A day in Old Delhi

Sunday, Jan 16

On Sunday Laszlo & I took the metro into Delhi to see the Red Forst and to shop in the bazaars. It cost only 25 rupees (50 cents) for the 1 hour ride into old town Delhi to see the Red Fort. The metro looked really out of place here because it was sparkling clean. Maybe it’s because it was just built last year! It’s easy to use and similar to other subway systems. Small difference though - before entering the subway you have to get in line according to your gender and get a quick pat down. Then you have to put your bag/purses through an xray machine. I guess I should appreciate the extra security. There were also security guards patrolling inside the subways.
We emerged from the metro station into chaos. Even though we had a map it was tough to get our bearings right away. There was a cyclo sitting outside so we decided to take a ride to the Red Fort. It’s a short distance away but it was so worth it to be able to enjoy the surroundings without the stress of navigating the busy streets. It's not just a tourist thing because the locals use these as well. The only thing was that our driver was this really skinny old man wearing rags and only flip flops. I felt guilty about him lugging both of us around. I forget these people are stronger than they look and that they are used to hard labor. I felt guilty so I did not bother to bargain down the 60 rupees fee he quoted us. In fact in the end I just gave him a 100 rupee bill, it’s only $2.40. It’s amazing that the minimum wage in India is only 113 rupees a day! The production worker could be earning only $3 a day! I imagine that these cyclo guys are earning even less. No wonder everybody is outsourcing to India! Just like in Vietnam I can’t bring myself to bargain because I feel too guilty. It puts things in perspective for me when I realize what I paid for one of my designer purse is probably the same as what one of these people make in a year!

Red Fort was awesome. It’s actually a palace used by previous emperors. It was built when the capital of India was moved from Agra to Delhi. The wall itself is made of red sandstone but the buildings within it is made of white marble. I can’t imagine the amount of labor to make all the intricate carvings out of the marble.. It’s over 400 years old but amazingly well preserved. The summers here are unbearably hot so they were creative in utilizing water canals throughout the palace to keep it cool. There was even an underground tunnel for the harem to rendevouz discreetly with the men.

Afterwards we shopped in the various bazaars in the area. I have to say that I did NOT enjoy this at all. It was too stressful for me. If I so much as to glance inside a shop I would get some aggressive harassment to come in to look. They don’t understand the word no! Good thing Laszlo was with me, when I look harassed he would put out his hand and tell the guy to back off. He looked intimidating enough that they do listen to him. He was also the one to bargain down the prices for me, as soon as I give him the signal I want to buy something. I wanted to buy a traditional Punjabi which is typically a 3 piece consisting of pants, a long tunic reaching to your knees but split below the waist, and a long flowing scarf. This is a more casual wear than the Sari and less complicated. Between his last trip and this trip Laszlo has purchased 3 saris for his wife. I'm just thinking, where in the world would I wear it? In the few shops where I stopped in, they invite you to go inside and sit on the floor. Then they proceed to take out endless samples until you find something you like. The more I say no the more frantic they seem to get in getting out all the packages to show me. Meanwhile I'm thinking, shit, he was going to have to refold all of this hope this doesn't piss him off. I didn’t buy too much since the quality from this bazaar seems on the low end. I did buy a nice pashmire scarf and some earrings.
The street food looked and smelled SO good, we wanted so bad to eat them but knew that we couldn’t dare. So far I've been good and haven't gotten sick and want to keep it that way.

It was crazy to see the narrow streets are riddled with hundred of electrical wires all knotted and twisted together, like whoever installed them were high on acid. It felt like all of india was out shopping today. I don’t generally like big crowds and after awhile I was ready to leave.
It wouldn't be as much of a cultural experience but a shopping at a regular mall (2 of them by the hotel) sounds really good right about now!

Finally, the Taj Mahal

I was not disappointed at my first sight of the Taj. It had a sheer glow to it, amazing that it's over 400 years old. It was built as a tribute of love for the king's third wife Muhtaj. They were married for 18 years and she bore him 14 children. She died at age 38 while giving birth to the 14 child. Before she died she extracted 2 promises from her husband - that he never married again and that he would build a monument for her. He kept both promises especially the 2nd one. It took 22 years and 20,000 laborers to build the Taj Mahal that held the tomb of his wife. The Taj is made entirely of non porous white marble with inlays of precious stones. We had to wear booties while touring the place. Upclose it's even more amazing. There is a serene feel to the place. I swear the monument looked like it was just built instead of being 400 years old. Everything in the whole site was symmetrical including all the side buildings consisting of a mosque and rest houses for the laborers. Since it was a saturday the Taj was quite crowded. Surprisingly there were more indian tourists than foreigners. Interesting that entrance fee for indians is 5 rupees and for foreigners it's 750 rupees. For the last 1km before the entrance we had to take a public tuk tuk. By the entrance we were beseiged by hords of people trying to sell us things. They don't wait for you to go by the stall of crafts, instead they had pieces of jewerly or crafts in their hands waving it front of our faces. It's annoying and stressful.
Well, seeing the Taj in person was well worth the arduous trip. There's a reason why it's one of the wonders of the world. I bought a set of coasters made of the same white marble with inlays of semi precious stones (green molokite, indian coraline, blue lapis) so he can have an idea on a much smaller scale. When you turn out the lights and shine a light over or under it, the marble and orange coraline actually glows translucent. That's why I read that if you can you should also see the Taj during the full moon. It's supposed to be an amazing sight.

