"Better than Disneyland"

Breaking in the newbies, aka, Day Tripper
Old Delhi

Really, really wiped out after a full day of sight-seeing (yes, sight-seeing - I've never done this in Delhi) with 2 brand newcomers, Jeff (Canada) and Susanna (Holland), both of whom just arrived at about 4am this morning. It was great fun to see India through the eyes of total newbies, and for my hard-earned local knowledge to be appreciated, but I am exhausted.

I set out a blueprint for "your first day in Delhi" at about 11am, and we followed it almost to the letter. I am glad to say it worked out very well, especially considering it was all stuff I've never done before.

Goes something like this:

1-Ignore the hotel's insistance that you take a taxi tour of the city (all day for "only" 750 Rs, or nearly $20 US). The rickshaws - auto and cycle - are a great intro to India and are part of the fun. And, we saved about $16 by taking them!

2- Autorickshaw to the Red Fort . --From Paharganj, 40Rs. According to Jeff, just the auto ride was "better than anything at Disneyland!" It was fun seeing the chaos, cows and oxcarts through the eyes of newcomers.

It was their first-ever auto ride - they had arrived from the airport in proper taxis.

3-Red Fort - for foreigners, 100Rs or $2.50. A good start, but frankly Humayan's Tomb is better in many ways. The Red Fort, though, is very centrally located and walking distance from 2 more attractions (below).

The secret no one tells you about the Red Fort is that the best part is outside. That gate, and those walls, extending forever it seems. Seeing it from the steps of the Jamma Masjid is awe inspiring. It's really all downhill from there!

4-Walk directly across the street (an adventure for Jeff and Susanna) dodging traffic to the Jain Temple and Bird Hospital. (Voluntary donation; I gave 10rs).

Note: if you are going into the Bird Hospital, do not leave your shoes at the temple gate like they ask you to. The birdhouse floors, as you can imagine, are filthy and wet.

The Bird Hospital housed many many pigeons, quite a few parakeets and the classic green wild parrot, and three forlorn peacocks/peahens. One, the steward told me, had been hit by a golf ball at the Delhi Golf Course. The other 2 had fractured legs from various mishaps.I especially liked the naive-folk wall murals depicting all the heinous fates that can befall a bird. Dog attacks, cat attacks, ceiling and desk fans, hunters, kite entanglement, and so on. I never would have thought of kite entanglement.

There's also a big mural on the office wall showing the Jain legend of a king who sacrificed his life to save a pigeon and a crow. The moment he died, the 2 birds automatically reverted to their true states - they were deities in disguise. The two deities (Indra, god of the heavens, and Varuna, the water god) blessed him and said they had come as birds to test him.

5-Walk most of the way to the Jamma Masjid, the biggest mosque in all India.

6-Finally give up a few 1000 feet from the Masjid entrance and get a cycle rickshaw directly to the gate. Otherwise, it is a long, long slog through a few acres of cheap sweaters and an open-air goat market. --30Rs for three people.

7-Have fun watching the bewilderment and awe on your friends' faces as we approach the enormous, overwhelming front steps of the mosque. It's actually more fortress-like than the Red Fort. "THIS," said Susanna, "is what you imagine India to be." Meaning, I think, ancient buildings, calls to prayer and loads and loads of people swarming every which way.

8-Entrance to the Masjid is free; but depending on the time of day, you must wait for the appropriate time. We had to wait some 30 minutes because prayers were going on. We managed to photograph some shy young ladies seated on the steps, but the elder Muslim ladies with their orange henna hair generally said "no."

Jeff and Susanna were mesmerized by the swarms of activity and people-watching. However, the mosque demands a 200Rs ($5) fee for each camera taken into the mosque. We thought this excessive and eventually decided to pay for only one camera, and share the results.

9-At this point it was 4.30 pm, so we wandered around the vast expanse of red sandstone enjoying that twilight haze. (I think it accompanies a mental haze, but that is still theory.)

10-Beat a retreat out the side entrance - to avoid the madness out front - and go via cycle rickshaw through Chandni Chowk's famous silver jewelry market and flower market, to Haldiram's for dinner. (The ride was an overpriced 50Rs, but we were very very tired at this point, and the driver was a good guide, pointing out stuff to us.)

