Delhi

1 Dec 2009
Two days is more than enough for us. As the train pulls in closer to the city, I see so much trash, everywhere along the tracks, the grass and dirt below is barely visible on some parts because of the thick layer of waste sitting on top, just plastic bags and paper and rags and I don't even know, and a bit further back from the tracks are sheds and tents and the slums. People have made homes out of pieces of tarp; they live in complete trash; they own almost nothing and this is their community. It's a sad, real picture. Description can't do it, and even when you see it, it's hard to believe.
Around Paraganj (near the New Delhi train station), there is so much congestion. Cars and rickshaws and bicycles and cows and honking and blaring horns and people and people in your face telling you to buy this or eat here, it drives me crazy as there is no room to breathe. After a walk outside, you can feel a film of soot and dirt all over you. At the entrance off the main street into the tiny, crowded alleyway that leads to our hostel is a "bathroom", which equates to a wall used as a urinal, the smell is nauseating, and it's right next to a man frying up some bajya to sell; gag, no I would not like some.
The city is completely spread out, but we can't muster the effort to explore fully so we take a trip out to Lotus Temple (a temple committed to Bah'ai Faith): gorgeous, mysterious. The trip takes about an hour on a highway and the way back passes us through first an area of construction, high, shiny buildings, what one would expect of a city, but completely not expect granted parts of Delhi and even more surprising, we then pass through a leafy, green neighborhood that could strangely be mistaken as a suburban street in NJ, with clean streets and honking horns. The contrast in Delhi is remarkable.