After the rant against traffic in my previous post, you'll probably be thinking that my decision to go on a cycle tour of Delhi is evidence that I've lost my mind. Maybe I have. But as long as losing my mind leads to fun adventures like the cycle tour then I'll accept it.
Weekend # 4 was the weekend that the rest of the Lewis and Clark students who would be interning in Delhi arrived. Knowing that they would be arriving, I organized a group of us to participate in an early morning tour from Delhi By Cycle (http://www.delhibycycle.com/). I cannot remember exactly how I learned of Delhi By Cycle, but it sounded like a great way to see the sights of Old Delhi. The company is run by a Dutch man (how stereotypical...a Dutch expat operating a cycle tour company complete with orange bikes). It was relatively easy to sign up for the tour, but then I encountered the first logistical problem. Delhi By Cycle requires prepayment for the tour. While prepayment in general is not an issue, it is an issue when the only ways to prepay are to either go directly to the Delhi By Cycle office or to make a deposit into their acount by going to a branch of their bank. This requirement is a huge hassle and I'm sure it prevents many people from signing up for the tour. Going to the office or a branch of the bank in India is not convenient - things are hard to get to and the hours of operation are not convenient when you work from 9:30 - 7 Monday through Friday.
Early Saturday morning I departed from my place in Noida to Old Delhi to meet the group and our cycle tour leader. I had to take a car, because the metro did not start running early enough for me to reach the meetup sight by 6:30 am. Virtually our entire group (except for the two guides and one tour participant) was American. Four of us were from LC Law and one was a Harvard law student (Dustin's roommate, Ben). The other two Americans were random tourists from New York who were visiting India for a wedding (attending an Indian wedding is on my bucket list - but it probably won't happen during this trip). Our primary guide was Akarsh (and he later lead us on a trip by car to Agra and is taking us to Amritsar this weekend and Pushkar/Jaipur next weekend). There is another guide who brings up the tail of the tour to make sure nobody gets lost. An interesting fact about the "tail guide" is that he was a street kid. There is an NGO in Delhi called Salaam Baalak (http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/) that takes street kids off the street and gives them education and opportunities to earn money instead of resorting to begging. Delhi By Cycle employs some of the older Salaam Baalak participants and our "tail guide" was one of them.
After a slightly delayed start to the tour (courtesy of Dustin and Ben not arriving on time), we set off through the narrow Old Delhi streets. The first street we rode down was the "meat street" in Delhi. Since much of the population in India is Hindu and vegetarian, there are not many butchers. There is, however, also a significant Muslim population in India and within Delhi many reside within Old Delhi so there is an entire street of butchers. The meat street was not one of the most pleasant sights or smells early in the morning. Butchered animals were being carried through the streets by rickshaw and hand. The lack of general hygiene and the smell was enough to turn anyone off to meat indefinitely.
Akarsh adeptly helped us to navigate from the meat street through small narrow streets and other sights of Delhi. We passed havelis (mansions), religious temples, and more while we were dodging stray dogs, cows, motor cycles, and people that were out and about. We climbed through the spice market where our noses were treated to the smell of freshly made roti (Indian flatbread - sort of tortilla like), chai, and spices. While watching some of the laborers cook their roti, Ben climbed onto the roof (and almost fell through) to see the roti up close. The spices that permeated the air near the spice market were a bit much and I found myself sneezing frequently. Finally, after three hours we ended the tour with breakfast at Karim's - a famed restaurant which is tucked away in a narrow alley and serves delicious Mughal cuisine. Although Delhi never seems to me to be calm and peaceful, the early start time of this tour meant that there was not so much activity on the streets as to make the road inpassable.
That night, was the Independence Day celebration at the American Embassy. The celebration was hosted at an American sports complex on a baseball field and the entire area was decked in red, white, and blue. It gave us all the opportunity to sit on the lawn, eat burgers (yes, even after seeing the meat street earlier that day) and corn on the cob and have a few drinks. The celebration was lovely and it is probably one of the only times that I've felt truly comfortable and at ease while in India. There was no threat of being run over by traffic or fleeced by a tout - just the chance to kick back, relax, eat, drink, dance, watch fireworks and be merry.
On Sunday I went to the Mango Festival with Lorraine and Ben. Mangoes here are incredibly delicious. When I first arrived, my friend Mallika asked me if I could name anything that tasted better than a mango. At the time, having only been exposed to the underripe and not very flavorful varieties we can buy in the US, there were plenty of things I could name: peaches, berries, etc. But now, having tried different varieties of perfectly ripe and juicy mangoes, I can no longer say there is something quite as delicious. Mangoes will be one of the things that I will really miss when I leave India.
Anyway, back to the mango festival....
The mango festival was not at all what I expected. There really was not a lot of mango at the festival. Sure there were exhibit halls that you could wander through in order to view the prize-winning mangoes and there was an area where you could buy mangoes in bulk, but there was no area to sample different varieties of mangoes. Lorraine, Ben and I were thinking that the festival was a bit lame (and we were roasting in the heat) but we decided to stick it out to watch the mango eating festival. And the mango eating festival made our trip entirely worth it. Approximately thirty men stood up on stage and were given a 3kg bag of unpeeled and unpitted mangoes. They had just a few minutes to eat as much of the mangoes as they could before a winner could be declared. It was truly a sight to behold as energetic music was cued up and the participants began ripping the skin off mangoes and eating as much as they could. Some of the participants even danced to the music as they worked their way through all the mango pulp. It was much more energetic and exiciting than any other eating competition I've ever witnessed.
I departed the mango festival to head back to Noida. Dustin and I were invited for dinner at my first host's house. We arrived in Noida at around 8 p.m. and were served a delicious meal that had been prepared by Mallika. Then both Dustin and I headed to our respective homes and prepared ourselves for another week of interning.
That Monday night, I went with my friend Sneha and a few of her friends to see the movie Delhi Belly. This movie has caused quite a stir in India because it is much more provocative than most Bollywood films. I found the film to be hilarious and very well done. It is a bit over the top, but it does such a wonderful job of poking fun of Delhi and all its problems. This movie is definitely on my "to own" list.
***I'll post pictures of all the above adventures soon.
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