Diverse Delhi

From when we awoke on February 14th to when we arrived in Delhi on the 15th, we were awake for 30 hours and spent 19 hours flying. The time difference between Calgary and Delhi is 12 1/2 hours. The airport is quite new and we found things very efficient. We did notice a lot of armed guards and wondered if that had to do with the fact that the Israeli embassy had been recently attacked. We finally hit the sack at 1:30 a.m. on the 15th, but wide awake at 4 a.m. What does one do when you awake that early? Read, exercise and watch Indian soap operas on T.V.! Met up with Suzanne (Robin's sister) and her husband Colin from England the next morning and we started our two day tour of Delhi. We have arranged a private three week tour of the Rajasthan area, with some side trips outside the area, and we have our own driver, Singh, who is available to us for 8 hours a day. Following are some of our observations of our first couple of days in Delhi. The city is the eighth largest metropolis in the World and the population is over 16.7 million. What a colorful and hectic City. TRAFFIC The first day Singh told us that we would be visiting three sites. We thought this was unusual, but by the end of end of the day we understood. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the sites, which in normal traffic should only take about 40 minutes. For example, if a roadway has 3 lanes, there is about 6 to 7 lanes of traffic. The road markings are simply a suggestion. Constant honking is normal. Traffic is made up of cars, tuk tuks, large trucks, bicycles, people, donkeys, camels and oh yes, the odd elephant. It looks like a "dance" with the vehicles, etc weaving in and out of the traffic. It is a wonder that there aren't constant accident's. When we were first driving in from the airport, we noticed the signage on the back of trucks that said "Blow Horn". I thought what a funny name for a trucking company....all right, I was tired. A lot of signage on the back of trucks such as..."blow horn" "respect" "please honk" "use dipper at night"' which means dim lights. They actually want people to honk at them, so they know someone is near them or passing. Singh tells us that there is three things you need to drive in Delhi...a good horn, good brakes and Good Luck! PEOPLE Most women still wear traditional saris and very intricate colorful jewellery. People are occupied whether that be working in hotels, driving, providing tourist services, repairing roads and buildings and going about trying to survive. Have even seen people sorting through garbage trying to find anything of value. Work is divided amongst several individuals so that more people are employed. Although this might seem foreign to us, something that we have seen in developing countries.