Day One: Delhi

We arrived to Delhi at 5am somewhat rumpled and sleep-deprived after a couple of flights and a five hour layover in Bahrain.

After some ado at passport control (explaining to the passport control officer our plan to spend 10 nights sleeping on trains and not in hotels and, thus, lack of address in India was a challenge) and much ado at the taxi stand trying to avoid the "foreigner price", we had a plan. First order of business: taxi to the train station to buy overnight train tickets to Varanasi. We arrived at the "ticket office for foreigners and tourists". The office was not set to open for over an hour. It was a chilly morning and we were in it for the long haul. I sat down next to the elevator; never mind the homeless man trying to catch some shut eye in the elevator who must have been disturbed by my presence.

While waiting an hour for the train office to open we set our (ambitious) goals for the day.

1) Not get robbed.
2) Not get leprosy.
3) Procure train tickets.
4) Become clean.
5) See the Red Fort.


Inside the train ticket office, I was amazed at how swimmingly everything associated with the tickets proceeded. We waited at the counter, talked to an agent, requested desired tickets, paid for the tickets, and were granted said tickets. WOW. In and out in 15 minutes- an altogether pleasant experience. In Egypt, I have become so accustomed to hassles and half-truths. Nothing ever occurs in a linear, logical fashion.


We decided our next course of action should be to rent a hostel room to leave our belongings while we explored Delhi.

BEST. DECISION. EVER.


After re-grouping without house and home, we ventured out to the Red Fort. I have to say I was very impressed by the upkeep (compared to Egyptian monuments). We were stopped six to eight times at the Red Fort by Indians who requested to shake our hands or pose for pictures with them.



After the fort, we buzzed around Connaught Circle. Like Magic Alley or Khan al Khalili, but considerably MORE INTENSE. It is an assault on the senses- sights, smells, sounds I have never experienced in my life.



Back at the ranch, Angela and I passed out...cold. TWO HOURS and perhaps at least one REM cycle. Some of the most intense sleep of my life, followed by the shower that changed my life...though it entailed merely a bucket and ice water.

We headed to the train station. The swarm of people on the flyover bridge above the tracks was incredible, overwhelming, and frightening. I was terrified to lose my friends in the sea of humanity. I have never seen more people in one place in my life. We grabbed each other and dashed through the crowd toward our train. At this moment, the magnitude of India's population was palpable.

Inside the train station was another terrifying experience with individuals representing every blight, physical deformity, and mental incapacity known to mankind. I soon became familiar -and, I daresay, comfortable- with the Indian train station experience: throngs of homeless and otherwise challenged people inside the station- some begging, some sleeping on a forlorn mat with a simple sheet covering their bodies, all worldly possessions in tow; street children begging persistently for money; rats scurrying about. A steady stream of individuals approached us, standing or crouching very close. Each would cock his head and stare for what seemed like ages with a quizzical expressions written all over his face. Etched into my memory is the old man with the leprous skin, the woman who seemed as if she died right in front of us after being beaten by a train guard, the young man with who with the legs twisted and bent back so badly from some birth defect who scooted toward me on his haunches as he pleaded for charity.