Road to Agra (Taj Mahal) - oxens and a funeral procession!

Our colleagues arranged a car to take us to Agra to see the Taj Mahal on saturday. They said it will take about 4 hours but I didn't believe it. How could it take that long to go only approx 140 miles?! Turned out they were wrong, it took almost 5 hours! Even though we got on the road by 6 am traffic was bad. Our driver, Venedra explained that there were 3 classes of people the lower class are the laborers who work all the days in the week.

Laszlo likened our drive to a video game. Our driver was zipping in and out traffic dodging oncoming cars when he decided to go on the other side of the road to pass. The shoulders would also be used. You would say our driver was reckless but everyone was doing the same thing. I lost count of how many times I had to close my eyes, so sure we were going to hit someone. I have never seen such aggressive driving in my life! Not only were we dodging slow trucks but also oxens, horse drawn carts, people etc. 2 lanes turned into 4 lanes which includes the shoulder. It was really scary but I sat in front and was entertained the whole ride, the 5 hours passes pretty quickly. It was so unreal when several times I turned my head and looked into eyes of an ox right next to the car as it tries to cross the street! Apparently there are no traffic laws in india. As a result over 100 thousand people die due to traffic accidents. That's part of the reason why our company does not want us to be on the road at night. Imagine trying to dodge all the dangers of the road at night. Street lights? get real.

At one point I glanced over to the other side of the road and saw what looked to be a funeral procession on foot. It took a few seconds for my mind to process that people were carrying a dead person on a wooden stretcher. The body was covered in a bright yellow cloth with strings of yellow and orange marigold flowers draped over the body. Our driver explained that Hindis cremate the dead and the muslims and siks burry their dead. I guess this body was on its way somewhere to be cremated. So ok, I didn't see a body being burned by the river (thank goodness) but it was close. I think it was more than enough, it was not on top of my tourist thing to do while in india!

I was so amazed the different way people were being transported. It reminded me of the scene in vietnam. I can see how Gary was so entertained on the bus ride as we went through village to village. However, instead of the gazillion mopeds we saw in vietnamese there were many tuk tuks which are small open 3 wheel vehicles that pack people like sardines.

India seemed to me dirtier and poorer. I dont thing they have trash cans because there is trash everywhere. The word that came to me was squalor. It was morning and the temp was cool, most people were wrapped in big scarfs or blankets, I was told they usually cannot afford a jacket. The fog in the rural areas is actually fog but the fog in the city is actually smoke and pollution. People burn all kinds of wood including the live green twigs so it gets really smoky.

Disappointing day of shopping

Bea and I wanted to go shopping at a bazaar and the receptionist at the office gave the recco for a place near our hotel. It turned out to be an enclosed complex of restaurants, shops and entertainment, some of it was on the cheesy side. It was new and fancy and clean and did not feel like india! I suddenly got a vegas flashback! I got some pics though. There was food from all regions of India so we tried some West Bengali cuisine. It was yummy but I must say I am getting tired of curry since we have it everyday as well! I am missing a big salad!

Men pissing in the street - check!

Thursday Jan 13

So far no big surprises. The short drive to the office on Monday overwhelmed my senses. It was my first clear glimsp of the streets in india. Vehicles of all kinds crowed the streets. Lanes? ha, what's that? Sidewalks? ha, what's that? Pedestrians sharing the streets with vehicle, so what? Trash everywhere. We were in a strange area where there would be new high rises mixed in with big deserted lots full of trash and squatters. Wild dogs everywhere. Most of the people were men, where are the women? Each day I look for a guy peeing in the side of the street and haven't been disappointed. There they are, standing by the side of the road with their backs to me, taking a piss. So many people, some were on their way somewhere, some just loitering. Again, small groups huddling around some burning twigs for heat. I was appalled at all this scenery but so fascinated.

