New Delhi is a city of striking contrast. We checked into our hotel right by the airport at 7 AM after waiting in the immigration line for 3 hours, and found a luxury hotel worthy of Las Vegas, infinity pool included (it was only a Holiday Inn, we weren’t expecting anything fancy). We left that afternoon to walk to the metro, which was a few blocks from where we’d stayed. Right outside the heavily guarded security gates was a much different world. We found the metro station near a busy highway in the middle of a dirt clearing, and walked inside to go through yet more security checks and buy our tokens. Dogs covered in flies lay on the floor, looking about five minutes from death.
As soon as we got underground in the metro, a clean, brand-new looking station greeted us. A train pulled up within seconds, also looking practically brand-new. The metro was easy and efficient, seemingly much more so than the D.C. metro! It got us to within a few blocks of our next hotel in about an hour, where we got to walk along a busy, very dusty highway for a short ways. Thankfully we didn’t have to cross any of the highways- we weren’t ready to play frogger yet, although we did see a lot of locals attempting it.
The state of the art metro at sunset
The poverty is very real and very visible here, and it is all the more jarring when contrasted with the smoothly running metro, the sparkling white apartment towers on the horizon, the many advertisements for luxury brands featuring beautiful pale-skinned Indians. All you have to do is look out the window to see that this is not the world most people live in. Theirs is a world of shanty towns, dust and trash choked streets, no running water; and these are just the things we can see on the surface.
We met up with our tour group and leader, AK, the next day, and spent the afternoon exploring the bustling alleyways of Old Delhi, which as the name implies is the oldest part of the city. We hustled through narrow lanes crowded with shops- some of them smelling enticingly of baked goods or sweets, and some of rancid oil or other unspeakable things. Monkeys hopped across electrical lines above our heads, and we tried to avoid stepping in oddly-colored puddles between the paving stones.
Exploring the streets of Old Delhi
Monkeys climbing the electric lines in a back alley
One of the many delicious-smelling street food stalls that we weren’t allowed to stop at. Food poisoning shmood poisoning.
Our back-alley journeys eventually led us to an active mosque, where we were able to observe some of the local folks relaxing on the steps, trying (perhaps unsuccessfully) to beat the heat. Our own efforts to do this were foiled by the fact that we had to minimize the amount of skin showing - the women are all given robes to wear, and the men as well if they have shorts on.
Fashion!
A bunch of locals around the middle of the mosque
We visited a Sikh temple and saw some of the charity work they do there, cooking for and feeding whoever wants to show up for dinner. One of the head volunteers even graciously invited us to sit down for a bite.
Inside the Sikh temple. We got to learn a bit about the religion and its history
The Sikh temple takes donations in order to feed those that need it. Anyone is welcome to take a meal, no matter their religion or social status.
That evening we got our first introduction to the wonders of Indian beverages- they don’t really drink alchohol, but you don’t miss it with all the lime sodas and mango lassies you can order!
The next morning we hopped on a quick 3 hour train to Agra, where the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal awaited us. Delhi was a little overwhelming for us, as we fully expected it to be, and we were relieved to leave the city and get out into the countryside a bit more.
Goodbye Delhi!