Delhi is relatively close to Agra (by Indian standards), so we decided to cab it. Apart from the car vibrating strongly at anything over 50kmph, the trip was uneventful. In a rare pause from chatting on his mobile, the driver explained that the front left wheel was about to fall off, but that he would definitely get it fixed tomorrow – smashing.
As we’d driven straight through from Agra without stopping for food, we ordered room service after checking into the hotel. Shejal hadn’t been feeling very well all day, so after eating, I went out to find a chemist (or druggist as they call them here) to get some meds. After returning, I also started to feel unwell. Cue eleven hours of intense vomiting, the last internal organ ejecting retch occurring at around 4am. Bloody chicken pakoras! When I mentioned it to the hotel manager, he didn’t even apologise, only offering that I didn’t have to pay for the pakoras – cheers. Delhi belly in record time!
As we both didn’t get much sleep, the next day was taken very slow. First up was Gandhi Smitri; a memorial marking the spot where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. We thought we’d have a crack at using the metro to get to there, but what looks like a short distance from the station on the map turned out to be pretty big, so we ended up getting a tuktuk the last part – Delhi is massive. The Smitri has a slightly confusing (but fun) multimedia museum that we visited first.
As we’d driven straight through from Agra without stopping for food, we ordered room service after checking into the hotel. Shejal hadn’t been feeling very well all day, so after eating, I went out to find a chemist (or druggist as they call them here) to get some meds. After returning, I also started to feel unwell. Cue eleven hours of intense vomiting, the last internal organ ejecting retch occurring at around 4am. Bloody chicken pakoras! When I mentioned it to the hotel manager, he didn’t even apologise, only offering that I didn’t have to pay for the pakoras – cheers. Delhi belly in record time!
As we both didn’t get much sleep, the next day was taken very slow. First up was Gandhi Smitri; a memorial marking the spot where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. We thought we’d have a crack at using the metro to get to there, but what looks like a short distance from the station on the map turned out to be pretty big, so we ended up getting a tuktuk the last part – Delhi is massive. The Smitri has a slightly confusing (but fun) multimedia museum that we visited first.
After the museum we visited the memorial. Concrete footprints lead around the garden to the spot where he was killed. Despite the history, the place was very peaceful.
We found a nice cafe for lunch in Connaught place. The area is known as tourist central – lots of hotels and restaurants. Where there are tourists, there are touts. Due to a convincing back story, we didn’t immediately realise that the friendly chaps on the next table were in fact naughty men. Only when they started recommending travel agents did our internal tout alarms kick in. Apart from the dodgy wallahs, the coffee was very nice and came complete with a smiley face.
We spent the afternoon at the Jantar Mantar, built by the same chap as the one in Jaipur. I think the one in Delhi is slightly older because it doesn’t look quite as pristine. We relaxed in the grounds for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel to catch up on sleep.
The next morning we headed via tuktuk to the massive Red Fort; built in the 17thcentury by the same Mughal emperor that was responsible for the Taj Mahal. It took a good couple of hours to explore.
It was world cup final day, so we were keen to get back to the hotel and watch the match. As we made our way back, the streets of Delhi were strangely deserted apart from groups of wallahs crowding around shop TVs and watching the game.
This match is as big as it gets for Indians; comparable to England in the football world cup final for the English (hoping). Sri Lanka unexpectedly went run crazy at the end of their innings and came away with a very decent score. This coupled with Sewag and Sachin getting out early in the Indian innings meant that the rest of the game was spent with everyone on edge. Gambir and super captain Dhoni steadied the ship and won the match for Indian in the end. The fireworks got going after the last ball was hit and it wasn’t long before people were out on the street running about and going crazy. We called Bhupendra shortly after the win to offer congratulations. He was so happy that he offered to pay for us to celebrate at an expensive restaurant the next day. It was great to be here to witness the national euphoria!
We didn’t see too many of Delhi’s sights this time around as we’re back for a few days in a couple of weeks.
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