2nd Avenue Delhi

I arrived in the hippy Paharganj area of Delhi around 6 pm. In the airport, I was instructed by another American traveler to allow myself 8 hours to chill out in each new place. Traveling by itself can be exhausting, and I have just been transported to a bustling city or foreign smells and sounds. I successfully got to my bath-included room at the Metropolis Hotel, and called it a day.

I woke up early the next day, and walked the empty Main Bazaar streets on my Paharganj neighborhood. My impression of India pretty much matched my expectations: emaciated cows freely roamed the streets, dogs lay asleep amid trash and excrement, and shops had graffiti on their metal-locked doors. But soon, the city came to life. Storekeepers shooed away the animals and cleaned up the trash that accumulated through the night. By 8, street vendors were serving fresh breakfast breads and porridge served in leaf bowls. School children in western uniforms piled onto bicycle rickshaws, and headed to school.

I hailed a motor-rickshaw to Jama Masjid, Delhi's largest mosque, a huge courtyard and temple of pink-limestoned minarettes and domes. Then, I went to the Red Fort, actually the royal palace for the Shah dynasty, built in the 1600s by Shah Jahan (same builder of Taj Mahal). The complex includes: a personal shopping mall, private mosque, baths, irrigated water cooling system, pantheon for entertainment and dances, Italian marbled throne. Everything is squared, symmetrical, and incredibly detailed, incorporating the many elements of Hindu, Muslim, Arabic, and Mughal style.

A very persistent bicycle rickshaw, Depok, offered his services to take me around the city. We drove to a 1,000 year old Jain mosque of gold and marble, Connaught Place (shopping circle), and the Spice Market! Through the narrow, winding streets carts carried barrels of red chiles and sacks of cloves and pistachios. Men when hunched over grinding whole seeds into powder with a marble cylinder and slab. Everyone was coughing and sneezing because of the spicy air, polluted by colorful powders of coriender, chilli, curry, and cumin. I wandered into a small stall, ran by friendly Vijay and his teenage son. He motioned me to sit down and offered me handfuls of cashews, dates, and raisins. You likee? I loved everything! I tasted garam marsala (a spice I have never heard of!), pink anisse, raw ginger, walnuts, and a million other things I will never know the names of!

I finally got rid of Depok. I think he would have driven me to Dharamsala, if I asked him. He freshened up at the hotel, and then booked it to "Dances of India." For about $4, I saw gorgeous dancers perform the various traditional dances. In one, the girl danced on top of various items, all while balancing 7 tiered hats (dull blades, broken glass, balanced on the lip of a metal bowl, 2 drinking glasses). After, I came back to the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing dinner in its peaceful rooftop restaurant. What a day!