“Why India?”someone recently asked and it took me a little while to answer.  However I do remember when I first put it on my bucket list although I think it’s always been on Jim’s, but then what isn’t?  During the 1990’s one of the books we had to read in a book club I belonged to was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and although I don’t remember the story that well all these years later, I remember finding it fascinating and thought maybe one of these days I/we would go to India. The reason it took us this long to go there is partly because of our travelling companions on this trip, Dawn and Yves, as they kept saying “wait for us, we’ll go there when we retire” – and that took a little longer than we thought. But in the fall of 2016 they both retired and we were already well on our way to planning our trip and today we’re off! Actually they’re already there as they left yesterday and we’re sitting at the airport in Toronto awaiting our plane and the 14 hour trip ahead – exhaustion is setting in as I type!  However to kill some time I thought I would tell you a little about India and what we have to look forward to.  I will not, however, during this blog be writing about the history of India as it way too vast but if you’re interested at all just google it as there is so much information available.
India is the world’s largest, and oldest, continuous civilization and is the world’s largest democracy.  It is the second most populated country in the world(China is first) with nearly a fifth of the world’s population, about 1.3 billion.  It is known as the land of spirituality and philosophy and 80% of Indians are Hindus – other religions include Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism.  India got its independence from Britain in 1947 and up until the time of British rule it was one of the richest countries in the world.  The number system was invented in India, as was chess,  it has the second largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world and is the largest English speaking nation.  India also has the largest number of post offices, has the highest bridge(Baily Bridge) and is home to the world’s largest religious pilgrimage destination – Vishnu Temple in Tirupathi.  Martial arts were created in India and spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.    It is also interesting to note that Indian Railways is one of the largest employers in the world with over a million employees!   And last, but not least, is the fact that yoga has its origins in India.

So those are some of the reasons we are going to India as truly it sounds quite fascinating and then, of course, there’s the food and the weather both of which we are so looking forward to…………and so glad to be leaving behind winter in Canada!   The weather in India this time of year is usually quite warm and from what we’ve read we anticipate that we will be dealing with high teens/ low 20’s in the north, with some rain, and as we go south it will climb to low/mid 30’s.   Packing was a bit of a challenge as we’re taking backpacks, have to be prepared for rain, good walking shoes and sandals and enough clothes for six weeks – mostly light weight stuff so not going over the maximum weight for carry-on was easy.

People around me are starting to stir and I see the Air Canada agent at the counter so I better wrap things up and gather my belongings together.  From what I can see this is going to be a packed plane as the place is blocked, mainly with Indians, many families, loads of people in wheelchairs, and many others much more elderly than us.  Not really sure what to expect in India with regard to wifi as I have read lots of conflicting info about internet availability and many negatives about the electrical system and how it can blow your iPad, computer or iphone.   This, of course, means if my iPad gets blown early on then this first blog might be the last blog – gotta wait and see.  Hoping to get some sleep on the plane so that when we arrive in Delhi 15 hours from now I will be able to fight off all the people that I have been told swarm you as you leave the airport!!!!   So excited, anxious and tired – where’s that melatonin?

(16 hours later)    Holy crap – Tidnish to Delhi, why wouldn’t I expect to be shocked?   First of all there’s the crowds and although it’s close to midnight it looks as if it is the middle of the day with people everywhere, noise and traffic all over the place.  Fortunately we had the foresight to arrange to be picked up at the airport and brought to our hotel……But so did everyone else!  There were signs everywhere with names on them, so many that when you looked you couldn’t even read them for the chaos and the haze.   We had to check a few times before we saw Mr. James Murdoch and of course I was looking for my name forgetting that we were in India.   Once we met our driver we got a second wind and we sure did need it as the drive out of the airport was bumper to bumper, four lanes wide and crrrrrrrazzzzzy………even at midnight!   Eyes wide open as we drove for about 40 minutes with traffic that never let up, cars, tuk tuks, horse and wagons, bikes……you name it, we saw it.   Finally the driver started to slow down a little and I can see out the window and know that we’re in the slums and the noise continues. At this point I started to pray “Oh Lord don’t let him stop here, please don’t let him stop” and he carried on for a little bit longer and then happily said “we’re here” and I thought Oh God, what are we in for?   Up the steps of the Sunstar  Heritage Hotel we go, welcomed by the concierge who opened the door into this wonderful little lobby which was spectacularly clean, and I then let out a sigh of relief.   Next thing you know the door opened and out come Dawn and Yves with big smiles on their faces to welcome us as well as they had asked for a wake up call when we arrived.  Check in was swift and of course we had a nightcap in our very clean room with a wonderful bathroom………and I thought this is going to be OK.  Before too long we crashed and agreed to meet for breakfast to plan our day.

Morning came much too quickly and shortly after breakfast we were off to meet our Tuk tuk drivers who, as it turned out, were our transportation for the next two days.  Most of the time I was holding on pretty tight but it’s amazing how you come to trust the youngster behind the wheel as they both were in their early twenties.  Dawn compared the driving to bumper cars as everyone was  constantly changing positions, looking to be in first place but unfortunately so were the thousands of cars, school and tour buses, transport trucks, motorbikes, bicycles and rickshaw drivers.  It was absolutely amazing and by day two I became a little more comfortable.  Our 23 year old driver, when he heard Dawn and Yves were from BC, said his friend lived in Vancouver and then laughed because he said his friend told him you had to drive between the lines there – clearly not the case in India, and he laughed again.  We didn’t do a lot of street walking in Delhi because of how unsafe we felt, and because it was not safe!  For those of you who have been here, or other places in Asia, then you know how crazy it can be.   Just imagine that by ten times, with no exaggeration!!  Old Delhi was both amazing and scary at the same time and it was here that we visited Jama Masjid Mosque which is India’s largest and can hold up to 25,000 people. .  

Above – View of Old Delhi from Mosque   Below – an electrician’s nightmare; if you look closely you will see the monkey on the wires

Bahai house of worship designed by Iranian-Canadian architect named Shaba in 1986

Gotta be young to drive the streets of Delhi in. Tuktuk…….or an army truck

Above – captivating view from our rooftop terrace

Having  said all that, touring around the city by tuk tuk sure opened our eyes to the city of Delhi, how some people live, the poverty, the filth, the constant noise and at times the beauty of the tree lined boulevards, the parks, the gardens and as Jim pointed out it is a city of contrasts.  From our brief observations the people did not seemed to be stressed, nobody curses/swears when they are cut off in traffic , which is constant – they simply honk their horn and get on with it.  Some of the places we wanted to see we couldn’t because they were closed on Mondays and our Tuesday was already full so we did what we could.   Delhi is an unbelievable city and we all agreed we are so glad we came but I, and I think the others, are so ready to leave.   Our accommodation was great and the people so far have been wonderful as has the food.  Headed to Varanasi next so will touch base from there and hope internet service improves as it’s been difficult to connect at times and hard to download pictures…….but hey life goes on and already this place makes me realize I’ve got nothing to complain about.