I had been to India before but to Mumbai so I knew it was noisy and chaotic but Delhi seems to be a step above in terms of traffic and chaos. Our hotel is in Old Delhi near the railway station and the first time we left the hotel to go for a walk it was almost impossible to cross the road without getting run down.
We watched how other people did it and then just walked with (just a little) confidence into the throng. After our first success we became more confident in the moving traffic and navigated our way to the main shopping area where we got a nice meal for the same price as our hotel! About £15 each. We decided from then on, we need to eat in MUCH cheaper places.
Delhi is. easily the loudest dustiest fullest city I have ever been in. Alongside the numerous street dogs, some limping and maimed, are roaming cows, goats and millions of people. The most important part of any vehicle is the horn and they are blasted constantly.
The air is full of horns, the smell of human excrement, cow shit, food cooking, shouting, police whistles, occasionally a siren but always horns. That’s the dominant sound of Delhi. What you don’t see is many women unless it’s the evening and they’re out in family groups or anyone at all smoking – I am yet to see a smoker which surprises me.
Alongside the bedlam and chaos are beggars, mutilated, disabled, half blind, always dark-skinned, often children and old people, sometimes trans men, but always looking at you with sad eyes. It’s hard to avoid them if you’re in a open-sided vehicle like a rickshaw but in an Uber, you can close the windows and at least they can’t touch you. The kids push their faces up to the glass. We keeping looking ahead feeling awkward but knowing that giving money to a kid makes beggars for life.
We enjoyed Delhi but we enjoyed leaving it a bit more. It really does fill up your senses as Simon and Garfunkel said, but not like a night in the forest – quite the opposite. We’re hoping that Delhi will be the loudest craziest most chaotic place we will go to. We are hoping for some peace and quiet in the hills of Shimla tomorrow.