Today is my third day in New Delhi. My time here has passed by in a whirlwind. I was a bit apprehensive coming here from the mountains, where I most loved small towns and the friendliness of our patients and people in general. Fortunately, people here, though they come in a mass are just as friendly. I have been so impressed by people finding us bus seats, giving us directions, and one man even buying our metro tickets for us and getting us off at the right stop (even though he did have us go the wrong direction for one stop before I corrected him.)
We arrived in New Delhi the evening of Apri 27th and checked into our very nice hotel. It was shockingly nice after our more rugged accommodations of the past month. We watched "The Big Bang Theory," ordered room service dinner (butter paneer masala for about $4), and went to bed early.
The next day, the 5 of us from Himalayan Health Exchange (Sophie from Indiana, Cheryl from Indiana, Stacey from Vanderbilt, Mary from Washington [only with us this day then left for the airport] and I) spent the day traveling to tourist destinations. We started in Connaught Place--CP to the locals--a pretty shopping area of British design. We had lunch there at a McDonalds where we amusedly ordered Masala Macs and a McAloo Tikki (potato patty); there's no beef on the menu. In the afternoon, we went to the Lotus Temple, a Ba'hai temple built in 1986 in the shape of a lotus flower. It was surrounded by nice gardens. We got our first taste as Indian models as person after person stopped to take our pictures with or without a friend or family member jumping alongside us. We initially amused, but it's starting to wear a little thin. I jokingly ask to be paid 10 rupees per picture, but no one has paid up, yet. We also went to the National Museum, which was great. I listened to an Audio Tour. My favorite of all of the amazing pieces in the collection was a series of miniature paintings depicting the love story of Krishna and Radha, Hindu god and goddess, which had added sparkle due to the addition of beatle wings!
The Lotus Temple--also pictured above with me
Sophie and I walked to the closest Metro station to start our journey. We first jumped onto a general car, which was the most crowded subway/metro car I have ever seen, worse than any in New York even at peak hours. We just smushed our way into a wall of people. At our first transfer, we realized that the trains come so frequently (no more than 2-3 minute wait maximum, apparently), there is no need to squeeze onto a general car when we can easily ride a nice, far less crowded woman's car. Wow, it was nice. After one more switch, we arrived at Dilshad Gardens, the neighborhood which is Ashu's home. He and our friend Denton picked us up from the Metro, and we walked to Ashu's house. His parents and brother immediately greeted us then began serving us food: water, mango milkshake, moong dal, cookies, sugary dough sweets, fried onions and potatoes with ketchup, and chai tea. Next, we started to arrange for Sophie and I to get saris. Ashu took us to his friend's house where the bride was getting ready (she had her henna on already and was getting makeup) where his friends helped us try on their sari blouses, but they were WAY too small for us. So, we went back toAshu's, and his mom brought out all of her saris, and fortunately her blouses fit us with room to spare. We each picked one out, which we were told were of a traditional variety but were assured they would be great for the wedding. His mom quickly pulled out a needle and thread and without even measuring, tailored the blouses perfectly for us in about 5 minutes. Then she and her housemaid wrapped the saris around us and pinned them in place. Voila!
Giddily wearing saris!
Eventually, we made our way to the wedding ceremony, and we walked in just as the bride and groom were placing flower garlands over each other's head, a big part of the ceremony. After that, all family and friends walk up to them in turn to bless them and take a picture with them. The bride's sister excitedly came up to us and asked us to step forward. We happily did so. Everyone seemed SO excited that we were there. It was great to see the bride's friends that we had met earlier; they were sooo nice and even apologetic for her saris not fitting. They continuously thanked us for coming, to which we replied with vigorous thanks for letting us attend. After our official picture, many more friends and family wanted pictures with us, too. We tried not to draw too much attention, but that was a lost cause. After pictures, we were served a banquet meal, which was awesome. Some of the food we had had before (or some version or it), but there were some new vegetable dishes and an awesome dessert of dough in a sweet white sauce that we loved. The bride and groom after pictures are ushered into a sort of temple or ceremonial room outside the main banquet hall. Doors were open, so we could watch (and we were invited in, but it was soooo hot). Around a square fire, along each side are: the bride and groom, bride's parents, Hindu priest/master of ceremonies, and groom's parents. There is a ceremony that takes up to 2 or so hours, so we just watched part of it.
