Finally – A Delhi Delight

Yesterday I finally had a fantastic day of fun in India. I woke at around 8am with a renewed sense of enthusiasm to find fun in India after several pretty frustrating days, so after breakfast I started talking with the first people I met – an American couple called Ben and Kristin. I asked if they’d like to go with me to the Laxmi Narayan Birla Mandiala Temple – a large Hindu temple not far from our Hotel in Parahganj. They had it on their list for the day so off we went via the Delhi subway. Which was my first big WOW of India!

Now there are plenty of you who see me as a bit of a train geek, but it is not the train geekiness which makes me say WOW about the Delhi subway. Delhi is a hole. You will be lucky to find a street which has a pavement, or a road without 100 pot holes. You’ll be lucky to walk 100 metres without seeing a frail looking homeless person slumped in a corner. But the Delhi subway is like a little taste of Oslo or Prague amongst the Indian poverty. It’s clean, smell free, shiny, new but most of all fantastically well air conditioned – London could learn a lot! The price is good too – 8 Rupees a journey (10p). In the old town, the train is underground, however as you emerge onto a raised concrete platform above the traffic below, the contrast of traveling on a modern comfortable metro train through the dilapidated streets is quite stark.

The Laxmi Narayan Birla Mandiala Temple is awesome too. Ben, Kristin and I walked the long way round (go right out of the metro not left!) in the heat, but it was worth it. The temple itself is pretty big, but is set in large grounds with loads of statues and fountains – none of which work – but hey. Entrance is free, unlike most of India’s other Racist monuments – the Red Fort and Humayan’s Tomb charging white people 250 Rupees and Brown people 5 rupees. You also get a little book which tells you about Hinduism, and many of the sculptures or carvings are written in English as well as Hindi.

Ben and Kristin were great companions – good banter and chat, but also showed great interest in the Temple. (They’re from South Carolina near Charlston too @Briznadley – that must be where all cool Americans are from!) After a few hours of wandering to and around the temple Kristin exclaimed Beer o’clock (3pm – Are you sure you’re not English?), so we walked back to Parahganj for a cold beer.

After a few beers, we headed to see the sunset over India Gate. Now it was either the beer or simply confirmation that I now have dealing with taxi drivers nailed. Not only did we get no hassle all day, but we also get a couple of tuk-tuks ON THE METER! It was a big challenge. Most guys just drive off when you demand the meter, but after a few minutes perseverance and insistence on ‘Meter Meter’, we managed to get from Connaught place to India gate for less than 30 Rupees (40p) and from India gate to Chandni Chowk for 40 Rupees – each driver wanting to charge us 100+!

The Red fort was a bit of a disappointment. Rather than the supposed ‘Light show’ at 7pm in the guide book, there is just a big fun fair. We had a wander around which was good fun, played coconut shy and hoopla with the locals. Ben won a bar of soap or something that shape, and had plenty of photos taken with the kids – who were all fascinated by us, especially Kristin. We rounded the night off with a few more cold beers and good chat, which was great fun apart from some white robbed Muslim repeatedly walking past our table touching Kristin’s chest, prompting us all to get a little on edge.

We said our goodbyes and I climbed into bed at 1am – less than 5 hours before I had to get up for my train to Amritsar. I tell you – this morning was tough! It’s strange meeting people for such short periods of time. I’ve met someone almost everyday now, had loads of fun, got on really well and then had to leave. Sad but kinda exciting too. Who will I travel with tomorrow….!