I thought after 7 weeks in India New Delhi might seem totally different the 2nd time around, less overwhelming, more manageable, I though I might even like it. I would see things through eyes that knew what was going on, that could read the street, rather than making false assumptions or simply being bewildered.
This turned out to be partially true. For my return visit, before flying on to Beijing, I stayed only 2 days, booked a boutique hotel half a mile from Connaught Place, and booked a car and driver for the 2nd day to see the remaining sights I still hadn't seen, do a little shopping, and get to the airport at the end of the day to await my 3:15 a.m. flight to Beijing.
My main mission besides catching my flight and seeing if I could like New Delhi, was to stock up on English language books to read in China. India is great on English language books and bookstores, and I had easily been able to stick to my plan of reading books about or by authors from the regions I was in, without carrying many books. I also discovered there are many books published in India (possibly more than the U.S. or U.K.), books were already available in paperback that weren't back home, plus there were lots of Indian authors available, etc. Luckily the Books issue of Time Out Delhi happened to come out while I was in India, so I'd read up on what bookstores to go to.
I had arrived in New Delhi mid afternoon and attempted to take a nap at the hotel, unfortunately it was the one hour that the new giant TV was being installed. So I set off for Connaught Place, walking a few blocks to the Metro and taking it one stop. The Metro in New Delhi is easy to use, and I already knew my way around it. I knew where to buy an electronic token, and then to open my bag and line up in the separate women's line for security screening.
Walking down the street for the couple of blocks to the Metro stop, walking alongside the overhead Metro tracks, the street was as chaotic and crowded as I remembered, and after one block, when I was half way there, dozens of bicycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws were there, and many drivers approached me suggesting a ride to the Metro. I didn't feel like bargaining about the price just to ride one block when I'd rather walk anyway. The air was thick with smog, there were many lanes of traffic and no clear sidewalk.
In Connaught Place I went to the Oxford Bookstore, which was having a huge sale. It was just after 5 p.m. so still daylight but people were streaming out of offices. On my way from the Metro to the store, I met a middle aged woman randomly waiting to cross a street, whose son lives in Boston. We chatted for a while, and she invited me to visit her at work at a bank headquarters on that street the next day. When I mentioned this to a woman at my hotel who used to live in Delhi as an expat and returns every few years to visit, she said, "You met a woman?!" Its true that it was generally hard to meet Indian women in India especially randomly in public. Partly for this reason, I started staying in home stays (more like Bed and Breakfasts) which are usually run by women, it is a great way to meet a woman and her family, and if you're a woman traveling alone, often her neighbors, friends, and business contacts who are women. Despite this I didn't visit my new friend the next morning. I had to continue my book shopping and squeeze in a few sights before leaving India.
The next morning I traveled by car and driver, I went to Khan's market which is famous for its bookstores, and also the hub of expat and upper crust shopping for central Delhi, so I wanted to see this other side of Delhi I'd missed the first time. The traffic barely moved but we got there, and then the driver found a spot in a paid lot on one side of the market and slept in the car while I went off shopping. I went to a few bookstores, finally buying books in the one recomended by Lonely Planet, Full Circle Bookstore, and eating in its Cafe Turtle, paying the same as you would in New York at a similar cafe, for portions half the size, of pasta, and coffee and cake. It was very luxurious. I found a shop that could not only change my watch band, but had the exact same band I had been repairing with duct tape. I found a nice card for a friend's birthday at a stationary store.
And then I had to find my car. It seemed to be a combination of drivers staying with cars and a valet for people who drove themselves, so all the cars had moved around since I left. The attendant asked me about my car number, and I hadn't even though of that. I'd never hired a car with driver before, and was beyond clueless about the parking arrangements. Luckily I spotted the car a few minutes later, paid for the lot, and we were off.
I had a very nice driver, who was an interesting guy, and also knew his way around the city, and knew the bookstores, but I wouldn't want to travel that way on a regular basis. It's not only hard on my budget, but I like being more independent and doing things more on a whim without explaining them at all. However, it was nice to have glass between me and the smog and beggars and magazine sellers, and to easily get to places that weren't close to Metro stops without haggling with an autorickshaw driver over every trip.
In the afternoon, I went to Gandhi Smriti (where Gandhi spent his last weeks and died) which was more moving than I expected and then to Humayun's Tomb just before sunset which was beautiful, and extremely calm. I had an extravagant dinner recomended by my hotel, stopped by the hotel to pick up my backpack, and went straight to the airport at 8:30pm for a 3:15 am flight as recomended by my hotel.
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If you happen to know my itinerary, you may have noticed that I'm writing about places I went on my trip in loosly referse order. I forgot to mention this in my first post. I'm also planning to cover some themes or tell some stories that aren't place specific. And eventually, I'll write about things other than this trip, including my home neighborhood, probably about the time the tourists descend here full force.
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