Describing ten days in a country like India is a tall order, and if I were to recount even half of what we've seen it would be far too exhausting to think about. So please know that it will be a struggle for our blog posts to do our travels justice.
We've been mainly in Delhi the past week, the capital of India and the queen of in-your-face. Shortly after Liz and I arrived, we were joined by the one and only Alynn Evans, my dear friend from Colorado. If two pale blond westerners didn't stand out, three definitely does the trick.
Our home base was Main Bazaar in the Paharganj neighborhood of Delhi, a small but lively area that attracts a backpacker crowd. Here we drank lassi and masala chai, honed our haggling skills, and celebrated Liz's birthday and Christmas Eve at Sam's Cafe, on the rooftop cafe a few stories above the honking and chaos of the bustling street below. Our days in Delhi reminded me of the human capacity to adapt. My first day, I was in a dreamlike state of shock, with my brain running to keep up with all of the new stimuli. Yet just last night, we were walking around Main Bazaar, waving to shop owners and telling people we would be returning in a few weeks. streets that were congested death traps of bikes, cars, and rickshaws at first are now a breeze to walk, the sketchy dirt alley where we first got dropped off is now the familiar place where I buy my water, toilet paper, Internet access, and cell phone service.
India is good at making sure you never get too comfortable, though. Various extremes of poverty appear throughout the city, making your heart sink at unexpected intervals during each day. Touts yell as you walk in any popular place, telling you that your destination is closed, or wrong. You learn to acquire a certain self-awareness in order to not get ripped off or misled in Delhi. And if you use Indian transportation, prepare yourself for lots of crowds, and lots of waiting...
We spent the better part of our Christmas Day on a train to Agra. Our original train was cancelled, and we were given tickets in the non-reserved section, where people and goods are stacked to the ceiling. A three hour journey turned into seven, alternating who got to sit on a lap, the seat, or a sack. Our train back the next day was delayed as well, and we arrived to Delhi at 4:30am, instead of the scheduled 10pm. The endurance required to sit through these train rides would have been exponentially increased were it not for so many kind souls that we've encountered here. Confused as they were as to why we and a Spanish couple were boarding the unreserved section of the train, some people helped us to squeeze in and stow our bags. And on our sleepless night back to Delhi, the memory of how hard we were laughing with our new Indian friend Gaurav trumps how cold it was next to the pane-less window. (Oh yeah, the Taj Mahal in Agra was beautiful too.)
The people are just one of the qualities that make India worth traveling so far. There's also the food, the hectic markets, the glittering saris, the roaming cows, and the awe-inspiring holy sites.
Besides the good and the bad, there's the awkward, which includes getting photos taken of us and being asked to be in photos of strangers. There's also learning to eat with one hand and squatting to go to the bathroom when necessary.
Okay gotta go, Liz is getting carsick on the journey to Kollam.
More to come!
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