India Travel Journal, Part IV - Delhi

India Travel Journal, Part IV  Delhi

Sunday, January 21-Monday, January 22, 2018

Cow in a shanty town- Delhi

“By meditation, by contemplation, and by communion, there comes in the end the destruction of earthly delusion.”  Svetasvatara Upanishad

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Of course, today my stomach is totally fine, but it’s too late to do the detox therapy, so I will do it once I return.  Irina and I are off to Delhi tonight.  We went to the beach in the morning.  The waves were big again.  The beach is actually a great place to learn how to surf, as there is no coral reef, just a sand bar, so wiping out wouldn’t hurt.  When I was learning to surf in Hawaii as a kid, wiping out usually meant hitting the coral and getting mangled up and bloody.  If I return here next year, maybe I’ll bring a surfboard (as far as I can tell, there is no place to rent or buy one from).  

After lunch, Irina and I headed home to get our things ready for our trip.  At 5pm we hopped a cab to the airport.  Once we got past security and were looking for our gate we passed a bookstore that had English books.  I went in and went through all their English language titles and miraculously found a copy of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and the Damned for $8.  I wanted to read Tender is the Night on this trip, which I accidently left in Chicago.  I made a decision last year to read more Fitzgerald, so this is a really good find.  

We soon boarded the flight to Delhi.  It’s a three-hour flight from Trivandrum.  Once in Delhi, you immediately enter a different world, especially compared to Kerala.  The airport is huge and the city is a monster- 25 million people live here. 

Delhi's huge airport

Just walking through the airport and seeing how the people dress and act, it was clear that it is much more liberal than our village.

I decided to splurge on our accommodations for this leg of the trip.  The big cities in developing countries are always a bit rough/harsh.  The pollution, ubiquitous poverty, noise and everything else can really get to you and I like having a place to return home to at the end of a long day of sightseeing that can shelter me from it.  I learned this little travel tip after spending extended time in Katmandu, Beijing, Havana (in the old days) and other developing cities around the world.  Ira had sent me a list of some hotels that were reasonably priced and I’m sure that they are fine places to stay, but I upgraded us into a real doozy.  We are at the Lodhi and it is five star in every sense of the word.  

I’ve always enjoyed high-end hotels and restaurants.  After I started working in finance (to get out of poverty), I realized that the only real thing that really changed in my life was I ate at better restaurants and stayed at better hotels when I traveled.  It makes sense I guess and for this hotel, I had to pay up, but after seeing the place, it’s well worth it.

The hotel sent me an offer to have a car and driver meet us at the airport, but the cost was outrageous (high-end hotels in developing countries always overcharge you for everything), so I ignored the message.  They wanted $110-$230 for the trip depending on the type of car.  We ended up getting a pre-paid taxi from the airport for $6.  It was far from an elegant ride, but the trip took only twenty-five minutes.  The driver was a real piece of work though.  His English was very hard to understand, he didn’t know where he was going and, worst of all, he was an absolutely terrible driver.  We almost got into three major accidents and one time he turned into oncoming traffic!  When we got to the hotel (which I had to direct him to from looking at my phone map), it was around 11:30pm and he pulled up to the entrance on the wrong side of the road. 

Lodhi Hotel Entrance- our driver drove us up to it on the wrong side of the road!

It was totally ridiculous and Irina was upset that I took such a cheap taxi, but her anger disappeared as soon as she walked into the luxurious lobby and was treated like royalty.  (I didn’t tell her that I upgraded us into such an establishment.)  

The Lodhi Hotel Lobby

We checked in, showered and then hung out for a short time before going to sleep in a big comfy bed with extra pillows and the a/c cranked. 

Monday, January 22, 2018

We didn’t schedule our Delhi trip so well, as many of the most interesting places to go are closed on Mondays, which is the only day we are here.  That being said, Delhi is like NYC in that there are

The Lodhi Hotel- A great escape from the madness of Delhi

always a ton of things to do. 

We got up at 8:30am after a deep sleep and went down for breakfast.  We feasted.  We arranged for a driver to pick us up at 11am, so we weren’t rushed.  The driver, Titu showed up on time and despite the fact that Irina and I had come up with a plan of what we would do with our concierge, Irina changed it upon Titu’s suggestions.  Titu is an older gentleman in his 60s and was wearing a white turban and had a killer mustache.  He is a Sikh and he suggested we start our tour at Delhi’s largest Sikh temple.  Go figure.  As I usually do, I just went with the flow and didn’t object or cause any fuss.

