We’ve arrived in Delhi around 11am, got our bags and cleared customs easily, then stepped outside. India hit us like a ton of bricks. Overwhelming. Surreal landscape of masses, cars, concrete, and construction. Taxi tout at the airport tried to get us into an unmarked cab and got annoyed when we turned around and, instead of following him, headed for a pre-paid taxi stand. It probably would’ve been fine, we wouldn’t get mugged or dropped off in the middle of nowhere, but these were our first moments here and we just couldn’t tell a difference between legit offers and scams. We handed him the address of our hotel and …stopped breathing the minute he floored it. Crammed at the back seat of a minibus, our backpacks in the trunk next to the gas tank, our bodies wobbled and thinking stood still. I dug my fingernails into Sebastian’s hand as the driver maneuvered the sea of cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, cows, dogs, people walking, biking, pushing carts and each other inches to our bumper. If there are any rules to driving here, we just couldn’t tell. Staying in your lane is optional and just because there’s three marked does not meet they can’t stretch to seven. Constant honking vibrates in the air and helps propel bodies in streetscape - honk to let anyone know you’re near, honk if you’re cutting in or they‘re cutting you off, honk to shove them aside, honk because they’re backing out at you, honk when approaching, merging or squeezing through, honk at everything and anything coming at you from all directions - just in case. How anyone survives this charade is a mystery, yet strangely it works in its’ dysfunctional ways. I’m even suspecting that it’s precisely this mechanism of strategic and organized chaos that reduces traffic caused by close to 15 million people crammed into one huge sprawling urban area.
On our way to the hotel we discovered that an ATM at the airport shortchanged us by 400 rupees. Also, we got scammed into believing that the address of the hotel we reserved online was not a complete one. Supposedly. We’ll never know for sure, but we stopped at the tourist information to call the hotel and found out instead that our room was given to someone else. Hence we stood homeless for 15 minutes. As the cab waited, they found us another one in the area, similar in price. Strongly suspecting we just fell victim to a typical tourist scam but not willing to walk the streets wandering and looking for an internet café, we took the room feeling just slightly defeated.
The room wasn’t actually all that bad and, considering conditions people outside were sleeping in, it felt royal. Poverty here drips from facades and spills onto the sidewalks. It’s right in your face and it’s crushing. We turned heads walking the streets in search of a train station later in the day, probably looking as exotic to the local as they look to us, yet, aside from crossing the street, at no point did we fear for our safety. We felt uneasy at moments, perhaps, but not endangered.
Later, planning on buying tickets to Agra for tomorrow morning, we somehow got to the train station prepared for another scam lurking around the corner. One of the security workers at the station directed us to a legit rickshaw and we ended up at the IDNC official travel bureau and changed our overall itinerary, including method of transportation. Realistically, since we only have a month and want to cover a lot of ground something needs to give, in this case our budget. For about double our original estimate we got a big chunk of sanity, a driver for two weeks who will save us precious time [as it has become difficult right now to travel by train in the north of India due to weather and demand], access to any off-beaten path location, a camel safari in the desert near Jaisalmer, and six nights at hotels on the way. We’ll travel by car until we reach Mumbai in two weeks, then hop a train to Cochi and explore the south for another two weeks before flying out from Chennai.
With so much going on today we forgot all about hunger, but an evening double order of Paper Masala Dosa [huge rice flour crepe stuffed with spiced potatoes] accompanied by coconut chatni and a bowl of hot sambar [soupy lentil dish with cubed vegetables] went down so fast there was no time for a photo souvenir. Honestly, these were the best we ever had. Most importantly, our stomachs are holding up well so far, knock on wood.
On our way to the hotel we discovered that an ATM at the airport shortchanged us by 400 rupees. Also, we got scammed into believing that the address of the hotel we reserved online was not a complete one. Supposedly. We’ll never know for sure, but we stopped at the tourist information to call the hotel and found out instead that our room was given to someone else. Hence we stood homeless for 15 minutes. As the cab waited, they found us another one in the area, similar in price. Strongly suspecting we just fell victim to a typical tourist scam but not willing to walk the streets wandering and looking for an internet café, we took the room feeling just slightly defeated.
The room wasn’t actually all that bad and, considering conditions people outside were sleeping in, it felt royal. Poverty here drips from facades and spills onto the sidewalks. It’s right in your face and it’s crushing. We turned heads walking the streets in search of a train station later in the day, probably looking as exotic to the local as they look to us, yet, aside from crossing the street, at no point did we fear for our safety. We felt uneasy at moments, perhaps, but not endangered.
Later, planning on buying tickets to Agra for tomorrow morning, we somehow got to the train station prepared for another scam lurking around the corner. One of the security workers at the station directed us to a legit rickshaw and we ended up at the IDNC official travel bureau and changed our overall itinerary, including method of transportation. Realistically, since we only have a month and want to cover a lot of ground something needs to give, in this case our budget. For about double our original estimate we got a big chunk of sanity, a driver for two weeks who will save us precious time [as it has become difficult right now to travel by train in the north of India due to weather and demand], access to any off-beaten path location, a camel safari in the desert near Jaisalmer, and six nights at hotels on the way. We’ll travel by car until we reach Mumbai in two weeks, then hop a train to Cochi and explore the south for another two weeks before flying out from Chennai.
With so much going on today we forgot all about hunger, but an evening double order of Paper Masala Dosa [huge rice flour crepe stuffed with spiced potatoes] accompanied by coconut chatni and a bowl of hot sambar [soupy lentil dish with cubed vegetables] went down so fast there was no time for a photo souvenir. Honestly, these were the best we ever had. Most importantly, our stomachs are holding up well so far, knock on wood.
Płente masz super Dominka. Keep writing!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to India!
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