Delhi

I have arrived in Delhi, and it is so different from any place I have ever been! After arriving at the airport, I was taken by Mr. Banga's driver to the hotel where Sreer Nair, his daughter Anya and her two friends--Domonique and Kari---are staying. We have done much travelling in Delhi, New Delhi, and areas south in the last two days. We have seen the Taj Mahal, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, the Bahai Temple, the Quaban Tower, and the Swaminarayan Temple. (I am hoping that I have not butchered any spellings). The Taj Mahal is truly amazing, and Gandhi is one of my greatest heroes so these have been great experiences. The Bahai Temple was wonderful, and I am getting a sense of the amazing history of this country.


Domonique thought that, "The Taj was rather cool with its all around intricate symmetry." Kari noted that people were more interested in taking pictures of Americans than they were of the tourist sites. Anya can only say that she is hungry having had some of the worst McDonalds in the world can obtained here. The think that putting Mc as a prefix is not sufficient for making this a truly American corporation. Anya believes the quality of the food at this franchise is truly McNasty. LOL. I must admit that the traffic here has really been overwhelming. Coming from Seoul where there is such order and precision, the roadways here are amazingly chaotic. I have seen on the roads, the following: bikes, bicycle powered pedicabs, carts pulled by bikes, people, oxen, horses, and camels, scooters, motorcycles, people on foot, cars, buses powered by compressed natural gas, and motorcycle powered tricycles. I think I may have missed something, but there is such a mixture speeds and vehicles everywhere that it feels like total anarchy. Cars weave in and out often keeping within inches of one another, and I am amazed to have not seen an accident yet. Manila seems so organized next to this. Am I criticizing everything? At first I was. The mixture of speeds with each vehicle makes for very slow movement at times. But in time I began to wonder whether all this was bad. Mr. Banga is the manager of a factory that we visited today, and as we entered I noticed that the parking lot was filled--twenty five bikes! I am sure that if they had the money, the workers would all be driving cars. But would this ever be possible?? I really wonder what will happen as oil becomes more difficult to obtain. Will we be starting to use other alternative ways of getting to work?

I went running when I returned from our travels today, and in a large park it was comfortable if a little hot. Walking on the way back, I suddenly decided I would just jog anyway even if it involved weaving through traffic. The opportunity to outrun one of the bicycled powered pedicabs was too much to resist and I did win even if the driver didn't know we were racing. Then I decided to see if I could keep up with one of the motorcycle powered tricycles. Argh, he pulled away just slightly. Tomorrow I will have to see if man can beat machine.