The hkl plant consisted of 3 separated sites along one street. To get from one to another you have to walk along the street, maybe 50 yards between each building, that's narrow and full of people, cycles, cars. Again, everything and everyone is sharing a narrow street. It made me nervous and I was convinced I was going to get hit. We clearly stood out as foreigners by our looks and by the way we dress. Most of the people are thin, on the undernourish side so ofcourse we look fat! As a result we draw a lot of attention as we walk up and down the street between the buildings. I am starting to get used to being stared at!

Our Hkl India colleagues are all very nice. They are a warm and gracious people and go out of their way to be hospitable. Lunch is brought in for us each day. Bea is not a big fan of Indian food so there is pizza everyday, since all of the food I've eaten so far are on the spicy side, even the pizzas have hot peppers on them! At home I usually have a special hot sauce to add to my food, depending on what kind of food it is. Here, the food is spiced perfectly so I don't need additional hot sauce! I don't think Gary would be able to handle this spicy food. Anyway, everyday there is a large spread of food consisting of different curries, rices, breads and sweets. Cuisine from each region is different and you can see it in the curries. All the food I've eaten so far are different from the indian food I've eaten at restaurants in the states, it's awesome.

The general manager here has been so nice. His admin helps arrange everything for us, from transport from and to work and tourist stuff that we want to do. He had his admin research and book our day in Agra this Saturday, to see the Taj Mahal, I cannot wait!

I have tried to learn a few words in Hindi although most people in india also speak english. Namaste for hello and Dhanabad for thank you. My colleagues are very nice about answering my many questions on cultures and such. As it happened, on Tuesday there was a birthday celebration for one of the guys in the office. There was a birthday cake and some singing. Then the general mgr cut a small piece and fed it to the birthday boy. Then one of the colleagues took some icing and smeared it all over the birthday guy's face. It was funny I was talking to someone for 1 minute and then I suddenly turned around and saw the guy with huge chunks of icing on the sides of his face. I was told that this is customary. They also told me that in college or younger years the birthday guy would also get kicked as many times as his new age. Talk about fear of aging! The older you get the more painful it is, literally!

Today I was in a middle of an audit interview with a few colleagues when someone poked their head in and asked us to come out for a few minutes for an early celebration of Lohri which is this region's harvest festival. Tomorrow is the actual holiday but since the plant is closed tomorrow they wanted to do an early celebration today. We all gathered outside and a huge bonfire was lit. It was under a tree and I really thought we were going to burn down the tree! THere were two guys who were playing the drums throughout the half hour, reminding me of some african drum beats. They all gave us a mixture of popcorn, peanuts and sweets to throw in the fire for good luck. Then the workers took turns dancing around the bonfire. They tried to get me to dance but I was too embarassed! They told me that this is a citified version of the harvest celebration. In the smaller villages it starts around 8 in the evening with the bonfire and leftover from the current harvest are thrown into the bonfire for good luck and then they party into the night.

Tomorrow we have a free day so I can't wait to see a little bit of the city. The plan is to go to a local market where they have shopping but also entertainment and food from all regions of india. Finally I will get to take some good pictures for the blog. The pics above are from the inside of our car and not so clear.

The city enveloped in fog..