Titu walking us through the history of the Sikh Religion

As we were walking into the Sikh temple, which is quite impressive, Titu gave us an overview of the religion and the history of it in India in general.  India has a turbulent past and was conquered often over the centuries.  As a result, the country now has 25 different languages being spoken and most religions are represented, but Hindu is the dominant one with around 70% of the people, then Muslims make up around 20%, then Christians around 3.5%, Buddhists around 1%.  Titu told us that after the Muslim invasion in early 12^th century, they systematically repressed all other religions and destroyed many sacred temples and texts across the entire country.  At one stage during their reign (and I use this loosely as different factions of Muslims conquered each other over the centuries that followed), 92% of all Sikh were wiped out.  Also, Buddhists and Hindus were massacred or fled the country.  They say that at least 6 million Hindus were wiped out during this prolonged genocide.  Titu showed us a wall going over the Sikh religion’s top martyrs and told us their stories.  It was amazing history to say the least. 

Sikh Martyrs

The temple was huge.  It was also crowded.  When we entered, there were three men singing chants from the Guru Granth Sahib, their holy book, while playing a drum and keyboard instrument.  Many people were coming, praying and going.  There was also a crowd sitting around the temple praying and listening to the chants.  Titu asked us if we could wait a few minutes so he could pray.  I took a seat on the sidelines, Irina went with him and prayed next to him.  Watching all the praying was interesting and majestic.  I find a peace and calmness within Indians of all stripe and it is really something to behold.  When you consider that Americans are some of the most religious people in the world, it really is a damning testament that we are so violent and vengeful toward each other. 

At the Sikh Temple

Sikh blessed dumpling

We then left the main temple and walked around the grounds, drank some holy water poured into our hands from the Granthi  (Sikh temple workers/care takers) and received a blessed dumpling that tasted a little bit like oatmeal. 

We then went to a large cafeteria area.  Titu told us that the temple serves 20,000-30,000 people every day and over 40,000 on weekends.  From the looks of it, he wasn’t kidding- the place was packed.  He walked us into the kitchen area.  It was an impressive operation.  Some of it was automated, but they also had many volunteers helping make the vegetable curries and Kulcha bread (it’s like a pita bread).  We even helped out in the bread making for a short time.  We held these long metal spatula-like rods and flipped round pieces of Kulcha that were on a big hot open oven surface until they were cooked on both sides. 

Yours truly making bread at the Sikh Temple

We then moved them into a big pile that was being brought out to the masses.  It was pretty cool and no one batted an eye or even said anything at us joining in.  Everyone was so relaxed, calm and civil despite the huge amount of cooking taking place.  This whole experience is a good change from my Chicago life where road rage and quick threats of violence are sadly the norm. 

After the Sikh temple, we went to the largest Hindu temple.  It was nowhere near as crowded, but impressive nonetheless.  They weren’t offering out free meals, which may have been one reason for the crowds at one and the lack of people at the other. 

We then went to lunch at a place called the OM Hotel and had some chicken kebobs, a chicken tikka and another type of chicken in a rich sauce.  It was served with pickled onions and Paratha bread.  It was all really tasty, but not as cheap as it would’ve been down south in Kovalam.  It was about $20 for three of us.  

After lunch we went to a little art gallery that the concierge at our hotel recommended.  It was in Delhi’s most elite neighborhood and was in the dealer’s house.  It was an impressive gallery with some amazing pieces on offer.  Of course, the painting I fell in love with was the most expensive one they had and, frankly, after seeing this one, nothing else matched its standard or grabbed my interest.  It is of an Indian woman standing at a doorway and the painter’s skill is unquestionable.  I offered the gallery owner about half of what he offered it for and he rejected the offer immediately.  I then asked him what he could do, and he came down 5%, which I couldn’t take seriously.  I said I was willing to move up a little, but he had to work with me.  He said he had to speak to his father, who was the one who put together the collection.  After a few minutes, he returned and gave me a better offer, but still nothing to get excited about.  I told him I couldn’t spend so much, took his phone number and we left the gallery.

