

When I left I looked over where the driver said he’d be & there was no taxi. My heart dropped for a second until I heard a honk & looked up & he was there at the entrance waiting for me. He smiled & asked how I like the museum. My heart raised back up & I felt my confidence coming back. Next stop was a market, they always want you to shop. The driver said he would give me 30 minutes & meet me back at 2:00. The shops were very expensive. My driver was there just as he promised. Feeling better…….

Next stop, National Museum of Modern Art. On the way we stopped at the Gate of India. I’m not sure the significance of it, but it was impressive. I sign at the front desk said “Indian native 10Rupee; foreigner 150Rupee”. Being a state run facility this didn’t seem unreasonable and 150Rupee is only just over $3. I got out my 150 & they man looked at me funny & said, “No, you just pay 10, that is fine.” So I guess the government isn’t interested in ripping off the Westerners.

The museum was interesting, they had a multi-media show – photos, paintings, videos. The artists were young artists around India. Some of the pieces were very Bollywoodish. I enjoyed it & fortunately it wasn’t too big. My driver predicted that it would take me about an hour & a half & he’d meet me in that time & sure enough he was right on the money. I got out to the designated meeting place & there were some taxi drivers there. They wanted to give me a ride. I said I had a car, then they wanted to drive me to my car. I said I had a car AND a driver who was going to meet me. They said he might not show up & I should take a ride with them. Just at that time, my wonderful driver pulled up in front & I hopped in.

I don’t want to make it sound like India a terrible place. I guess it is just so different that it is kind of a shock to a westerner’s senses. I have to say that although the drivers & storekeepers are pushy, they are really really nice. They are so good at trying to get you to buy things. They just don’t take no for an answer, but they are gracious and nice about it. I guess you take 2 tactics, you ignore everyone trying to sell something (like I did) or you play their game and bargain & argue. I make the arguing sound very negative, but I realized that it is just the culture. It seemed like everyone there likes to argue or bargain – it’s all in how you look at it. The bargaining is just the way of life & they are always looking for a way to make a few extra Rupees – I guess nothing wrong with that, just not what I’m used to.

The driver took me past a golden roofed Mosque & the Catholic Cathedral. We stopped at one more shopping place. There is a place in Delhi called the Cottage Industries Emporium that is government run. The prices there are set & they are generally fair prices. This is for tourists who don’t like the bargaining thing & just want to get some souvenirs. He took me to a small corner store that said Cottage over the door. It was 2 floors and the prices seemed very expensive. I looked at the Pashminas (shawls) & for plain ones they wanted $15. I started to walk out & the man said “Come on, it’s only like $15 US. You can afford that. Don’t be cheap.” Did I happen to mention that many Indians speak English very well? I told him that I lived in Hong Kong & could get very nice, designed Pashminas for less than $10. He didn’t have a response to that – amazing! Later when I told our friends about where I’d been taken, they said that wasn’t the real Cottage Emporium, because it is an entire city block & several stories high. I had been told that this is a common practice if you don’t know where you are going. They will take you to their friend’s store who has put a sign up similar to the real one & I’m sure the drivers get some commission if you buy stuff. Glad I didn’t get taken in by this one.

I was pretty tired by then & asked to be taken back to the hotel. The driver did so & I paid him the agreed upon sum. He gave me his card and said that if I needed a ride the next day to be sure to call him & he’d take care of me. They all seemed to do this.

I was to meet John at the hotel at 6pm. Our friends had gotten us tickets to go see the light & sound show at the Red Fort. I got a call from John that they were running late, they were meeting with lawyers & he would not be able to make the show. He was sending Pradeep (a Cadmus employee) to pick me up & Rajnee, Alok’s wife (he is the other Cadmus employee in Delhi) was going to join us as well. I felt a bit guilty like these people I didn’t even know were being forced to take out the boss’ wife, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Pradeep turned out to be delightful & had never seen the Red Fort show before so was very glad to get to go. We picked up Rajnee at the Shagri-La Hotel where she works. What a gorgeous place. They even have gold fish bowls at the bottom of the banister on the top of the end column. I waited in the car with the driver while Predeep went in to get Rajnee. The hotel staff wasn’t too happy to have a crapy taxi out front with their BMW fleet so they were asking him to move. He was arguing with them & proceeded to hit the car behind us. The staff really got hot about this, but the driver got our & talked to the person & came back & said “no problem, he is a friend on mine.”

We drove through the old part of Delhi & I got to ask all of my questions about the city & it’s people. Rajnee was terrific & she’d never seen the Red Fort show either, so I didn’t feel so guilty. Rajnee asked me if I’d noticed how loud & rude the people were. I had to admit that I did notice this & she explained that the people in the north are like that. They just love to argue & yell. She asked me not to judge all of India by the people in Delhi. She said people in the south are totally different, very soft spoken and nice. I have to believe her. She explained also that New Delhi is the part of Delhi that the British built. It is where our hotel is & most of the good hotels are there along with all of the foreign embassies. We were going through old Delhi, which had much narrower streets and lots of markets bunched close together. It actually look a bit like HK, but much dirtier. There seemed to be a lot of dust. The streets were very crowded with people. There were buses that are so full people are hanging out the doors & windows. This area was even louder than New Delhi, which didn’t seem possible. The men in the buses hang out the windows & yell at the cars & people & constantly bang on the side of the bus. So you have the driver honking constantly & the people banging & yelling. It seemed a much livelier area than New Delhi where everything is surrounded by fences & barbed wire & armed guards.

The Red Fort was amazing. The stone is red, which is why it is called the Red Fort. I think each large city has a Red Fort. We were very thoroughly checked going in, pat down & bags searched. I didn’t realize it, but there have been several bombings in Delhi in the past few years, so they are very careful. I saw lots of guns there, but none looked very modern. I’m not sure some of them could even shoot they looked so old. The show was very informative about some of the history of India and a few of the emperors. The one who built this fort is the same one who built the Taj-Mahal. India has a very long history, so couldn’t tell it all in an hour program. I did learn that India’s Independence Day was August 15, 1947. The program was more sound than sight. The just lit up different parts of the buildings are the spoke. There was lots of sound effects though, someone had a really good time doing this. I’d say they went a little overboard. It was funny that when they spoke of one of the buildings they said it had been built for the Emperor’s slut. They used this word several times which I thought amusing. The only negative thing at the Red Fort performance was the mosquitoes. I had Capri pants on & my ankles got eaten up. I must have had 20 bites per leg. Good thing there isn’t malaria there.

When the show was over we went out & our taxi driver was waiting. As we were pulling out 2 men came up to the taxi & started arguing with the driver. Then Pradeep started getting into it too. They were obviously angry about something. Finally Rajnee spoke to the men in a very stern voice & then to the driver in a sterner voice & he put up his window & drove away. The men stood there yelling. What was happening is they were telling the driver he needed to pay them for the parking. The driver just sat there & argued with them (stupid). Rajnee finally told them she knew there was not a fee for parking at the fort & they were crooks & we’d just run them over if they didn’t move. She told the driver to put up the window & drive away. Sometimes it just takes a woman to straighten things out.

It was after 10 when we got back to the hotel. Everyone went home. John & I went to one of the hotel restaurants & had tandoori (a type of Indian cooking). We got meat, which is skewered, & it is cooked in a special tandoori clay oven. The Naan bread in India is wonderful. The meat was pretty spicy, but we managed it just fine. I only had to eat one Power Bar today (at lunch time since we never stopped to get anything). So far so good with the food. One day down 3 to go.