Tour de Delhi and Nick loses his Key

Before I retell the story, let me just say that a person can learn a lot in a 12 hour period. Kristin and I went from being really scared to fairly comfortable with our surroundings in a very short period of time.

On Sunday, we woke up really early (around 6 AM) did some sit ups/push ups and took a shower. Our hotel (Namaskar) was in a really slum-like neighborhood in Delhi down a dark, smelly alley. I think it was actually a market area, but we arrived at night so it was hard to tell. We woke up to loud rain. This was pretty surprising to us because the week before, the weather forecasts had the temperature at 120. So we saw the rain as a godsend.

We still didn’t have any direction on what to do in Delhi, so we just kind of left the hotel and started walking around. The streets were fairly empty early in the morning. As we left the alley, we were immediately stalked by tut-tut drivers who wanted to drive us all over. We told them that we were fine walking through the neighborhood, but one wouldn’t leave us alone for about ten blocks as we walked through the neighborhood. Our intentions were to find an ATM, get some food, and maybe buy a cell phone. We found an electronics “store” but decided we would wait to pick up the phone. As we continued walking down the street we came to a busy street where we could go no further without severely endangering ourselves. Another tut-tut driver had stalked us down the street and gave us a “told you so” look. We let him take us to what we though was the government tourism office. A person at our hotel later told us that there really wasn’t such a thing and that his tours were far cheaper.



Anyways, we had nothing to do, so we let the government tour guy book a day long car tour of Delhi for about 900 Rupees; the equivalent of around $22.50. This probably turned out to be a lot for the tour, but we didn’t know any better and being conned out of a few bucks isn’t too big of a deal for us. So we took the tour with a driver named Sanjeev.

So we got in the car and started off on the tour. The first stop was at an old Muslim temple called Jama Masjid. We got out of the car and walked up the stairs to the temple. However, they were going to charge us admission and make us take our shoes off so we just took pictures from the outside. We were still very wary of getting ripped off at this point, so we thought very carefully before doing anything. Plus, it was the first stop of our journey, so we didn’t know what was ahead of us. As we got back into the car to go to the next place, a very poor woman with a baby approached the car and asked us for money. We refused her repeated requests, but it was very hard to do. She gave us a very disgusted look as we drove off and I felt bad… Kristin consoled me and I got better.



Next we drove by the Red Fort, which is where the King of India used to live (I think). It’s a gigantic red fort… On the way to our next destination, we drove by a bus accident. As crazy as the driving is here, it’s amazing that there aren’t more accidents and people hit by cars. The driving reminds me of people walking down a crowded city street pushing by one another and weaving in and out. Add horns and cars to that same idea and you’ve got Indian driving.



We then drove to Raj Ghat, which is a beautiful garden and also the burial site of Mahatma Gandhi (sp?). We told our driver we were hungry and he shared his breakfast with us. It was very tasty even though, as Kristin whispered eloquently to me, it looked like a turd wrapped in bread. We thanked Sanjeev, told him we would buy him lunch later, and then entered the garden. An 8 year old boy named Jahle greeted and showed us around. He was obviously taught to work tourists because he immediately took to us and start dragging us around to places as a guide. We didn’t mind very much because he had tons of personality. He asked Kristin and I our names and told us that we were very lucky and beautiful together. I was stoked because I saw all sorts of new birds that I had never seen before. I used the skills that Sergei taught me and captured many great images. He showed us around the gardens and after a while, we got tired and wanted to move on. Jahle was very disappointed because he wanted to work us for longer. There’s sort of an unspoken rule that if a person comes up to you and gives information, that they have done a service and require compensation. I gave Jahle 20 rupees and he gave me a very disgusted look. He asked for 100 rupees. I refused. Then he demanded American money. I refused again and we walked off back to the car. At the car, I found out that we also had to pay parking for every place we went to. It’s usually only about ten rupees, though (a quarter) so not so bad. Basically, if someone sets up a cab ride or some other service for you, that’s not the price. That’s the starting price. Then you tip the driver later on depending on how well you like the service.



The next place we saw was Humayun’s Tomb. This place was great and we spent about an hour there. It’s basically a large palace with a few different tombs on the grounds. We paid admission, walked in, and started checking the place out. An old man, who claimed to be a retired history teacher walked with us and told us the history of Humayan’s Tomb. He went very fast and what I got out of it was this: Humayan was rule of India in the early 16th century, but he was a drunk and had too many concubines, so he lost power, so he left to Persia (modern day Iran), and after he died there many years later his body was moved back to Delhi and placed in the tomb. I hope that’s somewhat correct. We then moved on to different parts of the grounds where we saw that a large reconstruction and salvaging project was underway to protect the temples/tombs. We saw lots of peacocks, squirrels, parrots, farrel dogs, and crows. It started to get very hot as the sun came out. Also, the winds shifted and the terrible smell from a power plant engulfed Kristin and me. Yuck! So we left.



