Delhi, India
Overwealming and chaotic, yet fun and enjoyable - that's about the best way to describe my experience of Delhi.
Nishu got back mid afternoon and we went to the mess - the staff canteen which ironically is a very unclean, ahem, mess. Cobwebs everywhere, dirty floors, and about four pigeons nesting on the sills near the ceiling and occasionally flying around. It's a good job therefore that the food was superb - Roti's (bread) with subzi (curried potato), Dahl (spicy soup) and an omelette, guess what, also spicy! No hotter than I've had before though. Around four pm we walked to the main road and I then had my first encounter with a cycle rickshaws ridden by a guy, I guess, in his seventies, towing two of us with gears that were so high that he occasionally had to get off and push just to get us going! Nishu was doing the leading, and he then took me to an area called Chandny Chowk, where Nishu hailed another cycle rickshaw to give us a tour of the area. Now this place was like nothing I've ever seen before. Even busier and wilder than the scene that greeted me when I first arrived. First of all there were people everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Motorbikes, cars, lorries, rickshaws, bullocks towing carts, cycle rickshaws, stray dogs. Then the people carrying things on their shoulder, beggars kneeling on the street, homeless people lying on the central reservation. And on top of this, people selling everything you could imagine. I heard, perhaps unreliably that this is the busiest street in the world. Must be one of them at least.
Most doctors work six days a week in India, so on Saturday I headed into town to do a bit of touristy stuff, going to one of Delhi's main sights - the Red Fort - a huge read sandstone complex with many buildings, temples and parks inside, and had a guard blow his whistle (old school) and get quite angry at me when I had almost reached the centre of the complex as I'd neglected to buy a ticket; whoops! An accident of course. There was a small but good museum in there as well on India's struggle for independence from British rule. In case you didn't realise; we shamefully claimed India as our own territory from about 1600 to 1949 and caused much long lasting damage in all sorts of ways, which is partly why our Government has allowed so many to emigrated to Britain since then. Ninety thousand Indians died fighting as part of the British WWII campaign as well. Something to think about next time you hear someone being racist or criticising our immigration policy.
Anyways, so much happened in five days in Delhi, there'll be a part II soon. This could be a regular thing in India...
My first day in India was to be a gentle introduction I decided, as there was a LOT to take in. Once my Couchsurfing host Nishu had gone to his exam I rested in the safe confines of his flat for a while, just to get over the first hour of chaos - it had been a lot to take in. I'd not eaten or drunk since the night before so after a couple of hours I took my first tender steps outside to attempt to find somewhere, but had no idea where to go, what was safe to eat, and where was safe to walk. After strolling through the hospital grounds where Nishu's doctors accommodation is located, I found the hospital snack shop and bought a sandwich with a vegetable patty inside, and a litre of water... all for £0.40. Wow, this country really is cheap.
Dr Nishu, my host
Make do bed for a few days
Nishu got back mid afternoon and we went to the mess - the staff canteen which ironically is a very unclean, ahem, mess. Cobwebs everywhere, dirty floors, and about four pigeons nesting on the sills near the ceiling and occasionally flying around. It's a good job therefore that the food was superb - Roti's (bread) with subzi (curried potato), Dahl (spicy soup) and an omelette, guess what, also spicy! No hotter than I've had before though. Around four pm we walked to the main road and I then had my first encounter with a cycle rickshaws ridden by a guy, I guess, in his seventies, towing two of us with gears that were so high that he occasionally had to get off and push just to get us going! Nishu was doing the leading, and he then took me to an area called Chandny Chowk, where Nishu hailed another cycle rickshaw to give us a tour of the area. Now this place was like nothing I've ever seen before. Even busier and wilder than the scene that greeted me when I first arrived. First of all there were people everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Motorbikes, cars, lorries, rickshaws, bullocks towing carts, cycle rickshaws, stray dogs. Then the people carrying things on their shoulder, beggars kneeling on the street, homeless people lying on the central reservation. And on top of this, people selling everything you could imagine. I heard, perhaps unreliably that this is the busiest street in the world. Must be one of them at least.
The next morning Nishu disappeared off at nineish to the hospital, and I decided to stay in the room and open my Rough Guide for the first time, to read a bit about India in general and plan a bit of a route for the next few weeks. I also had a few days of the blog to catch up on writing - it's pretty easy to get behind and start forgetting things! I went to lunch at the mess with Nishu, and noticed the food was bought out by a boy of around twelve. I quizzed Nishu on it, and as we hear in the media at home sometimes, it is reasonably common - typically for a few rural boys who's parents can't afford to look after them apparently. Now I, probably like most of you can't get my head around this, and I'm surprised that a group of educated Doctors accept it as well, but guess it's just normal and not thought about. After lunch on my own, I braved going a bit further for a stroll around the local area. This time I saw goats grazing the verge, a horse and cart moving stuff, people cutting hair and shaving beards on the roadside and bikes overloaded with long lengths of steel amongst other things.
Nishu finished work around half four, and along with a female neighbor who's name I forget, took me out for a real experience at the local night market as he wanted to buy some fish for a party the next day. The level of hygiene was poor beyond belief, though I had seen similar in Cambodia a few years ago so it wasn't too shocking - the photos do the talking on this one. It was interesting to watch the way they descale and cut the fish, using a huge fixed knife sticking up in front of them. WARNING! BLOOD AND GUTS TALK FOLLOWS! More eye opening though was the barbaric way in which they killed the chickens. These chickens, which are in an awful condition are kept live in tiny cages for the customer to select, then are slaughtered there and then. The first 'normal' way is to just chop the head off, no wringing. The second 'halal' way for Muslim customers though, is to half cut the throat, throw them in a barrel, then let them bleed to death slowly - you could hear them flapping round for a good twenty to thirty seconds before they finally stopped. It was quite a sight, but totally barbaric, torturous and cruel in my opinion.
Night market
Most doctors work six days a week in India, so on Saturday I headed into town to do a bit of touristy stuff, going to one of Delhi's main sights - the Red Fort - a huge read sandstone complex with many buildings, temples and parks inside, and had a guard blow his whistle (old school) and get quite angry at me when I had almost reached the centre of the complex as I'd neglected to buy a ticket; whoops! An accident of course. There was a small but good museum in there as well on India's struggle for independence from British rule. In case you didn't realise; we shamefully claimed India as our own territory from about 1600 to 1949 and caused much long lasting damage in all sorts of ways, which is partly why our Government has allowed so many to emigrated to Britain since then. Ninety thousand Indians died fighting as part of the British WWII campaign as well. Something to think about next time you hear someone being racist or criticising our immigration policy.
Anyways, so much happened in five days in Delhi, there'll be a part II soon. This could be a regular thing in India...
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