Delhi

We have been in Delhi now for three days and leave very early tomorrow. Clare has been a real star adapting to the chaos and dust like a pro. We are both pretty keen to get out now and head for the hills - we have seen enough crowded streets, blanket wrapped cold people, and heard enough pooping of horns, mopeds and bikes.

We have both nearly died once and are thankful to be safely in bed at the end of the day. I nearly lost Clare between platform and train on the metro, one leg went down a lot of tall dark men bent to grab her and smiled with relief - 'thank God she did not go down as the trains run straight over people who fall down there' one relieved man smiled quietly to me. Phew I thought must take better care of the little one I didn't realise she could disappear so easily! As for myself I just walked out into in the path of a moped hurtling along at motorway speed rather than a cattle, goat, ricksha and people busy street speed. I saw life pass before me and thanked God too.

Costa Coffee! I don't believe it either and this is in Delhi too - first day and we needed a respite - you can't imagine the culture shock. The coffee was shit as usual which was so reassuring. Day 2 I had an incredibly good cup of the finest coffee I had tasted in ages at the Imperial Hotel hidden behind high guarded walls near the TIbetan Market. We stole in and had a tea and a coffee and gawped at the wondrous paintings of Raj times, an incredibly ornate mirror and beautiful architecture of this victorian relic of a hotel.

Clare in Imperial Hotel Delhi for a few moments only

glorious mirror in Imperial Hotel

We have been amongst a hubub of harsh noises, a mass of dark brown eyes – some chilled with the hard toil of life but most as warm and friendly as the small bright street fires keeping their boney hands warm. None of it makes any sense at all, most is unsettling, suffering is unconcealed despite municipal attempts to sweep it away but there is a tenderness and generosity of spirit in the people of Delhi. We were helped on our way by this and for me it upstaged the attempts by some to mislead or deceive us. Happy to leave the noise for the peace of the mountains but my heart has been warmed by the connections we made.

The Vodafone shop man who helped us connect our Sim cards, made our phones work and sat with us for hours whilst we rested in his office, he was helpful and warm, gentle and calm. Suggested things that may be helpful and related some stories of the people coming and going from the store as we sat. 

The warm open smile of the spice man as Clare asked him if she could take a photo of his stall and his willingness to engage with us. These people are big hearted with each other too, I see touching interactions all around me, with street children, between friends, great camaraderie between the people living their lives out on the streets - something we don't see so much at home, I am sure it goes on but its behind closed door and with central heating - another blessing not yet experienced here by myself, yet at least.

Just bought an Indian Sim card.

Onward to Haldwani tomorrow, generator just kicked in as electricity failed, all lights went out and now we have a new noise. Early start, taxi picks us up at 4.45am for train station. Must get some sleep - time clocks are still all wrong.

Day 5

Left Delhi behind today after a short sleepless and cold night. At 4.45am our taxi drove through ghostly quiet streets of Delhi along sweeping boulevards of sometimes eight lanes, usually chock a block full of every conceivable vehicle, to Anand Vihar station – close to the magnificent Akshardham Temple we had visited two days before. This huge modern temple housed a murtis of Swami Narayan. 

The station was the first signs of life this morning and it was quite a contrast as stations tend to be in India. All went according to plan - we found our names on the list of passengers pinned up on the platform, our porter put our huge weighty bag right by where our carriage would be when the train pulled in. The platform filled up and the train pulled in on time. We headed out of Delhi watching the dark and the fog lift as we meandered across the great plain to the East of Delhi towards Uttarakhand. We saw shanty towns, small fires burning, dogs scavenging and children playing far too near to the train track for safety as well as neatly planted fields and row after row of Poplar trees. 

On time arrival in Haldwani, we were taken to our hotel by taxi driver who asked if we had husbands, we both said yes and asked him if he was married(mistake - should have changed the subject at this point). He said no and that he had just sex with women who commonly rang him up and (at this point he impersonated a western woman in a comically high pitched voice) asked him to come and have a drink with them - of course this inevitably ended up with sex. We think this was an unforgivably bad attempt at a proposition. This interaction brought me down to earth with a bump of course - it was the speed and directness of the approach. I have yet to make sense of his fantasy world but felt disturbed by him.

Haldwani however was sunny and almost hot, we had a great Tali for lunch and wandered the streets following a bunch of cool sadhus for a while. Off to a temple to play, carrying tablas, harmonium.

Tomorrow off to Laharghat in a jeep.