Riding the New Delhi freight train 7-29-2011

We got to Delhi and got our luggage. I got some cash from the airport ATM and it was all in 5000 and 1000 rupees bills. These were too big for our use. However, there is a scarcity of smaller bills in India and so I was not able to get change.
     Our driver was awaiting as we left the baggage claim. We loaded up into the car for the ride into Delhi. The first thing we noticed was that some mosquitos had gotten trapped in the car. These were the first Mosquitos we had seen for the entire trip. It may have Been a Sign of bad things to come. 
     Our first night of the trip had been spent at the Radisson Blu at the airport in Delhi. It had been a great restspot with a superior room, a beautiful pool and a relaxing spa. We had not seen any of the real Delhi that night having simply shuttled the 2.5 km between the hotel and the airport.
     But on this trip to Delhi, we would see the real Delhi. For sure. The drive into the city was pleasant enough, passing military installations and upscale hotels such as the Taj, ITC and others. The roads were clean and traffic was better organized. There were more cars and fewer motorcycles and other more odd forms of conveyance. There were no cows or pigs milling around in this area and it was almost like entering a large American city.
    Nevertheless, we saw the signs of thhe poverty that courses through this beautiful country. There were men living in the medium who were trying to sell worthless items. There was a huge cloud of smog hanging over the town. As got close to our hotel at Connaught Place we saw that it was vibrant mass of people and colors. From a short distance, it looked like a typical American shopping center. Later, a closer look revealed the scroungy world of Delhi at night.
     Connaught Place was built by the Brits in the 1930's as a model modern shopping and business center. It consists of two or three story buildings arranged in three concentric circles or rings. In the center of the rings, there was originally a park but it is now parking and an underground shopping area as well as access to Delhi's relatively new metro system.
    When I had read about Connaught in my travel books, it was portrayed as an area where there was still shopping coupled with restaurants and some nightlife. As such, I chose the Radisson Connaught Place as our hotel for our two nights in Delhi. The other plus of Connaught Place is that it is central to historic Old Delhi and the planned city of New Delhi that was built from 1911 until 1931 by the British as the government center for their colonial government which was ironically unseated a short time later.
    It was with this vision in mind that we rode into the Delhi from the airport. As we approached Connaught Place around 6:45 p.m. On July 29, it appeared to be a beehive of activity. There were some brightly lit stores and a multitude of people. We excitedly arrived at the hotel only to find that the car park area in front of the hotel was a construction site. Fortunately it was dry or it would have been a muddy mess. No problem. The bellman got our bags and we went to check in.
     It was an extremely hot night and the sky had a devilish haze. I felt a need for an oxygen pack as soon as I got out of the van. We entered the hotel and went upstairs to check in. The check in was smooth and we walked along the hallway to our room. Fariba noticed that the carpet in the hallway was dirty. This was a tip as to the condition of the neighborhood. Our room was small, but very clean and functional. The hotel staff was nice, but could not touch the service we had received in Udaipur. It began to resonate that we had somehow gotten a bit spoiled by our luxury hotel experience in Udaipur.  Once we hit the streets, it became apparent that Udaipur and Delhi were two completely different cities.
     We began to walk the marble walkways of Connaught Place. There was a tailor shop and a shop selling sugars. There was a stand where a guy was making a product kind of like chewing tobacco called paan. 
     But we noticed that the marble walking surface was extremely dirty and had places on the wall where it appeared some bodily fluids had been released. We noticed that the 20 foot strip between the rounded building and the street was nothing but a construction site. It looked like all construction sites in India: as if it had been ongoing for years and as if it would never be finished. 
     We got to a busy intersection where we essentially negotiated dangerous open trenches and protruding metal objects in order to get to the corner to cross the road. Once we got to the corner, we observed to our left a massive pile of garbage 50 feet x 50 feet and 10 feet high. The stench was truly unbearable in a way to where you would not inhale until you were well past it.
    We crossed the street in the direction of where the action appeared to be. We later learned that we had taken a wrong turn. It was not apparent at first as we came upon Uttams, a sari store that has been in business since the 1930's.  This store had a security guard out front and dogs lying all around in the dirty marble. The glass front and doors of the store were as nice as you would see I'm an upscale mall in the US. The store was air conditioned and clean. There was an array of saris and we shopped and Fariba made a purchase. 
     As we left the store, I saw a country woman squatting in a ditch that looked like a foxhole and that was filled with debris. It took a moment for me to realize that she was urinating in the ditch. She had on the colorful sari of a woman from a farm or a construction worker. We then went to cross a busy street amidst the many dogs and women and small children asking for money. Upon arriving at the other side we observed squalor and destitution that we had not witnessed before. Troy reminded us that he did not recommend venturing out at night in India, though he liked to do it simply as a young person observing crazy things in the world. 
    To be continued. . .