Delhi and Beyond

I have to say that our first experience in India was not the most pleasant part of our journey and the thought of returning was giving me a bit of the heebie jeebies. I seriously considered staying in Nepal for another month where I could go on more treks and be at peace and not have to worry about talking to guys who really, really want to get a picture of Holly and wouldn't leave me alone until the photo was taken. How wrong I was. I guess if you are going to travel to India you should stay away from the state of Bihar and go right to Rajasthan. Delhi is crazy, packed, loud, smelly, and fun. When we first arrived I was still a little bit hungover from the night before in Kathmandu and when we were dropped off in a section of town called Paharganj, with a market street called main bazaar I was expecting the worst. It was about as crowded and chaotic as something can get without there being a riot or some kind of huge four day concert going on. This is a normal day actually and the amount of people is astonishing. It is a non-stop flow from 8 in the morning until about 10 at night. This isn't just in the market streets either, although I would classify every street as a market street actually. The river of human beings is endless, the noise of honking horns is piercing to eardrum shattering if your lucky to be by a larger vehicle, and the wonderful smell of exhaust is ever present. This is the city in India. One minute you are smelling the most disgusting thing you can think of and the next you get a smell of a fresh fruit stand that makes your nose do a little dance. Fried food is also very common. This is a bit of a weak spot for me, but it is easy to turn down when you see the fare covered in a swarm of flies, or an exhaust burst lay a fine cloud of flavor all over it. Some of it though is irresistible, with samosas, veg pakoras, and Holly's all-time favorite jalebis. It tastes a bit like a funnel cake, but it is dipped in a sugar syrup after it is fried so it is more like a Krispy kream without the mass of dough. After hangover recovery and some walking we had dinner and it was just like I imagined it was meant to be. The best part was dinner cost about 4 bucks. Not too bad I'd say. One thing is that beer is still a little bit shady here so you can't always enjoy your meal with a cold one, but the fresh lemon sodas are kick ass and refreshing. In Delhi I wasn't hassled too much and I am becoming better at evading the guys who want something. So far everyone has a friend in America. Most live in California or New York. The guys on the street would like to talk to you about their friends they wonder if you might be able to give them some information so they can help their friend out. I don't know what I could tell them that would be of assistance so I tell them I have a stomach ache or something and that I have to go or I'll shit my pants. It is a common excuse I hear but with my history I feel like I am not totally lying and sometimes I'm not. Of course if you were to go and talk with one of these gentleman they will eventually lead you to a shop of some kind and offer you tea and try to sell you whatever they are peddling. Speed walking is another great way of evasion and not ever making eye contact helps as well. Just smile and walk like you know where you are going and hassling becomes minimal. The first full day we were there was a monday, and lo and behold, everything is closed so it was kind of a lazy day. We made the best out of it though in the evening when Holly suggested we go check out the local cinema. It was a double-decker theater, probably built sometime in the 50's, and the only attendants were male, except for Holly of course. We arrived after the show had begun, which was good because it was dark and Holly was somewhat less of a distraction for the other patrons. The movie itself was an older make, and it appeared visually as if it had been running non-stop for two years. The sound was loud and the plot was fairly easy to follow. It was a common theme of the lowborn man meeting the rich girl, who fall in love only to be thwarted by the evil father. Well that is how it ended at the intermission after an hour and a half so we blew that pop stand. Before we did though we saw a cat prowling the aisles and some of the most non-sensical movie making I could imagine. People were appearing in the middle of nowhere singing songs and dancing in a fashion that you must laugh at if you're not an Indian. Shooting locations were changing right in mid-scene and of course scene to scene was incomprehensible. You really have to see it to appreciate it, but hope there is an intermission to escape the epic musicals. I must say that the movie was old and today's bollywood productions do appear to have a much better production value, so I can't judge the whole Indian movie industry, but I did judge that one movie. Probably the most valuable tidbit I got out of it was a new dance move to be performed in a battle with Malcolm sometime (be prepared buddy). The next day we were able to do the touristy things and the Jama Masjid and the Red Fort were impressive. The Jama Masjid is the biggest mosque in India and it is an impressive and beautiful sight, as long as you don't try to look far over the walls because the smog becomes impenetrable after about a half mile. One funny thing happened inside which is worth mentioning because I wish I could repeat it myself. This family of Indians, mostly boys, and a couple of women saw Holly and started getting excited for a picture. They asked nicely and it is hard to refuse no