Sunday Jan 9

I arrived in Delhi Saturdayt night with the city enshrouded in fog. It took an hour to connect with the driver from the hotel, it was pretty frustrating, all he could say was "gate 3" which was not where I was. When I tried to call the hotel I could only understand half of what the guy was telling me! Anyway, it was about 30 minute drive but scary. The fog was so thick you can only see 20 feet away from you. I can understand why all the drivers have their emergency blinkers on, the more other drivers can see the better.
Our hotel - the Lemon Tree -is in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi. It's in the middle of an industrial area but I didn't venture out, at least not until Laszlo & Bea arrive Sunday morning from germany. There are guards in front of the hotel and my luggage had to go through an xray machine just like the airport. Uh oh, what the heck does this mean?
As suspected, I could not sleep at all last night since it was daytime in Phx. Watched several movies and read a book, to no avail. Funny but there was a channel that had marathon shows like two and a half men (my favorite sitcom), friends and the simpson. THere were a few other movie channels. These channels were in english but they also subtitled it in english! I remember that back home sometimes when I watch a show and when an indian is talking english they also subtitled it in english. Since was good since I can't understand their accent. Well, I guess it's the same the other way around! Finally at 8am I was able to snooze for a couple of hours. Frustrating but all part of traveling to such a different time zone.
Hooked up with Laszlo and Bea in the afternoon. We intended to walk to a nearby ATM and super market to buy snacks and cokes. The walk was only 100 yards but we were beseiged by little poor children begging for money. I did not like that at all. It was so sad to see them so poor and pathetic looking but we were told that if you give to one you will be swarmed so we had to be careful. Besides, none of us had small change in our pocket. They were very persistent and followed us the whole way chanting in hindi. It was stressful to me. The market was crowded but we managed with what we wanted. I bought an american brand potato chips (Lays) but at least it was a local flavor - Magic Marsala.
Bea decided to not join us for dinner, Laszlo told me later that she is very scare of getting sick so she does not want to eat while she is here. Let's see how long that lasts! I will take precautions but won't deprive myself of the delicious food! I was hesitant to walk to a nearby restaurant which our hotel recommended because I was afraid of the beggar children. Turns out it was only 50 yards away. It was dark by now and you can see scattered around the surrounding empty lots and parking lots there were small groups of men sitting around a bonfire. It gets into the 40's at night so I guess it's a way to keep warm, assuming that they are homeless. We passed a food court type restaurant and parked in the street in front is a camel! ok, I am definitely not in Kansas anymore. Strange but the beggar children were no where to be found. Maybe they go home once it gets dark. Good to know!
Our restaurant - Pind Baluchi - was not opening for another hour but the guy said that on the side of the building is another restaurant, we could see a sign for Park Baluchi Restaurant. Since the walkway to the side and back of the building was deserted, dark and foggy I was expecting any moment to be mugged by some guys hiding in the bushes. Whenever we start to look confused on which way to go there would suddenly be someone behind us to point us in the right direction. weird! After walking up some winding iron stairs we walked into a very nice looking restaurant. Both Laszlo & I ordered the Lohr Tandoori Murg chicken which was not the typical red colored tandoori chicken I have had at home. As sides we ordered lentil, basmati rice and a potato kabob. When I saw them come out with the potato kabob in flames I knew we were in for a good meal. I will post the picture when Laszlo forwards it to me but the potato was stuffed with cheese and spinach and rolled in sesame into a shape of a big marshmellow. It was so cool. All of our dishes were delicious. I was tempted to try the mint sauce to go with the food but held off since it looked to be yogurt based. Even though this looked to be a reputable restaurant I will wait a week before I get too adventous! Laszlo tried it and loved it but I'll see if he will be ok!After our meal the chef came by to ask how our meal was and was pleased with the way we praised the food. This was literally next to our hotel (and a short run should the beggar children show up) so for sure we will come back. Can't wait to try more food.
Our audit starts tomorrow and I am hoping for the best!

On my way to India!!

Flying to Newark and connecting to a 14 hr flight to New Delhi. There’s a snowstorm in the eastcoast right now. Are you kidding me? I live in sunny Phoenix so why am I having to deal with all this winter crap?! Let’s hope my flight to India wont’ be delayed or worse. It’s crazy, I leave Phx noon on Friday and will not get into Delhi until 9:30pm Saturday. India is 12.5 hours ahead of Phx. It’s literally on the opposite side of the world. It will be a little more tricky coordinating skype sessions with Gary but we will make it work. Before dropping me off at the airport he actually said 3 wks will go by in a flash. Funny I think he is getting the hang of this routine. I’m glad we had a couple of weeks of quality time during xmas and new year to do quick getaways to Catalina Island and hike down the Grand Canyon. As a matter of fact the soreness in my legs are just fading now so that’s good.

I thought it would be fun to jot down my perception of India, based on movies, books, impressions from people who have been there and impressions from people who have never been there. Let’s see how far off I will be. Most people are intimidated by this country, including myself. It’s a far cry from the safe and sophisticated Europe, and it’s not the luxurious setting of the Caribbean or Hawaii.

My expectations of India…..
Dirty, crowed, dirty, chaotic, dirty, smelly, dirty, poor, men urinating in public, crazy driving and crazy traffic, bad pollution, dead bodies being cremated by the river, cows shitting in the middle of the road, children begging in the streets (Slumdog Millionair anyone?), fear of getting sick from the low level of hygiene, cautious of what I can eat, cautious when showering (in case I accidently swallow the bad water!). Most negative of all, I won’t be able to understand their accent!! These are the main reasons why India has never been on the top of my list.

On the other hand….

My other expectations of India……
Colorful, warm and friendly people, fantastic food, the smells of fragrant spices permeating the air, cheap so I can finally go shopping, great local markets where you are expected to haggle, beautiful temples (can’t wait to see the Taj Mahal next weekend)gaining insights on the people and cultures which are vast and varied, experiencing something I have never experienced before.

I am guessing I will get some of both of the good and bad mentioned above and will chalk it up to an experience of a lifetime!