I arrived in Delhi 3 days ago. For now I’m traveling by myself. IDEX is hosting a donor tour of our partners in Rajasthan, India and I am the staff member fortunate enough to accompany them.
Despite flying from San Francisco for 24 hours, I wanted to get out and see the city. It was 7am after all and I couldn’t sleep for 24 hours!
Delhi was fun. It completely surpassed expectations, which to be honest weren’t very high. No-one seemed to have a good word for Delhi, or they’d pull a face and say it would be fine for a day. Congestion, pollution, poverty, and the warning to “be careful” came up a lot. All valid comments. It was also vibrant, rich in history, welcoming and I had an incredible few days there.
The hotel staff was very helpful and arranged a driver at no notice to take me on a tour of the city. Over the next few hours I saw Mahatma Gandhi’s Memorial, the Parliament buildings, India Gate, Lotus Temple, plus many others and my favorite: Humayun’s Tomb. While it was too much to truly appreciate in one day it gave me a good feel of the city and allowed me to get my bearings.
This past Sunday was perceived to be a special day that could bring good luck. 17,000 marriages took place in and around the city creating a traffic nightmare. To compound this, it was marathon day. Not really associating India with marathon running this had surprised me when I’d briefly flicked on the TV in my room. It has been going just since 2006 but it is already attracting big name marathoners and lots of locals running for fun. It also shut down a lot of roads, my driver was not amused!
Driving in India is not as bad as some countries. I could identify road rules for instance. And for the most part people obeyed red lights, stop signs etc. On the other hand cars cram in next to each other, mopeds weave in and out, auto-rickshaws putter along and pedestrians, for lack of anywhere else to go, walk in the street, joining the throng. Horns are tooting constantly, both to let other drivers know they are there as well as to demand you get of the way.
One of the more amusing incidents was on the way into Delhi from the airport. We were on a two lane freeway and the traffic ground to a halt. You would expect this to just be a traffic-jam that you need to wait patiently to get out of. Or you could spot that the oncoming traffic has two lanes, and they should share. Drivers shot over, into traffic and commandeered one of the lanes to continue their journey. This is exactly what my driver did, horns blaring.
At least there was safety in numbers.
Despite flying from San Francisco for 24 hours, I wanted to get out and see the city. It was 7am after all and I couldn’t sleep for 24 hours!
Delhi was fun. It completely surpassed expectations, which to be honest weren’t very high. No-one seemed to have a good word for Delhi, or they’d pull a face and say it would be fine for a day. Congestion, pollution, poverty, and the warning to “be careful” came up a lot. All valid comments. It was also vibrant, rich in history, welcoming and I had an incredible few days there.
The hotel staff was very helpful and arranged a driver at no notice to take me on a tour of the city. Over the next few hours I saw Mahatma Gandhi’s Memorial, the Parliament buildings, India Gate, Lotus Temple, plus many others and my favorite: Humayun’s Tomb. While it was too much to truly appreciate in one day it gave me a good feel of the city and allowed me to get my bearings.
This past Sunday was perceived to be a special day that could bring good luck. 17,000 marriages took place in and around the city creating a traffic nightmare. To compound this, it was marathon day. Not really associating India with marathon running this had surprised me when I’d briefly flicked on the TV in my room. It has been going just since 2006 but it is already attracting big name marathoners and lots of locals running for fun. It also shut down a lot of roads, my driver was not amused!
Driving in India is not as bad as some countries. I could identify road rules for instance. And for the most part people obeyed red lights, stop signs etc. On the other hand cars cram in next to each other, mopeds weave in and out, auto-rickshaws putter along and pedestrians, for lack of anywhere else to go, walk in the street, joining the throng. Horns are tooting constantly, both to let other drivers know they are there as well as to demand you get of the way.
One of the more amusing incidents was on the way into Delhi from the airport. We were on a two lane freeway and the traffic ground to a halt. You would expect this to just be a traffic-jam that you need to wait patiently to get out of. Or you could spot that the oncoming traffic has two lanes, and they should share. Drivers shot over, into traffic and commandeered one of the lanes to continue their journey. This is exactly what my driver did, horns blaring.
At least there was safety in numbers.
Labels: Delhi, Donor Tour, IDEX
Comments
November 13, 2008 at 11:10 AM
What a positive and intersting introduction to Delhi and India. Thank you. DME
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