Delhi, Part One

Delhi, Part 1

So, welcome to my new style, I think we’ll call it Blog 2.0.  Hopefully it all works out, especially since I don’t think my parents would recover from their disappointment if it doesn’t.  All right, I guess it’s best to start off right where I left off.  This update will cover the time between my second day in Delhi and my day trip to Agra, which will make up its own entry.  I am not putting my whole time in the country into one update in order not to overload your brains with too much information, as I was there for 12 days or so.  I have decided not to do a straight forward chronological entry for India because there were some days which I took off as rest days (for my own sanity/physical wellbeing.  This is not to say that they were unplanned, as I had always known I would need them about halfway through the trip, as per the very helpful suggestion book that the Circumnavigators Club provided me), and I am assuming that the majority of you, excluding my mother, don’t have much interest in hearing about days on which I mostly stayed inside and did reading/research.  Suffice it to say that due to language barriers, as well as other extenuating circumstances, I did not have as many meetings/interviews here in India as in Australia and New Zealand.  That being said, I learned a great amount, and it was a successful stop on my trip to be sure.

I started out on my second day in India with a trip to the restaurant upstairs at the hotel next door.  I did this by accident (going to the wrong hotel’s restaurant that is to say) because the lobbies of my hotel and the Hotel Raunak are attached, and as far as I can tell they are run by the same people.  It is my understanding that the difference between them is price and quality of the accommodations.  Needless to say, being on a budget, I was staying in the cheaper of the two.  Anyway, back to breakfast.  Upstairs in the restaurant/room full of chairs and tables with a kitchen kind of attached, I ordered something called the “American Breakfast” because I was curious what that would entail.  It turned out to be a glass of milk, a glass of orange juice, a bowl of corn flax (as spelled on the menu), some toast and jam, and a bowl of scrambled egg whites.  It was a good attempt, but it was also obvious that the cook was not comfortable with non-Indian cuisine and the food was accordingly unappetizing. 

I do understand the irony of beginning Blog 2.0, whose purpose is to avoid stories about my food and other mundane topics, with a recounting of my breakfast, but I felt the anecdote was useful for understanding both my hotel and the sort of experiences I had in India.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my time there, just that it was a more difficult country to adjust to than those of Oceania, obviously.

Following my breakfast I went off to Connaught Place, because it’s a good jumping off point in the city, due to its central location.  I spent some time there wandering around and had some delicious Paneer Korma, and then got in an autorickshaw to do some sightseeing.  Since it was the weekend I decided to make the most of it and see the sights of New Delhi, which is the British and Later section of the city.  Delhi itself has had eight incarnations, or which the British and Indian ones are the seventh and eighth respectively.  I went first to the Rajpath, or Road of Kings in English, which is a very good Indian approximation of the National Mall in DC.  On one end is the India Gate, a massive war memorial, while at the other end sits the Presidential Palace, National Parliament, and a few Executive Ministries (budget and finance I believe). 

I went first to the India Gate.  As I mentioned, it is a war memorial, much in the same vein as the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.  It is a very large arch, inscribed with the names of famous battles, as well as British India’s war dead.  It is important to note that British India’s war dead included many soldiers who would now be considered Sri Lankan, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi, but were at the time of the First World War (which is the war this memorial stands for) members of the British colony of India.  Underneath the massive arch is an undying flame representing the Unknown Soldier.  It is a moving tribute to a war which cost the Indian subcontinent over 100,000 men in battle, which is, coincidentally, more soldiers than the ANZAC forces sent over, in the war that defined their nations.  Nearby is an empty, but ornate, pedestal, which once upon a time held a statue of newly crowned King George V.  The statue has been moved to a park near the zoo, where it is much less conspicuous than in the center of Delhi. 

