Melanie and Gavin's Travels

A rant from Delhi about India

We went to the Taj Mahal and it was beautiful. We went in the afternoon to watch the sun setting on it. The colour of the building then changes from white to cream to a light yellow. I'll post a photo later. It's stunning, but also packed with people.

This is day 8 in India and things are getting both better and worse. Every day in India is a battle between us and; the train ticketing collector, the fruit seller on the corner who wants to charge us double to proper rate, the men who stare at me, the rickshaw (a pushbike with an attached double seater for passengers behind them) drivers who slow to our speed for 10 minutes on the road in an attempt to get our business, and the loud horns and busy traffic everywhere. Men constantly chew a red substance, talk to you with spit saved up in their mouth and then unleash it quite close to our feet. In the morning there is a cacophony of men coughing so much you think they might throw up but instead they hack up phlegm. I think it's from the pollution, but it's enough to make me gag slightly.

The homeless situation and shanty towns on the side of the railways are out of control. I have seen more garbage lined up at the side of the road here than any amount of garbage I have seen in my whole life in total. Because cows are sacred to Hindus, the majority religion here, all are free to roam the streets. Yes, the streets. They aren't sitting happily chewing grass in a big field somewhere living the dream of all vegetarians, but instead being 'homeless cows' eating through garbage piles (the garbage is not in bags, it's just loose), walking in the street and stopping traffic and occasionally head butting tourists (Gavin was a victim in Varanasi) and locals alike. They also unleash urine 2 feet away from you that stays on the street and joins the rest of the dirt and garbage.

We are attempting to go into a relaxed and time is of no concern mode, because things always take longer than you think. Our train from Varanasi to Agra was meant to arrive at 6:30am, but pulled in at 11:50am with no obvious reason why.

The hardest thing is being somewhere we automatically don't trust many people in. You always want to be cautious when you travel, but when you trust in people they will help guide your way. Many of the tourist touts (the locals who work in the tourist industry which is where we are, who always want you to see their hotel or restaurant or rip you off, they follow you on the street and crowd around us when we get out of a bus/train/airport) are everywhere. Even the locals admit they are usually horrible people. At the moment my enjoyable moments in India consist of the Ganges River in Varanasi in the morning and visiting the Taj Mahal. That's discouraging when we thought we would spend two months here.

Although it is not all bad I swear. And I know that "This is India," and this is what Gavin and I were expecting. But living in it and expecting it are two different things. We have met a few nice locals who are ashamed of all of those other peope trying to cheat us and they take great pride in their country. On the train from Agra to Delhi (3 hours and a very popular route to see the Taj Mahal) we got cheated by someone who WORKS for the train company (long story). It just gets me down and the enjoyable moments become jaded too.

I was worried about coming to Delhi and it's a lot better than I thought it would be, we must have been prepared for it after our previous 3 cities or something. We met 4 backpackers on the train and together negotiated a taxi cab to the main hotel area. Gavin and I were surprised to see wide roads, sidewalks, and relatively clean streets. We are staying at Hotel Starview for 350 Rupees ($8Cdn, the most we have paid so far on our trip but Delhi is more expensive) and we have a clean room, TV with CNN (the real clincher) and a bathroom with a Western toilet. Today we are going to get our bearings in the city as well as find the rumoured PIZZA HUT. We have been trying a lot of Indian food and it's great usually.

I think we started out in one of the hardest parts of India so it's probably giong to get easier and more enjoyable. But we are definitely not alone in our thinking, which is both reassuring and sad. Everyone says the Southern part of India is a lot nicer and less hectic so we may head to Goa and Kerala faster than originally planned. I also don't know if we feel confident in attempting to buy my engagement ring here, its a bit of a drama just to get the right price for a kilogram of fruit. A lot of people do speak English here (usually the educated) so it's easier than travelling in China. It's not a horrible place, and I'm sure it will grown on me. But this is my 35th country and Gavin's 40 something and neither of us have felt this way about a place before.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes it just needs to be done!

posted by melaniewilkes @ 6:07 PM