Delhi, January 17, 2012: Transportation in and around the city

It's been over a week since my last blog, but we have been busy with guests- Jay's daughter Julia and her boyfriend are visiting- so we have been out sight-seeing with them. We've been to quite a few sites including the Red Fort, old Delhi and the spice market, Lodi Gardens, Humayun's tomb and Hazrat Nizam-ud-Din Dargah to hear the Sufis singing (it was wonderful Shannon!) to name a few places. There is still a lot to see, so not to worry for those who are still coming to visit.

Visiting all of these sites requires a means of transportation to get there. The Metro, which is only about two years old is extremely modern, convenient and cheap. We are within walking distance of one line which makes it very convenient for us to get around. We have bought smart cards which tracks how long your trip is and charges the card according to the distance. The only disadvantage of the Metro is its popularity, which means that during rush hour, the cars are unbelievably crowded, with lots of pushing and shoving. There is also little understanding about the concept of waiting to board a car until everyone has disembarked from it. This translates into a bit of a battle trying to get on and off at times. Fortunately, the first car of each train is reserved for women only, so at busy times, I often take advantage of the relative calm in the women's carriage. That is not to say that some men don't try to sneak onto this carriage, but on the whole it is respected, and in some stations, there are police enforcing it which is good.

The next means of transportation is a taxi, which we haven't used that much, mainly because it is more expensive, and the roads are so congested that it would often take longer to get to your destination compared to taking the Metro. Nonetheless, if you are going anywhere late at night, the metro shuts down at about 11 pm, so a taxi is the way to go, particularly if there are more than 3 of you (which is the max that will fit in an auto rickshaw), or you have luggage. I must say, I certainly feel safer in a taxi on the road, as you will come out relatively unscathed if you collide with an auto or bicycle rickshaw, but not the other way round!

Which brings us to the rickshaw...either a bicycle one or one with a small motor. Both are very widespread and are perhaps the most common means of transportation. You do have to be good at bargaining, because while the taxis have meters which are often used, the rickshaws are supposed to, but are never used/working. My problem with the rickshaw is that the traffic is so congested, and no-one respects the rules of the road, e.g., the lines in the road indicating lanes are totally ignored, that I feel like I am putting my life at risk every time I hop in one. Now admittedly, I am not used to merging into completely chaotic traffic at a round-about with fast moving cars and trucks, when a simple nudge would send the rickshaw spinning into larger vehicles where one would become crushed....let's not think about it. I just try and avert my eyes and think about happy things. And I have yet to see an accident, so I think I just have to practice those rectal flexes and steel my nerves to chaos and horn honking. I will survive! I hope...

I have yet to take an internal flight or train during this trip, so I will have to defer that description until another time.

Tonight, Julia and Gideon arrive back from Amritsar, and will stay with us for a few days before heading to Agra and Varanasi. We hear that Gideon has contracted the vomiting/diarrhea disease, so they may want to just lay low and recuperate. Till next time!

Sue

Delhi, January 5, 2012: Sounds (and noises)

Ah, the joys and annoyances of living in a 3rd world country, especially when it comes to sounds.

We are very lucky to be in a relatively quiet neighbourhood. Our bedroom faces a back alley, and I more often than not wake up to the sounds of different birds chirping away as they perch on apartment balconies, electrical wires or odd branch of a tree. We have the ubiquitous pigeons and crows, but we also have green parakeets who squawk, as well as some other avid warblers and song birds that I am not familiar with.

Very soon after that, I start to hear the cries of the multiple vegetable or fruit wallahs, as they haul their produce on bicycle carts along the streets. It's almost like the home delivery van that we used to have when I was a kid growing up, except that these guys come multiple times from sunrise to sunset every day of the week. All you have to do is hang out your balcony, take a look at what's on the cart, and make your order. They will weigh everything and deliver it to your door- and it's cheap too! The one annoyance is that they tend to also ring your doorbell to get your attention, even though you have not indicated that you want anything. There are also other wallahs roaming on bicycles, usually with burlap sacks at the back, announcing their arrival and services, although I have no idea what those services might be - I have seen an ear cleaning being performed one time.

Being a pedestrian in India means partaking in an obstacle course wherever you go. The few sidewalks that exist are more often than not being used as additional parking spots, which forces you out on the road, trying to avoid puddles made by drivers who have just finished the daily wash of their bosses' cars, or the pile of bricks that is being used for construction. Most of the side streets are narrow, so that means that you are constantly employing maneuvers to avoid being run over by the ever present cars, rickshaws and bicycles. With these maneuvers, every car within a 20 foot radius feels it must honk. And honk they do. Ear-splitting honks! Honks if you are walking in a straight line with no impediments in front of you. Honks if there is another car down the road. There doesn't seem to have to be a reason to honk even. If I leave India with my hearing intact, I will be very surprised! There are even signs posted everywhere in our neighborhood imploring people not to honk, but to no avail.

By 10 am, the construction noises are the prevailing sound one hears. Every block has at least 1-2 houses or more in various stages of being built. While houses in Canada may take a couple of months to erect, I have been here about 1 month, and I have yet to see any visible progress being made on the house across the street, despite there being at least 5 workers on site. It must take years to complete one.

The last cries from the fruit and vegetable wallahs are when darkness has fallen at about 8 or 8:30 pm. By then the construction noises are finishing up, and by 10 pm, the honking stops and the city seems to go to sleep.

Another day of sounds in Delhi has finished.

Delhi, January 1, 2012: Happy New Year! (and kind of Part 2 Shopping)

I wish everyone the best and hope that you have a prosperous and happy new year.

Jay and I had a fairly quiet New Years Eve. We decided to go to a movie in the early afternoon, so we headed off via the Metro to Connaught Circle, where there is a cinema that has movies in English. We saw the new Sherlock Homes, which was OK - I'm not sure what is up with all these fantasy/magical movies. Maybe I'm just getting old.

After the movie, we walked over to the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, which is a government run store which sells textiles and other products from all over India at fixed prices, i.e. no bargaining. It looks almost like a department store, with brass and wood on the 1 st floor, jewellry and carpets on the 2nd, saris and cloth on the 3rd etc., going up to 6 floors. Apparently, it is fairly fair tradish - we don't know for sure- but the prices are reasonable, so you won't get entirely ripped off but you might find it cheaper bargaining in the street if you are so inclined - personally I think not having to bargain is a plus, as you get pretty sick about bargaining for absolutely everything after a while.

In any case, I finally found some high quality Darjeeling tea to sample, so I bought a few different kinds, and have actually just finished a fine cup of Nilgiri tea as I type! We will come back to buy some carpets for sure, and likely some brass and jewelry as well. The clothing wasn't exceptional (FabIndia is better I think) but the scarves and shawls weren't too bad either.

We decided to find a restaurant in Connaught Circle to eat in, despite the crowd of revellers around, blowing noise makers etc. There were also lots of police and army about which we didn't really think twice about. They usually carry around rifles, although we did see a few behind sand bags which was a bit odd. In any case, we found a restaurant, ate and finished about 8:30ish, expecting to hop on the Metro and make it home in about 40 minutes.

Once we left the restaurant, it was dark and quite a bit less crowded, but still a few people around. However, the police/army had closed the Metro station and all the incoming streets, I suppose for security reasons. This left us high and dry as there were no rickshaws or other transport to be found. The police suggested we try another Metro station, but it was dark, dusty/smoky and we were getting a bit concerned as the crowd was thinning out by the minute and we weren't quite sure where the next nearest station was. Eventually, we stumbled across a hotel at the perimeter of the Circle where we found a taxi. We did get home safe and sound, with a few less rupees in our pockets than if we had taken the Metro. The celebrations were just beginning in our neighborhood, with firecrackers, music and singing. All was well, there were no incidences of violence or anything else anywhere in Delhi that I have heard about.

Today, Jay and I joined a hotel gym, which is very convenient for us at it is only one Metro stop away. Jay thinks its actually one of the best gyms he has joined. It's certainly the best we have seen so far here in India but I wouldn't say it has the most modern equipment. However, it does have everything that we would want, plus towel service, fresh fruit and juices etc. We will try and stay healthy and in shape for the rest of our stay.

Well that is all for now. Happy New Year again!