On a brief side note, it is very polluted here in Delhi. The test that Kristin and I have been using to see just how bad it is, is to pick our noses. Our boogers are black! That’s an indication that there is a lot of soot and other particulate matter in the air.

Next, we asked Sanjeev to take us to lunch. He said that he would take us to a very expensive restaurant and Kristin and I were a bit nervous about how much money we would spend. However, neither of us wanted to risk it on food so early in the trip (we still don’t know what is safe to eat), so we agreed. We offered lunch to Sanjeev to make good on our promise from earlier but he very frankly told us that he would prefer that we took that money and put it towards whatever tip we wished to give him at the end of the trip. We agreed and went to eat alone.

The place was called the Chicken Inn. The restaurant was comparable to an upscale Chinese restaurant in the US. Immediately, the staff noticed that tourists were on the way, so they put us at a giant table and gave us about five waiters. We were going to eat only Chinese food, but the owner looked disappointed that we weren’t eating Indian, so we let him choose a dish for us. We ate Garlic Naan, Navratan Curry, some veggie egg roles, and hot and sour soup. We paid 640 Rupees (16 bucks) for a very large, filling, fantastic meal. I usually spend way more for one meal at the market of choice or New Seasons! I definitely got the “itis.”

We left the Chicken Inn and started driving towards Safdarjang’s Tomb. On the way there, we saw a great disparity in living conditions. We drove by large mansions where politicians and rich people live and also saw people in shacks and tents on the side of the road. People survive here by just fitting in the cracks wherever they can. Very crowded cracks.

Safdarjang’s Tomb is Delhi’s Taj Mahal, or at least that’s what Sanjeev told us. He also told us that until young men and women are married, they are not allowed to be alone together, so they tell their parents that they are going to school or market and instead go to Safdarjang’s Tomb to “flirt.” Telling this story gave Sanjeev great pleasure. We went inside the grounds and as we made our way to the main building a man approached us was about to give us the history when we told him that we already knew it. This shocked him. We of course had no idea, but we were experimenting with ways to stop people from soliciting us for money. I told him that I had been to this place many times and had heard the story repeatedly and was disinterested in hearing it again. He said, “you heard this from me?!” I told him that I didn’t remember who told me. He insisted that he could tell it again better. We repeatedly insisted that we wanted no service from him and he was very, very disappointed. He gave me the famous Delhi face of disappointment. When we returned to the car from touring the grounds, Sanjeev had a grin on his face and asked if we had seen the kids flirting. We had! This again gave Sanjeev pleasure.



As the day went on, Sanjeev began to loosen up. He told us more stories and played Bollywood music to which he sang. He asked if Kristin and I were married. I said no. He gave us a strange look and quickly recovered. Then he asked us if we knew the meaning of Wife. We said no. Apparently it is “wonderful instrument for everything.” Kristin was unimpressed but laughed regardless. Apparently husband means smile-drunk. Hus – smile and band – drunk.

Next, we went to Qutb Minar which apparently is an old Muslim Temple. At this point it was about 4 PM and it was getting really hot. We went into the grounds of the historical place and found a nice shady place under some trees. There were a few families sitting over in this general area. A very cute, young kid walked over to us and looked at us funny. I took his picture. Then, a few minutes later, his entire family came over, consisting of 3 20’s – 30’s grown men, two wives, and 6 kids. They asked us where we were from and we chatted with them about our trip and what we were doing in India. They handed Kristin their baby for some reason and had her take pictures with it for some time. I was distracted talking to the men, but later Kristin told me that one of the daughters (12 yrs?) tried to get into her traveler’s purse while she was distracted. After Kristin noticed and stopped her, she said something to her parents in a different language and they asked Kristin if everything was alright and if they were bothering us. After that happened, the exchange became a bit different. The men asked me if they were bothering us as well. I assured them that they weren’t, but the mood of the interaction had changed. They left and told us to come find them if we had any questions. After Kristin and I exchanged stories, I checked my traveler’s purse and nothing was missing. We theorized that either that the little girl was acting alone or that the family as a whole was running a game of distract and conquer on us. Either way, Kristin and I are very protective of our traveler’s purses because they have our money and passports. It is possible that it could have been a misunderstanding, but after hearing Kristin’s account of the story, and just looking back on the strangeness of the whole interaction, it appears that they wanted some duckets!