Following this stop I took another autorickshaw way out of town into the urban sprawl.  My destination took about 30 minutes of hectic, Indian driving to reach, but it was well worth it since I found myself at the Baha’i Centre of Delhi, known by most as the Lotus Temple.  It is an amazing temple built in the shape of a gigantic lotus flower.  It reminded me very strongly of the Sydney Opera House, since they both share curved, sloping walls in the shape of circular triangles.  The whole building is absolutely surreal.  It is just not easy for a human being to comprehend something like the Baha’i Lotus Temple.  I spent a long time there, walking around the grounds, and praying inside.  All faiths are welcome, as per Baha’i beliefs, and the interior is a place of silent meditation.  I felt very privileged to have gotten a chance to see it.  I eventually had to leave though, because I was feeling all the classic symptoms of heat exhaustion (thanks, Florida and MSC 201 for teaching me that the following can become very bad in a hurry: not sweating, extreme thirst, feeling cold despite being in a city which might as well be on the surface of the sun, etc). 

Needing a respite from the heat, I went, for the first but certainly not last time, to an oasis of modernity and air conditioning in a sea of heat and fans: the Imperial Hotel.  Rated as one of Delhi’s most luxurious hotels, I just took advantage of the AC, had a cold drink, and read the newspaper.  It was a nice way to experience being in the lap of luxury (much needed after wandering around in the heat) all while spending only about $2 for the drinks.  It was a routine I would follow for many of my more strenuous days in India: go exploring for the morning and early afternoon, regain strength at nice hotel/coffeehouse, do a few more things, go back to hotel.  Obviously meals were also interspersed in there, although at very different times on different days.  After the Imperial I went back to Karol Bagh, where I got to bed a little early from all the jetlag and heat exhaustion. 

The next day I kept up my explorations by going to the National Museum of India.  In a country with a history as lengthy and rich as India I knew I would be in for a good time at any museum, so for it to be the culmination of all the historical museums of the whole country just made me all the more excited.  The museum was pretty easy to get to, and even easier to get into, as the student entry fee (which I qualified for with my ISIC card) for the museum was Rs 1, or a nickel in US currency.  The museum, although not air conditioned, did not disappoint.  There were more exhibits than was humanly possible to see in one visit, but I did my best.  The exhibits ranged from very early Indus River Civilizations on through the development of Hindu artwork, Buddhism and its accompanying art forms, and eventually into Mughal exhibits and British/Modern Indian exhibits.  I had a great time just walking through the hallways and seeing everything I could.  I was blown away by the history of this country.

After the museum I had an autorickshaw driver take me around the other end of Rajpath, so I could see the government buildings.  The Presidential Palace was the first building we passed (none of them are particularly easy for visitors to gain access to).  The place was extravagantly amazing.  It was built in the heyday of the British Empire for the residence of the Governor-General, who was, after Queen Victoria, the most powerful person in Indian affairs.  The palace is larger than Versailles by a good margin, has over 500 rooms, and once employed 50 boys just to keep birds away from the gardens, or so the legend goes.  Next we drove by the circular and colonnaded Parliament building, which was also quite impressive, although not nearly as extravagant.  The proceedings are normally conducted in Hindi, and to gain access your embassy must present a letter of introduction on your behalf to the proper Indian authorities, so I did not enter.  This was by far the most restrictive Parliament I had been to on my trip, considering I pretty much just walked into the Australian and New Zealand versions.

My driver was a little crafty and he took me on a longer trip than I had asked for, stopping by the ruins of the Old Fort.  While they were breathtaking and I was happy to have seen them, I was very much annoyed when my driver asked me for a much higher amount of money than we had agreed on at the start.  After some very tiring arguing I ended up paying him 50 Rs more, and that was very grudgingly.  I regained my strength and then was off again.  In the middle of Delhi, near Connaught Place, there was a festival being held at the Cervantes Institute to celebrate the International Day of Spanish Language.  It was a very unexpected diversion, but one I enjoyed nonetheless.  All the pertinent embassies had sent staff over and there were exhibits for all the Spanish speaking countries.  There was also a food tasting room, and dancing lessons being held in the basement.  I stayed and enjoyed myself for a while, particularly loving the Peru room because it got me excited for my later journey there.

After the festival I went back to Karol Bagh, had some Uttapum for dinner, and went back to my room for the remainder of the evening.  The next day, Monday, I took as a day of rest.  With the exception of what should have been a short trip to the Delhi Railway Station, I didn’t do too much except for relaxing in my room with AC and the TV and doing research.  Mostly I spent time reading the numerous materials I had been gven in New Zealand and Australia.  I also spent some time reading up on the situation of healthcare in India as it pertains to the power sectors of society.