matter how weird it seems so we obliged. Right away this little Muslim man came over with a bamboo stick and started whacking the photographer in the balls. The guy took a couple of direct hits but maintained his photographic stance until the old man really gave him a good one. He told us "No photos with Indian men!" and we have been trying to hold to that rule ever since. I must say that sometimes it isn't so weird because a whole family with women and everything will want to get their picture taken with you. We just wonder really what they do with the photos and how exciting can a couple o' whiteys be. We also saw one of the wildest traffic jams. Auto rickshaws, motorcycles, normal rickshaws (a bike with a couple seats behind it if you don't know), normal bikes, normal cars, vans, and cows and people all trying to get somewhere fast, except for the cow that is. They just usually stand there and do whatever they want and nobody minds, due to the fact that they are holy. It was a great time weaving through this traffic though and you really feel like a superstar after you get through it. Walking has never been so fun. We saw a Brahma bull that was the size of an elephant and I shit you not. A smaller grown elephant maybe, but anyway the thing was huge. I couldn't believe it. We also went to Mcdonalds and had some lunch to see what it was like. No beef of course but Holly said the veggie burger was fantastic and the sandwich I had was a version of the Big Mac but with chicken and the special sauce was masala. It wasn't too bad really, and we (or mostly I) just had to try. We left Delhi that day on a train to a town called Hardiwar. We only spent one night there, but had another great meal for really cheap and watched the beginnings of the Obama-rama. In the morning we watched his dominating victory, the speeches by both candidates and felt a sense of pride that we hadn't felt yet on the journey really. We could finally proudly claim our nationality without any hesitation. Not that it was bad really to begin with but it just seemed different after that. We rode on the bus to Rishikesh that same day and discovered the first peaceful place in India, that we had been to anyway. It was a breath of fresh air and I could finally relax and do so yoga in peace. A little sarcasm there. I went hiking and rafting, did yoga a couple of times, and ate a lot of food. One of the yoga sessions was led by Gumby himself and it was interesting to watch the rest of the participants, myself included, fail miserably at reproducing his elastic moves. He did elbow stands, touching his feet to the top of his head and then went into back bends and grabbed his ankles and then just stood up from that position. He would say "Just try." and nobody really did, but he put on a good show nevertheless. The next session was normal, and much easier on the body. They also had free Indian music shows at night which were very cool really. A lot of people go to Rishikesh on a spiritual journey so you'd see a bunch of people meditating, or just sleeping during the shows. There are places called ashrams all over where you can stay if you'd like but you have to follow the rules. They are usually free, but it still seems like a high price to me;). We stayed for five nights, until Holly couldn't take it anymore and we left via bus to Delhi. The 6 hour ride wasn't too bad, Holly actually enjoyed it immensely and had some fried foods, some coffee and sweets at one the stops along the way. She didn't enjoy it later I have to say. We arrived in Delhi at about 11:30 to one of the more pungent human piss smells you could imagine. The sidewalk itself was the urinal and it was so drenched it looked like it had just been washed with a hose. A hose that sprays piss that is. We got an prepaid auto rickshaw driver who wouldn't take us where we wanted to go because he knew he wouldn't make commission off of us so it was the first time we had to raise our voices telling him to get moving. He finally relented and we stayed in a dormitory for dirt cheap for about four hours before we had to get up to catch our train. I woke Holly up and she instantly ran to the bathroom and started heaving her guts out. The rest of the people in the dorm room were probably enjoying the sounds as much as I was. It sounded painful and prolonged and it was the perfect way to feel right before you get on a train. We figured it was the sweets or the coffee that bit her because I ate some of the fried food and I didn't get sick. She survived the train ride to Jaipur but is still not feeling her best 4 days later. Jaipur is a great little city, with friendly people, great forts and palaces, and bustling markets, although I assume there is no such thing as a slow market in India. Met a couple gals from England and traveled with them one day while Holly was ill and had a great time. The highlight of my stay here had to be the elephants though. I finally got to pet one and satisfy my curiosity as to what the heck they feel like. Holly thinks I have a little bit of an obsession with them but I don't think so. They have intelligent eyes and you can tell they like it when you give 'em a good hard trunk petting. It was a lot of fun. I was offered tea no less than eight times on one of my walks, but managed to evade the sellers (who claim not to want to sell you anything). It is still fun having a back and forth with them though and I am coming to enjoy the game. Sometimes they play hard ball though and say not having tea with them is disrespectful to them, but what are you gonna do? Sometimes you really gotta take a shit.