We left the shade shortly after and took pictures of the large tour on the grounds. It is a very impressive piece of architecture!

After leaving Qutb Minar, we asked Sanjeev to take us to the Lotus Temple. We stood in line for about 15 minutes trying to get in. The temple was very beautiful inside, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures ☹. It is a house for all religions according to the girl who ushered us in. This trip was very quick and we then had Sanjeev take us home. Kristin’s eyes were glazed over on the entire trip back across Delhi as she got no sleep the night before. We decided to go back to Namaskar and put her to sleep.



When we got out of the car, we gave Sanjeev a $20 tip in American money. We were afraid that this wouldn’t be enough. We are still getting a hold of how much you tip someone without getting the disappointed face. I didn’t see, but Kristin said that Sanjeev took the money put it to his heart and said a silent prayer as we left the cab.

Sanjeev dropped us off about a mile from our hotel so our next job was navigating the busy market streets. All of the markets were open at this point and the streets were filled with people. It was much different than earlier in the day when we woke up. People tried to solicit us the whole way back to the hotel, but we were tired and on a mission so we didn’t stop at all. We thought that we would go out later and shop, but as soon as Kristin’s head hit the pillow she was out like a light. I read a chapter of Dr. Shiva’s book Biopiracy and then fell asleep as well. I dozed off at about 6 PM.

Kristin woke up at 4 AM and proceeded to stare at me and play with my arm until I woke up too. I was grumpy and made her leave me alone until 5 AM. We then got up and worked out and talked til about 8 AM, when we decided that it was time to go to Navdanya. We had the hotel get us a taxi and went on another 30 minute tour of Delhi on the way to Hauz Khaz where the office is located. Our driver was very fun and he showed us sights along the way. When we got to the office, I tipped him 100 Rupees and got the disappointed face. I think that Sanjeev told the hotel owner about our big tip the day before and our driver today probably expected a huge tip as well. So for now, we have a good tipping reputation with one person and everyone else thinks we are stingy!

We made it to Navdanya and the people acted like they had no idea who I was. They sat us down and asked us where we from like we had come on business. Priya, who Yaju said to find, was not at work yet. I had someone from the office call her and then they figured out who I was. When Priya got to the office, she told us that someone else had the key to the apartment. As we waited, someone brought us some fantastic tea. Yumm! Then someone handed our apartment key to Kristin. She made the mistake of handing it to me. The workers at Navdanya called a Tut-tut for us. Amazingly, all of our luggage fit into this tiny car thingy. We started following one of the Navdanya guys, who was on a motorcycle, to our new apartment. I noticed about a block into the trip that I had lost the key. I told our driver to stop the guy in front of us so we could go back, but he didn’t speak English. He got the idea that I wanted to stop though and started beeping wildly. Unfortunately honking the horn is so common that the guy didn’t get the idea, so I had the driver stop. After we reached our destination, I explained to my coworker that I left the key at Navdanya. He looked at me like I was a moron. He started speaking to the landlord in Hindi and they both laughed. Kristin thinks they were talking about how stupid the big dumb animal is. She is probably right. Either way, we got into our apartment and it is it pretty neat. We are here for the day and work starts tomorrow!

A few conclusions thus far:

All of our relationships in Delhi are based on money. I hope we can make some friendships soon. Apparently there are other young people working at Navdanya, but they are away at Dehra Dun for the week.

People here look at Kristin like she is a freak of nature. She is taller than 99% of the men in Delhi. It’s obvious that some of them are amazed and others are intrigued. I think that the women look at her with extreme jealousy. She thinks that they just think she’s a freak.

People here think that I am scary. I reshaved my head and yesterday I wore camouflage shorts. Multiple people made comments about the military and I am pretty sure that people are under the impression that I am a soldier. However, it’s not too far fetched from the way that I look right now. Plus I am taller than every single person we have seen so far, save one Spanish tourist who was about 6’8. I think the freakishness between Kristin and myself acts as a pretty good deterrent for people thinking about deceiving us or stealing things from us.

Upper middle class living in some parts of Delhi is similar to the poorest apartment housing in the states. We will definitely be more appreciative of how privileged we are when we get back to the states.

Ok, my back hurts… I’ve been typing way too long. Back to experiences!