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.