I have traveled a lot — and lived for years in some very large, heavily populated cities. Delhi, India, is unlike any of them. First, there is the dichotomy of Old Delhi and New Delhi:
Old Delhi: narrow streets, seemingly complete chaos, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of small businesses and food stands within a very compact series of streets and alleys. How anyone finds anything is unclear — but it is very entrepreneurial and it seems, somehow, to all work (except for the poverty/begging, which was disturbing to see). One interesting thing I noticed: while there is much business and many supply businesses in Old Delhi, trucks were not allowed in (due to narrowness of the roads or possibly the impact on traffic generally), so the materials/supplies/goods were hauled into the Old part of Delhi on bicycles, carts pulled by oxen, or pushcarts. It looked extraordinarily difficult, particularly in 100+ degree heat. Below are a few pics of the carts, bikes and other modes of getting the supplies from “new” to “old” Delhi:
Another striking feature of Old Delhi streets/markets: everything is incredibly close to everything else, but people still drove motorcycles and mopeds right through the middle of the crowds. Another “feature” of everything being close together: public urinals (and by public, I mean barely concealed urinals) were mere feet away from outdoor food stands/carts…. it made everything smell,…well,… not awesome. Below are some pics of Old Delhi:
New Delhi: By contrast, New Delhi has wider streets, more greenery/plants, a slightly more orderly appearance to it — but traffic everywhere was just crazy! While unexciting, below are typical scenes of the driving experience here: motorcycles, cars, tuktuks, trucks and busses all making their own lanes and jockeying for position
After visiting Old Delhi, we went to see an apparently famous (or at least very popular) Sikh Temple. It was beautiful, and we did our best to observe the traditions of the locals who visit the temple (removing shoes, donning head-coverings, etc) so as not to be the “ugly” tourists. Below are some pics of the temple and our visit:
Overall, in Delhi, I have finally found a city that is too much city for me… too frenetic, too seemingly disorganized (I say seemingly, because we have not been here long enough to really give it a chance, and I assume there is an underlying order and patterns that we simply couldn’t discern during our brief visit). It’s not the sheer size of the city or its population — I’ve lived in and figured out Tokyo, a city with a metro area population of 37+ million); but unlike Delhi, those other places seemed more orderly: traffic, transit, people, businesses and buildings all seemed to adhere to patterns I found familiar or that were easy/logical to intuit without much difficulty. Delhi is different. There were roads and lanes, but traffic was far more chaotic — bicycles, tuk tuks, cars, mopeds/motorcycles, busses (1st, 2nd and 3rd class busses) all vie for their fraction of road and dart in/out/between each other at random and at will. Aside from occasional traffic signals to which drivers occasionally adhered, nobody did. Crosswalks were invitations to euthanasia. Everything was chaotic, interesting, and FUN! (though I think members of my family disagree with me a bit on the fun-description). Clearly, we would need to be here for much longer to “figure it out” and to give it its due,… but alas, our trip to Agra/the Taj Mahal and other parts of Rajasthan will not accommodate that additional time in Delhi on this trip.
New Friends: My brother Stephen introduced us to old friends of his from when he lived here — Meeta and her daughter Aashni — who are now new friends of ours. They are truly lovely people. On relatively short notice, they met us for a meal, introduced us to a variety of dishes, and insisted on picking up the tab! Its interactions like these — good conversations over dinner with super-friendly local residents — that really make a visit personal and successful. (Below are a few pics from dinner with our new friends).
