Last Stop, Delhi, the City of Many Impressions

Before beginning this last post, I want to apologize for the blurriness of so many of the photos. I hope your eyes did not go all squinchy as my camera does little justice to indoor and nighttime pictures. I know I need a better piece of equipment before embarking on the next journey. Thanks for your patience.

I'm back home now, but wanted to end my blog with impressions of Delhi, the last stop on the "londoninindia" train. Many tourists and locals I'd met along the way reported that Delhi was a place to be avoided.

I was there for three days and enjoyed the energy of the people. The neighborhood where my guest house was located is a small poverty stricken area called Puhad Ganj. Again, the sense of family and community was apparent in the local culture. However, there were so many Westerners there, that it resembled any town in the States!



As you can see, the streets in Puhad Ganj are shared by pedestrians, motorbikes, wagons, taxis, etc. This photo, taken outside of my guest house shows how busy the streets are even late at night. I was amazed at how late Indians stay awake at night and how early they wake up in the morning. Perhaps they don't need as much sleep as I do, but maybe the intense heat at this time of year (no A/C) makes everyone start their day in the earlier and cooler hours of the morning.

I arrived in Delhi via the train from Haridwar. August 14 is Krishna's birthday, so the town was getting ready for the celebration with lots of food, decorating of temples and fancy clothing for the Hindus and their gods.

Dhabas and food wagons were readying themselves for the crowds that would pile into and out of temples after night time puja ceremonies. These cooks are stocking up on chapatis outside of the restaurant where they work.



Temples were decorated with long garlands of marigolds and other colorful flowers to honor Krishna's birth. This storefront temple, where a very knowledgeable Indian lad taught me about the different stages in Krishna's life, was adorned with flowers well dressed statuary.





Krishna statues were displayed on the altar to represent the important stages of his life. Here he is shown as a baby swathed in a brocade dress, blankets and a crown. He lays in a cradle that stands on a table. A ribbon tied to the cradle allows devotees to rock him back and forth gently after saying their prayers. Hindus treat statues of their gods as if they are real, often dressing them for the day, undressing them at night and putting them to bed as we would a member of the family.



Here's Krishna as a teenager. Notice the monkey god, Hanuman, at the bottom left. Krishna is the hero of the Hindu's most important teaching text, the Bhagavad Gita, which instructs people about how to live a virtuous life. Hanuman is India's great monkey god and fights against evil forces. He is the god of acrobatics (!) and an author of Sanskrit (Hindu written language) grammar. Monkeys are adored all over India and are as respected in their climbing on roofs and treetops as cows are in their roaming of the streets and roads.



Cows; how I love the cows! They roam the streets, steps and hillsides. This curious fellow (or gal) was hoping for a little "puja" time in the storefront temple. No one seemed to mind that "Bessie" had stepped almost all the way into the temple and simply gave her room to stare and stand until she realized that her best option was to slowly back out of this narrow space!



August 15 is India's Independence Day. In 1947, India received independence from Britain. People celebrate with fireworks at night and kite flying during the day. People of all ages fly kites and try to cut each others' kites down with glass-coated strings (think; The Kite Runner). The last kite flying is something akin to the winner. This young lad was only one of several who proudly climbed fences, walls and buildings to retrieve kites cut down by the local boys and men.



Independence Day was hot, sticky and noisy (What else is new?). I found the RamaKrishna temple not far from my guest house and spent a few hours there in the quiet, fan-cooled and clean temple contemplating RamaKrishna. After meditating on his gentle face for a while, I thought he looked a lot like my Uncle Artie! I found four kites myself while exploring the temple grounds. I'll use some of them to decorate my classroom this year!

Crowds of people were out on the streets all day and night on Independence Day. Camel and horseback rides were offered in the evening. Pushkar, a small city southeast of Delhi, is one of the most popular places to see camels in this part of the country. I didn't make it there but hope to upon my return someday.



This woman wandered around the town hoping for money or food. I'd seen her almost daily but she never approached me. On my last day in Puhad Ganj, I met her early in the morning. Rather than give money, I offered to buy breakfast for her from the local "omlette" wagon.

For Rs15/- (that's about 20 cents), I ordered her a fried egg sandwich made from two eggs and two very western looking slices of white bread (those Indians do have our "toast" down pat). The meal included a cup of chai which she turned down. She carried her own bowl for offerings and the egg wagon man gently slid her sandwich into it. The piece of wood you see on the left was her cane and she carried her belongings in several plastic bags hanging from her arm. She spent much time scratching her head (what crawls there??), but looked like a real sweetheart. She thanked me over and over again. When I saw her later in the day, her bowl was emptied of the breakfast sandwich. I was glad I was able to offer some solace to her otherwise sad existence.



Here's a closeup of her face. Doesn't she look like she might have been somebody's grandma in another life?



The next photos are all about transportation and jobs. As said, many men work as porters, carrying supplies and equipment for others. Here are some unique ways that goods get carried from place to place without using much fuel.





I spent my last day in Delhi visiting the Red Fort. This was built by the Mughuls as a palace for the king at the time. As time and history unfolded, it was taken over by the Indians, then the British and finally again by the Indians after independence. The Fort's made of red sandstone and is a magnificent structure. I was impressed by the architecture of such a grand place. The arches, roof lines and columns are very artistically designed and a pleasant sight in the midst of a very crowded and commercial city.





And so, the journey ends for now. I hope to return to India someday, with a lot more knowledge about how to travel in this strange and beautiful country. From the cities to the countryside...



...on foot and by wheel...



... I simply had an amazing time and would do it again in a flash! Thanks for supporting my blog by reading entries and viewing the photos. Knowing you were out there, keeping up with my travels, made me a little less lonely from time to time. Namaste!