I’m an aesthete and I hate letting a piece of art that grabs me slip through my fingers, so this painting stayed with me all day as we continued running around the city. 

We then went to Cannaught Place and walked around.  This was the center of the city when the British were in control.  The inner rim has some higher-end Western stores and restaurants and a bazaar.  We didn’t spend much time there though.  Titu then took us to the outer rim, which is much more poor and run down.  We passed a couple small barber shops where Indians were getting shaves and I couldn’t believe how small and grimy they looked.  The shops were no bigger than large closets and both had just two chairs in them. 

Delhi Barbershop- Cannaught Place (outer ring)

Irina didn’t like it there, so we headed out and looked at a few more of the palaces and sites, but many were closed, so we only observed them from the outside. 

On the way back toward our hotel, we stopped at a shanty town.  All the poor kids ran up and followed us.  We gave them all the food we had (candy and granola bars, apples, pears, etc.) and some small money, which they went nuts over.  The sun was setting, so we decided to head out after about twenty minutes and jumped back into the car and left.  I found this side excursion to be a bit heavy.  It’s funny, because the people living there seemed fine with it, even happy and excited to see us, but the conditions were really awful and all the dirty and homeless kids bummed me out a little.  

Shanty Town- Delhi

On the way back, Irina wanted to do a little shopping, so we stopped at a place called Khan Market, which our concierge recommended to her earlier in the day.  She shopped for about an hour, jumping in and out of these little boutiques.  We passed a bookstore and in the window I was shocked to see a copy of Fire and Fury, the Michael Wolff book on the Trump Administration.  This book was making quite a scandal when I left the states, so I went in and picked up a copy for $8.   I look forward to reading it and with this purchase, I definitely have enough reading material to get me through the trip.

We got back to our hotel exhausted.  The heavy pollution/smog is a big reason for this, but we also were walking around all day.  Despite feeling spent, our minds were racing with thoughts on all the things we saw.  Of course, I kept thinking about the painting of the woman in the door.  I didn’t want to let it go despite the high price.  When Irina was taking a shower to wash off the grime, I got online and researched the artist.  He is definitely well known in India and has even painted the portraits of two recent heads of state, but when I went to artprice.com, a website that keeps auction and sales records for 1000s and 1000s of artists, he was not even listed.   I did find on an Indian website with some newer paintings and their sales prices, which were in the ballpark of the painting I liked, but I couldn’t confirm the veracity of the website at all. 

Also, his newer paintings are really modern subjects that don’t appeal to me. Woman in the Doorway is one of his earlier works.  I was staring at the photo of the painting that I had on my phone when Irina entered from the bathroom.  We both were wide awake now, so I took a quick shower and we went down to the hotel bar.  I had a few beers while Irina had a couple cocktails.  We discussed our impressions and after a little while, I brought up the painting.  Ira agreed that it was really nice, but too expensive, but she supported me and said that if I really wanted it, I should try to get it.  I decided to give it one more go. 

When we got back to our room, I called the owner and discussed the situation.  I told him I was really flying blind on this and that since there are no records of the artist in the West, it’s difficult to pay so much, but that the painting clearly has artistic merit and is alluring.  I gave him what I thought was a really good offer, much more than I ever thought I would be spending on Indian art.  He immediately rejected it and said his last offer was the best he could do.  He added that he fully understands the situation I am in, but that the painting is “special” and could be worth much more than what he was offering it for.  He also repeated that the artist is one of India’s hottest painters at the moment.  When I mentioned that I understand that, but his newer pieces are nothing like the painting we are discussing, so it’s hard to say what the value of a more traditional painting of his would be, he said, “You are correct about that.  He used to paint from his heart, now he paints from his mind.”  Yeah, yeah, yeah…

Woman at the Door Painting

I told him to think over my offer and give me a call if he wants to discuss it further and I would do the same.  We hung up.  Irina was shocked that he didn’t take or even contemplate the offer I made.  She thought I was crazy to even make it and that I was probably overpaying.  “They must be really rich to turn it down like that so fast.”  She said.  I went to bed feeling defeated, but still in an elevated mood from the day’s experiences.  

Tomorrow we drive to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and then into Rajastan…

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The story moves to Agra and Jaipur in Part V:

https://libertinereflections.blogspot.com/2018/03/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-ja-x.html