Day 3: Delhi: A view from a window
Delhi was a whirlwind tour thanks to our lost day. We left Agra early in the AM for the long ride back to Delhi. It’s about 200km to Delhi (about 120 miles), and it just blows me away that it takes 5 hours to get between the two cities. It made me incredibly grateful for the Interstate system in the US. We hit Delhi, and for the first time we got a good look at Delhi. The whole city was under construction! Come to find out that the Commonwealth games are being held in India this fall, and apparently the Indian government has just realized (in JULY) that they need to get ready for it! Needless to say, the traffic was a disaster (as if it needed assistance in getting to be crazy?).
It took us at least an hour to navigate to the restaurant (Indian Chinese) we were going to for lunch once we hit Delhi. Our tour guide for Delhi met up with us at the restaurant and then joined us on the bus. It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get an opportunity to get out of the bus and explore Delhi, but at this point most of us had reached such a level of exhaustion that I don’t know if we actually would have been coherent enough to have been able to navigate through the crowds.
Oh lord, were there crowds! No matter which window you looked out there were people EVERYWHERE! Okay, obviously there are a lot of people in India, but seeing a number on paper and seeing the PEOPLE – it was unbelievable. There were people sleeping on sidewalks, on benches, on walls, under overpasses. There were people selling things at car windows, from stands, and from stores. There were ten people crammed into a 4 passenger car (that was to be my next lesson too; personal space – India style).
We drove by government buildings and historic buildings (none of which I can really remember beyond the Red Fort because it all went by so fast and my sleep deprived brain was not firing on all cylinders). Finally, we stopped at the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. This was the only place we got out of to explore, but stepping out of the bus reminded us of why we were so happy ON the bus! It was hot…still.
We all tried to dress relatively modestly because we knew we were visiting an active mosque. We all wore pants that covered our ankles and no one had anything low cut on for a top (though I really had no choice as to my attire as I only had 2 outfits because of the lack of luggage!). However, despite our best efforts we were still required to put on this nasty…kimono looking…robe…thing. Most of us tried to put out of our minds how many people had had their sweaty selves in it prior to us – and none of us wanted to ask when the last time it was washed was.
I thought the Jama Masjid was very cool. I got more of the awe factor with the Jama than I did the Taj. Maybe the Taj was just overwhelmed by how hot and humid it was – that the “awe factor” never quite had a chance to sink in. It was still very hot in Delhi, but it was nowhere near the smothering humidity that it had been when we visited the Taj. There were a bunch of people there, kids were playing in the fountain and agitating the birds that kept gathering inside, which made for some fun shots. I got really caught up in photography that I turned around to realize that everyone else had high-tailed it for the bus and a relief from the heat. I easily could have spent another hour there.
We drove through the markets, and I was so thankful that we weren’t going to try to navigate the sea of….heads….that I witnessed.
There was also something interesting that I noticed happening more frequently. We saw it a bit in Agra, but in Delhi it was definitely more prominent. We attracted stares everywhere we went. People waved to our bus from the side of the road, men blew kisses, children ran alongside our bus waving…it almost as if we were a group of celebrities and the entire country wanted us to wave back at them. It was sort of cute at first, and we waved back – and I definitely enjoyed having people WANTING me to take their picture (by the end of the trip there was a point where I wished I wasn’t white just for a moment so I could…blend...).
After the quick tour – which really felt like a “blink and you’ll miss it” experience, we got to go to another captured-audience sales pitch, where I left with a carpet (to put my nightstand on?). Then, FINALLY, we headed back to the hotel for a night’s sleep. My LUGGAGE AWAITED ME! As was the other 3 people who were sans-bags. We all said goodbye to Anurag who had been with us all weekend. He was a wonderful guide throughout the first few days and we were all very sad to say goodbye to him (some were even plotting kidnap and taking him to Hyderabad with us!). The next morning…another plane was awaiting us.
Oh. Yippie.
Photos (in random order because I have no clue what blogger is doing to me right now!)
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