Delhi is Dirty

Hotel Mandakini Palace, Delhi 23 July 2010 5am

Certainly not a palace. We turned off the main road into a secondary road that did not appear to have footpaths. And then turned off that into a narrow street that had a cable hanging so low it was touching the cars bonnet.

The wireless internet is there as advertised but I can’t get a connection to work. I neglected to get bottled water at reception and there is none in my room. There is any empty jug and two glasses in the room but that is all and I’m not using tap water. So I’m even thirstier than when I arrived in Delhi. On the plus side it is clean. There are no cockroaches. The only insect I have seen is a fly. The electricity scares me. Every time I plug something in there is a flash. I’m not sure if it is the adapter that Robin bought at Mysore in 2008 or the wiring in the room. There are heaps of switches that seem to o nothing. The ceiling fan and air conditioning between them manage to make a noise like a tractor. The air conditioning was set at 23oC but I was too hot to sleep. The walls in the hotel seem a bit thin. I could hear noises at 1am from another room and I don’t think the people were shouting. Certainly I noticed the sound of footprints along the marble floors in the corridor, the lift and dogs barking.

The view out my 3rd floor window is on to the litter strewn roof of the building next door.

The plane was 30 minutes early landing but there was no gate available. By the time we got a gate it was only 10 minutes early. I don’t know what the temperature was at 10:30pm last night but it felt like a blast furnace when I stepped off the plane for about 10m up the air bridge where the air conditioning kicked in. I had a bit of a problem finding the hotel pickup. I walked along the line twice but did not see him. Rang the hotel and they said he was there waiting for me and would ring him. 10 minutes later I spotted my name on a board I’m sure wasn’t there before. While waiting I noticed the person in Khaki uniform had a semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder.
The driver didn’t speak English. He motioned for me to stop on the road edge right alongside a “No Stopping Tow Away” sign while he went to get the car about 10 minutes. When he returned in a very small diesel car there was a policeman on the other side of the road who made him move on. The trip from the airport was enough to convince me not to drive in India. At one stage there were 4 lanes of traffic travelling about 70km/hr in a road marked with 3 lanes. The road rules elude me I suspect because no one obeys them. Approaching intersections the preferred tactic is to straddle the dividing line between the 2 lanes going your direction and then at the last second pick whichever one is moving best. At one stage we came to halt on a roundabout as traffic was coming out of another street in front of us. I woke after about an hour and a half and I have only dozed the rest of the night. My body is now saying it is mid morning – time to get up and do things.

The road from the airport goes past the President’s Estate. There was what looked like squatter settlement along the footpath opposite but it is probably one of the many protests going on in India. I wonder if they will be forced to move before the commonwealth games.
At one place along the route there was a truck checkpoint. No signs just lots of people in uniforms and a mass of trucks.

7:45am
I went for a walk while it was cool - 27 oC. I am staying in Karol Bargh a commercial area about 2 miles from Connaught Square. The streets are filthy. I expected to find dogs living on them but not people. Nobody walks on the footpaths, they are too uneven. Every single street looks like a construction site to me. I didn’t take a camera with me on my walk – I felt safer just walking and not drawing attention by taking photos. I didn’t see another Westerner on the streets. I only got approached by one person who spoke to me in I presume Hindi.

The markets in Karol Bagh are closed today by some strike which is a pity as I could have bought everything I needed within 2km of the hotel. None of the streets have signposts so I am anxious about my plan to walk to Connaught Square. I need to buy some lightweight trousers, a phone charger and some glucosamine/condriton.

I ordered the Indian breakfast - parantha, which is some sort of bread with herbs, raita and chutney. The chutney was too hot for me. The tea came with milk and sugar already in it. I have my bottled water now and I am getting ready to face the day.

5pm
I got suckered by the auto-rickshaw drivers who took me to emporiums where they get a kick back. I got lost very close to Connaught Place where I could have got a little western food. However I have silk for Fiona, a gift for Alison (an elephant of course) and did manage to buy some much cooler cloths but I’m a few hundred dollars poorer.
I’ve just returned from a walk around a small part of the Central Ridge Forest Reserve. India stinks. I keep seeing men urinating on the footpath and I presume the street dwellers must defecate there too. Outside the hospital there are a large number of temporary dwellings on the footpath consisting of tarpaulins over some sort of frame.

I’ve seen two squirrels today. They are much smaller than I had imagined. I had always thought of them as rabbit sized but they are the size of rats.

The power has just gone off – lights, air-conditioning, mains power to my computer and then 2 mniutes later it comes back on again. I thought the air conditioning was useless but that 2 minutes was enough to prove it does quite a bit