Heritage India Tour: Arrival

We have arrived in Delhi!

Our flights were about as uneventful as you hope these things to be. Our hotel had sent a driver to pick us up, so once we got through immigration and customs, we made our way out of the airport in a little white car. I had heard of the driving habits in India, so I wasn't surprised to hear the chorus of honks and beeps that accompanied our travel. I was surprised to see lanes painted in orderly fashion on the road, but soon realized that they mean nothing to the drivers. Despite the seeming chaos, though, there is some order, but I am glad I will not have to drive here. Being a pedestrian will be challenging enough.

We drove by an Indian wedding last night. We could hear the drum-heavy music, and see the crowd of people dancing. It reminded me very much of the Indian wedding I went to with my grandparents and parents when I was about 9. I remember thinking then that human traditions have more in common than they are different - basically, a party is a party. It was fun to see that last night. I had forgotten about that wedding.

Our driver was from Nepal. He told us several times that India is crowded and noisy for him. Kathmandu, he said, is "very small" with only about 2 million people. Compared to Delhi's 13.5 million, I suppose that feels tiny. I wonder what Seattle would feel like to him.

Our hotel is descriptively on a street called Main Bazar, in New Delhi. This is descriptive because , though at most a 1-1/2 lane street, it is quite busy with cars, pedestrians, bikes, trolleys, and stalls of wares. Considering it was 10pm when we arrived last night, we have not yet explored, but we won't need to go far for breakfast. But I am glad for earplugs. And I was grateful for the driving skill of our driver. Especially since my seat belt didn't work.

The remainder of our party arrives this morning. While we are waiting, we went to the hotel's rooftop restaurant for some breakfast. It was our first daytime visual of our location. I must admit the restaurant is a romantic scene, with chairs and tables strewn about, planters in various stages of winter deshabille. Awnings cover a good portion of the area on this overcast day. The Teenlet ordered chocolate pancakes, which were more like crepes. I ordered toast and milk coffee. While we waited for our food, we looked around the neighborhood from our rooftop vantage point. From what I can make out, we are in a middle class neighborhood that would, in the US, be closer to a slum. But here the concrete buildings are reinforced with rebar, as we can tell from a partially completed structure nearby, there are shops lining the street below us, and the children are heading to school, some in uniforms (I guess those attend the St Thomas' School that we passed on our way here), and others wearing everyday clothing that is in good repair, with heavily-loaded backpacks on their backs. Auto-rickshaw drivers are washing their vehicles, and fruit vendors wheel huge carts of papayas and other fruits down the street. I'm only guessing they were papayas - they were larger than any papaya I've ever seen before, and more round. But there was one sliced open, and it looked just like papaya meat and seeds inside.

I told Teenlet, as we were sitting at breakfast, that we would see such highs and lows on this trip, since India is known for its beauty and poverty both. He was troubled by the neighborhood, even more so when I said it is not a slum. He was seeing the garbage on the streets, the tightly packed buildings, graffiti, and sense of abandonment that you frequently see in these types of urban areas, even in the US. Think Detroit in the years that followed the downfall of the US auto industry.

I am grateful that our unfortunate hotel neighbor is resting again. I hope he did not eat at the restaurant upstairs.

Dad and my brother got here, so we are all together.

Highlights of today:

Lunch at Movida Cafe. Really yummy international food, but we of course ate Indian. I had tandoori chicken momos.

Jama Masjid mosque (holds 25,000 worshippers). We were there at the time of call to worship, and waited outside during prayers, then went back inside.