Mr. and Mrs. Magoo Do India 2

Hello Everyone:

I know it's been a long time. But the Pundit is back. Irene and I spent the last few months in India and Phoenix. While we were in India, Irene sent a series of e-mails to friends describing her experiences. They make for interesting reading. I thought that it would be a good, non-controversial, way to return to punditry by posting her India memoirs on the blog. So here it is: the first one. Hope you enjoy them, and if you do, pass it on.

The Sounds of Delhi:

I think of this trip as " Mr. and Mrs. Magoo Do India 2" . Our first trip, 4 years ago, despite everyone's warnings and dire predictions went so smoothly that we were perhaps deluded into thinking that travel in India was a piece of cake.

We have been here for over a week. Four days spent in Delhi and three in Varanasi and maybe we are indeed the Magoos but we find travel here to be easy to manage and ever fascinating.

Arriving at the modern Indira Gandhi airport was smooth...not even a line up at immigration. Having only carry-on luggage for the month meant we could immediate proceed to the "Prepaid Taxi" counter. We gave the address of our hotel and paid the required amount to the ticket seller. We brought our receipt to the first in line at the queue and our second trip to India was underway!

Our taxi was one of the typical Delhi fleet. The cars look like 1958 Vauxhalls or Holdens that have been bashed around, scavenged, and generally mistreated but manage to run on determination alone (not unlike much of the Indian populace).

After a few kilometers, the driver made a swift stop at a gas station. Drivers never seem to like investing too much money on fuel - obviously they are not confident that they will be able to find another paying customer among the 1.4 billion people here. In reality, they often rent their cars and rickshaws to use for a few hours in the hope of making a few rupees in that time. Obviously they do not want to leave too much fuel in the tank for the next renter.

We fueled up, asked directions to the Delhi neighbourhood a few times, and finally made it to the Ahuja Residency. The hotel is small - a converted house in a leafy residential and central neighbourhood, the Golf Links, near the Khan Market. It became our oasis in Delhi.

The area is completely gated and each block of the neighbourhood is built around its own small park.

On our first morning, I woke at 5:30 AM and listened to the sounds of our new world. It was as though a symphony was being created outside. First there was a distant staccato-a wavering musical teletype of a muezzin supported by a soft, far-off bass of a train. These sounds soon quieted and a swelling chorus of birdsong took over filling the airspace. Over a period of time the birdsong reached a crescendo and then lapsed as the sky gradually filled with colour and our day began.

Watching the birds from our rooftop terrace was a real pleasure in Delhi. We had forgotten the variety of species. There were green parrots thrusting into the air , squawking and flying in pairs from park to park; mynas hopping about; kite hawks soaring and crows and magpies gurgling from the branches, smaller birds warbled.

As we walked through the neighbourhood on our way to the market area, the cacaphony of traffic waited for us just beyond the gate. One step out and the honking of horns becomes relentless! Honks of cars, beeps of auto rickshaws, meeps of scooters, and bells of bicycles all colliding and assaulting eardrums. It seems as though the din will never diminish until at the end of the day, we again cross the threshold into our neighbourhood and the pastoral sounds take over.

With best wishes to you all from a world away,
Irene