Dehli Belly: A Play in 3 Acts

There have been a few opportunities for me to update this, but in almost every case, the desire to update was trumped by the desire to sleep. If you can call it sleeping, that is. More like I've been undergoing little deaths every few hours. IFN2 from Vancouver to Hong Kong went well; I'd recommend Cathay Pacific as an airline to use; many snacks and diverting activities meant a quick passage of the 13 hour flight. Once in Hong Kong, the silence was a bit unnerving. Asia and I were the only ones speaking aloud once we had left the plane. Determining where our next gate was became an easy task, but simply finding bottled water for sale took us on a circuitous route around the terminal. Passed out for an hour at the gate; woke up to faint chattering in Hindi. Perhaps because it would be our last IF, or ecause it was shorter, or perhaps because people were actually speaking to one another, but I embarked on the last flight with less apprehension and more excitement than the two previous excursions. The flight took us into the night, the moon shining on fantastical cloud formations as we passed over (what I thought was) Bangladesh.
One of the first things that hits when we step out of the Indira Gandhi airport is the smell. Something sour, but not quite rancid, more like the smell of warmth and sweat, it was 86 degrees at approximately 2:00 AM local time. Our taxi ride to Hotel Namaskar during the quiet night traffic was a gentle introduction to the madness to be expected during daylight hours. Autorickshaws, taxis, vans, large trucks, bikes darted amongst one another with horns beeping every few seconds. Although the cliches seem to be rampant in my description, there is something so sensual about the hours spent outside. It is a bodily experience.
We walk the last few strides to our hostel down an alley in Paharganj, avoiding all those sleeping beings, bipeds and quadipeds all. One note: there ARE cows walking the streets. Because of an information mix up, Asia and I experienced our first scam and end up paying extra, but our desire for horizontal rest supercedes any arguing and we head to our small, pink room.
After a small nap, we leave our hostel and head out into the bazaar. It's election day, so many shops are closed in Delhi, but the bazaar is beginning to wake up. Our mission this morning: ATM, water, food, not getting too lost. All is well ... potato-stuffed naan and mango lassi ... mmmm. More cliches abound, but it is true: Indian women have a natural beauty and condfidence about them. Their saris and kurtas draw the eye as they ride past, sitting on the backs of motorcycles. We check out of the hostel and start walking. Bombarded by autorickshaws but reluctant to lose more money, we refuse every ride and sweat it out, walking and finding our way to Connaught Place, off which rests our next stop, the YMCA. Once here, we reunite with two more of our group and hear their stories up to this point.
We become tour guides and take them to the bazaar where it is much more touristy later in the day than our morning excursion led us to believe. Hopping into one autorickshaw, we take off. The statistics of tourist traffic-related accidents now makes sense; we are on the road for mere minutes when a motorcyclist rams into the back side panel, inciting a collective intake of breath before impact, the cyclist nearly hitting Asia. As if it were nothing, we putt putt on. Due to the elections, the gigantic Red Fort is closed, so we head instead to a temple for Lord Krishna. This temple-mirror-fun-house-garden-themepark is beautiful, yet odd. The day is heating up and our cameras are melting. Time to head to some shade and hydration.
My tiny nap turns into a 3-hour lucid dream, followed by a half-asleep dinnertime meal of dal, pulau, veggie curry, and some lamb. Nom nom nom. A coughing fit sends me back to the room, where a bucket of water offers cool relief. The electrical system presented me with a challenge; there are about ten different switches around the room and bathroom, all of which apparently serve a different function. Fan ? Light ? Still trying to figure those out. A fitful night lends itself to an earlier morning.
We woke up today to chanting and parrot calls. That distinct smell welcomed us as we left our room. Took a morning walk, and we were not alone. MONKEYS. Everywhere. I impart a warning, "don't smile at the monkeys; it's a sign of aggression." The day is already getting warmer. We plan to go back to the Red Fort today; hopefully it's open.
I am failing miserably in communicating what the hours have been like here in Delhi. My words seem like cliched mirror images of previous travelogues and books. The same photos exist in a million locations, the same words flow from millions of blogs. However, in the limited language I have, I wish I could tell you how, but I will try to tell you what I am seeing. Perhaps the words will come later.
Leaving tomorrow for Dharamsala.