Days in Delhi

Eye watering, throat searing, skin flaying. Smog you can' t believe. Southern Cal is pure mid Pacific air by comparison. When we hit the street at the airport, the air hit us.

 

Burning, acrid garbage, wood, and things one can't describe. And that's the good smells.

 

Don't be alarmed though.  Everyone assures us that Delhi is relatively smog free -- you should see Bombay, now they have smog!.  The good news, such as it is, is that it sort of thins later in the day. Sort of.

 

Contrasts.  Scrupulously clean, then a landfill appears in the middle of the street. Fine custom suits and clothes that haven't been washed in weeks, side by side on the sidewalk.

 

Beautiful houses behind concertina wire topped fences, with people sleeping on the street outside.

 

Goats, sheep and "holy cows" wandering the streets. Urchins, the Dickens, not spiny, kind, begging in the streets. A crushing poverty mixed with charging progress. People in numbers that boggle the senses.

 

Yesterday we did a couple of walking tours on each end of the Raj Road.  On end has an arch (of Triumph size), the other end the presidential palace and Parliament.  Separated by more than a mile, its quite impressive, mostly Imperial English style.  Strangely, there weren't many people, but things were quite active.

 

Today's exercise was a walking tour of Old Delhi, mixing with the madhouse of people and vehicles.  We picked up our entourage of urchins, begging or trying to sell us postcards.  The were fairly unobstructive as such kids go, and were actually making sure we didn't get run over by cars before they got their handout.

 

A visit to a mosque reminds one of the difference in religions. Simplicity.   None of the fancy trimmings of the usual European Christian church, but then none of the trimmings of the Casablanca  mosque or Sophia either.

 

Lunch at a 5 star hotel and a tour of its restaurants.

 

A visit to the park where Ghandi was cremated.  A simple monument, befitting the man.  It was never made clear whether his ashes went into the Gandhi, running water, or were buried under a tree.

 

Then as a wrap, a visit to an area of religious monuments ranging from Hindu,  Buddhist, to Muslim.  The layout of the main are was similar to that of Ankor Wat, but much of the fancy carving was destroyed because the Muslim conquerors de-faced the faces.

The triumph tower was, well triumphant, with script carvings and a style of its own.

 

Time for bed.  We hit the road at 7am for parts unknown on a bus with no shocks.