Part of the wedding ceremony: bride and groom circling the central fire 7 times as guests throw flower pedals on them.
After watching this more interactive part, we decided that it was probably time for us to part, especially since Ashu offered to drive us to do whatever we wanted in the city. Sophie and I needed to get back to our hotel for a meeting with our tour group, so we did that.
Ashu, me, Denton, Sophie. Behind us is the stage where the bride and groom initially sat (garland exchange and blessings portions).
Before leaving, we took more pictures, and the bride's parents came over specially to thank us for coming. After profuse thanks on both sides of the conversation, we left. Ashu told us that this event was a small wedding (about 100-150 people) because it is a "love marriage" as opposed to an arranged marriage, at which there may be 1000-2000 guests. His brther invited us to go to another wedding tonight, for an arranged marriage, but we turned him down since we are on our tour now and leave early tomorrow for Jaipur.
That night, we met up with our tour group, consisting of 11 young adults from the U.S. (us 4), Australia, England, and Canada. We have a tour guide who is a native Indian originally from Mumbai but who has been living in New Delhi for some years and has led tours for about 7 years. After meeting, we walked around the area of our hotel (Karol Bagh), through its famous market, and to dinner. I was pretty full from the wedding feast, so I opted instead for mango ice cream. Basically, I want to eat mango-flavored everything.
Karol Bagh Market at night
Today we started with a tour of the city with our guide. We took a bus into Old Delhi and went first to Jama Masjid, the principal mosque of Old Delhi, built in 1650 AD. It houses up to 25,000 worshippers. I paid extra to climb to the top of one of the minarets. I was the only one, so as a single woman it was not allowed for me to travel up there alone. I had to wait for someone else to come along before I could be guided up to the top. Our group then walked through Chadni Chowk, the old market, and some back alleys of Very Old Delhi, which were tiny and awesome. Some of the houses were beautiful, but about 4 feet from their across-the-street neighbor. There were also wires hanging everywhere since they were built before the introduction of electricity. We saw some special areas: the fireworks market (across the street from the fire department), the wedding supply street, and my favorite, the spice market. We then went in a back alley to the old spice market, where they now sell spices whole-sale. We all started coughing and sneezing immediately. ha!
Rickshaw ride in Old Delhi! Only a little terrifying haha mostly awesome.
We also went to a Sikh (branch of Hinduism) Temple. They were playing beautiful music for their daily prayers. One drum and two piano/harmonica hybrid instruments. They also do a lot of community service, including free meals for anyone who needs one and a residential area for housing those that need somewhere to sleep. I joined in and helped make a couple pieces of flat bread and was instructed by one of the Indian volunteers. We took a series of bus, metro, autorickshaw (or tuk-tuk), and bicycle rickshaw today, rally got the whole gambit of Delhi transportation.
Main entrance to the Red Ford
Our guide then took us to a South Indian restaurant for a lunch of dosai and pineapple milkshakes. It was awesome to have something different than North Indian food, which I have loved, but am enjoying a few different things, too. We split up after that, with Sophie, Stacey, and I heading to the Red Fort, a world heritage site and important example of Mughal architecture. It also had a small museum about the Indian struggle for independence, which was also great. It makes me want to watch "Gandhi" again. We leisurely strolled around before taking the Metro back to our hotel, led by an exuberant helper, a Punjabi man who cut in line to buy us tokens, walked with us through each stop and transfer, then walked us off the Metro, almost getting in a fight with a Metro worker when the machine basically ate Sophie's token haha. wow.
Tomorrow we head to Jaipur via train!
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