Delhi - boy

If anyone asked you to design a city based on chaos and decay you would have a hard time beating Delhi as an example. There are literally hundreds of surprises round every corner. Just when you thought couldn't see a more dilapidated mish mash of old and older withered buildings there's another in worse shape and this time with tangled telephone and electricity cables stapled and twisted around any part of the structure that's still intact. It's a surreal experience, like walking through a huge installation. It feels real enough when you're there but quickly feels detached once inside one of the many swish London priced restaurants; then once the meal is over very real again as you prepare to brave the streets.

Though it felt like an assault course for us the Delhians (if that's what they're called) seem to take it in their stride. Judging by the general level of mayhem accepted by us in the west these guys should be having a nervous breakdown every ten seconds, but they don't (or can't since many are living below the poverty line). I'm sure people do snap here but it isn't when five cars, three auto-rickshaws and one cow try to squeeze into a gap intended for three people and it isn't after ten hours or more of incessant beeping that all rickshaw and taxi drivers have to put up with (and no doubt contribute to). What is their secret?

I'm expect to be asking a lot of what (or what the ..!?), how and whys around India. Like, for example, why does it require five forms to obtain pre-pay phone card? How did our hotel make toast that flops around like processed cheese? Why do they stencil 'This bus is running on clean fuel' on buses that are barely hanging together on their frames belching out black fumes? Is the word configuration aesthetically pleasing or do people that write these things actually believe that people buy this stuff? Such questions always raise more questions so I'll leave it for now. Maybe I'll find a fakir (or faker, can never spell these things right) who will be able to answer these questions.

Walking off guard without a care in the world doesn't seem possible here and it's tiring so any escapes are welcome and one, oddly enough, came in the form of the metro system. This was orderly paradise compared to outside. Even during rush hour (which is between three and seven) the commuters form orderly lines before boarding. I've never seen such a large group of people self-organise in such an effective manner.

We didn't stay long since we were forced to leave a day early due to train schedules but we had some interesting walks up and down Delhi, Old and New; through the tourist and non-tourist bazaars; seeing a couple of tourist attractions and of course quality currys twice daily.