The back alley markets below Chandni Chowk are fascinating in themselves, and had we not been so tired, we definitely would have gotten down from our chariot and walked around. Maybe some other day.

11-Watch as your friends' eyes widen at the crowds in Haldiram's. Order for them as they have no idea what most of the food is (in fact they requested that I order for them). Send one of them over to fight for a table and hold down the fort till the food comes.

This is the one thing that was not perfect in the day. Haldiram's was tooooo crowded, and I can get a better veg thali elsewhere for half the price (mine was 102Rs). Madan in Paharganj would have been much cheaper, closer to the hotel, and less frantic.

11-Autorickshaw back to Paharganj - perhaps overpriced at 60rs, considering we only paid 40rs to get there in the daytime, but it was nearly 7.30 everyone was asking outrageous prices. The traffic was pretty crazy at this point so the guy had to take a circuitous route.

As am I at this point, so I am signing off for now.

Tomb of the unknown Mughal

I go to the FRRO
Chanakyapuri & Nizamuddin, Delhi

After spending the better part of a day running from one office (used to be the Foreigners' Regional Registration office, but that shifted some three years ago...not reflected on maps of course) to another (yes, this is the FRRO but you need to go to yet another Foreigners' office, in another part of town) to yet a third (yes, this is the right office but despite the fact that we're all present and it's only 3pm, you will have to come back Monday between 10 and 12 only) - after such a day, what I wanted was a little escapism.

(Just in case you have to pay them a visit, the FRRO is currently out near the Hyatt Hotel in an area called Bhikaji Cama Place, Ramakrishna Puram. None of the guidebooks show this yet. They all show it as still in Hans Bhavan near Pragati Maidan. )

(Long ago, back in the heady days of the early 80s, I owned an ancient James Brown 45rpm record called "Escapism (Parts 1 & 2)." For those of you who have never seen a 45rpm, Part 1 was on side 1 and part 2 was on what we used to call the B-side. James pronounced it eee-SKAY-pizm. It's probably worth a lot of money now, wherever it is. Other than a chance to mention James Brown, there is no point to this anecdote, so I will stop now.)

As I have mentioned before, Delhi has a lot in common with Washington, DC. Both cities are national capitols, obviously, but it goes beyond that. They share very well-planned streets, meticulous greenways, many museums, lots of white marble, and lots and LOTS of memorials.

Luckily, the third office (called Jaisalmer House, for the curious) was walking distance from the giant Arc-de-Triomphe-like India Gate, which I had never seen properly, so I took a stroll. India Gate and surrounding well-groomed grounds were full of tourists, hawkers (selling everything from cotton candy to plastic beads to slices of star-fruit to my favourite orange popsicles), armed guards and police, and the crew of men erecting scaffolding and awnings for upcoming Republic Day (January 26).

Republic Day is an annual mega-spectacle of patriotism, pageantry and military might. I have never seen it on location - frankly you probably get a better view with less hassle on the national TV coverage. I love the way each state chooses a theme for their parade float. Bihar, surprisingly enough, usually chooses "the Buddha" rather than kidnapping or corruption, and Gujarat has chosen to stay away - so far- from the popular "communal violence" theme. I think this year the float will just be a giant mockup of Narendra Modi's big fat face with dozens of people wearing the Modi Mask riding aboard.

The India Gate is essentially a war memorial, engraved all over with names of Indian who gave their lives in various wars. I wondered if there were always so many armed guards - you can't even walk under the arch or touch the pillars (which are at a considerable distance from the arch itself). Are all national symbols being guarded so fiercely in today's terrorist environment? Or, was it just in the run-up to Republic Day?

For those of you who haven't been to India yet (like my 2 sisters -though they say they are coming this year), watching the tent-masters erect these pavilions and awnings is a uniquely Indian experience. Very few buildings are large enough to house Indian crowds, so we just make a temporary "building" outdoors.

If you have seen the movie Monsoon Wedding, you have some idea of the process. Out of nowhere, a green field or dusty lot will be transformed with cloth walls and roofing (and sometimes even jute carpet flooring) for 1000s of people. Using bamboo poles, hand-made bamboo ladders, kilometres of jute rope and acres of cloth sheeting, the tent-wallahs were constructing awnings, railings and so on to protect 10s of thousands on Republic Day. A street dog had found a comfy bed, crashed out atop a coil of rope four feet high.

On the peacock lawn
Dusk was approaching and I realized I was a Delhi stone's throw from Humayan's Tomb, a World Heritage site that has been on my to-see list forever. So I splurged on yet another autorickshaw (40Rs from India Gate) to Nizamuddin. Admission is supposed to be $5 for foreigners, but as they have set the rate at 250Rs it is now $6.00.

It's worth it. Humayan's Tomb was the first of its kind (Mughal four-quartered gardens with tombs) and evidently the prototype for the Taj Mahal. It's not just one tomb, it is an enormous enclave of geometric gardens, waterways, fountains and several giant tombs, built in the 1570s - any one of which would be worth seeing on its own. The purple haze of twilight gives the buildings a romantic, lost-civilization feel.

Since it was nearing closing time, I hurried through the first two mausoleums, which already felt like something from an orientalist Arabian Nights scenario - octagonal buildings of marble, onion domes, marble latticework windows surrounded by date palm trees. In fact I would recommend going in the morning - the complex opens at dawn - in hopes of seeing sunlight filter through the intricate patterns of lacey marble.

Then I caught a glimpse of the main attraction through the mammoth arched gateway. I couldn't help breathing "Ohhhh!"

The actual tomb of Humayan is a dream, glowing in red sandstone. It is elegant and ornate without ever being garish or baroque. Every one of its many marble-jali windows seemed to have a different geometric pattern, echoed in the marble inlays on the floor.

A gaggle of western art students emerged from the front archway, clutching their sketch books, now filled with the geometric designs. As the sun sank, a call to prayer went up from the neighboring DhamDhama Sikh Gurudwara, with its own dome visible just over the ancient fence. Okay, wrong religion historically, but to hear such devotional music in that setting at sunset really makes my spirit soar. Bright green parrots shrieked as they streaked around the sky.

I stuck around till well after closing time (it's so huge, how are they going to throw everyone out?). The cat-like cries of peacocks sounded across the lawn. Peacocks in a Mughal garden at sunset, it was just perfect. I crept around the edge of the wall toward the cries and watched them nesting for the night. I didn't even know they could really fly, but there they were in the treetops. I could see the S- curve of their necks against the sky.

On Global Voices
Yesterday's post about dynastic democracies made it to Global Voices. If I had known people were actually reading it, I would have put more work into it....

Family affair

Royal pain
News from south Asian neighborhood

It was a big week for South Asian politics. Bhutto's assassination, the capitulation of the democratic Nepal Seven Party Alliance to demands of the Maoists to somehow guarantee they will get rid of the monarchy (when previously they had promised to hold a referendum for the public to decide), and the first ever election in the now-former kingdom of Bhutan all would seem to spell change. So why don't I smell change?

Amid all the mourning of Benazir Bhutto and descriptions of her as a champion of democracy, her apolitical 19-year-old son has been appointed her successor. There are also reports that Bhutto "willed" leadership of the Pakistan People's Party to her husband Zardari, as though it were a personal possession. Which, let's face it - I suppose, it actually was.

When is a democracy not a democracy? When its leaders are appointed by non-democratic methods, for one thing. When heredity is 9/10 of the law; and yes, the same formula applies to the Gandhi-Nehrus and Thackerays of India, and many others.

Of course, after the elections of 2000 and 2004 were hijacked by our very own Bush dynasty, Americans aren't much better off.

An article from the Indian Express explains the south Asian grafting of dynastic family structure onto democracy.

Royalism has been democratised in South Asia. In turning our backs on monarchy, we reinvent ourselves as republicans. But this is often a fragile and tenuous republicanism, as the political parties in our democratic polities are mini-kingdoms each with its own royal family.

My own observations: south Asians value stability over change, progress or principles. The continuity of heredity, with all the social expectations of a dutiful son or daughter carrying on the family legacy, is the best way to ensure that.

And, south Asian understanding of family as the most fundamental paradigm overrides any consciously learned, abstract concepts. When all you have is a hammer, everything you see looks like a nail. Unlike most of the west, where the individual is the basic unit, south Asian society seems to be irreducible to any unit smaller than that of the Family.

