10.09 : INDIA: Delhi (Festivals & Hotels)

Trip Start Oct 04, 2008

Trip End Oct 12, 2008

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Flag of India Delhi, India
Thursday, October 9, 2008

Thurs, Oct 9: Delhi

Hello Mom & Dad-

I've hired a driver for a day to sightsee Delhi. For 700Rs (a little over $10 and equal to a OW cab trip from Soho to my apt in Hell's Kitchen ) this is a bargain! Both Sandeep and Regina have arranged to join me. Sandeep was generous to offer the use of his car for this, but I had booked my car in advance, so I've asked him to tag along instead. Also, it's Regina's last day to sightsee Delhi and she wanted to see things as well.

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Tourist sights: Lotus Temple, Hanumayun's Tomb & Quatab Minar (both to drop R off), the gateway of India, government sector full of government building & the port of India & the Red Fort.

For me, the BEST attraction of the day was where Sandeep took me for lunch, a favored diner & bakery in Greater Kailash where he gave me the 101 commentary on the popular (and his own favorite) foods in India- puri, Thali, pakoora and kulfi. I love having a friend here and its been great getting to know Sandeep!

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I also LOVE that i'm here during festival time- today is the holiday of Dusshera ("Victory Day")! All week I try my best to follow the festivals from Nepal's Dushain to Varanasi's celebration of Durga Puja and now to Delhi. Today is the apex of the festivals- an overlap of celebrations. Durga Puja floats will be set into the river to kick off Dasara while giant tower-sized of dolls Ravana will be set on fire in effigy for Dusshera in memorial of good triumphing over evil. The festival excitement, is of that of a football tailgate party and you can witness it on the freeways as truckloads of people are shouting and jeering, faces painted with the red paint of Holi, as they take the floats to their releasing in the Yamuna River!

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According to Sandeep and my driver, the hotel I had booked in Manju-ka-Tilla (a Tibetan colony up north near the Yamuna River) is "not in a good area and is far from Central Delhi" & though I had booked it to be near the festivities, I doubt myself and scramble to find a hotel in a more convenient and safer location. My India SIM card is still not working and it's hard not having a phone in India and its a standard form of communication. Without it, I'm forced to hit the streets in search of STD booths (aka calling booths!). While calling within India is relatively cheap however- 1rupee a minute or free if you're calling a local number from a landline- I am thankful to Sandeep for offering his mobile phone. I promptly called hotels in or near Connaught Place (its a huge mall) and had my driver take us there to check them out.

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I've always stayed at mid-range and higher hotels. My stars, while they curse me in other areas, endorse me w/ a healthy portion of luxury glamorousnesses in my career so that I don't need to be mega-rich or a star to enjoy the privileges of a 5-star resorts, hotels and galas! Thus- I imagine to myself that this affords me leeway and I can deliberately toe-dip on "the rougher side of dirty bedsheets", guest houses and budget hotels, knowing its not my curse in life! And afterall, i'm in India!!! How many everyday indian people (and authentic culture) am I going to see/experience at an expensive HOTEL other than the ones working there? And how many of those kinds of hotels are going to let their employees sleep on a blanket in the lobby after all is closed down?...

The budget-guesthouses to low mid-range hotels have been pretty consistent . They run roughly $6-20/night and if the sheets or towels don't look dirty, then they'll charge you for toilet paper or the pillows will tempt smells of someone else's "man" head (as i imagine ALL of India- and its predominant population of men- passes through there!) Also, while the bathrooms have- to my relief- a western toilet, it also comes with an ugly version of a handicapped shower stall w/ lukewarm water, a floor drain and what I haven't enough curiousity to figure out the need for in a large plastic tub and pouring cup. I'm part Japanese, so I know what one of them is for...as for the cup, i've used to pour water to flush the toilet if it hasn't worked.

Now i'm in the City Center Inn Hotel which is on the pricier side and doesn't look it. Still, its in a better part of town in South Delhi called Bhogal (according to Sandeep, the neighborhoods are better in the south). The pleasant surprise is that my hotel is accidentally located next to a marketplace and while I missed the floats of Durga Puja being cast off,... a block away, a huge crowd is gathering and my giant-sized Ravana dolls of Dusshera are about to be burned ablaze!