So we arrived in Delhi via the Rajdhani Train a couple of days ago, and man was that an experiance. The train station was intense to say the least, with coolies constantly offering to carry your bags, armless beggers staring at you with tears in thier eyes, and hijras demanding money simply to leave you alone. But i guess thats part of the experiance. You can't come to India and not ride on the train at least once!....or in our case, most of the time.
The ride itself is something else entirely too, because you are constantly surrounded by people. Some who want to come into your comparment and cool off because you've got a healthy air conditioning unit (and they presumbly do not), some that barge into your comparment just to charge thier phone (and this can and will happen at any time day or night), or others that just want to stare at you, simply because you're foreign. Thats one point that i generally try to hide most of the time, especially when we are shopping, or checking out the sites. I generally pipe down and let my pops or aunt and uncle do all the talking as Shop-wallahs are typically much lesss willign to bargain with foreigners, as they assume that if you are here, then you must be wildly wealthy. And you have to be extra wary, because many take a weird sense of glee from fleecing a foreigner. Im not entirely sure why they feel that way, but they will try to squeeze every last rupee out of you if they can. And haggling truly is an art. If you show too much interest, too early on, you've already lost the battle...but if you're willing to walk away when they quote an exorbitant price, they will generally come running back more willing to accept what you offered. And as my dad keeps reminding me, you should never feel bad about haggling with them especially when they are grumbling after the transaction, cause more often then not the shop wallahs are taking a cool 70-80% markup, and they are relatively well off anyways. (If however, we could tell the person was really struggling and was desperate for the busiess, sometimess we gave a little extra.)...but the one thing you need to remember while shopping in India is, the first price is never the last price!
A foreign accent will immediatly make you a target for theft, assault or scams as well, specially if you sound like you are American (or canadian in my case). And in a country like india, where corruption is rampant and where the police force can be bought and sold by the highest bidder, you're generally on your own whe it comes to protection and security as well. In fact, yesterday, we saw something pretty scary while we were driving to the markets at Lajpat Nagar. This well dressed lady (who it turns out was the wife of a state minister) was walking with her young son across the street infront of us. Suddenly two goondas (thugs) on a motorcycle came speeding up from behind and grabbed the chain around her neck (while standing on the bike!). The force of them grabbing her, sent her and her son flying into the road directly infront of our car and we had to slam on the breaks! It was sooo fast! Our driver tried to go after the goondas as soon as the lady got up again, but they had sped away so fast threw the traffic that there was no way we could catch up. Honestly we were really shaken up after seeing that...I didn't even want to carry a purse or any cash after that incase it made me a target. But the fact taht this women was the wife of a minister didn't insulate her from the roadside thugs that are constantly roaming the streets. In Mumbai, things are much more controlled and regulated, and you typically feel safe while walking in the markets (provided you dont get run over by a scooter) but In Delhi, it's a totally different world.
Coming from Mumbai to Delhi was like being transported into an alternate reality where the players, food, cars and people are all the same, but where everything and everyone seem to be travelling through a darker timeline (evil Troy and evil ABED!). Mumbai felt glamerous and festive, but Delhi on the other hand seems rough and almost desperate. You are constantly looking over your shoulder incase somone is readying themselves to snatch your purse. And the cars and rikshaws are more likely to run you over, than stop and give you a life. It can be a stressful place! But at the same time, Delhi is also India's business capital with companies like Dell, Adobe, GE, and Apple having massive headquarters and facilities just around the corner from dhabas (outdoor restaurants) and roadside stalls. Infact, the influx of foreign currency and financing has resulted in the development of a large seperation between the educated middle class and those of a substantially lower socioeconomic level. This seperatio compounded with an absolute lack of law enforment and wildly abundant political corruption has led to the development of a society where crime, corruption and resentment are more commonplace than morality, law and respect. Those with money feel entitled to mistreat those without, and as a result, treat anyone who appear to have less money, as you would a stray. Case and point, while walking through a marketplace in Colaba, a man almost ran over my aunt and I with his mercedes, while we were walking down the street. Instead of slowing down to give us a second to get out of the way, he just pinned the gas and drove right through us. If my dad hadn't grabbed us both and pulled us out of the way at the absolute last second, we both wouldve been hit. And the worst part about that? He was looking directly at us while he did it. You can imagine my dad was incenced. If either of us had been hurt, that guy prob wouldve got a thrashing (and my pops is pretty tough!). But thats exactly the attitude that is prevelent here. He assumed that because we were walking, that we must have been less well off than himself, and were therefore below his attention. And with no fear of official reprimand for hitting somone (because you can easily make a lawsuit go away by paying off the right officials), he had no misgivings about running us over. This lack of respect for the law can be seen virtually everywhere, and as a result people have no qualms about driving the wrong way on a road, parking thier car in the middle of a busy througfare, or throwing trash onto the street. The corruption is even prevelent on larger scales, where building contractors often skimp on adequate building supplies, instead using substandard materials, and pocketing the leftover cash. They then bribe the building inspectors, so that they can get away with it. This mentality can be very overwhelming at times.
Oh! Crap...i gotta run...We went shopping in Lajput Nagar yesterday, and i bought some fabric to get some blouses and stuff made, so we're heading over to a tailor to get measured for our outfits! I'll continue my update later!
Toodles!
- k
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