First Day Impressions (30.3.2011)

I’m sitting in a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, and just finished eating my delicious shahi paneer. People are chanting as they are watching cricket – apparently some important matches going on at the moment. I feel tired. Partly because of the lack of sleep due to travelling to Delhi from Helsinki. Partly because the climate, and partly because the city buzz is quite overwhelming.

World got even smaller when flying from Moscow to Delhi. I met a Finnish woman called Jonna, who, by sheer luck, was on her way to the same place where my mom’s sister and her companion had been living for the past six months. It soon came obvious Jonna knew them. She was a really open and kind person, with whom I chatted about Zeitgeist, religion, faith and everything in between. She also invited me to her final destination had I the chance to go there.

When we landed to Delhi Indira Gandhi airport, at some point at the baggage claim I was certain my bag had been lost. However, after a long wait my bag appeared on the conveyor belt. I then proceeded to find my supposedly-there-to-be taxi driver, who would take me to my lodging in Paharganj area. The guy was nowhere to be seen. I then ended up using the ordinary taxi service with prepaid fare. It was actually cheaper than what the preordered guy would have cost, no surprise there. The taxi driver was really friendly and talked about all kinds of stuff. It was 5 a.m. at that time, and still there was relatively much traffic along the way. Oh yeah, my flight was one hour behind of schedule.

I got to the hostel fairly easily. The next surprise was waiting for me. The hostel manager seemed somewhat annoyed that someone would come at that hour to knock at the door. Dam, and I thought I had prearranged everything. So, after some teeth-grinding I finally got a place to sleep – the floor of the Internet room in the hostel. At 8 a.m. I was woken up and got offered my own room. I slept there until 1 p.m. After that I decided to embark to the streets of Delhi.
It was hot, but definitely not in the same amount than for example in Bangkok, which had humidity affecting the overall feel of the heat. It was bearable, even though I had a t-shirt and white long sleeved shirt. Trash everywhere, urine smelling in some places, traffic sound loud and busy, people everywhere going about their business – never mind any traffic rules. It all was OK for me, but what bothered me the most was the lack of marking the street names. It was hard to navigate by foot this way. I ate at various places some small things and saw a great deal of poverty along the way.

I decided to go and see the Red Fort, which is a major tourist attraction in Delhi. It was a haven from all the noise and busyness of the streets of Delhi. People were lying on the green areas of the compound and making the best out of it. I got my share of attention surprisingly, though only one camera-posing request. I got to know two Indian technology students from Kolkata, who were very friendly and asked a lot of questions. I took their contact info and said I might contact them when I would reach Kolkata.
After leaving the Red Fort I tried to still see the Jama Masjid mosque, but it was already dusk and it was closing. I met this guy, who appeared to be authentic and chatted about all kind of stuff from weather to cricket. He then proposed to show me, for a fee, something I would not see with the ordinary tourist destinations. He took me to Chowri Bazaar area with streets narrow as hell, and building as old as 500 years. He introduced me to different parts of the area, which by alone would have been impossible to navigate. He actually took me to these old buildings and showed me how people live there. He also showed me a few sights such as this tree which looked just like a man.

Now I think I’ll head back to the hostel, after eating, and consider surfing the Internet or get to know the guests there. And sleep.. a lot. At the moment I feel Delhi is full of people who see me as a walking wad of money, which kinda makes me feel down, but I try to keep a positive spirit nevertheless. We’ll see how tomorrow turns out to be.

UPDATE:
I figured since everybody was shooting rockets, driving recklessly without any kind of sense of security, and police trying to manage the situation with their wooden sticks, why not go out and see the Indian people celebrating their cricket victory over Pakistan. Man, people were so into it! Just completely wild stuff going on. Me myself I just wen there and congratulated some passing by motorcyclist with a handshake, and bought meself some fruit to prevent keripukki.