Moving on…Rishikesh to Dehli.
7 hour bus, cool air, feeling good being back on the road. People watching, watching the world go by. Sugarcane. Electricity wires. Luscious green fields. Dust roads. Ox and carts. Motorbikes. Hindi graffiti, luxury cottages and corrugated homes. Roadworks. Sand and dust. horns beeping, overtaking, constant beeping and overtaking. No order, no system but reassuringly safe. Tank tops and ironed shirts. Sitting on the roadside, sitting and relaxing. Chai and plastic chairs. Open fields, flat flat landscape. Public school, piles of sand. Sugarcane. Hazy horizon. Morning commotion. Tires and piles of bricks. People walking. Palm trees, streams, farming, wonderful self sufficiency……..
…..Arriving in Delhi. Helmets for sale, suddenly everyone wearing helmets. Entire families piled onto the back of motorbikes. Disembark the bus, attacked by touts, trying to rip us off. Government pre-paid ticket, rickshaw into the city. Rak International hotel, very nice too expensive, Walk to Vivek, cheap, clean and nice…Rs 350 nice. Change and head out. Delhi first impressions….shops do not exist, markets on the street. Clothes piled high amongst the slop and slurry of the garbage. Organised squares of produce. Everyone selling the same thing. Immaculately organized, organized chaos. Hand drawn rickshaws line the street and fill the street. Our driver is crazy! Poverty to another level. Street children begging when we stop. Expressionless faces, hands cupped eyes lowered.
Pahraganj, our area. Bustling with tourists and life. Tourists goods and a good price. Carvings, saris, bangles and jewellery. Walking, bothered, but its OK. Clean open roads. Slums almost forgotten. Middle class living. Sunday evening strollers, ice creams, enjoying life. Western clothes and ideas. This is New Delhi. Designer stores, snazzy bars, gardens to lounge. In search of beer, buy one get one free…..searching for the best price. Mexican saloon. Straddle the saddle bar stools, very expensive. 1 bottle of beer please, with two glasses. Over 25 legal drinking age. Photos and move on. Basking Robbins, craving satisfied. Q BA, luxury bar, so very swanky. Mojitos and bar snacks. Talking talking, past and future, enjoying the luxury. Good times, feeling good. Strolling back, feeling, tipsy but need cheaper beer. Gem bar, local and cheaper. Bump into Timur, share a drink. We sit and talk eat and talk. We like Delhi, at home and happy. Oreo cookies with extra cream, room service time for bed, must say goodnight.
