Arcane Candy

Saturday, November 3, 2012
Delhi, India

On my last sightseeing day in Delhi–and India, for that matter–I decided to head down to India Gate in Central Delhi, mainly because it was only a half mile from a subway station and I didn’t have time to go to any museums, as they would have closed an hour after I arrived. After hopping on the subway at the New Delhi station, I had to change trains at Rajiv Chowk. These transfer stations must be among the worst in the city, as the crowds inside them are dangerously huge. There was a full-on stampede pushing into the car I boarded, even though two guards tried to maintain order just outside the door. One heavyset old lady must have got crushed, because it looked like she was crying, and one man who was trying to help her yelled at some other guys. I got pressed against a railing super hard.

Watching all of this insanity unfold was kind of disturbing. It makes me wonder why some Indian people can’t be a little more civil in crowded situations. I know everyday life is a constant battle for them, but sometimes they behave like animals–pushing, stampeding, line cutting, shouting, spitting and staring. Luckily, I only had to ride the subway for a couple of stops. After I exited and made it across two standardly scary street crossings, it was smooth sailing down Copernicus Marg, which is situated in a relatively mellow, suburban area of town. The half mile walk down to India Gate was nice and relaxing, as there were only a few other pedestrians out and about. Once I entered the giant hexagon where the monument was located, I had to deflect a bunch of touts selling food, souvenirs and toys.

Although a few other foreigners were walking around, the crowd was mostly composed of Indians. I saw a couple of blonde white ladies pose for photos with numerous groups of Indians. On this side of the Earth, us white people look so exotic, you know. I made a field recording of the toy vendors who were walking around playing various little noisemakers with a low-level chatter emanating from the crowd in the background. Three ladies dressed in orange saris kept bugging me to buy some handmade bracelets, but I offered one of them a little bit of money to pose for a photo instead. After that, I headed back up to the subway. The first stop wasn’t too bad, but at Rajiv Chowk, another obnoxious stampede squeezed its way into the last car.

I was really happy when I finally made it out at the New Delhi station. I don’t ever want to ride a subway in India again. What with all of the long lines, security checks with the wand and an x-ray machine for luggage, the stampedes and dangerously packed cars, it’s really not a pleasant experience. After I ate dinner, I walked down a different street toward the area of the Hotel Krishna, and ended up inside the back lanes. At one point, some locals had a lane blocked off for some kind of shindig, and laughed at me as they made me turn around. I almost got lost inside a maze of really narrow, dark, dirty lanes trying to go around it. Some funny little kids followed me and said hello. When I said hi back, they giggled and ran off. Finally, I gave up trying to find my way around the roadblock and just retraced all of my steps until I made it back to the hotel via another route.

Roll over photos for captions.
Words and photos ©2012 Arcane Candy.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 at 2:48 am and is filed under All These Colors Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.