With you for always

"With you for always", that's the slogan for the Delhi Police. I arrived in Delhi in the early hours of the morning on Friday 1 June 2007. As sort of a lucky last minute arrangement I was picked up at Indira Gandhi International Airport by Siya Ram, who is the driver for the Singh family. The Singh's live in a beautiful house in Vasant Kunj, a very southern area of Delhi, not far from JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). There was a bit of confusion in communication between Upendra Singh and myself, so he had told Siya Ram that he was to pick up two boys, myself and my brother. Garrett had of course had to change his flight to stay on in USA to complete his series of Japanese encephilitis vaccinations and would not be arriving for another ten days. So we stood there for a long while, looking on and waiting for another boy to appear. Siya Ram does not speak much English, so I was given the opportunity to try to communicate in Hindi. Between that and speaking in English on Siya Ram's cell phone with Upendra we sorted out the problem and left.

The drive to the Singh's home in Vasant Kunj was great. The radio was playing Hindi film songs and there was much for the eye to see.

The Singh family is: Upendra (father), Padmaja (mother), Thoya (daughter, age 11 1/2), and Prithvi (son, age 6). Along with Siya Ram, there are two others who work in the house, Ganesh (a Nepali citizen), and Kitni (I do not know anything about her). The family also has a small dog, Zo.

I stayed with the Singh's for three days. It was an amazing introduction. We did many things together.

FRIDAY 1 June 2007:
Siya Ram drove Prithvi and I to buy tickets for a movie later that night. I later bought a cell phone, and exchanged US dollars. Thoya had sitar lessons, which I was able to view. Upendra took me up on the roof of the house where you can see the planes flying overhead. Thoya and Prithvi got me to start speaking Hindi with them (they both speak great English). In the evening Upendra shared some fine beer with me. It is called "Golden Eagle", and is produced exclusively for the Indian army. He said it's a rare thing to come by, and he only gets it from his father who used to serve in the Indian army. Ganesh just kept serving me glass after glass. Later I joined the entire family for dinner at Nirula's (India's first fast food restaurant, offering Indian and other sorts of food, established about 30 years ago), followed by a movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, opening night at the PVR Cinema in Basant Lok (shopping area). We had tickets for the "Premiere Class", which is the most expensive seating in the theater at about $4-5. The lowest class ticket costs Rs. 50 (just over $1).

SATURDAY 2 June 2007:

Upendra and I woke up early, shared breakfast, and then I accompanied him to work. Upendra works in Gurgaon, which is an area that has developed over the past several years. It is a place filled with fancy malls and office buildings. Upendra's company is called Quatrro: http://www.quatrro.com. They have a call center at Quatrro. I had the opportunity to visit the call center and listen in on a live call. The employee was talking to a man in California who was having trouble with his internet. The call lasted about 20 minutes, and it was finally concluded that the man's son had been exceeding the download limit. Through this internet provider plan there is only a certain amount of downloading that can be done within 24 hours. One of the employees showed me downstairs. We shared a brief conversation and talked about motorcycles. I told him how I thought it looked like so much fun to ride one around town. He said that he had a motorcycle, and if only it wasn't broken he would share it with me.

Padmaja, Thoya, and I went out for a drive around Lutyen's New Delhi. This area of Delhi is very clean and there are many trees and other lush vegetation. Many important government figures live in this area, as this is the center of government activity in India's capitol. Padmaja works for the government in the Department of Agriculture, and she knows the city well. She said they are currently working with the US government to begin importing Indian mangoes. While we were driving around it was funny to note the music we were listening to on the radio. Hindi film songs.... Hindi film songs... Hindi film songs.. Tom Petty "Free Fallin"......

We stopped off at Khan Market for lunch and visited a book shop. After that we visited Humayun's Tomb.

In the evening Siya Ram drove me to Sarojini Nagar, which is a popular market. I bought a shirt and a pair of pants. I needed some clothes as I had come with only the clothes I was wearing. After that he took me to another shop somewhere down the road. We went inside this tiny room and one of the men inside presented me with several options of underwear. I chose a small pair called "VIP".

