Trippy

My first day in India, and I have to say that it's been trippy...

I arrive at the airport, and the guy from the hotel held out a sign to pick me up. There are some paved roads, and a lot of dirt sections that blows dirt to all the paved roads, so it all looks like a brown haze. He takes me to the hotel's shuttle, which is a rusted Peugeot minivan that looks like it was made in the former communist East Germany, because it was pretty bare with no padding on the sides or roof, and I can see the roof supports. I climbed into the back seat (and by the way, like the Brits, they too drive on the right side of the road). Within about 5 minutes of driving, we go too fast over a speed bump and I get flung forward, into the back of the front passenger "shotgun" seat, and that the shotgun seat comes off its hitch and pitches forward, leaving a huge whole in the floor where I can see clear to the road. Then the driver apologizes, gets out to check the side of the car for any damages, and then puts the shotgun seat back in its place. He tells me that the shocks for the rear bench is not very good, and that I might be better off sitting shotgun. I'm like, hell no I'm not sitting in the front, I'd be shot out through the window instead up there with that loose seat, so I tell him that I am perfectly happy in the back seat and I will hold on to the bars above the door. Ahh...those bars...I always thought they were for when you were tired of putting your hands on your lap so those bars were just another place from where arms can hang. Well, I tell you I clung on to the bar for dear life for the rest of the hour-long ride, and my fingers were a bit sore by the time we arrived at the hotel, but I was alive, which is all that mattered.

My observations on driving in Delhi: The lines on the road are pretty much decorative, at the most they are general guidelines, but actually using them is very optional. Horns of every tone, tenor, and volume can be heard on the streets. Those who don't have horns (like the bike rickshaws) will hiss at you. I almost feel as if I need a horn just walking the streets.

I unfortunately don't look like an Indian, and therefore get hassled a lot by people on the streets - vendors, beggars, people who just want to "practise English," and people yelling Japanese at me. So by the afternoon, I thought I'd have a little fun, and pretend to be French, because too many people know English, and I hoped that maybe the language barrier would keep hasslers at bay. So I'm sitting in Connaught Square, in Central Park just watching the locals picnic and hang out on the lawn, and I pick a spot at the top of the gentle hill to sit and just enjoy people watching for a while. A few minutes of peace, and then my first victim. He comes and starts talking to me in English, so I respond in French and tell him I'm from France. He knows a couple of French phrases, but then he pulls a small notebook from his pocket and turns to a page where someone wrote comments in French. I read the passage, it was about clean ears. After I finish reading that passage, he turns to another passage, and another, and two of the three talk about clean ears. So I look up perplexed and ask him why they talk about clean ears, and he tells me that he is a ear cleaner. By this time, three of his fellow colleagues have also popped up in front of me, all ready to clean my ears. Immediately, I cup my hands over my ears and tell try to tell them in French (because I'm still in character after all) that my ears are clean, they look a bit confused, and then I keep repeating "no" because they can certainly understand that! I thank them and tell them no repeatedly and start walking away, but one guy keeps following me. Long story short, I was able to shake him. Anyways, this was pretty much how the rest of my day went, more or less.

India is interesting. I must admit I was totally shocked, and then I realised that this is the essence of human civilization in its most raw form. I'm enjoying the show, but it can be a bit overwhelming at times. We'll see if I last for the rest of the month.