Therefore, because the current Nepali king was at first given benefit of the doubt, but has proven to be a rotten apple, the whole family has to go. Forget the outrageous Prince Paras who was always out of the question; there is no room to consider the well-behaved daughter or a regency for the very young Prince Hridayendra, grandson of the current king Gyanendra. They are not and cannot be seen as individuals; that's the whole point.

While the Nepali monarchy will suffer an uphill battle to retain even ceremonial kingship at this point, the Bhutanese palace is conversely struggling to encourage its subjects in baby steps towards the electoral process. Evidently most of the political parties were formed at the behest of the King - why doesn't that sound right? - following strict guidelines concerning the nature of such parties. "The king says we have to form some parties, I guess we had better" doesn't sound like a good start on democracy to me.

That other Himalayan monarch, HH the Dalai Lama, is not fareing much better encouraging his people to adopt democracy. He's been pushing the democratic process for decades; the government in exile has now elected a Prime Minister and other officers. In preparation for his inevitable passing, HH continually tries to delegate political tasks to these and other figures, hoping to train Tibetans to look toward other sources than himself for answers.

Within what are ostensibly republics in South Asia, thus, we remain at heart subjects rather than citizens, people who need and love royals....

Old habits are hard to break.

Delhi Days

A bunch of nice places I haven't managed to go yet on this visit
Delhi

When you are losing your sanity because of bureaucratic runarounds in Delhi (no names please), and suffering from post-Ladakhitis and the stench of the dead Yamuna, here are a few places to go where you can breathe relatively easily.

Lodi Gardens in South Delhi. This is a lovely, clean, green space filled with trees, grass, dog walkers and Mughal mausoleums. Really classy. And it's in between two major historic sites, Safdarjung's Tomb and Humayan's Tomb. Admission is free to the Gardens.

The Hauz Khas Deer Park is another verdant, safe, shady relatively clean park, not as well known as others....I think there are even a few deer still there. There is a small admission fee (like 10Rs).

Hauz Khas is a semi-trendy neighborhood in South Delhi. (I like South Delhi, I just cannot afford to stay there.) After your walk, you can complete the feeling of being in western Suburbia by visiting the local Pizza Hut. (!)

The Metro does not run directly to these locations; your best bet for Hauz Khas is to get in an autorickshaw. Humayan's Tomb is in an area called Nizamuddin, reachable by the #459 bus from Connaught Place.

Jantar Mantar is very centrally located, just walking distance from Connaught Place. Its array of salmon-coloured abstract formations, which look like modern sculpture, are actually a 300-year-old Mughal outdoor observatory. All kinds of sundials and stepped pyramidal formations dot the park like giant building blocks. I think there are still astronomers around who can read these instruments. At one time there were five Jantar Mantar ("Yantra Mantras") - in cluding Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Varanasi. The largest is still in Jaipur.

Jantar Mantar has also become the place of choice for "staging a dharna" (holding a demonstration or protest).

There is a $2 (or about 90rs, which is actually now more than $2) admission fee for foreigners to JM...but I suggest trying the unmanned back gate.

Seven Cities in One
Delhi is just really, really vast and was made in a very ad-hoc way ( it is actually 7 historical cities adjoining one another and overlapping) so different areas vary wildly.

Another nice thing about Delhi is that there are enough foreigners living here residentially, for various non-touring reasons, that we do not excite so much attention. It is still definitely an Indian place - but a cosmopolitan one.

Delhi has gotten a reputation for crime, especially against women, so I am now careful to get home by about 9 or 10pm. The Metro, one of Delhi's star attractions for this budget traveler, stops running at 11pm.

Day One

Aap ka naya varsha mangalmayi ho
Delhi

Well, as karma would have it, I had breakfast with the Upper Middle Pathers this morning. Of course, they are lovely people. Sweet, considerate, and innocent. Two of them are studying pranayam and meditation at a Tibetan centre in NY City. A couple of older ones are variations of new age healers who are completely sincere.

Now I am a bit worried about them. They are all going home in about 5 weeks so they might make it out unscathed. They might even make it home (still) thinking that India is "awesome," as one of the younger ones said to me yesterday.

I think India Tourism got the right expression. Maybe not "awesome, " but "Incredible India" - as in, unbelievable. Works on many levels.

Wrap around
I finally managed to buy a couple of pashmina/wool shawls - for my sisters back home, not for me. I will probably spend most of the day tomorrow getting them "stitched" for shipping, and standing in line at the post office.