Namaste!

11/2/2009
1:03AM

I’m at the Delhi airport. The “free” wireless internet is down and our flight is delayed by 40 minutes. I had a great time in India; learned a lot about the cultural paradigm of our business, the history of the cities of Gurgaon and Delhi, visited one of the 7 Wonders of the World, ate a ton of vegetarian food, and somehow survived the past two weeks without resorting to a bottle of Pepto or going completely stir crazy. Here are a few (ok, more like a lot) of thoughts on India.

This place is dirty, and I’m not talking just about the trash or litter, I’m talking about how I’d never get away with wearing as much white here as I do back in the states.. A cloud of dust constantly looms over the atmosphere. My shoes collected a small brown film over the workdays. Luckily there was a mechanical shoe shine in the office. It’s no wonder that I didn’t see carpet in ANY building.

The smell is tolerable at best. Russell Peters exaggerated a bit about how it hits you in the face as soon as you get off the plane, but his description is pretty close. I also wouldn’t compare it to the smell of, say, Kalpesh’s house – that’s the sweet scent of Mama Joshi’s home cooking, something I could easily get used to after enduring two weeks of straight motherland odor.

Poverty is everywhere; abundant and prevalent. There are no neighborhoods of poor, middle class, upper middle class, or rich. It’s a big pot of poor and poorer, even in Gurgaon. At the train station on my way back from Agar, it struck me the hardest as I saw the numerous quadriplegics inching their way from tourist to tourist, begging for any handout.

The food isn’t as bad as I expected. I actually liked being a vegetarian while I was here. To be honest, I couldn’t even tell the difference.

Lunch was catered every day. It cost less than $0.80 per person to bring in a buffet cart for 20 people in the office. There was always enough food for seconds and it was pretty damn good. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great steak, but I am impressed at how well my body adjusted and didn’t so much even crave a thick piece of juicy cow. To my own credit, I did resist the temptation of eating any street vendor food. You can imagine how hard that was (that’s what she said) considering how much I love street meat (that’s what she said – AGAIN!)

Gurgaon is a booming city but is very young relative to the country. In the past 15 years, it has experienced an influx of businesses and population overload due to its proximity to the Delhi airport. What amazes me the most is that 40% of the area is owned by a single person. Every new construction project, building, etc. within a 40 kilometer radius is his. That dude’s balling out of control.

Delhi remains partly true to India’s rich heritage and history. It is part of what’s known as the “Golden Triangle,” which is comprised of three of the biggest tourist cities (Agra, Delhi, and Jaipur) in the entire country. I had the luxury of a taking an all day tour in Delhi, stopping at some of the major attractions. Check the pictures out on Facebook.

The first stop was at Qutb Minar, the tallest standing monument in all of India, and largest minaret in the world. Its purpose is often speculated but it is one of the earliest and more prominent pieces of Indo-Islamic architecture. Access within the tower is prohibited, but the story says that if you can extend your reach beyond the gate at the base and touch it, any wish you make will be granted.

Second stop was at the Lotus Temple, otherwise known as the Bahai House of Worship. This white-marble, flower-shaped structure was by far my favorite. It is open to all, regardless of religion and when inside, I decided to sit down and reflect. I don’t know how long it was in there for, but it only felt right as I found some inner peace.

Next up was Humayun’s Tomb. Started in 1562, it’s the first structure to use red sandstone and have a garden in it. Costing 1.5 million rupees (at the time), the tomb was commissioned to be built by the emperor’s wife. I only hope my future wife pay homage to me in a similar fashion after I’m long gone.

The next few stops included the Gate of India, the Red Fort, the Parliament house, and Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President’s House, which was closed to tourists that day.)

One of the most interesting parts of the tour was my taxi driver. That’s all he basically did – drive me around. He would drop me off at each location at the main entrance. I’d go do my thing and he’d wait in the parking lot until I was done. In between each site, he’d take some road off the unbeaten path and we’d end up in a souvenir or textile shop. After the second time, I asked him what the hell we were doing there and he used the “No speak English” clause on me. I finally purchased a few gifts for other people after the third stop and later found out that the drivers are in cahoots with these stores. They make a commission off the passenger’s purchase. Good thing I tipped him well too. Consider yourself warned.

Boarding call has started…time to end this madness (for now). There’s a casino in Amsterdam and I have another 4 hour layover…dangerous!