SUNDAY 3 June 2007:

We woke up very early and went for a walk in the park surrounding the Qutub Minar. The park is a network of trails leading around a park of crumbling buildings and monuments. There are some 80 sites in the park, 40 of which are actually marked and under preservation. I walked around with Upendra, while Padmaja, Thoya, Prithvi, and Zo took another path. We saw a peacock with its beautiful ploom. That must mean the rains are coming soon.. But I cannot overlook the dozens of cricket matches that were underway this early in the morning. We climbed up high to the top of a huge stone structure and watched a huge game for a few minutes.

This was followed by breakfast at a popular South Indian restaurant.

After breakfast we left Zo at home and headed out to Gurgaon to see an early movie (11:00am). Padmaja and I saw a Hindi film, "Cheeni Kum", while the others opted for "Shrek 3". Both Padmaja and I agreed, "Cheeni Kum" was not very good. By the time we got out of the movie the entire mall was packed with hundreds of people. We ate lunch and then left. I hope to go back to Gurgaon and take some photos, and also visit that particular mall again. I noticed several times while I was the there the power would cut out, and then come back on again. This means that the elevators would stop. So I think it would be interesting to be in the elevators when the stop, and maybe be stuck inside with some nice people.

I went to sleep after all of this.... Then I woke up.

Then Thoya, Padmaja, and I went to an extra special site, Sultan Gharib. Padmaja was not sure of the exact location, so we had a Muslim man on an old cycle show us the way. According to Padmaja it is the oldest Islamic structure in all of Delhi. It was a stone structure with steps to a court area, at the center of which was an underground tomb area, and another level above all of this. We went underground to the tomb. It was dark and smoky, and several men were performing various tasks. There was incense and things being burned and it smelled quite good.

After this they took me to get another shirt and pair of pants. Since I had trouble getting a good deal at Sarojini Nagar, I picked out a few things and Padmaja did the buying for me.

Later that night Thoya sat me down and let me watch her VCD of Dhoom 2, the recent popular Hindi film. I had missed this when it hit theaters earlier this year, so this was a real treat.

It was amazing being able to stay with this family and interact with these children. Driving around in the car sitting in the trunk with Prithvi, listening to Hindi songs (Padmaja asked "When are you going to sing us a Hindi song?"), talking to Thoya about Hindi films and entertaining her many questions about American movies and music. (She likes The Corrs, and even has music by the band Creed on her iPod)...

MONDAY 4 June 2007:

Upendra's parents arrived the previous evening from a European holiday. After we shared breakfast it was time for me to leave. Siya Ram was to drive Upendra's parents home and then drop me off somewhere in Delhi. I ended up at the YMCA in Central Delhi, near Connaught Place (huge shopping area). They had no A/C rooms available, which means a very sweaty situation.

Walking around Connaught Place you constantly are approached by kids trying to give you a ride somewhere or do something for you. When you say refuse they all say the same line "Okay, sorry. Next time. What do you want? Go to the government emporium. They have everything"

The Hanuman Temple and the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib are both in this area, and are quite amazing.

TUESDAY 5 June 2007:
I went out this morning to get water. I bought 5 one litre bottles for about $1. It's crazy but in a good way, because now I really have to figure things out for myself and make a real effort, or I'll be in a bad state.

I took an autorickshaw for the first time. I went to the New Delhi Rail station to buy a ticket to get out of Delhi in a few days to begin my Hindi studies in Uttaranchal. And of course Garrett arrives next Tuesday, so I have to make a plan for picking him up at the airport.

one note:

Traffic in Delhi is a great. As Padmaja said, there are rules, but no one follows them. If you are on foot and do not pay attention to what you are doing then you will most certainly by run over. So many motorcycles... The motorcycle of choice it seems is the Hero Honda. Padmaja asked me if I had an international driver's license. I said no, and she said too bad, because she would have let me drive her sleek teal Maruti.

Sorry if this was a bit long. I'm finished writing for now. As I have limited internet access this is the first time I have been able to write these things. I'm going to try to post some pictures later. It's hard taking pictures though....

Straight from the heart,
Grant