Thursday, 12 February 2009
Last day in Delhi and India, which as usual has me feeling sad and depressed and already making plans to come back.
We headed out to breakfast at Rama’s where Kathy started feeling sick – so I walked her back to the hotel, where she is going to rest up today so she is okay to fly tomorrow.
It is my last day and I drugged myself up and headed out. I walked back down Karol Bagh market and caught the metro (yep SB will be impressed) to Rajiv Chowk and found a coffee day and chilled out making my plan of action. SB has done my check-in for my flight home and I can’t believe I fly tomorrow and will be in Australia on Saturday. This trip has flown by and as usual, there is still so many places I want to see that I could continue travelling but I miss SB, so it is time to go home.
I caught the Metro to Chawri Bazaar walking around Old Delhi towards the back of Jama Masjid past all the tiny shops selling everything imaginable before heading back gthrough an alleyway, where I don’t think they get many toursts due to the stars, this eventually connected through to Chawri Bazaar Road where I wandered through all the paper shops that make the most intricate hand made invitations, along with a vivid collection of hand made papers – that came in every shade and texture you can imagine. I couldn’t decide so took that as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be.
I continued back towards the Metro catching the Metro to Central Secretariat (India Gate) and walked up to the government buildings.
There is a huge contingent of press etc here but am unsure what they are there for, maybe something to do with the Prime Minister who has been in hospital with a heart attack, so continued up towards the Palace which was closed to the public so walked back down the other side of the street before continuing on to India Gate itself.
I talked to a lovely Sikh tuk tuk driver who wanted to know my thoughts on the Sikh Temples, but was disappointed I hadn’t actually stayed in the pilgrim rooms at the Golden Temple, which I thought were only open to Sikhs – he then wished me a lovely day, why other tuk tuk drivers can’t be like that, I will never know.
India Gate was open so I got to have a good walk around avoiding the plethora of photo salesmen.
I had just sat down to take in the atmosphere when I was spotted by a large contingent of schoolgirls who asked all the usual questions, but also focused on what degree I had completed and what subjects were interesting. Explaining about Australia and how everything is measured by how much you spend. They were impressed I had some Punjabi suits but they like to wear jeans not the traditional outfits anymore. I told them they all looked so much nicer in their school uniforms instead of in western clothes, but I think the consumeristic patterns of the west are now deeply ensconed. I doubt whether there are many countries in the world that haven’t been convinced the western lifestyle is ideal, but then I doubt whether many people I know would guy anything without a label and little consideration of its environmental impacts. They were having a day trip to Delhi and although it was a hindi school they attended some of the girls spoke very good english and even attempted to teach me some hindi words. On leaving I was then inundated by a group of schoolboys who wanted to know my thoughts on Indian cricketers, the IPL and the losing Australian team.
I had arranged to meet Kathy at the Museum of Modern Art but she is still feeling ill and just had enough, so I continued on alone, chatting with all the nice people that were saying hello. Most people I spoke to just kept reassuring me that India and particularly Delhi is a safe place which I don’t doubt for a second. I explained that Australia has fundamentalists as well and it is the minority that ruin it for the majority.
I walked back up Janpath and caught the Metro to Karol Bagh stopping at Rajiv Chowk for a quick coffee before continuing onto Karol Bagh where I wandered through the market finding a man doing mehindi so treated myself to having my hands dyed with henna patterns. It is so fascinating to watching it being done, although you have to keep your hands straight and no touch anything for a little while after, which I almost managed to do.
I got back to the hotel and while waiting for my hands to dry, Kathy decided to come out and have dinner with me, so we wandered around and had a dinner at a local western restaurant. Back at the hotel we ensured taxis were ordered and I settled down to watch TV and stay awake and let Kathy sleep.