Couchsurfing was again a good choice since it leaded us to meet Gursi, a new friend in New Delhi. He gave us a warm welcome and opened his house to us like friends from a lifetime do. It was an introduction to this messy city where every single move is a challenge in between the millions of people, the surf, and the streets day and night. People sleeping on the streets are as common as trees. And beggars are on every traffic light, ready to put their wounded baby right on your window expecting some money. This is the tough side of India, mainly in a big city like Delhi. The difficulty is that giving money doesn’t help but promotes this. So one tries to get over it ignoring but maturing inside what can be a “help that helps”, first step in the helping schema...
The plan was just to “pass by” Delhi but in the end we stayed for a full week. Gursi gave us the chance to live this city like a local, with him and his friends, Rosu and Guaton who were also staying at his place. Sharing long hours of chats food and drinks, revealed the first particularities we found in Indi culture.
“Lady boys” are considered holy, so if they come impulsively to cheer up your party don't forget to give them money!
Joint families, a way many live here. Normally the sons stay at their families’ house. So three or four families end up sharing a house, uncles, cousins and grandpas all under same roof! The funny part were the memories of those times, uncles discussing and cousins laughing about it, it seems that it’s easier for kids than for grownups...
Arranged marriage, yes, still and with pride...
Religion and spirituality, very present on every Indian;
Cast system, yes, still respected... It goes beyond economic situation, you’re born in one cast and that’s it. The lower one are called the “untouchables”, not allowed to touch or be touch by any upper cast...
This is India.
The single “touristic” day in Delhi was a visit to the Red Fort, a massive complex where a Maharaja used to live and rule some decades ago.
It's funny how in India locals are curious about western people; and whenever they have the chance to meet one they want "a snap" with you, to proudly show their friends and family that they have "a western friend".
The first days it's funny and makes you feel like a rock star, loads of people wanting to take a picture with you, after a while it can get a bit annoying, but there's always a way to turn it into a funny moment...
It is very common to see guys holding hands, just like girls would do. In India the concept of "that looks soooo gay" is not very popular, so guys are very close within them, just as girls. Because of arrange marriages there are no such things as 'dating' or 'having a girlfriend', so the guys need to show there love and they do it among them!!!
Each drive was a chance to catch some images on the roads of Delhi, where cows, people, bicycles, rickshaws, taxis, buses and cars mix on dodgy roads ruled by “the jungle rule”, the biggest and strongest has the priority. The local point of view of the situation: “Driving in India is easy, there are no rules... you just have to take care of yourself”. This is India.
And pilgrims are all over the place, on highways if necessary...
TAJ MAHAL is a must in India, located in Agra, a couple of hours away from Delhi by train. Ernesto and Johana, two other couchsurfers from Chile joined us for a one day trip to Agra to see the famous mausoleum.
It was a very hot day and the guys found a good way to refresh until the guards told them to come out of the fountain...
View of the Taj Mahal from the back side
The downside of such touristic places is the amount of people that visit it, and this was the case with Taj Mahal, where guys had to queue for an hour to get in, under the burning sun. Not cool.
Despite this, the place is worth a visit, it’s a beautiful well preserved marmol mausoleum that a king built for his wife some 500 years ago. The visit was interrupted in several occasions by locals who asked us for “one snap”, meaning one picture with us, the foreigners. It’s like they’ve never seen a foreigner before, but the place is full and the locals want pictures with all of them! This did not happen only in Taj Mahal but everywhere in Delhi, foreigners get that look as if they were monkeys in the zoo and locals seem like kids staring at them. It’s funny, it’s a bit uncomfortable and annoying sometimes, but this is India, things are not the usual way here...
