Delhi
I had been really looking forward to arriving in Delhi for several weeks. Aside from the excitement of visiting India’s capital city, I couldn’t wait to see some of my friends for the the first time in nine months (some longer.) They had come for a friend’s wedding in Faridabad, near Delhi.
We stayed at the Woodland hotel in the Ram Nagar area near New Delhi railway station. The hotel was pleasant with a small but clean room. Unfortunately the paper thin walls and incomplete door meant that I had very little sleep. I could hear the man in the next room snoring so loudly that it felt as though he was in the same bed as me.
We had a few days in the city before my friends arrived so we started seeing a few of Delhi’s sights. Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi’s biggest Sikh temple and the first Sikh temple we had visited, was well worth the visit. It was necessary for all visitors to cover their heads inside the complex. A box of head scarves was provided for the purpose. Not happy with Matthew’s adoption of the bandanna-style head covering sported by all the other visitors, one of the temples wardens took it upon himself to make Matthew look as conspicuous as possible by adorning him with an authentic turban.
We wandered along the wide, calm Rajpath built by the British when the moved the capital back to Delhi from Calcutta. The road lead from the Rashtrapati Bhavan (‘President House’) at one end to the India Gate at the other.
I had already brought a salwar kameez in Mumbai to wear to Nav’s mehandiraat. The top needed to be taken in so I took it to one of the many tailor shops at Shankar market. Tailors in India appear to have no where for you to get changed thereby checking that the work done is suitable. The cocky man in the shop assured me that his tailor would make my top fit perfectly after just one measurement. Predictably, when I got back to the hotel, the top was far too tight. I furiously waited outside the tailors shop for almost three hours the next morning, waiting for it to finally open so they could readjust my clothes.
That evening we took a very crowded suburban train from New Delhi to Faridabad. From here an auto drove us to the Ekant hotel where Nav’s mehandiraat was held. It was surreal but lovely meeting up with the gang. We had a very enjoyable evening of delicious food, drinks and henna tattoos to our hands.
We met up with everyone again the following day for more sightseeing. Surprisingly the logistics of exploring Delhi in a group of fifteen people wasn’t as difficult as I had feared. We had an enjoyable day visiting the Red Fort and Jama Masjid before going for a few drinks and a delicious meal. After waving goodbye to everyone leaving the restaurant in their Ambassador taxis we head back to our noisy hotel room – alone again!
The next day was spent looking around the interesting, if slightly disorganised, national museum and browsing for souvenirs before catch a night train to Varanassi.
We were delighted to find we had been allocated the best compartment on the entire train. We settled down and enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep.