Dicing with Delhi

How to encapsulate two and a half months of life in such a weird and wonderful place as Delhi? The demands of settling in (as well as laziness) have relegated this whole blog thing to the back of my mind until recently. I'm going to use the ‘Roses and Thorns’ method as taught by my Canadian friend Chris – the ‘Roses’ are the highlights, the ‘Thorns’ the lowlights. Fairly self-explanatory. This first post will be all about the ‘Roses’, in no particular order. Tomorrow’s will be the ‘Thorns’. Here goes…

Gwyer Hall - spent a happy 2 months living here

1). THE FOOD – I’ll admit that the first McDonalds I had here, 2 weeks in, was glorious; globalisation never tasted so sweet. The array of distinctive cuisines on offer in Delhi is something else though. From the mouth-watering seekh kebabs which have been served up at Karim’s in the heart of Old Delhi for over a hundred years, to the south Indian vegetarian thalis (a mound of rice served on a steel tray and surrounded by various spicy pickles and chutneys), to the cheap yet delicious street food… blandness and uniformity are not words that can ever describe the food here. Even the goat’s brain curry I had to eat after losing a game of ‘Odds-On’ was better than expected – slightly slimy texture and an odd taste, but still nowhere near as bad as sour lassi (basically a drink made from yoghurt). As disgusting as it sounds! 

2). FRIENDS/THE PEOPLE – too many friends, both Indian and Western, to mention. Needless to say, life here would have been a lost less interesting, enlightening and enjoyable without them.  Having white skin makes you catnip for the locals; while many are content just to ask where I'm from and what I'm doing, some encounters have been more amusing and bizarre. Whilst visiting one of the most sacred shrines in Sufism in Delhi, one man, after finding out that I was British, immediately asked if I could help him set up a business in the UK. The amount he was assuming about me (that I knew anything about the intricacies of starting up a business, that I was clearly trustworthy enough to be his business partner etc.) was just incredible. Just one example of how differently Indians sometimes go about interacting with other people!

Paddy and Toby kite-flying in Shri Ram College

Kite-flying on the rooftops of Old Delhi

3). DELHI – If you look hard enough and try not to get too ground down by some of the things happening around you (see tomorrow’s post), Delhi is a great place to live, and I’ve found numerous places to while away a happy afternoon or evening with friends. I’ll be dedicating an entire post to Delhi itself, so watch this space! In the meantime, I recommend William Dalrymple’s ‘City of Djinns’ for anyone wanting to learn more about Delhi. It offers an accessible history of the city, interspersed with often humorous and insightful anecdotes about his time living there for a year. Even though it was only published a mere twenty years ago it’s already quite dated, thanks to the incredible pace of change in Delhi society. Definitely worth a read though.

4). THE WILDLIFE – The only time I ever saw peacocks back home was in the grounds of stately houses and castles. Here I've seen them on the roof of the university’s health centre, contentedly basking in a glorious sunset. Monkeys are a daily fact of life here, and my attempts to commune with them, à la David Attenborough, have been a mixed success; I won’t forget being chased by one in a local park in a hurry – carrying a cane or rock is the locals’ solution! They’re great fun to watch from a distance though, particularly the younger ones. My favourite wildlife moment so far was seeing an elephant walking down a main street near where I live, blissfully oblivious to the chaos it was causing behind it. No doubt India’s many bureaucrats (more on them tomorrow) would have been inspired by such a scene.

Even the squirrels are more interesting here.

5). TRAVELLING - Thanks to an undemanding university schedule and numerous public holidays, I've managed to visit Nainital, Shimla (both hill stations), Agra and the Kathmandu valley in Nepal since I arrived in India. Again, I’ll write about these trips in greater length in another post.

Finally, as I'm not taking this too seriously, I'm going to introduce an ‘Idiot Abroad’ section to end each post. There were lots of moments to choose from, but the clear winner was my wardrobe malfunction in the first week or so here. Having sat down with friends in a café, I was told by staff to pull my trousers up. Not exactly in Janet Jackson’s league, but context is everything. This happened in Nirula's, a fast food restaurant frequented by sweaty, clueless westerners such as me and Indian teenagers, so not exactly a fixture on Delhi’s elite dining circuit. Imagine being told to pipe down in Greggs because you’re disturbing the ambience, and you might realise how ridiculous yet embarrassing this was.

That’s all for today. For anyone who was waiting for this (probably just family members) hope it was worth the wait, and feedback would be appreciated. Alvida!