India Part 1 - Delhi

I'm off again!  This time, my travels have taken me to India, a country so huge that even in the three or four weeks I have here I will only be able to see a tiny portion of it.  Alas, my visa only lasts for a month so that that will have to do... should be interesting anyway, I have an itinerary involving at least seven cities, my mode of transport for this adventure being the train - which according to my research is genuinely a good way to travel here, and does not involve an entire village of people sat on the roof of each carriage at all.

The Lotus Temple.

First stop then, the capital, New Delhi.  Or if you prefer, Delhi - they seem to basically be the same place.  And wow, what a place it is... not to everyone's taste I suspect, there are a few negative aspects which I should mention.  The sheer number of people here is just astonishing, the streets and alleys around my hotel constantly throng with people, in a way that reminds me of football matches in England back in the days of terracing, and there is another similarity too - the frequent, acrid whiff of urine.  Some of this seems to be down to public urinals with broken plumbing, but it seems many of the locals are happy to just go in the street, as it were.  At least they manage to hold it in on the metro - an experience in itself, seems to be as crowded as rush hour London Underground at all times, well I've coped with that.  But... people here just don't seem to have any concept of personal space, happy to push and elbow their way past, or just squash themselves against you.  Queues - of which there are very many - are the worst, and often involve shuffling along for twenty minutes with some guy's belly, or worse, shoved into my back.  It is of course a pickpocket's paradise, I take care to only carry what cash I plan on spending, in a zipped pocket - I still catch one guy unzipping it!

Krishna, having left one of the girls in charge of

controlling London, battles a many headed sea-snake.

Why ever come here then?  Well the food is good, I could, and indeed do, eat curry every day.  Seems all the bars and restaurants have live music too, often as many as ten people on stage, half being the band, the rest singers who each take their turn.  For authentic local cuisine though street food is the way to go, I get a fine veg thali for all of one hundred and ten Rupees - maybe one pound fifty.  No sign of the Delhi belly yet...  Of course I am here to see the sights, of which there are many, far more in this one city than I have time for in fact.  I do my best, there are of course temples, such as the beautiful, modern Lotus Baha'i Temple, set in immaculate gardens that contrast with the rather scruffy park next door.  The other side of which I find another temple, the ISKCON - why yes, it's the Hare Krishna people.  Like everything in Delhi it seems, it is huge, and very ornate, I am taken by the gallery featuring a series of pictures of the blue skinned, effeminate Krishna hanging out with his entourage of hot babes. On the opposite wall are a series of photos of the faith's other temples around the world, each with an - often bizarre - epithet, presumably referencing Krishna again, apparently he 'seduced the love god cupid' and is 'the controller of London'.

The Red Fort.  Really, really big.

Next day, to the Red Fort, definitely an all day thing, the sheer size of this place beggars belief.  I guess it is reminiscent of Carcassonne, but while that is a walled town, albeit with big walls, this is more like a castle built by aliens who got the scale wrong.  I could spend all day just wandering the vast interior, but there are a lot of things to see too, palatial buildings in their own right, mostly these date from the days of the Mughal Emperors, though a substantial number, sadly looking a little worse for wear, are from the British Raj period.  One of these contains a museum dedicated to India's struggle for independence, where I stroll somewhat nervously past lists of massacres committed by British forces, and even dioramas of ranks of red, or later khaki coated soldiers shooting at the natives.  Well, all friends now eh?  Well certainly everybody wants to be my friend, plenty want to ask where I'm from, shake hands, even pose for photos - just a shame it is hard to tell the genuinely friendly from those trying to get me onto their rickshaw, or engage their services as a guide.  Maybe with practice...

Inside the Fort.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.